Our Daily News Letter

(By Our Jerusalem Correspondent)

Statistics showing the present state of religious education in Palestine, the land where three great religions live side by side, have been published by the Palestine government in its annual report on the administration of the country. That part of the report which deals with Jewish religious education has been received with especial interest in Jewish circles, for it presents for the first time a comprehensive survey of the number of Jewish religious schools as compared with general Jewish schools, the number of pupils in each category, etc.

Jewish religious education in Palestine falls under two heads: Purely religious education, and mixed religious education, i.e., education by means of learning from the Scriptures and holy tomes without any other form of teaching, except perhaps a small quantity of Hebrew, grammar and arithmetic; and education comprising equal parts of learning from the Scriptures and general knowledge. The second type of education is almost entirely controlled by the Palestine Zionist Executive, and is under the supervision of the Religious Education Board of the “Mizrachi” Association. The Palestine Zionist ? cutive furnishes the following figures, showing that there are 45 schools of this type, with a total of 4,534 pupils. compared with 123 schools with 11,698 of the general knowledge kind under the direction of the Zionist Executive. The figures may be apportioned as follows: 12 religious kindergartens with 661, as compared with 57 general kindergartens, with 2,351 infants; 31 religious schools with 3,761 children, as against 55 general schools with 6,952 children. The religious type of education does not obtain at secondary schools, although there are 3 general secondary schools with 1,365 students. Of teachers’ colleges there is one religious seminary with 87 students, compared with 2 seminaries with 306 students of the general type, and one commercial school run by the religious authorities, with tuition for 25 students, as against the six general schools with 724 students.

These figures show that religious education obtains widely amongst the public schools sphere, and the Government statistics for 1925 show that these schools number 50 with 4,345 pupils. Jewish religious educational institutions in Palestine number 95, with an aggregate attendance of 8,879 compared with 123 general-knowledge schools, having an attendance of 11,698, these being under the control of the Palestine Zionist Executive and private bodies.

The number of mission and religious schools run by non-Jewish bodies is 71, with 5,350 pupils, according to the Government report.

Mayor Walker thanked Edwin Franko Goldman in the name of New York City, for his musical programs offered this summer and invited him to return next year. Mayor Walker also presented the director with a watch, on behalf of the members of the band.