Our Schools' Evolutionary Processes
Unified System Advocated
Through Central Agencies
By FRANK SIMONS
The creation of the state of Israel served
as an impetus to world Jewry to take stock
of its religion. Everywhere, both in Jewish
and in non-Jewish circles, a new interest in
Jewish rituals and traditions sprang up prac-
tically overnight.
Here, in the United States, there was a
rebirth of devotion to Judaism. Adults, who
were perhaps little aware of Jewish tra-
ditions, of Jewish heritage, of the beauty
and sanctity of the Talmud and Torah and
of the Hebrew language, desired their chil-
dren to learn about the Judaism they had
missed or had lonp, forgotten.
This rebirth of enthusiasm for Jewish ed-
cation is illustrated in the 1951 "Jewish Ed-
ucation Register and Directory." It is the first
book of its kind, and was made available
through the research and efforts of the Ameri-
can Association for Jewish Education (AAJE).
Established in 1939 as a central agency for
the coordination and promotion of American
Jewish education, AAJE represents the lay lead-
ership and local community agencies in Jewish
education throughout the U. S. and Canada.
Through this marvelous history of Jewish
education, AAJE has performed. a great service
to educators and educational authorities who
are interested in the betterment of the collec-
tive school system in the nation.
Briefly outlining the school system at the
beginning of the 20th century, the Directory
points out that the Heders of the old country—
the private schools—were quick to drop off. In
its place rose the Talmud Torah, or school for
poorer elements, which was sponsored by the
community and which gradually developed into
the backbone of the Jewish educational system.
; The Talmud Torah in its heyday produced
the Hebrew scholars, teachers and rabbis. But
Jewish parents were quick to discover the ad-
vantages of the public school system, and chil-
dren were sent to public schools. The Talmud
Torah, the former all-day school became rele-
gated to an afternoon school.
With the Americanization of Jewish folkways
and the interest of Jewish youngsters centered
about the public school, the Talmud Torah aft-
ernoon school, which met five days a week, was
gradually giving way. There came a lessening
of school hours, and new institutions sprang up.
Four-day, three:day and even two-day a week
afternoon schools were coming into vogue.
Nowadays, while there has been an increase
in the enrollment in the Jewish education sys-
tem, it is mainly because of the Sunday school
—the one-day-a-week course of study.
The Directory cites 1950 figures to indicate
that Jewish enrollment is now at 266,609 as
compared to 45,000 in 1900. Withstanding the
increase in Jewish population, there has been
almost a 200 percent increase in the enroll-
ment in Jewish schools.
However, almost 50 percent of the students
covered in the 1950 figure, are educated in
Sunday schools. Almost 131,000 students now
receive an average of only two hours instruc-
tion per week. Previously, a minimum of 10
hours had been low, with the early Talmud
Torah having an average of 20 hours of week-
ly instruction.
The educational picture, however, is far from
aiscouraging. The Jewish community through
ARTHUR H. V ANDENBERGE IN MEMORIAM
60—THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, April 20, 1951
Tribute to a Great Statesman
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Arthur H. Vandenburg was one of the outstanding personali-
ties of our time. Scholarly, well-informed, an excellent speaker, a
brilliant organizer, he was held in high regard even by his severest
critics. Few men in the United States Senate measured up to him
in stature in. the last 25 years.
It is no wonder that as late as
November 1948 President Tru-
man was quoted as stating that
he regarded him as the ablest
Republican in the Senate.
From his background as a
newspaper editor and publisher
—a position to which he rose
from the coveted beginning as a
good reporter for his Grand
Rapids paper—he acquired a
passion for information on every
subject with which he was deep-
ly concerned. As a result, he
never committed himself on any
issue unless he possessed all
available facts in order to be in
position to speak with a meas-
ure of authority. He was a vol-
uminous corresp-ondent. He nev-
er failed to respond to commu-
nications—whether they were
from critics or supporters.
Arthur H. Vandenberg
More than one biography
could be written of his life: Every issue he was involved in offers
material for a study of his attitudes, his character, his ability to
cope with situations. In most cases he rose to great heights in
dealing with situations affecting our country.
This Commentator knew him intimately and is in position to
say that a full-length biography could be written to describe
Senator Vandenberg's relationships with Jews and Jewish issues,
with particular reference to Zionism, Palestine and Israel. Our
first acquaintance with him was at a meeting of the Men's Club
of Temple Beth El at which he captured the hearts of his Detroit
audience with his eloquence and forthright expressions on matters
of state. It was in the late 1920s. A friendship began in 1930' when
we first interested him in the Zionist cause. At that time the Pro-
Palestine Federation of America was the active Christian philo-
Zionist movement _ in this country which functioned under the
brilliant leadership of the eminent Socialist, the late Charles
EdWard • Russell.
Out of the friendship for Zionism grew Senator Vandenberg's
the years and more so in the past few years, has
become more aware of its obligation to Jewish interest in other. matters—his anti-Nazi stand, his aid in efforts
education. Through central welfare agencies— to liberalize legislation for the admission of displaced persons, the
usually the Jewish Welfare Federations— more leading role he played in securing the ratification of the appoint-
ment of David Lilienthal as head of the Atomic Energy Commis-
aid is forthcoming for educational purposes.
sion in opposition to forces which he believed were anti-Semitic,
In Detroit, as late as 1940, $44,485 (or 10 his
help in individual cases involving people who sought refuge
percent) was allocated to education. That in this
country, his sponsorship of a resolution in support of Jewish
figure has been rising steadily, and in 1949,
from a local agencies' budget of $1,143,860, aspirations in Palestine.
