ACK NBX 5 074 576 iucational Publications, No I PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE BY HERBERT M. ABLER, M.A., LL.M DIRECTOR OF JEWISH EDUCATION An Inaugural Address delivered at the Second Annual Conference convened by the Central Committee for Jewish Education, July, 1922 THE JEWISH WAR MEMORIAL 22 GREAT ST. HELENS, E.G. 3. Educational Publications, No I PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE BY HERBERT M. ABLER, M.A., LL.M. DIRECTOR OF JEWISH EDUCATION An Inaugural Address delivered at the Second Annual Conference convened by the Central Committee for Jewish Education, July, 1922 THE JEWISH WAR MEMORIAL 22 GREAT ST. HELENS, E.G. 3. PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE Introductory. I AM afraid there is one qualification which the future Director of Education is apt to lose after a speech like that which you have just listened to, and that is the indispensable virtue of modesty. Nevertheless, I deeply appreciate the heartening words that have fallen from Dr. Eichholz and I welcome this oppor- tunity of laying before the Conference a rough survey of the field of Jewish Education in which we shall have to work. On October i6th, immediately after Succoth, I am to join the ship that carries our high purpose, our most treasured possession : not, I do not flatter myself, as its captain. Its captain sits here in the person of Dr. Eichholz. As Chairman of the Central Committee for Jewish Education, he will remain as your chief officer. At the same time I do not anticipate that I shall sign on as the much talked-of cabin boy. I expect rather that my function will be that of the look-out man, or let us say the pilot, upon whom a very responsible duty lies, the safety of the good ship. Machinery and Principles. I wish to say a few words about two things, firstly about the machinery that we have set up and intend to put into motion, and secondly as to the driving force which is to set it working. For, depend up it, however perfect your machin- ery may be, unless you have the energising foice to start it and to keep it going, you will have wasted all your effort. We do not want dry bones. Our hope is lost unless the 3 4 PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE Nishmath hayyim, the spirit of life, be breathed into our frame. " For, after all," says a modern writer, " Religion is not a superior kind of chemistry, amenable to the rules of scientific induction. Its component parts cannot be classi- fied and tested, and there, is a spark within it which defies fore-knowledge." That spark is to us Jews the perpetual light before the Ark of the Covenant and we must not suffer it to be extinguished. The Organisation as a whole. Our machinery must be good and in workman-like order. There must be centralisation coupled with devolution. As the centre and heart of our organisation the Jewish War Memorial have set up the Central Committee for Jewish Education a body representative of all associations in the country that are working for the cause of Jewish Education. In addition we have our Area Committees, the limbs which must function locally. And thirdly we have the Managing Committees of our Schools and Classes, the actual units with which we have to deal. Area Committees. Let us look for a moment at the position of the Area Com- mittees. We anticipate that the Committees which are now being formed will cover the whole of the United Kingdom and the word is no longer redundant Ireland as well. Each Area Committee will be responsible for Jewish Religious Education within its own district. It will have to supervise Jewish Education and to make adequate arrangements for local inspection. Where necessary it must arrange for new Classes to be installed. Sometimes it will find that an out- lying district will not warrant the provision of a separate teaching staff. The Area Committee may then arrange to send a travelling teacher to visit one or more of such spots two or three times a week. In fact it will be its duty to .see that there is no Jewish child in the district not receiving adequate Hebrew and Religious Education. I hope that, as time goes on, Committees will find it possible to arrange not merely for the instruction of children up to Barmitzvah age, but during the crucial period of adolescence. I trust that they will not regard their work as done when a child has turned 14 and leaves his elementary school. The work is only half done. In fact it is then only just beginning. Con- versely, I hope in many cases Committees will find it possible to institute a Hebrew Kindergarten. That is not at all impossible. One has been started recently in connection with the New Synagogue in London, and quite lately I have been consulted with regard to the syllabus, an exceedingly well thought-out plan, by which it is proposed to regulate the instruction of the infants. To my mind you cannot start too early, nor can you work too thoroughly. And I am convinced that Area Committees have a great future before them if they attract to their body, as they should, the keenest workers in the community. The success of our project must largely depend upon local effort, and we look to the Area Committees therefore to ensure that our great purpose shall not fail. London. I turn to London. There we have, not a single Area Com- mittee, but as the result of the