The Place of Honor to Jewish Education. in Detroit

DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-8

Friday. September 241,

19$4

The History of Our Expanding School Systems

By MORRIS GARVETT
Chairman, Education Division,
Jewish Welfare Federation
Formal Jewish education in the United
. States generally, and more specifically
in Detroit, has centered around the
development of the Jewish school as a
communal institution. Other forces also
have played significant roles as agents
of Jewish instruction. Among these have
been the home, the YMHA and Center
movement, organizations like the 66-
year-old Jewish Publication Society, the
American Association for Jewish Educa-
tion, the Commission on Jewish Educa-
tion of the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations and the Hebrew Sabbath
School Union.
Additional vital forces have been the
Jewish camps, teachers colleges, rabbini-
cal seminaries and other institutions for
higher Jewish learning. When the de-
tailed history of Jewish education is
written, these will deservedly receive full
treatment.
It is a story in itself how the growth of
Detroit's educational systems have been
affected_ by the three major studies of
local education made here in the past
by Isaac Berkson in 1923, Ben Rosen in
1930 and the famous Detroit Self-Study
of 1944-45 under the guidance of Israel
B. Rappoport.
I am indebted to Samuel Cohen, the
able and devoted secretary of the Educa-
tion Division and Administrative Assist-
ant of the Jewish Welfare Federation,
who did the basic research in gathering
material on which this article is based.

Our Early Schools

Jewish settlers in America reached this
country with a wealth of cultural tradi-
tion which was the result of generations
of common religious, educational and
ethical background s. This tradition
showed differences in form and intensity
and was colored by individual experi-
ences, but it can be seen that each wave
of immigration gave a special interpre-
tation to the common educational ideal.
One of our oldest Jewish traditions is
that education is considered a responsi-
bility of the Jewish community. This
fact is evidenced by the history of the
period of the Babylonian exile: Philo and
Josephus tell us that by the time of the
fall of the second Temple universal in-
struction was obligatory for boys.
The earliest reported Jewish school in
America antedates the public schools.
The Yeshivah Minhat Areb, established
in 1730 by the Sephardic Congregation
Shearith Israel in New York, appears to
be the first Jewish school on the Ameri-
can record. The curriculum in this
school, as in most Jewish and non-
Jewish schools of the early colonial pe-
riod, was religious but included secular
studies in the three R's. During the early
decades of the Nineteenth Century, the
increase in Jewish population by the
large influx of German Jews led to the
establishment of new congregations
which organized full - d a y religious
schools in Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati,
and elsewhere.
In Detroit, formal Jewish education
had its start soon afer 1850 when the
Beth El Society (the present Temple
Beth El) was formed for the purpose,
among others, of providing Jewish edu-
cation to its member families. The re-
sulting religious school was a day-school
in which secular subjects were also
taught. This type of development was a
natural response to the American scene
of the time. The free, secular public
schools were yet to come. Protestant and
Catholic groups had also established
their own day schools.

The Sunday School Movement

On the whole, Jewish education dur-
ing the first half of the 19th Century
was limited in content. Religious educa-
tion was quite often supplied by the
home, sometimes by private teachers or
melamdim or in supplementary congre-
gregational schools. There was consider-
able criticism of the prevailing low
standards of
Jewish educa-
tion and the ac-
tivity of men
like Isaac Les-
ser helped en-
courage the
Sunday school
movement in the
Unit ed States.
Rebecca Gratz
founded the first
Sun day school
in 1838 to pro-
vide "free in-
s t oti on. in
is Jewish history
4^1 and related sub-
Rebecca Gratz
'jects to the Jew-
ish children of Philadelphia."

were instrumental at the turn of the
century in developing the Hebraic, na-
tionalist philosophy which holds sway to
the present day in the Talmud Torahs
Dr. Samson Benderly must be mentioned
as the person who profoundly influenced
the Talmud Torah movement in America.
His efforts in Baltimore and New York in
"meeting the needs of American Jewish
youth" and in championing the Ivrit
b'Ivrit method in the early 1900s have
left their imprint on many communities.

years. The roster of leadership of the
United Hebrew Schools during the
formative period and later contains well-
known names, such as. Esser Rabinowitz,
Rabbi A. M. Hershman, Louis Duscoff,
David Robinson, Maurice Zackheim,
Robert Mama, Jacob Friedberg, Aaron
M. Pregerson, Hyman Goldman, Judge
Harry B. Keidan, Rudolph Zuieback,
David W. Simons, Louis Robinson, Harry
Cohen, Joseph H. Ehrlich, Harry Sosen-
sky, and many others.

