Determined to block any efforts to introduce Bible reading in the public schools of Washington, a special committee of the Seattle Talmud Torah, largest Jewish educational institution in the Pacific Northwest, called a meeting of all the heads of Jewish organizations in Seattle and Seattle’s four rabbis to fight a bill introduced in the state senate at Olympis last week.
The bill, sponsored by R. L. Edmiston, Spokane attorney, provides for “submitting an amendment to the state constitution to permit reading of the Bible in state schools, free from sectarian control or influence and for educational purposes.”
Rabbi Solomon P. Wohlgelernter is chairman of the Talmud Torah Committee to Prevent Bible Reading in Public Schools. Mrs. Michael Berch, president of the Talmud Torah Parent-Teachers Association, who as delegate to the State Parent-Teachers’ Association, waged a losing fight last May against the state groups’ endorsement of Bible study in Washington’s public schools, is vice-chairman of the Talmud Torah committee.
“We feel that the passing of this bill would destroy the non-sectarian character of our schools and would tend to imbue Jewish children with a Christian attitude toward the Bible,” Rabbi Wohlgelernter explained, asking all Seattle Jewish leaders to attend the meeting.
In a sermon Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Mark A. Mathews, celebrating his thirty-first anniversary in the pulpit, blamed the omission of the Bible in education as one of the reasons for “threats of closing the public schools.”
Leo Weisfield, Bnai Brith leader, was named head of a committee of five to go to Olympia to oppose the amendment.
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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.
