Officials of six Miami Beach B’nai B’rith chapters today suggested to parents that they send their children to public schools on Jewish holidays not observed in their homes.
In a letter to members, the chapter presidents warned that school officials “are disquieted” when they see Jewish children, absent from school on such holidays, gathered on school playgrounds or street corners, “generally conducting themselves in a manner which is unbecoming during the religious holidays.”
Such behavior, the B’nai B’rith leaders warned, “technically borders on truancy.” They pointed out that Jewish children have “moral obligations when absenting themselves from school on Jewish holidays” and that such absences should be used “in consonance with the religious practices” which prevail in their homes. “If there are holidays which your families do not observe, you can perhaps discuss with your children their corollary obligation to attend school, “the letter said.
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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.
