Hebrew Day Schools to Initiate Instructions in Ecology

The Hebrew day schools joined the ranks of the conservation-minded yesterday by deciding to initiate instruction in ecology. The move was approved by 300 day school principals at the end of a four-day convention here of the National Conference of Yeshiva Principals and the National Association of Hebrew Day School Administrators, affiliates of Torah Umesorah, the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools. The ecological curriculum will be part of the schools’ over-all program of religious instruction, explained Rabbi Bernard Goldenberg of New York, spokesman for Torah Umesorah. “Ecology is a religious imperative,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We are saying it’s a sin to pollute the air and water.”

The convention also resolved to seek greater Welfare Fund support for needy-student scholarships while protecting the “ideological essence” of existing Hebrew day schools; to “upgrade the professionalism of day school instructors,” and to increase individual instruction. Rabbi Sholom Rephun, principal of the Manhattan (N.Y.) Day School, was elected president of the National Conference of Yeshiva Principals, succeeding Rabbi Simcha Teitelbaum, president of Yeshiva High School of Queens (N.Y.), who was named honorary president.