tv'i Detroit's First Communal Talmud Torah Program Outlined for Annual
By IRVING I. KATZ
Book Fair at Center, Nov. 21-23
The history of Jewish educa-
tion in Detroit goes back to
1850 when Temple Beth El
Michigan's first Jewish congre-
gation, was founded by 12 immi-
grant German-Jewish families,
during the period known • i in
American Jewish history as "the
second wave of immigration
from Germany" (The first wave
of immigration was fromSpain).
From 1850 to 1869 Beth El
conducted a "Hebrew-German-
English School," an All-Day
School where the children re-
ceived their secular as well as
religious education. In 1869, the
All-Day School was discontinued
and a congregational religious
school opened, first meeting
HYMAN BUCHHALTER
twice weekly after public school
hours and on Saturday and Sun- Hebrew language and literature,
day and later oh Sunday morn- Jewish history and religion
ings only. Today Temple Beth among the young."
El conducts its religious school
The first sessions of the
on Saturday and Sunday morn- school were held at a modest
ings.
cottage on Division Street. A
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, lot was soon purchased at 94
organized in 1861, also con- Division, corner Beaubien, and
ducted for a number of years a beautiful brick building was
an All-Day School. In the 1870s. erected. The school consisted
however, this school was dis- of class rooms, assembly hall
continued and the children were and library. The principal con-
sent to the public schools for tributors to the building were
their secular education and to Mrs. Kate Roth, $3,000; Samuel
private Hebrew teachers for N. Ginsburg, $1,500; .the Daugh-
their Hebrew instruction.
ters of Zion (Ladies Auxiliary
When Rabbi Aaron M. of the Talmud Torah, organized
Ashinsky came to Detroit in April 5, 1899), $614; David W.
1889 as spiritual leader of Simons, $400; and Abraham
Congregations Shaarey Zedek, Jacobs, $300.
Beth Israel and Beth Jacob,
In addition to the Tal-
a Cheder (Hebrew school)
mud Torah, which was ex-
was opened.
clusively for boys, a co-educa-
In 1880 Detroit had a popu- tional Sunday School was
lation of 116,340 which included
opened. The Sunday School
665 Jews. In the next 20 years of Congregation Shaarey
the Jewish population rose to Zedek amalgamated with this
5,000 due principally to the in- Sunday School.
flux of East European Jews who
The first principal of the
fled the Russian pogroms. By. Division Street Talmud Torah
1900 Detroit had five Orthodox was Dr. Jacob B. Baruch (father
congregations (Shaarey Zedek, of Theodore Baruch), an or-
Bnai Israel, Beth Jacob, Beth dained rabbi and one of the
David and Beth Abraham), and earliest Jewish physicians in
one Reform Temple (Beth El.) Detroit. The first president of
In March, 1897, the Orthodox the Talmud Torah was Samuel
Jewish community of Detroit, N. Ginsburg (grandfather of
principally the members of Mrs. Julian H. Krolik); an im-
Shaarey Zedek, joined forces migrant from Poland and one
and opened the first modern of the most prominent Jews of
Communal Talmud Torah. This Detroit at that time.
afternoon daily Hebrew school
According to filo, American
started out under the name of Jewish Year Book for 1899-
"Talmud Torah Institute" but 1900, there were 150 pupils in
was referred to also as "Hebrew the Talmud' Torah and 300 in
Free School," "City Talmud the Sunday School. The schools
Torah" and "Big Talmud Tor- were supported by 125 con-
ah". The name by which it is tributing . members and by the
best remembered is "The Di- Daughters of Zion of which
vision Street Talmud Torah" Mrs. Joseph Rosenzweig was
because it was located all the first President. The annual
through its existence on Divi- budget of the schools was
sion Street.
$3,500, which included a Trade
According to the Jewish School Department for boys,
American, Detroit's first Eng-
Sessions in the Talmud Torah
lish-Jewish weekly published were held daily for three hours,
from 1901 to 1910, the object beginning at 4 p.m. The .Daugh-
of the Talmud Torah was "to ters of Zion served food to the
disseminate knowledge of the children during the winter
•
Top Speakers at Scientific Parley
Several distnguished
leaders O'Meara, of the . U.S. Interior
I
of science and industry will ad- Department's office of saline
dress the second annual Con- water.
ference on Science and Indus-
Sponsored by the American
try for Israel and the Middle Technion Society, which sup-
East, to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 1, ports the Haifa Institute of
in New York.
