“American Jewry is a hidden treasure which contains great material and spiritual wealth, potentialities which may contribute towards securing the existence of Judaism and the development of the highest and best Jewish ideals” declared Rabbi A. I. Cook, Chief Rabbi of Palestine, in a press interview before leaving for Palestine.
Rabbi Cook, Rabbi Shapiro of Kovno and Rabbi Moses Mordecai Epstein, dean of the Slabodka Yeshiva left yesterday on the “Mauretania” after a stay of eight months in the United States. The Rabbis came as a delegation for the purpose of helping in the campaign of the Central Relief Committee to raise the necessary funds for the orthodox Jewish theological seminaries in Europe and Palestine. A sum of $400,000 was raised during the campaign.
In speaking of the qualities of American Jewry, Rabbi Cook emphasized the sense of social responsibility which is finding such abundant expression in Jewish life in America. Both the excellent human material of which the Jewish communities in the United States consist and the civic liberty enjoyed by American Jews as free citizens of a free republic under a generous and democratic government are responsible for the high standard it maintains in all philanthropic and social activities. Of no less importance is the civic education which American Jews receive through their unhampered participation in the political affairs of this great Republic, the Rabbi declared.
However my observations in the last eight months, during which I had the privilege of coming in contact not only with the elite of American Jewry but also with the masses, I think that there are still greater potentialities to be developed in those elements which could be termed raw material. I want to lay special emphasis on the needs of a proper Jewish education for the growing Jewish generation. In this respect it is my belief that the parochial school system which would accord to the Jewish children a general as well as a fundamental Jewish religious training, is an important necessity. These schools would have to be built on a large scale and in conformity with the needs of the environment, Rabbi Cook stated.
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