The emphasis in American Jewish communal life will have to be shifted from philanthropy to Jewish education or the Jewish historian of the future will be compelled “to write a sad chapter on the decline and fall of American Jewry,” declared Judge Otto A. Rosalsky, in an address before the annual meeting of the Jewish Education Association yesterday at the Jewish Club, which was attended by 200 of the officers and leading workers and supporters of the organization.
The opening address and message was delivered by Israel Unterberg, president of the Association. Mr. Unterberg made a brief survey of the progress of the Jewish Education Association since its organization, showing how its various activities including scholarship grants for the tuition of children of poor parents, a repair and mortgage service to improve and increase the physical facilities of Jewish schools, the granting of prizes to pupils, the establishment of a Board of License for teachers, and other activities, developed and grew by a natural process of evolution. Owing to its expanding work, he stated, the Association had adopted an increased budget for the coming year.
Reporting on the Committee for Scholarship Grants, Jacob Wener, the Chairman, stated that in the year 1928-29 scholarships were provided for 2,234 children distributed over 63 schools at a cost of $64,403. During the current year, the number of free scholarships has been increased to 2,439 representing 75 schools and involving an expenditure of $78,000. The total number of boys and girls in the 75 schools benefiting from the scholarships of the Association is 23,863.
A report for the Committee on Prizes was presented by Samuel Rottenberg, who is Chairman of the Committee. A total of 2,726 prizes, most of them consisting of books, were distributed to as many pupils during the past year, Mr. Rottenberg stated. These pupils represented 156 Jewish schools with a register of over 40,000 children. Since 1923, when the distribution of prizes by the Association began, a total of 24,000 prizes had been distributed.
Reporting on the various methods adopted by the Association to stimulate interest in Jewish education, Bernard Semel, Honorary Secretary of the Association, stated that the organization had addressed itself during the past year to Jewish parents under the slogan of “Your Children—Will They Be Yours?” and “Jewish Education: a Communal Responsibility.” Mr. Semel reported also on the establishment of the Committee and Board of License, and on the work of these bodies during the past year. Applications for licenses are now being received by the Board, Mr. Semel stated, and 600 applicants have already filed applications.
A financial report was presented by Harry H. Liebovitz, the Treasurer. The budget adopted during the coming year, he stated, amounts to $154,000 for which the sum of $75,000 would have to be raised in addition to the funds already received during the current year.
A report on the fund-raising activities of the Association was submitted by Jonah J. Goldstein who is in charge of this activity.
The work of the Association, in improving the physical and sanitary conditions of Jewish schools, and in helping in the construction of new school buildings, was reported by Jacob H. Cohen, who is Chairman of the Committee on Repairs as well as President of the Jewish Education Association Mortgage Service, Inc., who stated that during the past year financial aid for repairs was granted to 15 schools, and that in the past year the grants of the Association, amounting to 18% of the total, led the schools to make repairs amounting to $100,000.
A report on Ivriah, the Women’s Division of the Jewish Education Association, was presented by Mrs. Gabriel Hamburger, the Chairman of the Women’s Division. Mrs. Hamburger stated that since September 1929, the membership of Ivriah had been increased by 500, the total now being 4,000 organized in 18 districts of the city. Ivriah conducts classes in Bible and Hebrew for its members and cooperates with Jewish religious schools in their efforts to increase their pupil registers by means of children’s entertainments, festival celebrations, etc.
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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.
