Purely Commentary
American Jewry's Educational Obligations
Contrasted in Light of Youth Protests .. -
Day Schools Again Become Debatable Idea
By Philip
Slomoyitz
Annoyance That Stems from Distortions and From Genocide Advocates
It's annoying to have a group of pickets shout at you, to hear propagation of an aim to destroy a people
and often it is not easy to fight a new attempt at genocide. This is what is at the root of an El Fatah
demonstration in a society that lends it freedom of action. But that society has a right to expect truth and
reality. When there are distortions of facts and there are no refutations, it becomes necessary in the inter-
est of eventual peace that the record should be set straight.
It is not true that Arab farmers have been deprived of the right to advance their status in Israel. The
contrary is the fact. The government provides for them the most modern tools, assures a market for their
products, unionizes Arab labor.
Never in the history of the Arab peoples has any group enjoyed as much prosperity as do the Arab
citizens of Israel. True: they are watched to prevent their turning into a Fifth Column, If this is what
they now aspire to, Israel must act firmly to protect the lives of the Jewish citizens. Nevertheless,
Arabs are members of Histadrut, enjoying workingmen's equalities, they have been provided with the
best schools, many of their number attend the Hebrew University. When a Wayne State University
professor speaks to the contrary, she does not tell the truth.
And there is this nonsense about special legislation for Zionists to give them fund-raising privileges.
There are, in American legislation, provisions for tax deductions for gifts to philanthropic causes, Assistance
to Jews to escape persecution behind the Iron Curtain and in Moslem countries represents a charitable
effort and is a normal benefit from taxation.
This charge has been made time and time again. Anti-Semites have utilized it, those battling Israel
are resorting to it. If there are to be changes in tax deductables they will apply to all philanthropies, but
the accusation that Zionism plays a role in American politics is a scheme for easy hate-fomenting.
It s this business of naming Zionism as the bogey that is the way of the Arab bloc that seeks Israel's
destruction. They merely hide behind this term which they seek to turn into an epithet. What they
mean is the Jews because the Jew is the partner in Israel's upbuilding. How else is history to be read?
SELECTED 1968 DATA ON CITIES OF OVER
What other way of history in the making?
40,000 JEWISH POPULATION
In his address here Saturday night at the Israel Bond dinner in honor of our distinguished fellow
Allo-
Amer.
cated to Asso. for citizen, Leonard N. Simons, Hebrew University President Avraham Harman evaluted the El Fatah properly
Income from
and
he adjudged the matter of "when will it all end?" realistically. If the end means death it is just that
United Fund or Net
Jewish Jewish
Educa- Educa- aspect that is ruled out of Jewish thinking. In that case there can be no end, since, as the distinguished
Regular Community Budgeted
Israeli leader said, Jewry is determined to live on even if it must be the endless battle for life.
tion
(Exc. IEF)
Lion
Chest
Campaign
Educatio I Demands . . . Protests by the
Militants Realities on Allocations
At the eneral assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and
Welfare unds and at numerous other gatherings of spokesmen for
Jewish communities who are responsible for allocations to
Ameri
agencies and to our schools, the Young Turks, the rebels who
JCN "
e
protested
against the Establishment, have charged that our
h
schools are being ignored. It is of the utmost importance, therefore,
that the facts should be known, that the record should be set straight,
that there should be an understanding of the needs so that the needs
should not be ignored.
It may be true that in proportion to all other allocations education-
al media suffer from a lack of funds. Where this is established, the
young protesters are rendering a service with their demands. In com-
munities like Detroit, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia which allocated
more than 10 per cent of their total income to the Jewish schools, the
condemnations may be less justified.
The total allocations to Jewish education by American Jewish com-
munities exceed $7,000,000 annually. Because this sum is 73 per cent
higher than the allocations that were made in 1958, there is an indica-
tion of progress.
