Newspaper Page Text
Page 25
Th e Southern Israelite
\\ hen Grown-ups Want Judaism
DR. LEON MONES, Director
\ru jersey IS'or mat School for Jewish Teachers and Jewish
Social II orkers
our ye ars ago Rabbi Foster broach-
t he subject to me.
I have been planning for some
he >aid. “ to organize a normal
p f,the training of Jewish
tr'achers. 1 should like you to help me.”
p would be dignified to record that
I hesitated and considered. To tell the
L. !h , though. 1 didn’t. The fact is that
;mped at the idea, for school work
profession and Judaism my
S, we sat down to consider. Did
N.wark need such a course? We be-
\, wark did. Certainly the state
f N.-w .Jersey needed professionally
trained teachers for its Jewish re-
. schools. Would pupils come?
Well, we hoped somehow to persuade
fifty students to enroll. Could we
c- • financial support ? Leave that to the
i. (Incidentally, I’ll tell the world
we did. • And we were off. We called
conference Mr. Franzblau, Prin-
; pa I of the Hebrew Union College
hool for Teachers in New York, and
laid our plans. Our feeling was one
■f enthusiasm somewhat tempered by
usirivings. What if pupils wouldn’t
■me? Hut we took turns cheering one
• 'her up. If fifty wouldn’t come,
we'd teach thirty. If we couldn’t corral
thirty, we’d start with twenty. And we
would have taken less.
Then the Rabbi approached a num-
r of Newark Jews who were genu
inely interested in Jewish education.
They responded with an assurance of
financial support for the first year.
Next we invited a dozen cultured and
i a; able men and women to comprise
Hoard of Trustees. With the help
: these we selected our faculty, a body
Ten long trained in the fields they
"' r> - engaged to teach. A lawyer mem-
"f the Board was authorized to
orporate the school and obtain from
tr.' State authorities the right to grant
teacher s diplomas. Temple B’nai Jes-
run generously offered the use of
; -plendid school equipment. And we
jed <»ur catalogue. In it we defined
1 ur a >nis as follows:
’ -
’' ! "I
• •
ff
!; HUNTSVILLE
STEAM
i; laundry
^ ! >IIES YOU NEW YEAR
GREETINGS
Hi N rs\ II.LE. ALABAMA
■..
Jewish Education for the Adult
PURPOSES:
1. To provide systematic training in
Jewish studies for competent students
who wish to become teachers in Jewish
Religious Schools.
The courses are professional in de
sign and students upon graduation re
ceive Normal Diplomas as qualified
teachers in Jewish studies.
2. To interested persons who desire
to increase their knowledge of Jewish
literature and religion, permission may
be granted to enroll as Auditors. Audi
tors may pursue any one course or the
completed course of study. Should they
complete the full course and desire the
Normal Diploma, they may earn it by
passing the course examinations and
submitting proof of entrance qualifi
cations.
3. The school will likewise provide
periodic lecture courses, open to the
general public, on subjects of Jewish
cultural and educational interest.
4. More broadly, the New Jersey
Normal School for Jewish Teachers
aims to fill a need long felt in our
community and state by providing
systematic instruction in Jewish stud
ies.
Then we waited for results. Here’s
what happened: The community be
came eagerly interested. The newspap
ers asked for more information. The
libraries posted our catalogue. Re
quests for registration blanks came
with each mail. And on registration
night three hundred and thirty stu
dents came prepared to enroll.
Now we were really enthusiastic, for
this was an entirely different story.
We had meant to start a modest course
of instruction for potential Jewish
teachers. Instead we were being faced
by a proposition with the dimensions
of a small university. So we took a
census. Here is what we found!
Of the three hundred and thirty stu
dents who came to register, all were
at least high school graduates, for we
had made high school graduation a
qualification for entrances into our
school. Some seventy-two were college
and university graduates, among them
some lawyers and a physician or two.
Over one hundred were teachers in the
public grammar schools. Over a score
were married women. About a dozen
Christians, among them a Lutheran
i j clergyman enrolled for courses in He
brew. Some of our pupils knew no He
brew at all and some could converse
in modern Hebrew. Some had a thoro
ugh orthodox Jewish education and
some were astoundingly ignorant of
anything pertaining to Judaism. Two
hundred were desirous of taking a
complete course leading to a diploma
in Jewish teaching, and the rest want
ed individual courses in Hebrew, or
Jewish history, or Jewish ethics.
Showing Continued Growth
And this is how we started our
school and it is continuing in a way
that pleases us. For it is much more
than a teacher’s training school. At
every session auditors are welcomed,
and men and women of our communi
ty come to sit in and learn about Juda
ism. It is a sort of open university, its
classes welcome to all. So that at the
end of two years we graduated forty-
nine Jewish religious school teachers
practically all of whom are now' em
ployed in Jewish religious schools. At
the end of our third year we graduated
thirty more. We have awarded gold
medals and prizes to students of out
standing proficiency. All this is natu
rally a source of delight.
But we are equally delighted in our
general appeal to our Jewish communi
ty, in the men and women who came
to listen in as auditors. These do not
come for diplomas, they do not respond
(Continued on Page 26)
Farewell at the Station
Son: Adios, folks, I’ll write home
every week.
Father: Oh, my goodness, son, try
and make your money last longer
than that.—Arizona Kitty Kat.
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
J. F. Hummel & Sons
PRACTICAL WORKERS IN
STONE
MONUMENTS, VAI I.TS, CURBING
ANI> VASES, III II.1)1 NG STONE.
EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR
Phone Sit
HUNTSVILLE, ALA.
186b
1929
THE W, R.jRISON
BANKIN'
*THF. GIBRALTAR OF
IMPANY
NORTH ALABAMA"
Extends the
SEASON’S GREETINGS
TO OUR
MANY FRIENDS AND PATRONS
A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS
NEW YEAR
II. M. Hlicit, President Ashford Todd, Cashier
I. W. Walker, Asst. Cashier
New Year Greetings
To All Our Friends
Crystal Drug Company
CORNER CLINTON AND JEFFERSON
“Where ihe Car* Meet”
HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA
t f
H
Telephone Ire Plant 6-J
Telephone Coal Yard 6-W
GREETINGS FOR THE NEW YEAR
HUNTSVILLE
Ice & Coal Co.
Manufacturer* of Pure Spring-Water Ire
Wholesaler* and Retailers of Coal
IIunt»ville, Alabama
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