Technology (Technion), the con-
- Among the principal speakers ference will be attended by del.
will be Jacob Mazer, chairman egates from all parts • of the
of Hudson Pulp and Paper country:
Corp.; David Deitz, science ed-
Papers will be delivered and
itor of the Scripps-Howard news- will be :made :available--to the
papers; Jacob Sensibar, world- conference:to further :the tech-
famed engineer who drained nological development of Israel
the Huleh marshes; and J. W. and her .neighbors. •
Mazer
Deitz
O'Meara
Sensibar
DR. JACOB B. BARUCH
season and refreshments during
the summer season.
The teachers in the Talmud
Torah, besides Dr. Baruch,
were A. Buch and J. Blumen-
thal. The Sunday School staff,
all volunteers, consisted of
Bella Goldman, who was named
principal of the Sunday School
in 1900, Mary Goldman, S.
Simon, J. Levinson, J. Harris,
Mary Buchhalter and Dina Ben-
jamin.
The officers and directors of
the schools in 1900 were Samuel
N. Ginsburg, president; J. Gold-
stein, vice-president; Hyman
Buchhalter, secretary; William.
Saulson, Simon Lewis, David W.
Simons, J. Goldman, J. Mayer,
Michael David, J. Bluinenthal,
J. P. Rosenthal, Abraham Jac-
obs and J. Harris, directors.
In 1909 the Hebrew School
of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek and the Division Street
Talmud Torah amalgamated
and Rabbi Abraham M. Hersh
man, spiritual leader of
Shaarey Zedek, became the
new principal of the Division
Street Talmud Torah. One of
the many innovations intro-
duced by Rabbi Hershman
was to make the Talmud
Torah co-educational.
Hyman Buchhalter (father of
Mrs. Joseph H. Ehrlich), who
was known as an able educator
and scholar, succeeded Rabbi
Hershman as principal of the
Division Street Talniud Torah.
His daughter, Miriam Buch-
halter, succeeded Bella Gold-
man as principal of the Sunday
School.
The Division Street Talmud
Torah continued until 1920
when it merged with the United
Hebrew Schools which were
established in 1919.
Among the lay leaders, be-
sides those already mentioned,
who were active in the work of
the Division Street Talmud
Torah, were: Moses Blumrosen,
I. L. Cheinman, Jacob Fried-
berg, Miriam Ginsburg, Samuel
Goldstein, Louis Granet, Morris
Harris, Harris Kaplan, Mrs. Sol
Kaufnian, Abbe Keidan, Aaron
Klein, Michael. Krell, Mrs. Is-
rael Lieberman, Max Lieber-
man, J. H. Levitt, Samuel
Rosenthal, Emanuel Schloss,
Mrs. Henry Stearns,. Julius
Steinberg, Joseph W etsman,
Mrs. H. Wilkinson.
The eighth annual J e w i s h *M o n d a y evening, for • those
Book Fair, sponsored by th e interested in advancing their
Jewish Community Center, wil 1 creative writing skills with spe-
for the first time use the ex cial reference to preparing
panded resources of the Cen materials of Jewish interest.
ter's new main building a t
Many booths and special
18100 Meyers.
exhibits will be permanent
The Book Fair will open o n attractions. They Include a
Saturday evening, Nov. 21, an d book-binding exhibit, an ex-
continue through Monday night
libit of children's book illus-
Nov. 23.
trations, exhibits of the Jew-
Morris Garvett,• Detroit attor
ish Braille Society, the Jewish
ney and former Center pres
Publication Societ y, an ex- ,
ideht, again is Book Fair chair
hibit - of books on Jewish art
man. Meyer Schreiber, Cente r and theater, a music booth, a-
director, is Book Fair coordina
gift shop, exhibits illustrating
tor. Mrs. David Babitch is pro
the newest in Jewish litera-
gram aide on the Center staff
ture for children, teens and
Five special programs will be adults, and many others.
offered.
The art department will spon-
At 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, sor an exhibit of illustrations
the Ceter's drama depart- of Marc Chagall lithographs
ment will present a revival of illustrating the Old Testament.
the play "A Tale of Cheim"
Jewish Parents Institute will
from the popular "World of release the third edition 'of its
ShoIem Aleichem" in the JPI cookbook, to be sold at the
Aaron De Roy Theater. A Book Fair. '
noted author will be the main
The Older Adult "J ewiSh
speaker of the evening.
Folklore Time," a series of
Sunday will be family day. cultural programs, w ill spot-
Special assemblies of metropol- light "Afternoons with Jewish
itan and religious school stu- Books" throughout Nociember,
dents will tour the Fair. in honor of the Book Fair.
