THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Hebrew U. looks at Diaspora education
BY DAVID LANDAU
Jerusalem (JTA)—About
40 to 45 percent of Diaspora
Jewish children aged three
through 17 receive some
form of Jewish education,
either in day schools or in
supplementary education
institutions (Sunday school
or evening classes).
This is the basic finding of
a major scientific survey
undertaken by the Hebrew
University's Institute for
Contemporary Jewry on
behalf of the Joint Program
for Jewish Education. -
The survey is the first
centrally organized census
of Jewish schools ever
undertaken on a global
scale for a single period of
time (1982) and using scien-
tific techniques of data col-
lection and processing.
The report, compiled by
Prof. Allie Dubb, was sub-
mitted recently to.the World
Zionist Organization. It
covers the entire Diaspora,
though not the Soviet bloc
countries, except Romania
and Hungary which were
included.
In absolute terms, the re-
port refers to some 540,000
Jewish boys and girls in the
Diaspora attending 3,300
educational institutions.
The report showed a pro-
nounced disparity between
the United States and the
rest of the Diaspora in terms
of school attendance. The
U.S. figure, 28 percent, is
significantly lower than the
overall Diaspora average.
In England, the figure is 47
percent; and in other coun-
tries the figures range from
67 to 100 percent.
These percentages are of
Jewish children who receive
Jewish education in some
form. In the U.S., 72 percent
of Jewish pupils enrolled in
some institution of Jewish
education, attend
supplementary education
institutions.
For the whole Diaspora,
the proportion of pupils
enrolled in the first six
grades of day school is 1.6
times higher than those
enrolled in grades seven
and up. This may be due,
Dubb says, to a preference
for public school secondary
education or to the more
limited :availability of
Jewish secondary schools
because of cost or other rea-
sons.
The dropout rate at bar/
bat mitzvah in supplemen-
tary schools is found to be
even higher than the drop in
attendance in the day
schools between elementary
and secondary levels. Fully
70 percent of supplemen-
tary school pupils quit after
bar/bat mitzvah.
Another key finding was
that in the entire Diapora,
two-thirds of day schools
are Orthodox, ranging from
ultra-religious through
mainstream Orthodoxy to
"traditional." The figure for
North America is 63 percent
and for the rest of the Dias-
pora it is 69 percent.
There is a vast difference
between North America
and elsewhere, however, in
the breakdown of
supplementary schools. In
North America, the Reform
:
and Conservative move-
ments had more
supplementary schools than
the Orthodox. In the U.S.
the figures for supplemen-
tary schools are: Orthodox,
13 percent; Conservative,
43 percent; and Reform, 33
percent. "Other" and "un-
known" affiliations account
for 10 percent.
In the rest of the diaspora,
nearly two-thirds of the
supplementary schools are
Orthodox; 11 percent are
Reform (catering to some 20
percent of the pupils attend-
ing such schoolS); and 25
percent are classified as
"other" and "unknown."
There are no Conservative
supplementary schools as
such outside North
America, nor Conservative
day schools.
The day school break-
down outside North
America is: Orthodox, 70
percent; Reform, 1.8 per-
cent; and "other' . and "un-
known," 29 percent.
On the disparity between
1.6 million
Jews in NY
the Orthodox and the other
branches of Judaism in
terms of day schools in
North America, Dubb
writes: "One reason for the
difference in distribution
between the two types of
schools in North America —
suggested by a preliminary
examination of school spon-
sorship — may be that the
day schools are designed to
serve the widest possible
cross-section and therefore
adopt a traditional or
mainstream Orthodox
orientation.
"On the otter hand,
supplementary schools are
more closely associated
with the synagogue, a large
proportion of which are
Conservative or Reform."
New York — Jews living
in the New York metropoli-
tan area constitute 16 per-
cent of the area's popula-
tion, and on average are
older, more highly edu-
cated, and better off finan-
cially than the area's gen-
eral population although
more than a quarter of them
have household incomes
below the national median.
These are some of the
findings reported in "The
Social Characteristics of the
New York Area Jewish
Community, 1981," an arti-
cle appearing in the just-
published 1984 American
Jewish Year Book (Ameri-
can Jewish Committee).
One of the study's major
findings was that New
York-area Jews have be-
come more suburbanized. In
1981, 32 percent of the Fairness law
area's Jewish population
was suburban, as against 18 is supported
percent in 1957.
New York — Five Jewish
"The total suburban groups issued a statement
population — non-Jews and last week opposing repeal of
Jews together," adds the ar- the Fairness Doctrine,
ticle," was 24 percent of the which requires broadcas-
area's total in 1957 and 33 ters to provide balanced
coverage of political candi-
percent in 1981."