Here is the actual record of allocations in major American Jewish
communities for the current year:
City and
Population
Chicago
269,000
Cleveland
85,000
Detroit
84,500
Los Angeles
500,000
Baltimore
85,000
Boston
176,000
Philadelphia
330,000
Newark
100,000
St. Louis
57,000
San Francisco
71,000
Miami
100,000
Pittsburgh
45,000
Washington
90,000
4
$9,938,000 $2,140,000
$11,635,000
6,755,000
1,364,000
7,119,000
5,950,000
1,134,000
6,186,000
7,456,000
1.426,000
7,230,000
5,468,000
425,000
5,107,000
5,316,000
2,305,000
6,728,000
3,141,000
302,000
2,841,000
2,058,000
947,000
2,813,000
2,282,000
594,000
2,699,000
1,902,000
343,000
1,754,000
2,127,000
696,000
2,302,000
1,700,000
309,000
1,711,000
3,786,000
3,683,000
$1,003,487
8.6%
612,699
8.6%
653,281
10.6%
575,891
8.0%
241,462
6.4%
428,399
8.4%
701,650
10.4%
159,472
5.6%
78,000
2.7%
99,500
3.7%
107,644
6.2%
242,809
10.5%
80,000
4.7%
$13,000
12,000
11,500
7,350
8,500
7,500
13,500
7,000
2,500
5,000
1,800
4,565
3,000
In this connection, the American Association for Jewish Education
notes that:
"It would be inaccurate to compare the Federation total of
$7,000,000 in allocations to the total of "about $75,000,000" for all
costs of Jewish education 19 per cent) since most congregational
schools do not seek Federation support; nor would it be accurate to
relate this to Federation support of hospitals; $12,200,000 in alloca-
tions toward $427,000,000 in receipts (2.8 per cent). It is coinciden-
tal that the percentage of total Jewish educational costs borne by
Federation (7 per cent) is almost identical with the percentage of
enrollment which is not under congregational auspices (8 per cent.)"
The AAJE reports, on the basis of a national census it conducted in
1966-67, that there were 540,000 students enrolled in Jewish schools. Of
this number, 43 per cent attended one-day-a-week schools, 43 per cent
were in two- to five-day-a-week schools and 14 per cent in all-day
schools. Communal schools accounted for 5 per cent of the total, while
92 per cent were in schools under congregational auspices.
These are facts worth studying and in the process of seeking im-
provement and extension of educational facilities they should serve as
guide for those who earnestly aspire to give priority to educational
activities.
An outline of current conditions, proferred by the American Associ-
ation for Jewish Education, gave these additional facts with comments:
Over 90 per cent of children of elementary school age
attend Jewish school s (with New York City and Los Angeles
below the average) but only 16 per cent of children of sec-
ondary school age attend Jewish schools.
An earlier AAJE National Study of Jewish Education
(issued in 1959 ) arrived at an estimate of a cost of "over $60,-
000.000" in 1958 for 553,600 pupils. Although this total was
slightly above present estimates, this was offset by subse-
quent decline of one-day-a-week schools and growth of the
more costly, more intensive programs.
The consumer price index rose from 1958 by about 23 per
cent by the end of 1968. Hence, the cost of Jewish education
since 1958 may have risen by as much as $15,000,000. An
estimate of "about $75,000,000" is of the grossest type and is
advanced only in the current absence of more reliable data.
The major sources of support of pre-Bar Mitzva education
are congregational and parental. Financing of Jewish educa-
tion is inseparable from congregational financing because of
joint housing, joint staffing and the pivotal role played by
Bar Mitzva preparation in Jewish education. Variations in
scales of tuition fees are frequently dependent on variaitions
in provision for Jewish education in congregational dues. The
extent of these variations in congregational dues in tuition
scales, in allowance toward tuition in congregational
dues and the inseparability of congregational and educational
costs have heretofore accounted for the absence of meaning-
ful data of financing of Jewish education under congrega-
both congregational and communal schools to avoid barring
students from low-income homes.
Jewish federations provide $7,000,000 annually for Jewish
education. The total budgets of the supported agencies are
not reported, and data are not available on the shares of
funds provided through congregations with 92 per cent of en-
rollment under such auspices. Allocations to local Jewish
schools and to bureaus of Jewish education, reported by Jew-
ish federations, were about $6,200,000 outside New York City
in 1967. They rose by 10 per cent in 1967. A gradual, steady
increase in allocations to Jewish education has occurred each
year: they were 33 per cent higher in 1967 than they had
been in 1963 and 73 per cent higher than they had been in
1958. Payments by parents, either directly or through mem-
bership fees to congregations, provided the major sources of
income for primary education.
However, federations provided substantial shares of in-
come for post-Bar Mitzva education, for teacher training and
for the coordination and common service functions performed
by bureaus of Jewish educatiori.
Federation grants of $6,200,000 in 1967 outside New York
City for Jewish education were 24 per cent of total local allo-
cations from federations sources. Community chests do not
provide funds for Jewish education.
The CJFWF Committee on Federation Planning for Jew-
ish Education developed a "guidelines statement" with par-
ticular emphasis on the need to upgrade teaching manpower
and post-elementary education.
The record as presented here need not be exaggerated nor does
it lend itself to confusion based on the eagerness to assure priority for
Jewish schools. This is an incontrovertible aim and is hardly debatable.
