With an enrollment of over 300 pupils, the Yavneh school, a unique experiment in bringing Jewish education to children of parents unaffiliated with synagogues, has just opened its fifth year of instruction.
Founded by Dr. Joseph L. Baron, rabbi of Temple Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, the school has classes in outlying sections and suburbs and is supplied with graduates of the Temple’s teachers’ institute to instruct youngsters who otherwise would get no tutelage in Judaism.
At present, of 5,000 Jewish children between the ages of six and sixteen in Milwaukee only 1,200 are receiving organized instruction in Talmud Torahs or Sunday schools. Avoiding competition with these centers, the Yavneh school seeks to reach only young people who are either disinterested in the regular schools, or live far away from the Jewish community.
No Hebrew is taught at the Yavned classes. Jewish history, literature, the story of the Bible, current Jewish events and other subjects taught in English make up the curriculum. The groups, each made of two or three grades, meet once a week. Hebrew is considered a function of the Talmud Torahs.
The classes are financed by the contributions of the mothers of the children and gifts from the Women’s League for Jewish Education the Council of Jewish Women and Temple Emanu-El sisterhood.
As a result of these classes, parents of many of the pupils have revived what had become a dormant interest in their faith.
Existing synagogue schools at first opposed the Yavneh plan, Rabbi Baron said, but dropped their objections later when it was revealed that many boys and girls, who developed their first interest in Judaism at the Yavneh classes, later enrolled in the established Talmud Torahs to get more detailed Jewish instruction and Hebrew lessons.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
