An increase in the number of Hebrew day schools on a high school level in North America and an outreach program for Jewish communities in Central and South America were the two major commitments advanced by the nearly 1000 delegates and guests who attended the 35th annual Torah Umesorah Awards Dinner at the New York Hilton last week.
The South America component will include both Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities in Argentina, Brazil, Panama and Venezuela. North American task forces and educational survey teams under Torah Umesorah’s direction will be involved, according to plans announced at the annual function of the Hebrew day school movement by Kenneth Spetner, dinner chairman.
The delegates and guests, which included educators, seminary deans and prominent rabbis and representatives of the 170 communities in North America which now have Hebrew day schools, paid tribute to Dr. Joseph Kaminetsky, internationally known educator and scholar who has served for more than three decades as national director of Torah Umesorah. Kaminetsky received a sacred scroll (Sefer Torah) on behalf of the 92,000 children now studying at some 516 Hebrew day schools in North America.
The annual Torah Umesorah report just issued pointed out that in the 35 years of Torah Umesorah’s existence, day school enrollment grew from 7500 pupils to 93,000 and from 30 schools to 516 schools in the United States and Canada.
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