Ivriah to Enlist Jewish Women in U.S. for Jewish Education Work

Plans for the formation of a national women’s organization to be devoted to the stimulation of Jewish education throughout the United States will be discussed at the second annual conference of Ivriah, the women’s organization of the Jewish Education Association. The meeting will be held at the Forty-eighth Street Theatre on December 13. Mrs. Joseph Leblang, president of the organization will present requests that she has received from many cities expressing a desire for the establishment of local organizations to interest women in Jewish education.

Ivriah which was organized in February 1925, has two thousand members in New York City alone. Through mass meetings which have been held throughout the city, they have succeded in enrolling thousands of Jewish children in religious schools who never before received Jewish religious training.

The purpose of the organization will be explained at the meeting by Mrs. Leblang, Florence Reed, Sophie Irene Locb, Mrs. Gabriel Hamburger, and by Bernard Semel. Mrs. Samuel Goldstein will preside at the meeting. Mrs. Alexander Kohut, Mrs. Sydney Borg, Mrs. Felix Warburg, Mrs. David Goldfarb, and Mrs. Irma Lindheim will be among the guests.

The officers of Ivriah are Mrs. Joseph Leblang, president; Mrs. Samuel H. Golding and Mrs. Gabriel Hamburger associate chairmen; Mrs. David N. Mossessohn, secretary, and Mrs. Max Schwartz, treasurer. Mrs. Israel Unterberg, Mrs. Arthur Lehman, and Mrs. Rebecca Kohut are the honorary presidents of Ivriah.

A Jewish commission to confer with Protestants and Roman Catholics concerning the possibilities of a joint effort to secure the cooperation of the public schools to provide religious education for children of school age was appointed, states a report issued by the Federal Council of Churches.

“This is a matter in which Jews and Catholics as well as Protestants are all interested, inasmuch as the release of children is a community affair and can usually be secured only at the united request of all the religious bodies. The Jews have appointed a Commission to confer with Protestants and Catholics regarding this whole problem,” the statement of the Federal Council declared.

“It is hoped that out of such conference there may come a settled policy satisfactory to all and enabling the churches to secure a larger proportion of pupils’ time for this important aspect of education. Steps have been taken to arrange a conference between the religious bodies and the National Education Association, not only with regard to the release of children but also looking toward the development within the school curriculum itself of potential values significant for religious education.”