The modernizing of the Hebrew school
was experienced in Detroit in this period.
It is reported that in 1906 a small group
of lovers of Hebrew, not satisfied with
the mechanistic translation method used
in Detroit's Jewish schools, organized an
Ivrit b'Ivrit school, the first of its kind
in the Middle West. This was the Colum-
bia St. Talmud Torah. One of the pio-
neering proponents of the modern Tal-
mud Torah was Bernard Isaacs, of De-
troit's United Hebrew Schools, who by
1910 had gained distinction in New York
for his use of the Ivrit b'Ivrit method.

Congregational Schools

Near the turn of the century, as East-
ern European immigrants increased the
Jewish population in Detroit, the Tal-
mud Torah Institute was created as a
communal Hebrew school. It had a
week-day department, later known as
the Hebrew Free School, and a religious
school which met on Sunday. The In-
stitute later became the Division Street
Talmud Torah. The United Jewish
MORRIS GARVETT
Charities, forerunner of the Jewish
The Sunday school idea spread and Welfare Federation, gave its first sup-
pOrt to Jewish education in 1900 by
there were almost 100 such schools by
granting
permission to the Hebrew Free
1880. A number of Sunday schools were
formerly the all-day schools mentioned School to use its meeting rooms.
A few years later the UJC was granted
above which had changed in character,
for between 1860-1880 the public school permission by the Talmud Torah Associ-
idea had already struck roots, and Jew- ation to use rooms in the latter's build-
ish parents began sending their children ing for meeting purposes. This was- prior
to them. The all-day schools, which had to the construction of the Hannah
combined secular and religious instruc- Schloss Building in 1903. In the decade
tion, disappeared and were replaced by 1910-20 Talmud Torahs were located on
the two-day a week Sabbath and Sunday Delmar, 29th and Michigan, Columbia at
schools where it was considered adequate Rivard and elsewhere. These schools
to limit lessons to religious education. served small neighborhoods and many
The time when the all-day school flour- were affiliated with a synagogue, such
ished varied from city to city and depend- as the Ahavas Achim_ School on Delmar
ed upon when the German Jews settled Street.
there and when public schools began to
be accepted there. In Chicago and. Cin- The United Hebrew Schools
In 1920 the Talmud Torahs on Division
cinnati, for example, they prospered in
the '50s and '60s and closed in the '60s Street and Wilkins Street were consoli-
and '70s. Detroit's Beth El day-school dated. The latter school had opened the
which began around 1850 discontinued previous year under the leadership of
its secular department in 1864 and held Bernard Isaacs, and was an immediate
its religious classes on Sabbath and Sun- success. It was a large school of
day. About 25 years ago a survey of Jew- over 600 children mostly attending after
ish schools in Detroit found about 2,000 public school, the others being enrolled
children enrolled in congregational Sun- in the first Hebrew kindergarten in De-
troit and in the parochial department
day schools
-
were Max Gor-
don a n d - Solo-
Talmud Torahs
mon Kasdan.
In 1880 the Jewish population in the
The merged
United States numbered 250,000. By the
school of the
time the main flood of the Eastern Eu-
Division Street
ropean immigration had arrived, 30 years
and Wilkins
later, about 2,000,000 Jews were here. The
Street Talmud
earlier settlers, mostly German Jews well
Torahs was
established in their communities, made
known a s the
strenuous efforts to assist the new ar-
United Hebrew
rivals. Schools were set up to "Ameri-
Schools. and in
canize" these refugees from oppression
1921 the Ohel
and in many places this process was seen
Moshe School at
as an effort to wean the East European
29th and Michi-
immigrant away from his Old World
gan joined' this
customs. The newcomers eagerly accept-
school system.
ed the American public school for their
Orthodox Jews
children but many neglected their Jew-
played a large
ish education. Melamdim dispensed a
part • in estab-
limited knowledge of prayer reading and
,:., lishing and pro-
Bar Mitzvah preparation and the after-
Rabinowitz
moting UHS.
noon "Cheder," ill-equipped and unsani-
tary, often run by unqualified men, led
From its very beginning, the United
to further deterioriation. The result was Hebrew Schools was conscious of the
that in a few years, the Eastern Euro- population movement- of Jews from one
pean Jews adopted the Talmud Torah neighborhood to another. In 1923 the
which in the eighties and nineties be- Kirby Center at Kirby and St. Antoine
came a permanent part of the American was built and the Division and Farns-
Jewish educational scene.
worth schools were closed. A school at
Talmud Torahs for generations were Philadelphia and Byron was built in 1924,
the communal schools provided for the followed by more facilities at Brush and
Minnesota, Parkside near Fenkell, Tux-
children of the -
edo and Holmur, and Lawton and Tyler.
poor. In America
In Ben B. Rosen's Survey of the United
they became
Hebrew Schools in 1930, enrollment of
semi- communal
over 1700 pupils in nine schools is report-
institutions
ed. "The United Hebrew Schools," he
whose leader-
stated, one of the pioneer organiza-
ship was drawn
tions in the direction of stimulating a
from the neigh-
community program for Jewish educa-
borhood and the
tion . . . no friend of Jewish education
wider commun-
can question the wisdom of having es-
ity. Because
tablished a central agency for the pro-
these schools
motion of intensive Jewish education in
were community
the city of Detroit."
supported, they
were able to at-
,In 1926 the United Hebrew Schools
tract enlighten-
became a charter agency of the newly
ed and learned
formed Jewish Welfare- Federation, a
people as teach-
natural step for an institution which,
ers and lay lead-
was entirely community supported. It
ers. It was these
WaS Federation's assAtance that. enabled
leaders who Bernard Isaacs
the Schoo to wea

