First National Conference on Adult Jewish Education in U.S. Convened

The first National Conference on Adult Jewish Education will be held here on February 28, it was announced today by Isadore Breslau, national president of the American Association for Jewish Education. Participating in the conference will be representatives of all major religious and secular Jewish national organizations as well as delegates from Bureaus of Jewish Education in 43 communities in the United States and Canada.

“The conference,” Mr. Breslau said, “will hear a report by Professor Oscar Janowsky, eminent historian and social scientist, based on a national survey of adult Jewish education which the American Association conducted during 1964.” The survey analyzed the work of national Jewish organizations and 23 Bureaus of Jewish Education, 55 of the largest congregations and 35 Jewish Federations in the metropolitan centers of this country.

In his call for the conference, Mr. Breslau pointed out that adult Jewish education has become a major and increasing concern of organized Jewish activity. “But, there is uncertainty,” he said, “about the effectiveness of this work and the content of the various curricula.” The conference, and any concurrent workshops will address itself to problems of retention, training of leadership, establishing criteria for evaluation, and working out means of national and local cooperation.

Among the objectives of the conference is a depiction of the dimensions of the work being done and the formation of a national coordinating body for the exchange of information, the preparation of material and instruments of evaluation and cooperation. The American Association for Jewish Education, which is supported by more than 200 Jewish Federations, is the central service agency for Jewish education in the United States and Canada.