Jewish Education in America Faces Many Problems, Communal Leaders Are Told

Problems of Jewish education in the United States were discussed here last night by a number of distinguished speakers at a dinner tendered by the Jewish Education Committee to Samuel S. Schneierson, president of the group. The dinner, which was held in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, was attended by 1,700 persons active in Jewish communal affairs in this city.

Mr. Schneierson, addressing the gathering, pointed out that “Jewish education, the basic training of Jewish children which should be the very foundation of the structures of our community, continues to be a problem. In this field, we still have much work to do to reach the level of development which has marked the growth of our community as a whole.

“To hasten that process of development is the greatest task facing us today,” Mr. Schneierson continued. “Our failure or success in this field will determine whether our children grow up to be fearful Jews, with a chip on their shoulder, always on the defensvie, or whether our children will grow to be intelligent Jews with a sense of inner security which will shield them against the repeated barrages of hate that have blemished these past decades.”

Dr. David de Sola Pool, principal speaker at the dinner, pointed out that the responsibility for the survival and transmission of Jewish life and Jewish values in this country rests upon Jewish leasdership and on no one else. “It is a paramount and inescapable duty,” he said. “If we fail, in one or two generations our synagogues will be empty shells and our great philanthropies will be hypertrophied organizations. For then we shall find ourselves differentiated from our neighbors not by religion or a distinctive cultural heritage, but only by anti-Semitism on the outside and what is called race on the inside, a dishonored segregation without purpose, without meaning and without soul.” Other speakers included George Z. Medalie, Edgar J. Nathan, Harry H. Liebovitz, and Dr. Alexander Dushkin.