'THE JEWISH NEWS

Page Forty-eight-

Friday, April 7, 1944

A Quarter Century of Cultural Progress

A Brief Sketch of the History of the United Hebrew
Schools of Detroit During the Past 25 Years.

WENTY-FIVE years ago, on April 23, 1919, the
United Hebrew Schools held their first session in
Detroit. It was an event of cultural and religious
importance to American Jewry's fourth metropolis.

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Twenty-five years: Much history has been made
and much Jewish blood has been shed in that span.
For in this fast-moving era, 25 years is the equivalent
of a century in more placid and easy-going ages.

Who remembers the spring of 1919? It was the
first spring after more than four years of war.* The
Allies had conquered. The prestige of the United
States was at its height. President Woodrow Wilson
was acclaimed as a modern prophet come to free the
world from oppression and bondage and to give every
.people a chance.

RUDOLPH ZUIEBACK • •

Present President

in-

_.

LOUIS ROBINSON

HARRY COHEN

President, 1939-1942

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The Czar of Russia, the symbol of tyranny and
persecution, of intolerance and pogroms was over-
thrown.

THE BALFOUR DECLARATION

• To climax it all, among the earth shaking events
which - were transforming the face of the globe, the
Balfour Declaration that the British government
facilitate such a settlement came as a source of joy
and.inspiration for Jews throughout the world. Jews
of all shades and classes were elated and also awed at
the imminent'realization of all the dreams and hopes
of 2,000 years. The Jews would cease to be wanderers
upon the earth and the Jewish nation would take its
place among the parliaments of the world.

The rebirth of the Jewish Homeland and the re-
birth of modern Hebrew as a living, pulsating lan-
guage, a language which would retain the biblical
grandeur and sacredness yet be able to express all the
nuances of the machine age, went hand in hand.

SETTLEMENT IN FLUX

But the Jewish population of Detroit was then in
a state of flux. The thickest Jewish settlement around
Hastings began to deteriorate and to move north and
west. The management of. the Hebrew schools were
finest equipment. The early Hebrew schools found it faced with their gravest problem—the problem of fol-
difficult to secure teachers 'who were experienced • :lowing,and perhaps also of locating their people.
pedagogues and yet were well versed in their subjects.,
, •
BranChes of the school were set up in the section of
The Hebrew schools first in the East and then
Kirby, and then later in the Twelfth Street section at
other'centers took. cognizance of these problems. They
and Byron; still later in the Dexter sec-
• •
•
inaugurated modern teaching. methods, hired teacherS. , Philadelphia
who knew teaching psychology and sought classroonts , tiOn at Tuxedo and Holinur; in the Fenkell neighbor-
which compared favorably with the publiC schools. , _<ho x1 at Parkside and Midland; in the northeast sec-
tia4 -..at' Brush and Minnesota; southwest at 29th and
WILKINS. TALMUD TORAH - OPENS •
an and Springwell and Wendell; and finally at
So we find that in Detroit a group of public).s
n and Tyler. Schools also were established in
ed Jewish citizens had early in- 1919 called in
Bernard Isaacs to inaugurate and supervise a Modern various public school buildings, the latest of which is
the-Bagley School at Curtis and Roselawn.
Hebrew school system.
. .
At the present time, the United Hebrew Schools
The Wilkins Street. Talmud Torah and Kinder-
system comprises seven branches: 1245 West Philadel-
phia Ave., 4000 Tuxedo Ave., 13226 Lawton Ave.,
15705 Parkside Ave., Central High School, Brady Pub-
1k. School, Winterhalter Public School and Bagley
Public School.

President, 1935-1939 •

garten at 665 Wilkins Street became the nucleus of
the United Hebrew Schools of Detroit. *The school
was dedicated on March 23, 1919, and sessions corn-
Menced on Wednesday, April 23, 1919.

The school opened with an enrollment of 625
pupils and a staff of eight instructors. It had a morn-
ing kindergarten with 30 children and a parochial de-
partment with 50 students where Hebrew was taught
in the morning and English subjects in the afternoon.
The remaining 545 pupils. attended the afternoon ses-
sions front 4 to 8 p. m. 'Among them were 40 who
were transferred from the Columbia Street Hebrew
school.