• In its entirety, the Vandenburg Story vis-a-vis Zionism and
- over 14 percent, or $162,244., was expended for
Israel was 4ot always rosy. There were times when we were
local educational facilities.
- Jewish education is making advances, but, impatient about his attitudes. Tense situations arose from time to
according to AAJE, improvement must be made time. Most of the time his hesitancy in acting in our behalf, as
in two all-important facets — teacher training member (later chairman) of the Senate Foreign Relations Corn-
and establishment of local central agencies to mitti3e, were due to pressure from the White House, the State and
coordinate and direct the aims of the Jewish War Departments. When President Truman gave speedy recogni-
tion to the Jewish State, he was the first to commend it as the
school system.
"logical and proper" step - to take.
Of the importance of teacher training little
It would take volumes to describe our experiences with the
should have to be said; however, -there is much great Michigan Senator. For more than 15 years it was our duty,
to be desired from teachers - today. This depress- at time on an hour's notice, to go to Washington to consult him
ing fact .eminates from two sources—the disre- on Zionist matters. It became necessary for this Commentator to
gard or lack of - interest on the part of parents keep in touch with him on the Palestinian issue at San Fran-
and the community and the meager salaries paid cisco, in 1945, during the formative stages of the international
Jewish teachers.
world organization whose charter he helped frame; to keep in
In the United States there are but 10
schools expressly designed to produce Hebrew
and Jewish school teachers. Nearly all are lo-
cated in the East.
The small communities have their teachers,
but they are lacking in knowledge, not only of
their subject matter, but in their ability to main-
tain interest and in proper methods of teaching.
Graduates of seven of the ten teacher. train-
ing schools are automatically licensed by AAJE.
A license means that they have been taught
exact methods of pedagogy, know their subject
matter, are qualified to teach youngsters and
have a common background in Jewish lore and
tradition from which to teach.
A central agency for Jewish education, to
which all licensed teachers would belong, is ad-
vocated by Leo L. Honor, professor of education
at Dropsie College, in a special article in the
Directory. Such an agency would insure a coor-
dinated local program. Although there exist to-
day schools of various delineations — Orthodox,
Conservative, Reform and Yiddish — they can
'still be brought together under a unified system.
A sample program which might be adopted
would include education on a consistently high
plane, inter-group relations, improving educa-
tional goals through the betterment of curricu-
la, experimentation, organization and techniques
and the implementation of extra curricular craft,
social and cultural activities.
AAJE has accomplished much toward stand-
ardization of Jewish education wherever given
the opportunity. It might be pointed out that
Detroit has no such central agency in its edu-
cation setup.
The closest Detroit comes to having such an
agency is in an association of schools which
the Directory lists as the six branches of the
United Hebrew Schools. Its functions as de-
scribed in the Directory are to conduct a high
school and teacher-training courses and pro-
vide intensive supervision of all affiliated
schools.
In addition to Detroit the following 15 com-
munities in MiChigan with functioning school
systems are listed in the Directory: Alpena, Ann
Arbor, Battle Creek, Bay City, Benton Harbor,
Flint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing, Mt.
Clemens, Muskegon, Pontiac, Port Huron, Sagi-
naw, and Wyandotte.
touch with him when he represented the United States in Paris,
at the sessions of the United Nations, in January of 1946, and
constantly to keep him informed about the Jewish position in
matters involving the future of our harassed people in Europe
and in Arabic countries and the development of the State of
Israel.
The historian will be amazed at the mass of information that
came to us from his desks—wherever he may have been—in Wash-
ington,- in San Francisco, in Paris, in Grand Rapids. There is an
especially interesting note describing his conference, at his Wash-.
ington office, with David Ben-Gurion, on Nov. 21, 1946. Even Ben- .
Gurion was wrong in an important matter involving the Arabs
at that time. There are messages describing his reactions to Zion-
ist leaders. And there are reports about the progress of his efforts
in behalf of a Jewish Palestine in the United States Senate. A wire
dated Dec. 12, 1945, informed us that "Foreign Relations Com-
mittee this morning ordered favorable report on Palestine reso-
lution which seems to be in satisfactory form," to which was ap-
pended the information that "only opposing vote was that of
Chairman Connally."
Since it is impossible, in one column, even to scratch the sur-
face in commenting upon the brilliant career of Senator Vanden-
berg, with special reference to his Jewish attitudes, your Commen-
tator desires to make note of only one other matter—involving
a local item:
Less . than two years ago, the Morris Schavers, desiring to
bring to this country the sole survivor of an entire family, five-
year-old Itzhak who now is their adopted son, met with obstacles.
Itzhak could have been considered Polish-born. In that case he
would have to wait 12 years to be admitted to this country from
Canada where he was brought by the Schavers. Senator Van-
denberg promptly introduced a bill to declare Itzhak of French
origin. Congressman John D. Dingell introduced a similar meas-
ure in the House of Representatives. Both bills were adopted by
the two Houses of Congress and were signed by President Tru-
man. That act is on record to the credit of Senator Vandenberg
and Congressman Dingell, as an indication of their humani-
tarian interests.
The good acts of Senator Vandenberg were multiplied a thou-
sand times - by his kindly intercessions. He was, indeed, a Sonsera-
tive Republican—especially from the Democrats' point of view. But
when he was faced with issues that called for human considera-
tions he rose above party politics. In all the y e a r s that
we conferred with him, he never—not once—showed the slightest
interest in this Commentator's political preferences. We were
concerned with grave matters involving the security of the Jewish
people, and we stuck to this point. On this score he was unselfish
and always honorable. If only for this reason alone—which is one
of many—we honor his memory as we honored and respected him
in his lifetime.