educational evolution which has been going on in the Metropolis, we have to recognise no less than four bodies, each of which in its way is fulfilling the duties of an Area Committee. There is first of all the Union of Hebrew and Religion Classes which supervises the educa- tion given, not merely in classes attached to a Synagogue, but also in Classes which are not immediately supported by or connected with the Synagogue. And then there is the Talmud Torah Trust, an important body controlling a large number of schools where there is an intensive Jewish education. There is the Jewish Religious Education Board, a large organisation dealing with the religious instruction of children attending non- Jewish schools where secular edu- cation is provided under the Local Authority. Lastly, there 6 PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE is the Association of non-Provided Schools which deals with the religious education given in our own public elementary schools, which have been founded by the generosity of past generations. The Dominions. Reference has been made to the Dominions. We cannot hope to achieve very much at the present time with regard to the outlying parts of this vast Empire, but something can be done by correspondence and advice as to books, syllabuses and method. I see that some of the Colonies have them- selves organised their educational effort in the manner which we ourselves propose. I might instance the Con- stitution of the Religious Education Board in New South Wales, of which the President is Rabbi Francis Cohen. It is clear that the Dominions have much the same problems to meet as we have here, and I cannot doubt that our Central Committee can be of material assistance to them. The distance is great and actual inspection is impossible, -but we can in a sense " listen-in." We can hear what they have achieved, and we can advise them from our own experience how we think they should proceed. The Central Committee for Jewish Education. I have dealt with Area Committees. I have said some- thing of the Colonies. I come nearer home and turn to the Central Committee itself. I called it just now the heart of our body. Like the heart, it must pump blood throughout the frame not merely money, but vitalizing energy and food for growth. It must be responsible for the super- vision of the Area Committees. It must help them by its guidance, regarding their problems as its own and sparing no effort in their solution. In order to gain an idea of what the position is in the different districts, the Central Com- mittee have recently prepared two forms, one of which asks for full particulars as regards each area, and the other for PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE 7 details of each separate school and unit within the area, details such as the number of pupils, the hours of instruc- tion, the subjects taught, the text-books used, and the names of the teachers. When we have these forms completed, we shall have the position before us, and we can more easily push ahead. The Central Committee will also have to grapple with the problem of preparing a model syllabus. And a single syllabus will, not cover the need of every type of school in the country. That is impracticable and destructive. We must never allow the minimum to be accepted as the maxi- mum. It would be fatal to progress. We shall want some- thing in the nature of an alternative syllabus or syllabuses, graduated to meet the needs of very different types of schools, varying as they do in the hours alloted to instruction, and in the stress laid upon an intensive study of Hebrew and upon post-Biblical literature. The Committee must be respon- sible for selecting good text-books, and it must do more. Where we have not got good text-books they must be written, or they must be translated where they exist in other lan- guages. I hope that the Committee will institute a Text- Book Sub-Committee which will deal with this very im- portant branch of its activities. Again there is the subject to which Dr. Eichholz has referred, that of leaving examinations. We must provide some test some diploma of recognition to children who pass through school and can show that they have come up to a due standard of knowledge. Training of Teachers. That brings me to what is perhaps the most vital problem of all : the training of teachers. Unless we can supply and continue to supply properly-trained teachers for our schools, our activities will come to an end within a very short time. We must realise that unpleasant fact, or we shall certainly fail. First of all, we must arrange for exam- inations for teachers. These, I understand, will be under the 8 PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE able direction of Jews' College. But beyond that, we must give them proper training facilities for these examinations. It is useless to tell them what to do unless we make it possible for them to do it. We must give our minds then, to the training of teachers not merely in London, but in the Pro- vinces. Incidentally, I think we may do something by reverting to the old system of employing pupil-teachers, utilising in our classes the services of the elder and most promising pupils. They will learn a good deal themselves in this way and they may obtain a taste for the calling which will induce them after they leave school to become