The local Board of Education has temporarily halted the distribution of Protestant Bibles by the Gideon Bible Society in the schools of Rutherford after a protest by Rabbi Herman Schwartz of Temple Bath El of Rutherford, a Catholic priest and various citizens of the town.
The Bibles were to have been distributed in schools by teachers to those children whose parents had consented to their receiving them. However, after Rabbi Schwartz and others had protested, the Board of Education–which had originally given permission for the distribution–decided to seek legal advice before going ahead with the program. Rabbi Schwartz made the point, later supported by Joseph L. Bustard, Assistant Commissioner of Education of New Jersey, that the program violated the constitutional guarantees of separation of church and state.
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.