• An estimated 1,670,700 dates and controversial
Jews — 16 percent of the public issues.
The American Jewish
area's total population —
lived in the eight-county Committee, the American
New York metropolitan Jewish Congress, Women's
American ORT, the Union
area in 1981.
of Orthodox Jewish Con-
• Jews constituted ap- gregations of America and.
proximately 30 percent of the United Synagogue of
the area's white, non- America offered testimony
Hispanic population, as against repeal legislation to
they have for at least four the Senate's Committee on
decades.
Commerce, Science and
• Thirty-five percent of Transportation.
male household heads, and
29 percent of their female BB director
counterparts, had college
Washington — Dr.
degrees, and an additional Michael Neiditch, director
24 percent of the males and of public affairs for Colum-
18 percent of the females bia University and former
had gradute degrees. In legislative assistant for
Manhattan and Westches- foreign policy to the late
ter, where educational at- U.S. Rep. Benjamin S. Ro-
tainments were the highest, senthal, has been named di-
more than 36 percent of the rector of the Adult Jewish
men and 26 percent of the Education Commission and
women had graduate de- coordinator of programs of
grees.
B'nai B'rith International.
-ad PP'
-ail ow"
.
47
...1•1 OPP'
HERE'S WHY WE ARE NO. 1 IN METROPOLITAN DETROIT
1
IRVING'S
•
THE DELICIOUS ALL HOMEMADE 1
Restaurant - Delicatessen
21161 GREENFIELD RD.
1 BIk. North of 11 Mile
ON
PE UES.-SUN.
T
6 a .m. to 9p.m.
559-1380
YOU'LL LOVE ROSE'S HOME COOKING!
COMPLETE DINNERS
FOR PASSOVER
Literary award
New York — Eight
authors of literary works on
Jewish themes have re-
ceived the fifth annual
Kenneth B. Smilen/Present
Tense Literary Awards,
sponsored by the American
Jewish Committee and Pre-
sent Tense magazine.
The recipients were: Aha-
ron Applefeld, for TZILI:
The Story of a Life (Dutton);
Peter Grose, Israel in the
Mind of America (Knopf);
Salo Wittmayer Baron, A
Social and Religious His-
tory of the Jews, Volume 18
(Columbia University
Press/JPS); Ruth Jordan,
Daughter of the Waves:
Growing Up in Pre-War
Palestine (Taplinger); Rabbi
Eliezer Berkovits, Not in
Heaven: The Nature and
Function ofHalakha (Ktav);
Barbara Pomerantz,Bubby,
Me and Memories (UAHC);
Grace Schulman, At the
Stone of Losses (JPS); David
Altshuler, The Precious Le-
gacy: Judaic Treasures
from the Czechoslovak State
(Summit/
Collections
Smithsonian Institution
Traveling
eling Exhibition Serv-
ice).
,
Friday, April 6, 1984
4
98
INCLUDES: GEFILTE FISH,
I
MATZO BALL SOUP, SALAD, $ -
KUGEL AND. BRISKET OF BEEF
SMOTHERED IN ONIONS & MUS-
HROOMS OR BAKED 1/2 CHICKEN.
per
person
Carry-Out
Only
PASSOVER ITEMS ALSO SOLD INDIVIDUALLY
BREAKFAST SPECIAL APRIL 6 THRU APRIL 12
We Serve Breakfast Tues.-Sat. 6 a.m.-11 a.m. & Sun. 6 a.m.-10 a.m.
58
CREAM CHEESE & CHIVES
OMELETTE
No
Carry-Out
This Item
BAGEL, ROLL OR TOAST
LUNCHEON SPECIAL APRIL 6 THRU APRIL 12
NO SUNDAYS
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
VEALBURGER
Garnished
We Grind Our Own Meat!
DINNER SPECIAL
$ 98
No
Carry-Out
This Item
APRIL 6 THRU APRIL 12
Our Qwn Famous
BRISKET OF
BEEF
98
Smothered in Onions & Mushrooms
INCLUDES: SOUP OR SALAD, VEG.
OR POT. & BREAD BASKET
No
Carry-Out
This Item
fc,
ANYHOUR! ANYDAY! ANYHOUR! ANYDAY!
ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT
OUR OWN FAMOUS
98
CHICKEN
FRICASSEE
per
person
No
Carry-Out
This Item
ON RICE
INCLUDES: SALAD & BREAD BASKET
COMPLETE CATERING
.40/46
your advertising dollars do better in...
THE JEWISH NEWS
Call Us Today! 424-8833
ft