The first faculty consisted of Mr. Bernard Isaacs,
superintendent, and Max Gordon, Solomon Kasdan,

Officers are: Rudolph Zuieback, president; Law-
rence W. Crohn and Dr. Albert E. Bernstein, vice-
presidents; Abe Kasle, treasurer, Aaron A. Silberblatt,
secretary.
Board' of :Directors: Rabbi Morris Adler, Max
Bachman, Adolph Beck, Dr. Albert E. Bernstein,
David L. Berris, Louis Berry, Joseph Block, Morris H.
Blumberg, Fred M. Butzel, Harry Cohen, Isadore
Cohen, Joseph B. Cotten, Lawrence W. Crohn, Mrs.
Joseph H. Ehrlich, Sam Esterson, Morris Fishman,
Harry Frank, Judge William Friedman, Dr. B. Bene-
dict Glazer, Harold GOodman, Dr. A. M. Hershman ;
Abe Kasle, Jack Kellnian, • Louis LaMed, Charles
Lapides, Herman S. - Osnos, Louis Robinson, Isaac
Rosenthal, CharleS Rubiner, Dr. A. W. Sanders, Harry
Seligson, Isaac Shetzer, Aaron A. Silberblatt, Philip
Slomovitz, Rabbi Joshua S. Sperka, Louis Stoll, Rabbi
Isaac Stollman, Irwin Thriller, Henry Wineman, Rabbi
M. J: Wohlgelernter, Morris W. Zack, Maurice H.
Zackheim, Rudolph Zuieback, Mrs. Charles Robinson,
Mrs. Bert Smokier and Mrs. Jack Tobin.
Chairmen of Committees: Philip Slomovitz, Edu-
cation Information; Louis Robinson, Administrative
and Enrollment; Joseph B. Cohen, Alumni; Harry
Cohen, SCholarship; Louis Stoll, Real Estate; Nathan
Yaffa, Synagogue and House; Maurice H. Zackheim,
Board of Education; Dr. A. E. Bernstein, chairman e.,
Julius Berman and Morris Fishman, co-chairmen,
Membership; Maurice Landau, Finance and Budget.

25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

A period of nine days has been set aside to mark
the 25th. anniversary of the United Hebrew Schools.

The celebration will commence with a radio broad-

Jewish parents began to realize that If there was
going to be a liberated Jewish people and a Hebrew
language, then their children should participate in the
new historic event, and should have some conception
Of What was happening to the Jewish people.

JEWISH SETTLEMENTS IN DETROIT

Materially the Jews of Detroit had prospered.
Corning here as immigrants, the majority had a hard
struggle in their first years. • But they soon became
acclimated to the American environment and -in their
cultural interests found a new expression.

In 1919 the preponderant Jewish settlement in
Detroit was in the lower Hastings district, with a large
settlement in the Oakland area and smaller offshoots
along Michigan Avenue and around Mack and Gratiot.
The Northwest section around Twelfth was just be-
ginning to be settled.

Most of the synagogues were in the Hastings area.
There were also several Talmud Torahs—the Division,
the Columbia, the Wilkins—and the Hebrew schools
connected with synagogues such as the one with the
Farnsworth Shul and the school connected with the
Delmar Shul. There were also a number of small pri-
vate Hebrew schools or Hedorum.

PROBLEM OF HEBREW SCHOOLS

There was no integrated Hebrew school system and
the teaching of modern Hebrew was still virtually un-
known here. The Hebrew schools in the United States
were confronted with a grave problem. First of all
they had to compete against the public schools for the
child's time. The child after spending six hours in a
public school classroom was eager to go out and play.
He was mentally and physically tired. In the second .
place, the Hebrew schools had to compete against
trained teachers, who had the best preparation and the

AARON PREGERSON

ROBERT R. MARWIL

President, 1933-1935

President, 1931-1933

MAURICE ZACKHEIM

President, 1929-1931

Alexander Shenderowitz, Sam Stollman, N. Topolin-
sky, Mrs. N. Topolinsky and Rubin Zinder.

cast on Hyman Altman's Hour, on Station WMBC,Ori
April 15, with Charles Rubiner as chairman.

FIRST OFFICERS

On Sunday, April 16, Dr. Azriel Eisenberg, direc-
tor of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Cleveland,
will speak on Altman's Hour at noon and will address
an all-day Institute at the Rose Sittig Cohen Bldg.
Events arranged in all schools by parents and
teachers -will take place during the anniversary week,
with the Woman's Auxiliary and Alumni participat-
ing.
A special event is planned by Kvutzah Ivrith, for
April 26, with Mordecai Medini as guest speaker.
The concluding event of the celebration will be-
the anniversary banquet, Sunday evening, April 23,
with Dr. Emanuel Gamoran of Cincinnati as guest

Esser Rabinowitz was the first president of the
school, who remained in office until his passing away
in 1929. Other officers were: Vice-presidents, Meyer
B. Cohen, Louis Dann, Louis Duscoff, Hyman Gold-
man, Max Jacobs, Michael Krell, David Robinson, and
Isaac Rosenthal; treasurer, Max Rosinsky; secretary,
Abraham H. Jaffin.

Board of Education — Rabbi Ezekiel Aishishkin,
Abraham Farber, Hyman Goldberg, Hyman Goldman,
Israel Lieberman, Harry Sosinsky and Moses Weis-
wasser.

speaker.

