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16 THE SOUTHERN ISRAE LITE A Resume Of The Year 5691 Of Montgomery, Alabama Special to The Southern Israelite By RAE PARE The activities of Temple Beth-Or, Mont gomery, Ala. were divided during the Dast year among the Board of Trustees of the Temple, the Council of Jewish Women and the Temple Men’s Club. The Board of Trustees was directed by the following officers: President, Mr. Simon Wampold; Vice-President, Mr. Simon Roswald; Treasurer, Mr. Ernest Mayer. Members of the Board served as ushers on Friday evenings throughout the year and conducted services during the summer months while Rabbi Goldstein was on a vacation, in addition to their regular duties of operating the affairs of the Temple. Rabbi Benjamin B. Goldstein, a brilliant and inspiring speaker, in a liberal and far seeing way, has chosen his sermons with a view toward enabling the members of the congregation to interpret, and adjust them selves to the big problems of life—relig iously, economically, socially—with such subjects as: “Our Widening Horizons,” “The Future of Religion,” “The Quest of an Adequate Judaism,” “The Judaism That Jews Forget”; a series of sermons was given on comparative ‘20th century relig ions, a series on outstanding personali ties, modern books, while the Sabbath morning sermons were usually based on Scriptural selections. Under the direction of Rabbi Goldstein a new system has been introduced in the Sunday School in Montgomery. The new curriculum calls for work in character de velopment for the pupils through the fourth grade. A project is planned for each class and this general project is car ried out by the children themselves. The w'ork is designed to stimulate a creative interest on the part of the child. The higher division has graded work in Jewish history. The method employed in presenting the history of the Jews is de signed to give the pupil an understanding of the relationships which existed between the Jews and their environmental condi tions. No text books are used. The teachers prepare outlines of the historical periods they are to teach, and the pupils are re quired to keep note books containing these outlines and any explanatory material. The plan has proved to be very success ful and will be continued. A class for the Sunday School teachers (and parents of the children) is held weekly by Rabbi Goldstein. Last year the class dealt with “Character Education” and “Changing Conceptions of Religion and Their Effect on Religious Education.” A class for the women of the congre gation was also conducted each week by Rabbi Goldstein; the subject for the past year’s study was “The History of Relig ion.” The lectures were interesting and instructive. The main secular activities ol Montgom ery focussed themselves within the Coun cil, the Men’s Club and Hadassah. The Montgomery Section of the National Council of Jewish Women has concentrated this past year on three major projects. Co-operating with the Men’s Club of Temple Beth-Or the Council sponsored an Open Forum and presented such well known speakers as Norman Thomas, Ever ett Dean Martin, Dr. Henry Neumann, Maurice Hindus, Dr. J. Eustace Haydon and Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Co-operating with the American Red Ci oss, a maternity relief was organized. Financial assistance was given for hospi talization of expectant mothers and per sonal contact made with these mothers in their homes. 1 he third project was the establishii ol a Braille class for the blind, in whi< the Council worked with the State Reh bilitation Department. Sewing and Ba ketry were taught and a market open, tor the articles which were made. Month social gatherings and programs were u der the guidance of the Council and giv Ht ul ho I lle of a f °rmer teacher who sight has been impaired. The climax of the year was the Sout ern Interstate Conference which met Montgomery on April 12th, 13th and 141 Eighteen sections of the South assembled and gave much profitable information, showing the work among its constituent organizations. The officers of the Council for 1931-1932 are Mrs. Myron Lobman, President; Mrs. Louis Kaufman, First Vice-President; Mrs. Benjamin Goldstein, Second Vice-President; Mrs. Sylvain Loeb. Treasurer; Mrs. Meyer Sacks, Recording Secretary; Mrs. Herman Simon, Corre sponding Secretary, and Mrs. David Mar cus, Auditor. Montgomery Chapter of Hadassah car ried out successfully its educational pro gram for the members under the able lead ership of Mrs. Abe Monsky. Mrs. Monsky, as President, with her efficient set of offi cers will continue in office during the year 1931-1932 and strive to accomplish as much for the assistance of Palestine as they did during the past year. One of the outstanding events in the Hadassah and Council year was a joint luncheon at which Mrs. J. J. Heilman. Southern Regional President of Hadassah, was the guest speaker. The Men’s Club, with Edwin Wise as President, has had a very interesting year at the supper meetings. The program last year took the form of debates among the members, on outstanding problems of the day. The Red Letter night of the year was a dinner to which wives of members were invited, and Dr. Horace Kalian was the guest speaker. Jewish Federation of Montgomery Last year a Jewish Federation was formed in Montgomery in an attempt t co-ordinate local charity work and to elim inate the many drives for National am International causes. The members of Tem ple Beth-Or were the guiding spirit, ami the Orthodox and Sephardic groups gm their co-operation. One drive was held din ing the year with splendid results. The Federation operates from the oflue of Temple Beth-Or. Transients and local families are given necessary relief ona * tions are made to the National and l nU Y national organizations which had recel \ \ contributions from Montgomery s population pratcically equal to the amou formerly raised by separate drives The officers are, President, Ra 'i Ben jamin B. Goldstein; First Vice-Pm si • Mr. Simon Wampold; Second \ ie^ • dent, Mrs. Bertha Kahn; Treasu • * Bernard Gerson; Secretary, * Pake. Plans are being made for the |}Hj lU 0 f drive which is conducted in tm each year.