Jewish educational services in Metropolitan New York will be given a massive infusion of $15 million over the next five years in an effort to reverse a trend that has near-crisis overtones for one of the most important aspects in the life of the Jewish community. An unprecedented and unique alliance between a philanthropic family and two major Jewish organizations is responsible for the program.
Following the example of Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss, the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York agreed to contribute annual grants of $1 million each for a five-year period for the advancement of the Jewish educational system in New York. Mr. and Mrs. Gruss expressed great satisfaction that the program to aid Jewish education will receive such a dramatic impetus and that their efforts had been so instrumental in galvanizing the community to move forward with this program.
The Board of Trustees of the Federation voted a grant of $1 million for 1978-79 as part of the annual $3 million package. Federation’s Board declared its intent at its late September meeting to make a similar grant in each of the four years thereafter, subject to its annual approval. UJA’s Board, at its June meeting, approved an annual contribution to the Fund of $1 million per year for five years, subject to approval by the Board of the program plan for the use of the funds.
The $3 million annual funding will be in addition to the regular budgetary grant from Federation for Jewish educational services. This year, Federation will give its Board of Jewish Education $1.7 million for various services that include supervision and guidance, licensing, personnel placement, scholarships, curricular materials, parent education, Hebrew instruction in high schools and publication to a children’s magazine. Federation also gives indirect allocations amounting to almost $1 million annually for Jewish educational and cultural activities in its community centers, camps and children’s agencies.
LARGEST COMMITMENT EVER MADE
The newly created Fund is the largest commitment ever made to upgrade and support Jewish education in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties, according to Harry R. Mancher, president of the Federation. “At present,” he pointed out, “too few Jewish children here receive any form of Jewish education, much of it limited and inadequate in quality. Our goal is to reach out to and enlarge the number of children receiving an adequate amount of Jewish education, to improve the quality of their education, and to help insure the financial viability of the educational institutions.”
James L. Weinberg, president of UJA, explained the reason for this action: “If we do not have future generations of Jews here who understand how they relate to their fellow Jews throughout the world, then the future for Judaism would indeed be bleak.” The Fund will be administered by a 16-member committee representing the Fund’s participants. Solomon Litt, the Fund’s chairman, has served during the past six years as chairman of Federation’s predecessor Fund, the Program Development Fund for Jewish Education. He is also a past president of the Jewish Welfare Board and of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. He is a member of the Federation’s Board of Trustees.
“We can do a tremendous job with this money,” Litt said. “We are dealing with 10,000 children in 610 Jewish schools. It is estimated that these schools spend $135 million a year for Jewish education in metropolitan New York. The $1.7 million appropriated by Federation each year for the Board of Jewish Education, plus the $3 million we plan to spend each year for the next five years, is going to make an important contribution to the overall picture of Jewish education.”
COMMITTEE WILL DETERMINE SCOPE, PRIORITIES
The committee for the Fund will determine the scope, objectives and priorities or allocations to Jewish institutions which provide the educational programs. These include day schools, supplementary schools, and other Jewish educational programs sponsored by Jewish communal institutions such as camps and community centers. The distribution of these funds will be managed by the Board of Jewish Education.
Federation has undertaken to raise its share of the new Fund through special gifts secured for this purpose. The funds also will be raised as a part of “Project Renewal,” which is over and above the 1979 UJA-Federation Joint Campaign. “Project Renewal” is a program to rehabilitate the impoverished Hatikvah community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv in Israel. Hatikvah is New York’s portion of the national Project Renewal program for Israel. Other American cities have chosen different Israeli communities to aid.
Four religious leaders who have been members of the professional advisory committee for Federation’s Program Development Fund have become members of the new committee: Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, Jewish Institute of Religion-Hebrew Union College; Dr. Gerson D. Cohen, chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary ot America; Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Yeshiva University; and Dr. Isadore Twersky, Harvard University Center for Jewish Studies.
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.
