The Labor Zionist Movement has called on the World Zionist Organization to increase its allocations to Jewish education in the diaspora, especially in Latin America where Jewish schools face a serious financial crisis. The appeal followed a meeting yes- terday of the Labor Zionist Secretariate at which the situation confronting Jewish schools in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile was discussed.
The Jewish communities in those countries are struggling to maintain Jewish education, speakers said. Their serious situation stems in part from the requirement that they convert from half-day Hebrew schools to full-day schools of general studies at which Hebrew is taught four hours daily. This changeover the last four years makes it difficult for Jewish schools to meet their financial obligations, the meeting was told.
Chaim Finkelstein of the Jewish Agency’s Department of Education and Culture in Diaspora, said that 60,000 pupils are studying at Jewish schools in Latin America, the largest number in history. They comprise almost half of the Jewish school-age children on that continent, he said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
