The Commission on Education and Youth Organization, which met at the Y.M.H.A. auditorium Sunday and Monday, convoked by the Zionist Organization of America, called into being a permanent organization through a resolution adopted at the concluding meeting of the Commission.
Described by Morris Rothenberg, President of the Zionist Organization of America, as a meeting “of the best minds in the Jewish educational world”, the two day conference was participated in by educational and youth organization leaders from many parts of the country.
Following the adoption of the resolution establishing the permanency of the Commission, Israel S. Chipkin, director of the Jewish Education Association of New York was elected its chairman.
The terms of the resolution provide for a preliminary survey of the present status of Zionist education and a synthesis of the means by which it may be enhanced.
Mr. Rothenberg in opening the Conference suggested that the Commission undertake, with reference to the study of means of strengthening the various youth Zionist organizations, the feasibility of federating them under one common head.
Interest in Zionism, said Mr. Rothenberg, was never more keen than it is today, but the technical means of converting this interest into an engine of strength for the Zionist movement had not been found
Mr. Rothenberg listed the various youth organizations now in the Zionist field, declaring that one had gone so far as to establish farms for the preparatory training of American Chaluzim, but on the whole, he declared, none of the youth organizations, with the exception of the Junior Hadassah, had succeeded in gaining any great numerical strength. The contention that the Junior Hadassah had succeeded solely because of the influence of the Jewish mothers on their daughters, Mr. Rothenberg challenged with the question: Do not the mothers also influence their sons?
Mr. Rothenberg struck a note emphasized by several of the speakers that some of the organizations had a tendency to regard themselves as the end rather than the means to an end, that leaders were prone to have a “vested interest” in the organization, dangerous to the general objective. The federation of the various youth organizations, he held, might remove this objection.
Dr. Alexander M. Dushkin, director of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Chicago, emphasized the need for strengthening the Zionist youth movement and called for the establishment of a Central Bureau to stimulate activity among the youth.
He stressed the need for placing emphasis on Palestine and the national aspects of Jewish life in the curricula of Jewish schools throughout the country. He called for the reorganization of community life through the drawing in of new elements and the assignment of specific pieces of work to various groupings.
Dr. Dushkin expressed the belief that the Zionist Organization in this country should give priority in its program to educational work instead of concentrating all its energies on fund raising.
In 1917, he said, we might have thought that Palestine could be built up in ten years. No one believes that now and whether we raise $100,000 more or less for the Palestine campaign is comparatively unimportant. On the other hand educational work in the Diaspora is indispensible for the future of our efforts here in Palestine.
Dr. Dushkin declared that there was a great deal of generally unrecognized Zionist education being done in the Hebrew schools of the country. But the Jewish schools face great difficulties. There were approximately 2,000 Hebrew schools in the country, he said, but the majority of these were “one-teacher or two-teacher” schools. Most were small schools. Even in New York, the average enrollment was small and in the last year or two, they have suffered a great decline. In New York, he said, the drop in the last year or two had been from 160 pupils to the school to the present average enrollment of 100 pupils to the school.
An equally unpleasant picture of the condition of Jewish education in the country was brought to the Commission by Dr. Jacob S. Golub, director of Jewish education for Cincinnati.
A great many of the teachers in Jewish Sunday schools, said Dr. Golub, can not translate the Bible, many can not even read the prayerbook. If you want to see the Bible taught without living interest, said Dr. Golub. a visit to many of these schools is all that is necessary. Dr. Golub lamented that the teaching of many of the Jewish subjects, purely from the traditional approach, without reference to Palestine and modern Jewish life was responsible for much of this colorlessness. In this, he said, the teachers were not so responsible, as the influences which control these educational institutions.
Dr. Emanuel Gamoran, director of education for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations declared that “to be a Zionist does not mean merely to contribute to funds collected for the upbuilding of Palestine. It also means the development of attitudes and practices conducive to intensive and creative Jewish life in America.”
“Our youth groups and adults must be made conscious of the sacred Jewish culture and aesthetic values that are a part of our Jewish social heritage. Jewish life will then come to be appreciated in its multi-colored expression in language, in literature, in art, in religion and in music. Such appreciation should lead to the development of a vital, pulsating creative Jewish life.”
Dr. S. A. Friedland, director of Jewish education for Cleveland sought to find the key to Zionist education through a contrast with the influence wrought by Berlin and Rome. Germany, he declared, had sent millions of her sons to America, but the Germans here had been divorced from the influence of German culture. Rome on the other hand had succeeded in keeping vital its foreign influence. Jerusalem, he declared, must imitate Rome. He suggested various means to make Palestine alive in the American Jewish consciousness.
Rabbi Samuel Blumenfield criticised the multiplicity of organizations in Jewish life. His criticism precipitated considerable discussion both as to his major theme and to the merits of the individual organizations.
Joseph S. Shubow, of Avukah, declared
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