THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Report Says Unaffiliated Jews Still Want
a Jewish Education for Their Children
NEW YORK—American
Jews unaffiliated with any
synagogue movement
would overwhelmingly opt
for some form of Jewish
education for their children
under the age of 18, it was
reported in a summary re-
port of a national survey re-
leased by the American
Jewish Committee.
According to "Secondary
Jewish Education in the
United States," though 34
percent of Jewish families
surveyed with children
under 18 would describe
themselves as unaffiliated,
only 17 percent of the total
would not give their chil-
dren some form of Jewish
education.
The report was released
during a day-long consulta-
tion on "Jewish Education
and. Jewish Identity."
"Ten years ago we in-
itiated an historic explo-
ration of Jewish educa-
tion and its relationship
to the formation of
Jewish identity," notes
Yehuda Rosenman, di-
rector of the AJCommit-
tee Jewish Communal
Affairs Department. In
our initial surveys, we
discovered that the
threshold of Jewish edu-
cation is reached at ap-
proximately 2,000 hours
Boris Smolar's
Between You
. and Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1982, JTA, Inc.)
INNOVATION IN ISRAEL: A program to increase
knowledge in Israel about Jewish life in America has been
launched under the joint sponsorship of the American
Jewish Committee and the Israel Ministry of Education
and Culture.
The program is, so far, for teachers of elementary and
high schools. It is designed to help Israel's educators and
school children to get a better and updated understanding
of American Jewry. It consists of 25 three-hour sessions
describing American Jewish life in all its aspects. Teachers
successfully concluding the course will receive formal cre-
dit, leading to a salary increment. The faculty is composed
of Israeli professors of Jewish history, American Jewish
history, and contemporary Jewish history.
THE U.S. JEWISH PANORAMA: The range of the
subjects to be taught under the project is all-embracing.
The program deals with. American Jewry's past since the
years of early immigration; with Jews in the American
Society, with Jewish communal life; with Jewish culture;
with philanthropy and other fields of Jewish activities.
The program reviews the functions of the national
Jewish organizations and presents a picture of the
structure of the local communities. Intellectual and cul-
tural life in American Jewry is reflected in lectures on the
Yiddish language, literature and culture in the U.S.; He-
brew language, literature and culture; Jewish literature
and culture in English; Jewish education; Jewish studies
and research. Lectures on religious life conyey the role of
the rabbi and the synagogue, and deal with each of the
three religious denominations — Orthodox, Conservative
and Reform..
The influence of American Jewry as a minority group
is brought out in courses on the economic and social posi-
tion of Jews; 'their position on the political scene; their
influence in the cultural and artistic spheres in the Ameri-
can society; anti-Semitism and the responses of the Jewish
community; also on Jewish-Christian inter-faith relations.
BUILDING BRIDGES: Jewish leaders in this coun-
try will welcome the move in Israel of training teachers for
a better understanding of American Jewish life. The inno-
vation will actually help to build a new bridge between
Israel and American Jewry.
The new training program will serve the purpose of
1111.
stimulating interest of school children in Israel, and their
parents, in the Jewish way of life in America and will
simultaneously improve the quality of those teachers who
come from Israel to the United States to teach in schools
here.
-
Joint Purchases Aid Synagogues
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Some 100 New York City
area synagogues have
joined a program of the Fed-
eration of Jewish Philan-
thropies for savings in fuel
oil costs through joint pur-
chases of heating oil.
The synagogues par-
ticipating in the federa-
tion's Joint Purchasing
Corp. program, which had
been buying fuel at $1.22
and more per gallon are now
purchasing fuel at $1.12 per
gallon. The' JPC estimated
small synagogues will save
about $600 each this winter
and large synagogues up-
wards of $3,000 each.
The JPC contracts for
more than 23 million gal-
lons of heating oil annually i
energy-efficient lighting
equipment also is available
through the JPC.
of education, whether it
be in the form of a Jewish
day school or afternoon
school. In addition, we
determined that one's
Jewish education must
continue through high
school years."