-

The Talmud Torah movement through-
out the country reached its peak in the,
1920s. In some cities its importance be-(
gan to wane with the movement of Jews
to newer neighborhoods. Many new syn-
agogues at this time also provided Jewish
schools for their members. These schools
were modeled' on the Talmud Torah ex-
cept that the programs were less inten-
sive. For a while these congregations
could not or would not undertake the
financial burden of properly conducting
a week-day school and standards re-
garding the qualifications of teachers
were lowered. Some parents, however,
found even this attenuated form of in-
tensive education too intensive and reg-
istered their children in Sunday schools.
The loss in registration of the communal
Hebrew Talmud Torahs in such cities
and the growth of congregational schools
should properly not be interpreted as
evidence of a growing interest in a
religious emphasis, for the religious em-
phasis in the Talmud Torah was fre-
quently greater than in the congrega-
tional school.
In Detroit such a decline of Talmud
Torahs did not occur, undoubtedly be-
cause the United Hebrew Schools was
able to move with the Jewish popula-
tion and provide school facilities with
professionally qualified personnel in most
sections of new Jewish settlement. Fed-
eration's role in financing the United
Hebrew Schools system through its en-
tire history was another factor.
• The Shaarey Zedek Congregation for
some years has been sponsoring a week-(
school for its member families in
addition to a Sunday school program. (
This Congregation has a long and ex-
emplary history in Jewish education in
Detroit that goes back a half century.
Its afternoon school for a time was
discontinued when the synagogue moved
from Brush. St. to its present building.
In the last few years, however, many
congregations have been pleased to in-
vite the United Hebrew Schools to pro-
vide the Jewish education for the entire
neighborhood in school facilities furnish-
ed by the congregation. The solidity and
strength of the United Hebrew Schools
and its high standards are also the rea-
sons that Detroit has not felt as keenly
as other large communities the neces-
sity of founding ,a formal Bureau of
Jewish Education to instigate progress
and foster minimum standards for Jew-
ish schools. Detroit thus feels that it
has secured most of the advantages of
a central bureau without actually cre-
ating one and thereby is condu,cting apt
experiment which in time may have
value for other communities.

Yeshivoth Beth Yehudah

Jewish all-day schools did not thrive
during the early years of this century„
Immediately after World War I there
was only one such school in existence
outside of New York City, where there
were four with an enrollment of less
than 1,000.
Most of the presently existing all-day
schools and departments have been
established since 1940. Yeshivath Beth
Yehudah of Detroit traces its history as
an afternoon school back to 1916 when
a special class was organized by Rabbi
Yelnidah L, Levin in the Talmud Torah
of the Farnsworth St. Synagogue. The
Yeshivah remained in this location for
seven years, during which time the
Talmud Torah itself joined the United
Hebrew Schools. From its inception the
orientation' of the Yeshivah was more
Talmud-centered than that of the Tal-
mud Torah. The Yeshivah moved with
the shift of Jewish population to the
12th Street district, to Elmhurst, and
finally in the early forties to its present
building on Dexter and Cortland. In 1930,
when it was located at Pingree and 12th,
the Yeshivah\ had an enrollment of 35;
15 years later it had grown to 325 in its
afternoon school and 112 students were
enrolled in the all-day school, organized
in a surge of interest for this type of
education. '

Yiddish Schools

The Yiddish secular school also have
a respected tradition of serv. e to thou-
tin