The Need of a Distinictly Jewish Tendency in the Conduct of Jewish Education Institutions

Publication Date: January 1909

Publisher: Kohn & Pollock Inc.

Author(s): David Blaustein

Research Area: Culture and religion; Education

Keywords: Assimilation; Education; Religion

Type: Other

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The author argues for the necessity and superiority of a religious education for youth, as opposed to a secular or athiest one. Judaism ought to pervade the Jewish education system, and "non-sectarian Judaism" is contemptible and has no place in education. The "true American" does not shed their Jewish distinctiveness but respects the power and beneficent influence of Judaism in all areas, including good citizenship. Every Jewish educational institution, whether orphan asylum, home for delinquent children, school, or YMHA, ought to be a "home in which God dwells," wherein religious instruction is imparted. and Jewish ritual law is respected. A discussion of the paper follows, where participants consider the application of these ideals to immigration and Jewish settlements, question the meaning of "a distinctly Jewish tendency," the question of assimilation generally, the need for Jewish communal workers and educators, and the conflation of Judaism and the category of religion.