Marked encouragement to the day school movement was contained in the declaration of Max M. Fisher of Detroit, in his presidential address to the 40th General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. Deploring the quoted figures that “two-thirds of our children get little or no education.” Fisher declared: “We need better education for adults–for ourselves. Many of our young people put aside their heritage. They discard something they were never taught–not in the school nor in the home.”
Referring to the day schools, he asserted “There is no easy answer to the problem of Federation support for day schools. The Jewish day schools have earned the right to our most careful consideration. There is a growing feeling in many quarters–not just the traditional–that the day school holds one of the very best answers to the furtherance of Jewish continuity.”
At the Assembly’s banquet session Saturday night, Boris Smolar, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, was presented with a plaque for his “more than a half-century of uniquely distinguished service as journalist (and) author.” The plaque was presented to him by Fisher. It was also announced officially that the CJF has established a Boris Smolar Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism which will be given annually at the CJF’s General Assembly to an outstanding newspaper and journalist. The first award will be presented at the Assembly’s convention next year in Toronto.
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.
