Jewish communities in this country and in Canada were urged here today by the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds to strengthen Jewish education in quality and effectiveness. They were also urged to make larger contributions to the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. A resolution adopted by the Assembly at its closing session today stated:
“The strengthening of Jewish education in quality and effectiveness is of the utmost importance to the future of our communities and of Jewry in America. Since the findings of the National Study of Jewish Education in America were reported to the General Assembly in 1959, a number of community federations have intensified their re-examination of the status of Jewish education in their communities.
“This re-examination and the continuous consideration given by the General Assembly have highlighted major problems in community-wide responsibilities, notably for the quality, standard and effectiveness of Jewish education, for teacher training, supervision and guidance, for continuation of education at Junior high, high school and adult levels, and for planning coordination, financing and leadership.
“While the forms and procedures vary from city to city in Jewish education as in other services, the problems are pervasive. They require the most energetic and imaginative national and local attention; re-appraisal of the various forms of Jewish education and the role of federations in relation to them–weekday, week-end and all-day schools; cooperation among the various types of schools, and particularly between synagogues and federations; and concerted measures to deal with community-wide responsibilities. We commend the communities, which have carried forward such a re-appraisal and planning; we urge those communities which have not yet done so to undertake it,” the resolution declared.
In its resolution on the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Assembly expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the Foundation in the field of its activities and called for greater assistance to enable the “far greater progress which can lie ahead.”
Detailed reports on the achievements of the Foundation were given at a special session of the Assembly, at which the status and outlook of Jewish culture in America was discussed. Principal speakers at the session were Edwin Wolf, 2nd, of Philadelphia and Dr. Judah J. Shapiro, of New York, president and secretary, respectively, of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.
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.
