THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS -- Friday, October 17, 1958-40
Continuing the Search for 'Meaning'
Jewish Education: A Two-Fold Challenge
By ALBERT ELAZAR
S uperintendent
United Hebrew Schools
Over the years, the United
Hebrew Schools has developed
a system of Jewish education
for our community that extends
from nursery school through
the Midrasha, College of Jewish
Studies. However, as with all
f or m al education systems, a
point of termination is ulti-
mately reached.
As in other communities, a
considerable number of stu-
dents leave their formal He
brew studies long before that
point of ultimate termination,
many after Bar Mitzvah or grad-
uation f r o m the elementary
school. Others remain with us
in the advanced departments.
but ultimately, they too, reach
the point where they must
primarily rely upon their own
resources if they desire to c3n-
tinue with their Jewish studies.
As we all know, it is an im-
portant part of Jewish tradi-
tion for every Jew to continue
learning throughout his life.
Indeed, our tradition has always
made provision for each indi-
vidual to carry on a program
of studies independently. Our
teachers and rabbis have always
been senior partners in study
rather than sole sources of
knowledge. During the days of
his formal schooling, each Jew
was trained to study the basic
Jewish texts by himself. He
learned Humash and Rash
Talmud and its commentaries
and the like, well enough to be
able to continue studying alone
every day and in a group • at
least once a week.
Many of us remember fathers
and grandfathers who studied
in a Chevra Mishnayos or a
Chevra Shas. Even the idea of
reading the weekly Torah por-
tion in the synagogue was to
stimulate people to continually
review their study of the Torah.
One of the goals of Jewish edu-
cation in America must be to
revitalize this tradition of con-
tinued self-learning, to make
the Jewish people once again
the Am Hasefer, the people of
the Book.
Today the task is even
greater than before, since as
with all peoples in the modern
world, our view of Jewish civil-
ization has expanded beyond
the sacred text to include his
tory, literature, the arts, philos-
ophy and other varied fields of
human interest. Unfortunately,
too much of Jewish education
has been devoted to transmit-
ting only religious rites which,
vital as they are in the totality
the heritage of our past and the
ability to absorb and extend
it in order to find meaning for
our continued existence.
This means that we must
equip every one of our students
with the ability to delve into
the sources of -Jewish civiliza-
tion and the desire to do so
during his entire span of life.
The school program already has
been geared to enable the stu-
this goal? In the first place the
teacher to whom we entrust our
students must be trained not
only for classroom teaching but
to constantly bear in mind that
we aim to develop pupils who
will have an inner desire for
self-teaching. The teacher must
have an awareness that it is
incumbent upon her or him to
help develop a searching mind
in the child, a desire to delve
Seek Gains in Secondary Education
By LEON KAY
Chairman, Jewish Education Month
As chairman of Jewish Education Month
for 1958, I want to express my deep appre-
ciation to Philip Slomovitz, editor of the
Jewish News for dedicating this edition to
the advancement of Jewish education in our
community.
During the past decade, thousands of Jew-
ish parents in Detroit have become aware
of the necessity of giving their children a
sound Jewish education. The splendid growth
of Jewish education in Detroit has been
made possible through the support of the
Jewish Welfare Federation.
The United Hebrew Schools, the educa-
tional arm of the Federation, has in the
year 1957-1958 seen a continued growth in
its schools. The various branches of the
Schools, as well as its affiliated schools, the
Sholem Aleichem and the Workmen's Circle
Schools, have advanced to new levels of
organization and enrollment. Further growth
may be expected in the coming year.
However, it has become increasingly evi-
dent to the leaders of our community that,
while the raising of the standards of our
well-established elementary school will have
to remain a task of major importance, the
time has come for a further, . historic step
in the Jewish cultural life of Detroit: We
are referring to the insight that Jewish
of Jewish life, tend to become
arid when preserved without
the other elements of our civil-
ization.
Jewish education in America
is thus faced with a two-fold
problem. On the one hand, we
must transmit the customs and
traditions of our people as the
foundations of continued Jew-
ish existence. However, we must
go further. We must transmit
dent to participate in home,
synagogue and Jewish commun-
ity life. In addition, the school
program already provides for
the child the opportunity for
Jewish self-expression and par-
ticipation in Jewish experiences
through various . activities and
holiday celebrations. Now our
focus must be on Jewish self-
learning and self-development.