our future teachers. But we cannot expect them to come back to our schools afterwards as teachers if we do not encourage them while we have them as pupils. We have an opportunity then, and we must make the most of it. The Director of Jewish Education. And in all this, you will ask, where does the Director of Education come in ? To my mind, the Director of Education will be the officer of the Central Committee. He will submit to them what he thinks ought to be done. He will give them his concrete proposals for the solution of the different problems that arise. He will, if necessary, press for their adoption with all the weight which he can command. But in the end the decision and the final responsibility will rest with the Central Committee. Questions of policy nn_st finally and after due consideration be determined by them. He will, in fact, be the whole of their higher administrative staff both indoor and outdoor. It may be that in this single office lies the nucleus of a larger staff that is to come. But that is looking ahead. I see no reason why at the present time, if he allots his time methodically to the duties before him, he cannot get the essential work done. Not that I under-estirnate those duties. The Director of Education must at once be the eyes and ears of the Central Committee. He must visit classes and confer with teachers ; he must PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE 9 discuss matters with Committees of Management. And here may I add this ? When he makes a report of his visits, he will not only render a report to the Central Committee, but he will furnish a duplicate copy to the organization under which those particular Classes are held, so that they will at the same time know his views. 1 do not see any objec- tion to this course. I hope not to pass any comment which will not be justified. It may be in the nature of criticism, but criticism is needed if we are to improve. At the same time, it must not be thought that such visits will relieve the Local Committee of their own duty of inspection. Inspec- tion Committees exist in London and they are being formed in the Provinces. The inspections of the Director of Educa- tion will not make their duties less important. Not for one moment can they afford to relax their efforts. The visits of the Director of Education will not be nearly frequent enough to suffice. Nor should it be regarded as the function of the Director of Education to relieve these bodies of their executive work. They would be calling him from more general duties, more universal labours which it is essential that he should fulfil. Moreover, in my view he ought not to be drawn into too many ornamental and honorific func- tions. His time is your time and it must not be wasted. Amongst his duties will be that of conferring with teachers, particularly head-teachers. He will take them into counsel and where he sees defects and difficulties prevailing he will often talk matters over with them at leisure to gain the advantage of their practical experience. I am convinced, too, if I may revert to the question of the preparation of a model syllabus, that it is essential as a first step that the Director of Education should call into consultation a limited number of our most experienced teachers and go over the ground with them. At the office of the Director of Education I hope to instal a library of Text-Books, so that whenever a question arises as to the best books to use upon any subject, I may be able io PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE to take this volume or that from the shelf and point out its particular merits. At the conclusion of every year the Director of Education should submit to the Central Committee a report on what has been achieved during the year. It must be a stock- taking, not merely of his own activities but of those of the whole country upon this great subject. The Community is entitled to know year by year what has been done and they will justly expect, not lightly-spun words, but a matured and deliberate record, the result of the experience gained during the previous twelve months. Principles. Religious Teaching Must be Real. I have spoken at some length about the machinery that we are proposing to set up. But as I said at the start all this is useless unless we apply true principles to its working. Perhaps you will ask me what is to be the nature of the teaching that we are to give. My answer is : the teaching of Traditional Judaism. I am not going beyond that. You cannot cast into an iron mould its actual presentment. Its interpretation must not be so stereotyped as to put our teachers in a straight- waistcoat. Within limits a certain degree of latitude must be allowed if the teaching is to be living and genuine. We are bound to pay regard both to the sincere opinions of teachers and to the views of the Local Committees responsible for carrying on their Classes. It is not for us to say what is the particular shade of Judaism which we consider should be taught or upon what degree of orthodoxy we shall insist. That to my mind would be arrogance. We are not an eccle- siastical body and we are not entitled to seek to curb such legitimate and healthy variation as actually exists. Let us not make any mistake about it. Whatever our personal opinions may be, we cannot make up for want of imagination by