A school for children from the ages of four to eight to integrate secular and Jewish education–hailed as an experiment which “will revolutionize the Jewish educational system in the city”-is being planned by Ivriah, women’s division of the Jewish Education Association.
A $50,000 fund to endow the kindergarten was announced at a Spring-time breakfast of Ivriah Monday at the Hotel Astor, attended by 1,500 women at $18 a plate. Half of the proceeds, or $13,500, were allocated to the endowment fund.
Mrs. Max Lazare, chairman of the fund, said in speaking of the kindergarten project:
“The experiment will revolutionize the Jewish educational system in the City of New York. Five years ago the establishment of such a teaching center was just a dream in the eyes of many mothers in Ivrial A realization came to them that their growing children were receiving little if any religious education. After a census it was found that the majority of children do not receive any Jewish education until they are 12 or 13 years of age, when so busily engaged with secular school studies, they give slight preparation to their spiritual training.
“The Ivriah Kindergarten, to be known as ‘Beth Hayeled,’ the House of the Child, will inculcate the young one at his most impressionable age with a spiritual background and growing interest in his religion, which will be the foundation of a better understanding of the religions of the world and his own spiritual heritage.”
The kindergarten, she explained, will not be conducted as a parochial school, but as a progressive school aiming primarily to build character. A group of Jewish and non-Jewish educators have announced their readiness to cooperate in establishing the school, including Dr. William H. Kilpatrick of Columbia University, Dr. Adelaide T. Case of Teachers’ College, Dr. Samuel Dinin of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Dr. Israel Chipkin of the Jewish Education Association, who has been instrumental in starting the project.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
