Connecticut College Institutes Course in Jewish History

Connecticut State College at Storrs, with 125 Jewish students, will add a two-credit course in jewish history next February, becoming the first college in the state and one of the few in the country to recognize the subject. Rabbi Morris Silverman of Emanuel Synagogue here, has been named lecturer for the course which will cover the history of the Jewish people from early times to the present.

The undertaking has the endorsement of the Connecticut Council of Churches and Religious Education. Rabbi Silverman is well qualified for this task. He holds a master of arts degree from Columbia where he majored in history. In addition, Rabbi Silverman has a B.A. from Ohio State, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, president of the Connecticut branch of the United Synagogue and past president of the Ministers’ Association of Hartford.

The spiritual contributions of the race; its social, cultural and economic life, under which prophecy, legalism, mysticism and nationalism will be considered, are to be included in the course, Rabbi Silverman said. The background of ancient and modern civilizations with which the Jews have come in contact and problems of adjustment will be discussed. The dark ages, emancipation, life in America, the new Palestine and the present status are also to be covered.

Discussions will predominate in classroom work, Rabbi Silverman said. He is considering what to use as a text. Rabbi Silverman has interested a number of Hartford people who have volunteered to contribute books for the reference library to be used in the course.

It is the hope of the Hartford rabbi that other colleges and state institutions throughout the country will include courses in Jewish history.