A plan to extend the program of religious education for Jewish children in Brooklyn will be started soon with a fund and membership campaign by the Brooklyn Division of the Jewish Education Association.
The program will get under way tomorrow night at a meeting at Rothman’s Inn, 285 Kingston avenue, Brooklyn. Otto A. Rosalsky, Justice of the Court of General Session, will be the principal speaker. The Brooklyn Division will seek to raise $200,000 and increase its membership to 25,000.
Justice Rosalsky succeeded the late Israel Unterberg as president of the Association about six months ago. Another speaker will be Bernard Semel, honorary secretary of the Association.
Municipal Court Justice Nathan Sweedler of Brooklyn, chairman of the local division, said there were more than sixty Jewish religious schools affiliated with the Association. The organization, he said, was formed about fifteen years ago with functions similar to a municipal board of education.
Jewish schools willing to conform with the requirements are asked to stress American citizenship and Judaism in their teachings, according to Sweedler. The teachers are required to be licensed and graduates of both secular and Jewish colleges.
Justice Sweedler estimated that 80,000 Jewish children are living in Brooklyn without opportunities for religious education. There are, he said, about 25,000 Jewish children in schools providing religious instruction but not all these schools have become associated with the Jewish Education Association.
The membership in the Brooklyn division was said to be more than 600. The purpose of the campaigns, Sweedler explained, is to get more supporters in order to provide a larger number of children with a Jewish education.
Most of the schools are Talmud Torahs, only two or three being parochial schools which provide both secular and religious education. The former, through the public school year, maintain religious classes from 4:30 p. m. to 9 p. m., on school days. During the Summer classes are held from 9 a. m. to 3 p. m. Classes also are held throughout the year on Sunday mornings. Religious instruction is augmented by training in music, literature and recreational programs.
Justice Sweedler said he planned to have a camp to accomodate 5,000 Jewish children during the Summer months.
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