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Friday, November 27, 1%1 19
•THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Jewish Cultural Activist Goodman Honored by Institute
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Editor-in-chief emeritus, JTA)
(Copyright 1961, JTA, Inc.)
I know of no person in the
American Jewish commu-
nity who supports Hebrew
culture so generously in this
country as does Abraham
BORIS SMOLAR
Goodman, the noted philan-
thropist who is a very mod-
est man. He was honored
last Sunday in Los Angeles
by the Brandeis-Bardin In-
stitute at a dinner marking
the 40th anniversary of this
unique cultural institution.
Goodman financed the
tacquisition of-2,200 acres of
land in California, about 40
miles from Los Angeles, on
which the institute is now
located. He also provided
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the institute with leader-
ship and financial support
throughout its formative
years. He was its first
president.
He was stimulated by the
views of the late U.S. Sup-
reme Court Justice Louis D.
Brandeis who expressed his
concern about the flight of
college youth from Judaism.
Justice Brandeis felt that
existing institutions did not
face the issue, and that new
institutions, on a laboratory
scale, must attempt to make
Judaism meaningful and
relevant to the college stu-
dent. Shlomo Bardin, a
noted Hebrew educator, di-
rected the institute with
great success.
Today, the institute is
not only a leadership-
training institution for
college students from
various parts of the coun-
try but also conducts
year-round weekend
programs for married
couples and single adults
in an effort to instill
appreciation of the
Jewish cultural and
spiritual heritage, and to
create a desire for active
participation in the
American Jewish com-
munity It also estab-
lished a first-rate camp
for boys and girls con-
ducted in an atmosphere
of Jewish living.
-
The impact which the in-
stitute had on most of its
students after they left was
brought out in a study made
of its alumni 30 years after
the institution was founded.
A 14-page questionnaire
was mailed to several
thousand college youth,
most of whom came to the
institute totally - indifferent
to the Jewish way of life.
The respondents indi-
cated that their experience
in the institute had a last-
ing effect upon them. Close
to 90 percent have recom-
mended the institute to
others. A large percentage
of the alumni are now in-
volved in Jewish affairs.•
Another milestone in the
activities of Abraham
Goodman is his establish-
ment' of the Hebrew Arts
School in a five-story build-
ing which he gave as a gift
to the school. The sparkling
edifice —now known as the
Abraham Goodman House
— is located in the Lincoln
Center area, the cultural
heart of New York City.
The Hebrew Arts
School, of which Good-
man is president, has the
finest facilities available
anywhere. It is a non-
profit, non-sectarian in-
stitution chartered by the
Board of Regents of the
University of the State of
•METAL BASED PADS EXCLUDED
tFOREIGN CABS EXCLUDED
New York. It offers a
wide spectrum of courses
for adults — including
senior citizens — as well
as teacher training for
Jewish music and spe-
cialized training for ex-
perienced professionals.
Deeply committed to He-
brew education and to the
sustenance of the Jewish
cultural heritage, Goodrn:-.1
— together with his brot ter
Jack —established 17 2ars
yordim out of isolation. The
weekends can bring them
together . with American
Jews and help them to be-
come part of the American
Jewish community.
Goodman's plan also
suggests weekends
geared to Jewish immig-
rants from the Sov,iet
Union who know very lit-
tle or nothing about
Jewish culture and
Jewish tradition which
are suppressed in Russia.
I 411111.-
ABRAHAM GOODMAN
ago a million-dollar Tarbut
Foundation (Tarbut is the
Hebrew word for culture)
which is contributing
greatly to the strengthen-
ing of Jewish education in
this country. It conducts a
variety of educational pro-
grams, including television
series on Jewish history,
Hebrew language, music,
art and the publication of
selected classics from mod-
ern Hebrew literature.
It also developed a very
interesting program,
"Weekends with Jewish
History," given in an at-
mosphere reflecting Jewish
life of the period to which
each weekend is devoted.
The listings include a
"Weekend with Judah
Halevi"; a "Weekend with
the Baal Shem Tov," the
father • of Hasidism;
"Jerusalem, the Capital of
the Jewish Cosmos"; "The
Sanhedrin in Paris"; "The
Roots of American Jewry";
"Russian Jews in America
Today" and other subjects of
ancient, medieval and con-
temporary Jewish history.
Goodman has now pre-
sented to the leadership of
the Brandeis-Bardin Insti-
tute a new plan under which
some of the Tarbut activi-
ties could be launched by
the California institution.
The plan gives priority to
the Tarbut weekends.
The project also suggests
weekends geared to Jews
and Christians for the pur-
pose of friendly relation-
ships.
The plan also visualizes
an extensive program of
weekends based on cable TV
that can bring Jewish cul-
ture, Jewish teaching and
Jewish information to Jews
of all ages in remote parts of
the country, as well as
weekends with programs to
bring Jewish families to-
gether by means of lectures
and other activities.
He has been holding
lifetime positions in the
Zionist Organization of
America and served as trea-
surer of the Jewish Agency
for Israel in New York.
He is active in leadership
of various Jewish organiza-
tions and institutions, in-
cluding Herzlia Hebrew
Teachers Institute in New
York of Which he is chair-
man of the board. He is also
the treasurer of the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency.
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First on his list are
weekends to be dedi-
cated, in a cultural sense,
to the yordim — the Jews
who emigrated from Is-
rael. Their number is es-
timated to be more than
300,000 and most of them
reside in New York and in
Los Angeles.
Without rendering any
judgment on the motiva-
tions of yordim leaving Is-
rael and establishing them-
selves in the United States,
Goodman is convinced that
they all love Israel. They
keep themselves isolated
from the Jewish community
in the cities here and are pot
being properly befriended.
They obviously suffer from
a guilt complex because
they left the country which
they love.
- Goodman feels that some-
thing can be done about it
by way of weekends. A
community of more than•
300,000 Jews is as large as
the Jewish community in
Argentina and larger, than
the Jewish community of
London.
cultural
Planned
weekends can bring the
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