The need to cope with the challenge of “overcoming the evils of monolithic secularism on American college campuses” by providing youth with a well-formulated and significant body of religious doctrines,” was stressed here today by Rabbi Israel Miller, first vice-president of the Rabbinical Council of America, in an address at the 27th annual convention of the Orthodox rabbinical group.
“The vast bulk of American Jewish youth,” Rabbi Miller declared,” is acquiring a college education. More than two out of three of the Jewish young men and women in the United States are attending campuses from the east coast to the west coast.”
Stressing that “youth will be given the reins of power and leadership in the world of tomorrow,” Rabbi Miller warned that, “an ill prepared group of Jewish leaders will be a hindrance to the progress, growth and maturation of Jewry if they are not actuated by deep feelings of loyalty for traditional values.”
“It is a solemn duty and obligation of the religious community to face this task with a well-defined program of religious education, guidance and instruction in the extracurricular activities carried on by the college,” he said, “A spate of lectures, published materials, Hebrew language studies, scholarships and related undertakings will surely inculcate in these young men and women a greater awareness of and affinity for the time-tested and proven verities of the Jewish religion.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
