First Residential Preparatory High School Under Jewish Auspices to Open in September

The first quality residential preparatory high school under Jewish auspices in the United States will be opened here in September, 1971 with a freshman class of 75 students, according to an announcement by the sponsoring Brandeis Institute. Ground-breaking ceremonies for the first building of the non-sectarian school will be held on Aug. 16, the announcement said. The ceremonies will be addressed by Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg of Englewood, N.J., who said that the high school, which will have Jewish studies as the core of its humanities courses, would seek to “integrate Jewish texts and history into the western intellectual tradition, make Jewish experience and moral teaching central to the formation of the character of the students and turn out graduates who will live by the classic virtues in very contemporary ways.” Officials said that an intensive campaign to raise $1 million was underway for faculty, personnel, maintenance and general operation of the first stage of the institution. The first building, called the Judaica Building, has been designed to accommodate groups ranging from a worship group of 10 persons to an assembly of 500, they added. Dr. Shlomo Bardin, founder and director of the Brandeis Institute, said the major idea of the new high school would be to determine whether the ethical values of Judaism could be transmitted “via education so that they will affect the conduct and behavior of man.” He added that the college predatory high school would be “open to all–Jew and non-Jew, black and white, rich and poor.” Scholarships will be available for students unable to pay tuition fees.