Religious Work Linked with Recreation in Training Jewish Children

An attempt to link religious work with recreational work as a new principle in the training of Jewish children constitutes the distinguishing feature of the program being carried out at the Nehr Tomid (Eeternal Light) School, on 101st Street, an institution which was founded and is being maintained largely by Elias A. Cohen or New York.

The Nehr Tomid Society, under whose auspices the school is conducted, was organized, according to Mr. Cohen, to meet the need for an organization American in its conception and Jewish in its origin, looking toward the development of Character Building Schools for the American born Jewish child.

The school, which is meant to be the forerunner of other similar institutions, has an enrollment of over 1,000 Jewish children and the outstanding features of its program are:

Every child is taught first, the Ten Commandments; secondly, the Hebrew alphabet; thirdly, the Bible and its stories and a proper interpretation thereof in English, then the reading of Hebrew and its translation, so that the prayers and Bible in Hebrew may be understood. Ritual singing, the usual Hebrew hymns, as well as the English hymns from the Hymnal of the Union are also taught.

This work is done in the afternoons from 4 P.M. to 7 P.M. The evenings are devoted to cooking, sewing, drawing, the social clubs, etc. There are hikes into the country and in the Summer time all of the children will be taken to the mountains where there will be no work except that of learning about the great out-doors.

The children are not allowed to come to the recreational work unless they partake of the religious work, nor can they do any of the Hebrew work unless they also share in the cultural and physical development work in the Settlement House which is called “Tranquillity House.”

Owing to the fact that many of the children in the school are anaemic it has been decided to feed them milk and buns each day.

The school is free to all the children of the neighborhood. Each father and each mother, however, joins the sisterhood at $1 a year, and an effort is being made to have each of the parents being to the Nehr Tomid Society, the parent organization annual memberships of not less than $35 a year, which is the ###re cost per child for the reaching staff.

N. Y. JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS CALLED ON TO COOPERATE IN $6,000,000 U. J. C. DRIVE

Jewish organizations of New York City were called upon to aid in the drive to raise $6,000,000 in New York for the United Jewish Campaign by Mr. William Fox, chairman of the New York drive Mr. Fox issued an appeal to fraternities, Jewish Centers. Mutual Benefit Societies, Landsmanshalten, Youth Organizations, Women’s Groups and other Jewish bodies to lend their support in the campaign which is to be launched on April 11th.