Bronx Borough President Robert Abrams proposed today that the Board of Education formally designate a “Jewish Heritage Week” during the school year “in order to promote awareness and appreciation of the significant contributions that the Jewish population has made to the development of our City, State and nation.”
In a letter to Board President James F. Regan Abrams noted that the school calendar currently recognizes such commemorative dates as Puerto Rico Discovery Day, Greek Independence Day, Afro-American History Week, Italian Independence Day and others.
Abrams stated: “New York’s Jewish citizens are proud of the contributions they have made in such diverse fields as science, the arts, the professions and government. Through thousands of years of oppression and persecution, Jews have persevered and their courageous struggle for survival could be an inspiration to all the children in our public school system.”
The Bronx official added that a Jewish Heritage Week “would contribute enormously to building an atmosphere of respect in our schools for the traditions and cultures of all people within our pluralistic society in the United States of America,” Abrams further suggested that the week of April 28 could be designated as “Jewish Heritage Week” to commemorate the twin anniversaries of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, “one of the most tragic periods in the history of the Jewish people” and the Birth of Israel.
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.