How can we hope to achieve
The Tragedy of Bar Mitzvah
By MOVSAS GOLDOFTAS
Director, United Jewish Folk School
There is a considerable increase in
enrollment in all types of He b r e w-
Jewish schools in the United States
according to reports by the Bureau of
Jewish Education in New York and
other communities.
It is a great satisfaction to hear of
the progress Jewish education is
making nationally, and it is especially
gratifying to learn about the advance-
ment of Jewish education in our own
community. The number of children
enrolled in the United Jewish Folk
School has also increased considerably
this year. Nevertheless, there are many
problems with which we are con-
fronted and the community should be
aware of them.
It is pitiful to see 10 and 11 year
old children brought in to be enrolled
in the first grade. When a child, who
is already in the 5th or 6th grade of
public school has to start on the level
of a first grader in Hebrew school, it
is inevitable that the course will not
be interesting enough, the child will
be bored and will eventually drop out.
To avoid such a situation, the United .
Jewish Folk School does not accept
children in that age group as begin-
ners. Jewish education should begin
at an early age and not be ended
with Bar Mitzvah.
Another problem is Bar Mitzvah
itself. Bar Mitzvah is one of the most-
important factors in a boy's education
in this community, yet we are ashamed
to say that if not for Bar Mitivah,'
the total number of students in all
types of Hebrew-Jewish schools would
have been considerably less than it
is today. On account of Bar Mitzvah,
survival is not possible without Jewish
scholarship.
Early this year, the Kasle High School
and Midrasha Building was dedicated. For
the first time we have a center of higher
Jewish learning in our city. The Hebrew
High School and the Midrasha stand on the
threshhOld of growth and development. Prof.
Shlomo Marenof has just been appointed the
new dean of the Midrasha and the principal
of the High School. •
Prof. Marenof, - who for the past ten years
was professor of biblical studies at Brandeis
University, brings a wealth of enrichment
to Detroit secondary education. Dr. Naphtali
Wiesner also has come to Detroit to serve
as educational consultant, as• well as a mem-
ber of the staff of the High School and
Midrasha. In addition, the faculty has been
enriched by Joshua Be'ery, of Israel, who
will teach in the Midrasha and High School.
Also housed in this building is the Mit-
tleshul which is showing- progress and
growth. A special class for intensive study
of ten hours per week has also been Initiated
in the High School. The Library of the
United Hebrew Schools is constantly being
expanded to serve the needs of the elemen-
tary, High School and Midrasha students.
With good supervision, with a devoted
teaching staff and with understanding par-
ents and the willing students, we can look
ahead to a year of Brocha.
a boy must attend at least four years
and learn something about Jewishness.
When it comes to Jewish Education
for girls, the situation is much worse.
Very often parents wait until the girl
is 12 to 13 years old. They also feel
that Sunday school education is
What education can you expect a
young mother to pass on to her child
when she doesn't have any knowledge
of Judiasm herself! Today we have a
better understanding of the historical
request from Ezra Hasofer (the scribe)
after returning from exile (Bowel) and
finding mixed families with ignorant
mothers, he sent them back to their
native homes. Ezra had forseen the
future of such a generation. Where do
we find an Ezra in our day to alarm
the parents not to discriminate when
it comes to Jewish education for their
own daughters?
Another problem is the He b r e w
dialect. The United Jewish Folk School
has accepted the Sephardic dialect, the
way Hebrew is spoken in Israel. Other
schools are using the Ashkenazic dia-
lect in order to be in line with the .
synagogues. Hasn't the time arrived
to have unity and less c o n f u s i o
between the Israeli youth and ours?
Educators and teachers should give
more thought to a unified system of
the Hebrew language. Couldn't • the
Haf torah be chanted in Sephardic?
There are many, many more impor-
tant problems to be discussed, but as
we are limited for space, we wish to
express our thanks to the Jewish News
for the fine tradition to discuss Jew-
ish Education during Education Month
and to permit educators of the com-
munity to express their views and
ideas.
further than what can be ac-
complished in the classroom.
It is, therefore, of utmost im-
portance that Teachers' Train-
ing Institutions also bear this
in mind when arranging their
curriculum.
