Jewish parents are failing their children by not providing them with proper spiritual and ethical guidance, Dr. Ira Eisenstein of Chicago charged, addressing a conference here of 80 teen-age regional leaders of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization. He asserted that Jewish youth today is “altogether confused because they cannot see what effect either belonging or believing has upon moral behavior or individuals.”
Rabbi Eisenstein was equally critical of the structure of organized Jewish religious life, “Jewish adults seem to think that when they have established three major denominations they have solved the problem for their children–all the young people have to do is choose one of the denominations. The fact is, however, that none of the three groups offers a clear-cut program of Jewish belief and practice. Each is a loose consideration of more or less like-minded people who are not prepared to make an issue of doctrine, because they are too concerned about keeping their organization intact.”
The result is confusion for most young people, Dr. Eisenstein continued. “The solution is an enriched religious school curriculum that would stress values of living and ethical life,” he declared.
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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.