He added that the statis-
tical survey, now being
completed, reviewed a
representative sample of
Jews from all segments of
the U.S. population.
for
asked
When
synagogue affiliation, the
response was: 35 percent
Conservative, 28 percent
Reform, six percent Or-
thodox and 31 percent un-
affiliated.
Of those surveyed, the
largest number (52 percent)
had attended a part-time
(afternoon) Hebrew school,
folkshule or heder as a
child.
An additional 21 percent
had attended Sunday school
or another once-a-week
program, six percent a pri-
vate tutor, and three- per-
cent had gone to a yeshiva
or day school. Almost one-
fifth (19 percent) had had no
Jewish schooling.
Of the total sample,
more than one-fourth
have children under the
age of 18. In this group,
Conservatives are 36
percent, Reform 26 per-
cent, Orthodox four per-
cent, and other Jews 34
percent. When ques-
tioned what type of
Jewish education they
would chose, they
selected:
Hebrew/afternoon school
(two-three times a week) 41
percent, Sunday/one day
schoo' 19- percent, yeshiva/
day school 15 percent, no
formal education 15 per-
cent, Bar/Bat Mitzva train-
ing eight percent, none of
the above two percent.
_ In addition to surveying
the types of school that each
synagogue affiliated Jew
attends, the survey , re-
viewed curriculum nation-
wide.
Listed most frequently in
course studies was the Bi-
ble. Hebrew language,
Jewish history and Jewish
life and observance are
stressed by Conservative
schools. Comparative reli-
gion and ethics appeared
most often in Reform school
listings.
All denominations offer
courses on the Holocaust
and Israel, while some teach
Yiddish, literature, or phi-
losophy.
Friday, March 5, 1982 25
ISRAEL ORAL
THE MOST IMPORTANT SUMMER
OF YOUR LIFE
TEEN-AGE CAMP (13-14) • TEENAGE TOUR (15-17)
LEADERSHIP TRAINING COURSE (16-19)
MACCABI INSTITUTE FOR SPORTS TRAINING (15-18)
(Tennis, Soccer, Basketball etc)
SUMMER IN MOSHAV—(17-22)
All of our programs are coeducational and include:
Guided Tours • Hiking • Camping • Swimming &
Snorkling • Sports • Folk Dancing • Conversational
Hebrew & Seminars • Meet with Israelis your own age
Home hospitality • Supervision by English-speaking
professional staff • Kosher Food • Medical facilities.
For free color brochures and information, call or write:
MASADA ISRAEL SUMMER PROGRAMS
ZOA House, 4 East 34 St. New York, N.Y. 10016
OUTSIDE NY STATE Call TOLL FREE 800-847-4133
The U.S. and Israel
A_Relationship in Trouble?
Hyman Bookbinder
Washington Representative
American Jewish Committee
Jewish Community Council
of
Metropolitan Detroit
Delegate Asseitibly
Wednesday, March 10 — 8 P.M.
Congregation Beth Shalom
14601 West Lincoln, Oak Park
The Community is Invited — No Charge
Social Hour following program
FrA Quality Education - Vibrant With Our Heritage
Come to the
HILLEL DAY SCHOOL
OPEN HOUSE
Monday, March 15, 1982 8 p.m.
Accepting enrollments for Fall 1982.
Kindergarten and first grade.
Hillel Day School - Kindergarten through ninth grade.
Rabbi Robert Abramson, Headmaster
June Weinberg, Executive Director
851-2394 - 32200 Middlebelt - Farmington Hills, Michigan 48018
Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit admits Jewish students of any race. color. national or ethnic origin
Its admission and scholarship programs are non-discriminatory. No child.will be denied an education at Hillel_
because of parents inability to pay the full charges Tuition allowances will continue to be granted based on
individual needs.