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secondly, the fulfillment of the
Torah’s command to study and
teach as a means of serving
God and surviving as a people
and a nation.
This is in general, the philo
sophy of Jewish education as
is has emerged from the Bible
days to the present time. In
the biblical period the great
emphasis was placed upon re
ligious custom, ritual and sacri
fice. Later on when the Oral
Law was committed to writing
it became the philosophical
foundation for the newer Jew
ish education that was to fol
low. In medieval times the
study of the Torah became the
foundation of Jewish educa
tion, for every word and every
letter received the attention of
the medieval commentators.
One of the most famous of
these commentators was Rashi,
who made the study of the
Bible understandable to the
multitudes of people who
sought religious inspiration
and divine authority for every
act of life.
In modern times the philo
sophy of Jewish education has
remained basically the same,
but with the birth of the Con-
servatve and Reform ideolo
gies in Judaism the philosophy
of Jewish education has under
gone a number of changes
which have been made to
harmonize with these newer
concepts of Judaism. But de
spite the various by-paths that
exist in the philosophy of Jew
ish education and despite any
special emphasis or interpre
tation in Jewish life today, all
groups, more or less, subscribe
to a common core of objectives
or aims.
One of thesce aims is to build
up in the child, youth and
adult a clear and positive feel
ing of belongingness to the
Jewish group and to prepare
him to live in a Jewish en
vironment, to learn to live in
telligently and worthily those
aspects of his life which are
Jewish so that they will be
come fqr him sources of signi
ficance/ self-worth, personal
dignity and inner security. A
second aim is to develop in
the Jewish child and vouih
and adult a desire to partici
pate intelligently and actively
as a Jew in his home, in his
synagogue and his community.
A third aim is to prepare the
Jewish child, youth and adult
to live in his American envir
onment. Democracy implies the
right to be different, but the
distinctiveness of the Jew must
be made meaningful to him.
It must help to perpetuate
Jewish life and culture, and
strengthen our loyalty to the
American democracy, which is
largely built upon the classic
ethical tradition of Judaism. A
Jew becomes a better citizen
who has been educated to un
derstand the right, privileges
and responsibilities implicit in
the democratic way of life.
In brief, the unmistakable
obligation of Jewish education
today, as never before, is to
synthesize the ideals of the
Jewish and American way of
life; to transmit the knowledge
of these principles and insti
tutions to our growing genera
tion; to build better Americans
and better Jews at a time when
we are in desperate need of
both and to serve as an instru
ment in making a better world.
The Jewish youth of Ameri
ca is looked upon as the Jew
ish nation builder. His partici
pation in Jewish life can spell
the growth of the Jewish peo
ple or his apathy and indiffer
ence can bring about its de
cline. Jewry today, looks to
America, the greatest Jewish
community in the world, for
growth, for new life and for
new vigor, and depends upon
h philosophy of Jewish educa
tion which will train our youth
to think, feel and act as
American Jews.
Last but not least, the loyal
ty and devotion to Israel, as
part of a Jewish religious civil
ization is axiomatic to a philo
sophy of Jewish education.
Thus the study of Hebrew
does not only serve the pur
pose of studying the secular
life of the Jew and his Culture,
but also serves as the religious
instrument of his spiritual af
finity to God and his Torah
and his people.
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