When the Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson High Schools, both in Brooklyn, open this Fall, Hebrew will be included in the curricula of subjects as an elective course. Miss Celia Lewis will teach the class of 100 students that are expected to apply for it at the Abraham Lincoln High School, while S. Steicher will conduct the course at the Thomas Jefferson High School in Brownsville.
Altogether more than two hundred pupils have applied at both schools for the Hebrew course. Of the 135 pupils who elected the subject at the Thomas Jefferson High School only 65 were allowed to take it. Those rejected knew too much Hebrew to benefit from the course, it was said. During the first year of the experiment only elementary classes will be held. If successful, advanced courses will be established in these schools and the language will be introduced into other high schools throughout the city. Drs. S. Benderly and J. Newman are assisting both instructors in the preparation of the text to be used in the course.
The organizations which have done most to have Hebrew given as an elective course in New York City high schools are the Bureau of Jewish Education, the Jewish Education Association and Avukah, the American Zionist student organization.
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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.