Assembly for grades 5-7 will
Entries are still being
feature a well-known speaker accepted for the Teme Skully
discussing "Vitality of Books." essay contest and the Poster
A second session will be • held and Literary cont est s, con-
for grades 8-10.
ducted in connection with the
The program, in cooperation Book Fair.
with the Sunday School Direc-
Teme Skully essays, 500-1,500
tor's Council, will f ea t u r e a words in length, dealing with a
puppet show and folk singing. Jewish theme, or a story or
Center children's groups will poem with Jewish content, must
present special programs a be submitted, postmarked by
month before Book Fair, and Oct. 9. First prize is $200; sec-
will tour the exhibits at the ond prize is $100. All Jewish
Fair in groups, on Sunday after- youth,' 16 to 22, may enter.
noon, Nov. 22. Mildred Berry
The literary and poster con-
will present periodic puppet tests are conducted in three age
shows, to . be -repeated Monday levels: elementary (under 10);
at 4 and 5 p.m. Stories will be intermediate (11-14), and ad-
read to small groups of chil- vanced (15-18), except that
dren and a film on Israel, for there is no elementary division
children, will be shown. There in the literary contest. Posters
will be a talk for parents on may be on any subject consist-
choosing children's books.
ent with Book Fair purposes.
Sunday evening will be Essays must deal with or be
inspired by a book of Jewish
Yiddish-Hebrew nigh t. An-
interest or by a Jewish author.
other Sunday evening feature
will be a Center cinema film Cash and books will be given as
prizes. Deadline is Oct. 23.
presentation of "The Golem"
with Moishe Haar, principal
of Sholem Aleichem School,
Appeal for Release
as discussion leader. "A Tale
of Six in Romania
of Chelm" will also be re-
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Six lo-
peated Sunday night.
cal employees of the Israel le-
A workshop for resources - for gation in Bucharest—four Jews
literature, for junior and and two non-Jews—were ar-
senior high school literature rested by Romanian authori-
teachers, to acquaint them with ties, between December; 1958
the large materials available and March of this year, the
among Jewish writers of the Foreign Ministry reported.
past and present, will be held
The non-Jews have already
Sunday evening.
been released but have not re-
Ladies' Day will be Monday, turned to work at the legation,
Nov. 23, when an "Author while four Jews—one man and
Meets the Critic"' debate will three women—are still under
be the highlight of the program. arrest, the official communique
Men's Night on Monday eve- stated.
ning will feature a major lit-
An appeal for world-wide
erary figure as principal protest • against the arrests and
speaker.
other anti-Jewish actions by
A second workshop, "Jewish Romania was made in Tel Aviv
Characters in Search of an by the 'Association of Ro-
Author," will be conducted on manian immigrants in Israel.
Service Group Mission Meets Detroiters in Israel
The Detroit Service Group
presently visiting Israel on a
study _mission, met informally
last week with former residents
of Detroit now living in Israel
at a special get-together. in Tel
Aviv, sponsored by the Associa-
tion of - Americans and Cana-
diariS in iirael. -
David Crohn, assistant vice-
president of the PaleStine Eco-
nomic Corp., who was host for
the former Detroiters, reported
to the visitors that there were
approximately 60 families from
their home town now residing in
Israel.
Among those present were
Herbert Hordes and Allen Fein-
berg and their families, foun
ders and directors of Israel's
first and only supermarkets;
Mrs. Estelle Polishuk whose
husband Asher is an optome-
trist; Mrs. Sara Kaminker, a
retired resident; Miss Pnina
Rapaport, a teacher; Avraham
Salter of Kibbutz Ein Dor, and
Dr. Benjamin Bar Moshe, a vet-
erinarian at Kibbutz Ein Dor;
Mr. and Mrs. David Ben Nach-
urn, teachers; Sanford Gold-
berg, an accountant; and many
others.
Irwin I. Cohn, who is leading
the DSG tour, indicated that he
was remaining in Israel a few
more days and expressed the
desire to visit with some of
these families at their homes to
learn at first hand more about
how Americans adjust to life in
Israel.
Murray Greenfield, executive
director of the Association, sug-
gested that members of the
study mission become overseas
members' of the association
and in 'this way cOntinne to re-
ceive first hand - information on
Americans in Israel and their
activities.
He also informed the visitors
that there are 6,000 Americans
and Canadians living in Israel,
approximately 1,000 in agricul-
ture on 19 Kibbutzim and Mosh-
avim and 4,500 in the cities
and towns from the Galilee to
the Negev, working in industry,
science, education, government,
the arts, business and social
services. -
Some 500 retired persons live
in Israel on pensions from the
United States.