Nevertheless, on a national basis there is need for advancement
and improvement, the AAJE must be given greater support, and local
schools need the encouragement that is vital to proper functions for
Jewish cultural programing.
A basic need is that of improved teachers' staffs. Perhaps the very
youth who are doing the protesting, especially the - ordained rabbis who
are looking for platforms from which to present their views, would
like to be practical participants by entering the teaching profession.
But this challenge does not solve the total problem. The teacher short-
age is a vital issue not to be ignored. It is questionable whether the
proposal that schools of higher education for prospective teachers, the
existing colleges and the influx of teachers from Israel provide the
needs to the fullest. All exist, and all, combined, fail to serve the
needs. Therefore protests serve a purpose by calling attention to the
serious issues at hand.
*
*
*
many of those attending yeshivot
do not remain loyal. But the prog-
ressive day school represents an
entirely different picture and if
properly supervised can become a
grea t asset to Jewry and to
America.
Since, however, the day schools'
enrollments represent only a frac-
tion of the students in Jewish
schools, it becomes necessary to
strive for the best methods, the
most effective curricula, the ablest
teachers. If we reach these goals
even the afternoon schools will
prove practical in solving the seri-
ous problems of attaining the high-
est rank in knowledgeability in our
communities.
Weekly Quiz
By Dr. SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright 1969, JTA, Inc.)
Why are the first seven days
after the wedding considered as
special feast days for the bride
and groom?
The rabbis deduced this from the
biblical account of the marriage
which took place between the Pa-
triarch Jacob and his wife. The
father of the girls promised to give
him the second daughter after he
"would fulfill the week" for the
first daughter. (Genesis 29:27).
Also, a parallel is drawn from
what Samson said at his wedding
regarding the "seven days of the
feast." (Judges 14:12). Generally
speaking, special moods such as
feasting or mourning were spent
in units of seven days. (The Feast
of Pentecost is an exception be-
cause it is regarded as a climax
to the events of the Passover since
it comes after a period of seven
weeks following the first day of
Passover). The human emotions,
whether they are of joy or grief,
apparently have to be given the
opportunity of expressing them-
selves, according to the Rabbis.
*
The Problem of the Day Schools
A major problem affecting our educational systems involves the
day schools. There remains a strong division of attitudes on the subject,
based on the need to give priority to the American public school sys-
tem. New York's Acting Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nathan Brown
a few days ago, in a speech to alumni of Isaac Elhanan Theological
Seminary, pleaded that the middle class keep their youngsters in the
Why is it a 'requirement ac-
public schools and that they should de-erhphasize and even discourage
cording to Jewish tradition never
enrollment in the day schools.
to
leave a sick patient alone
• It is evident that the reason for his appeal is that neighborhood
when he is dying?
problems more than anything else have contributed toward day school
Basically, this can be associated
enrollments. Dr. Brown didn't denigrate the day schools. He said they
had value for those who sincerely desired such an "integrated" educa- with the tradition that a dead per-
son
should never be left alone.
tional system. But h deplored "any action on the part of Jewish parents
who escape the city school system for the sole purpose of avoiding This is a general indication of in-
terest,
devotion and respect from
racially integrated schools."
Thus a new debate has developed over the day school program. the part of each person towards
Dr. Alvin Schiff of Yeshiva University's Ferkauf Graduate School de. his fellow man. Certainly, when
nied there was a great increase in day school enrollments and said that person is dying he is helpless and
the yeshivot attendance of 36,000 students in 1956-60 has grown to some one should be present at all
times so that whatever may need
only 42,434 this year.
Rabbi Jacob Goldberg of New York, commenting on Dr. Brown's to be done in any given time shall
appeal, expressed the view that "those children who are sent to yeshi- not be delayed. Some sources
vot for pretentious motives- will not be won over to Judaism and in the claim that at the time of death the
process they will have contributed to the destruction of the tpublic soul of a person feels neglected
and alone. The presence of another
school system."
Yeshiva University Professor Norman Lamm supported the day human eases this feeling and Ina.
school idea and said that "religious education is a matter not of priority cates an everlasting association
between humans, as well as sense
or preference but of sheer survival."
There is no doubt that's a strong case and is being made for the of responsibility from one men to
another.
day schools. It is unquestionable that Dr. Lamm is correct in. saying
THE DETROIT JEWISH YEWS
that there is a matter of survival, and it is now being generally accepted
tional auspices. Taken as a whole, however, they are largely
self-supporting. "Scholarship" arrangements are made by that a maximalization of Jewish educational efforts is vital, even if
2-Friday, December 12, '1969