Young American Jews Reported to Have Low Level of Jewish Knowledge

Despite evidence of more natural identification with Judaism than their parents, the Jewish knowledge level of the current generation of committed young American Jews “is not more substantial than that of uncommitted, ” Dr. Max F. Baer, national director of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, told the annual meeting here of the organization’s youth commission–a national adult policy making body composed of 50 members.

Dr. Baer ascribed this failure to a combination of lack of a direction in home, plus some serious shortcomings in formal Jewish education. “The concept of Jewish values being handed down from father to son today has become a case of the blind leading the blind, ” he said. “When father himself is unlearned or confused, there is not much of Judaism son can learn. The situation becomes further aggravated when father’s behavior is inconsistent with Jewish values.

“The serious void in education of American Jewish youth, “said Dr. Baer, “can be closed by volunteer youth agencies. As part of an overall plan to augment Jewish education of teenagers, youth groups should establish series of informal courses in cooperation with local public school authorities,” he suggested. “While it is not the function of most youth groups to schedule formal instruction in Jewish values, they have abundant opportunities for supplementary learning in a variety of informal group settings because of the large numbers of youth with whom they deal–numbers far greater than are reached by religious schools, ” he declared.