Rabbinical Council of America Issues Call for Religious Education

The Rabbinical Council of America, through its Commission on Education, has resolved that the Festival of Chanukah and the entire month following, be dedicated to religious education. In a call to its 500 members who are serving as spiritual leaders of Orthodox Jewish communities in every State of the Union, the Rabbinical Council has urged that the need for religious education be emphasized from pulpit and platform, and through every means of public communication.

“It is greatly deplorable,” the appeal says, “to note the decline in the Talmud Torah education of Jewish children. Instead of setting and maintaining high standards, most educators yield to the demand of the parents and continue watering down the curriculum, substituting entertainment for genuine Hebrew education. Being over-zealous for the physical well-being of our children, parents and teachers have made common cause in depriving our youth of the spiritual vitality which has been the mainstay of the Jewish people throughout its history. Instead of taking pride in being the ‘people of the Book,’ we are fast deteriorating to the level of the cook book and the comic book.”