The success of such a pro-
gram depends not only on the
classroom teacher but also on
the librarian with whom the
student comes in contact in an
informal study atmosphere. The
librarian must be one who not
only checks books in and out,
but one who can serve as a
counsellor to the inquisitive
student and as an inspiration to
the student whose desire for
reading must yet be developed.
The teacher and the librarian
must work hand in hand to
acquaint the student with the
classics of our people and to
introduce the student to the
various periodicals and, in gen-
eral, to Jewish source s. In
addition to providing the stu-
dents with books for reading,
the library must serve as the
media for acquainting the child
with Jewish music by providing
records, and also, by focusing
attention on art objects, per-
haps plant a seed in the mind
of the child for introducing
Jewish art to the home.
For such a library program,
we must have a specially
trained personnel who them-
selves have a keen awareness of
what is meant by Jewish living
and Jewish learning. With this
in mind, we of the United He-
brew Schools are training sev•
eral of our High School and
Midrasha students to serve as
librarians in our main library
and in our various branches.
We also find that because of
a dearth of self-learning com-
paratively little new material
is being added in the field of
Jewish literature except for the
written word coming from
Israel. Through the revitiliza-
tion of self-learning, it is hoped
that we will also provide fertile
ground for the Jewish author
in America.
Jewish Education Month pro-
vides the Jewish educator with
an opportunity for a "cheshbon
Hanefesh." There is no doubt
that the road in Jewish educa-
tion is still a long one to trav-
erse. However, we take heart
in the fact that the organized
Jewish community, such as we
have in Detroit, is aware of the
fact that to maintain good edu-
tional institutions one must
have funds, personnel and
above all opportunity for ex-
perimenting.
Need for the All-Day School
. By RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS. •
Principal, Yeshivath Beth Yehudah
The last decades have seen a great
deal of progress in the field of Jew-
ish education in this country. Bureaus
of Jewish education and networks of
.afternoon schools have sprung up in
the major cities; a veritable flood of
schoolbooks a n d juvenile literature
has been let loose; adult education
institutes and community center pro-
grams have developed. And yet, there
is good reason for a certain scepticism
as to the results of these efforts.
From time to time we read of polls
conducted among Jewish college stu-
dents; they uniformly reveal a pro-
found ignorance of our Jewish heri-
tage, and a profound estrangement
froM traditional Jewish values: The
Talmud Torahs witness the yearly
"flight from learning" of the children
that have reached Bar Mitzvah age
and are satisfied with a sprinkling of
Jewish knowledge.
The Sunday School is still 'offered
by many synagogues, and accepted by
many parents, as capable of providing
an adequate schooling for our young-
sters. There is involved, in all this, a
failure to face up seriously . and re-
sponsibly to the needs of a Jewish
education — a failure which can be
understood ; but not excused, in the
light of our great respect for Material
success and our *condescension toward
the scholarly and spiritual:personality.•
Fortunately, we are witnessing a new
interest and . seriousness which augur
well for the future of Jewish educa-
tion—and therefore of Jewish life—in
this country. I would like to single out
three directions in which this awaken-
ing shows itself:
1. The demand for more knowledge.
It is being more and more recognized
that an adequate Jewish education
must prepare the youngster for life.
No education can do that if it stops
at thirteen or fourteen, or if it centers
around juvenile textbooks and play-
projectS, to the exclusion of our great
classics.
2. The desire for guidance toward
a positive Jewish life. People are
beginning to recognize that the read-
ing of Hebrew, or even the ability to
speak it, do not mean that a youngster
will identify himself with the spiritual
traditions of our people.
3. The acceptance of the Day School
as a legitimate and effective tool for
maximum Jewish education. The prac-
tical advantages of an integrated sys-
tem 'of education and the recognition
that the cry of "separatism" is com-
pletely unjustified, have brought the
triumph of the Day School in almost
all major Jewish communities. En-
rollment has rocketed.
The founders of Yeshivah Beth Ye-
hudah emerge today as farsighted
pioneers of these trends. They estab-
lished the institution on the twin
pillars of intensive study and tradi-
tional loyalties. Their success is not
only evident in the growth and vitality
of the school but, above all; in its
products — the close to a hundred
graduates who are at present pur-
suing advanced • Jewish • studies in
higher institutions of learning all over
the country, and the many more who
have emerged as communal leaders
in business and the professions. It is
our hope that the pattern which they
have set will serve as an inspiration
to the community as a whole.