lack of sympathy. But upon one thing we must insist ; that the teaching imparted shall be thorough. We cannot afford that there should be anything slipshod or shaky about it. PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE n It must be assimilated by the master and understood by the pupil. And it must rest upon the rock of conviction. The child must realise himself that what he has been taught in our classes is true, and all the secular knowledge which he acquires year by year in the day-school must only serve to strengthen his belief. If he is properly taught by us, acquaintance with the laws of nature and the discoveries of science will not undermine his religious faith. A thousand times rather should they confirm it. It is a crude idea to think that our religion rests upon miracles, and is therefore in conflict with Science, if by miracles we mean violent perturbations of the laws of nature. And yet in a broader sense what more astounding miracle could there be than the marvellous regularity with which Nature fulfils the laws of God ? Through the unfathomed aeons of time, over the vast expanse of aether that stretch from universe to universe, the same law is observed. Far and near all perform with awe the will of their Master. Further we believe that immutable as the laws of gravitation or of light is God's will, his demand for good- ness, righteousness and purity. Through our religion he has revealed himself to us and shewn us how we can perform His will. Our teachers therefore have no need to put blinkers on their pupils' eyes. They have no cause to work in the dark. " Thy word is a light to my path." Each day the Jewish teacher, true to his calling, will open the gates of the East and cleave the windows of the firmament. This shaft of light must irradiate the lives of his pupils for all time to come. As no idle affirmation, but with glowing conviction must they thank God for giving them the Law of truth. Judaism as Life. Nor is it truth only, but everlasting life that He has planted in our midst. That life must breathe in every one of our re- ligious observances. In each Berachah, at the same time as we invoke the King of the immeasurable Universe, we thank him 12 PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE for hallowing our lives by precepts of devotion. Spirituality is of the essence of Judaism and a barren formalism has no place in our creed. Each Mitzvah must be a sanctification. Every prayer must be fraught with Kevanah. With the allegiance of the body there must go the service of the heart. And we require of our teachers that this shall be the keynote of their lessons. And herein they need to give of the highest faculties with which they are endowed. A great teacher of children, and I have seen such, can have in him something approaching the inspiration of a prophet. He too is a messenger of the Lord of hosts. He must bring back into the new generation something of the old spirit of saintliness that transfused our fathers' lives. His pupils must grow up to feel and this will be the touchstone of his success that Judaism is not a burden, but an opportunity. Spontaneously the child must exclaim " How happy I am that I was born a Jew." The Sabbath. Let me give you an example. The institution of the Sabbath, badly taught and badly lived, can be made to appear, as it does to our detractors, a barren collection of abstentions. Whereas it is our greatest possession, the very sweetness of our life. The Sabbath is Israel's bride. After the hard days of toil she comes, smoothing out with gentle hands the wrinkles of the world's cares and lifting the mind above the transient clouds of anxiety into a serener sky. It is fore-taste of the day that is altogether a Sabbath and a rest in everlasting life. If you object that the observance of the Sabbath is not always economically possible, I admit the difficulty, but I deny the impossibility. It meant sacrifice to our forefathers. Some of them sacrificed their lives for it. Cannot we give up a measure of our worldly comfort and advancement ? I do not speak as one who does not know. This thing is not easy. But it can be done. And depend upon it, to give up the Sabbath is to give up Judaism. In the religion class, there- fore, the resolve must be instilled into our children that come what may, they at least will be faithful to the Sabbath. PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE 13 Sincerity. Above all those who teach Jewish observances must them- selves perform them. I have no use for a teacher, however brilliant his educational methods, however complete his learning, if he does not practice what he teaches. The child must feel assured that when his teacher goes out of the school, he will do outside its walls the same thing as he has taught within them. All these are large demands to make of our teachers, but we cannot do with less. Yet upon our part we should in justice recognize the high claims which we make upon their devotion and their sense of duty. We must show them the respect due to their calling and meet their legitimate claims in a spirit of sympathy and with the desire to understand. The Teaching of Hebrew. Let me say a word about the teaching of Hebrew. The time at our disposal is all too short, and we must therefore be economical in its use. We must start Hebrew early and cover the ground quickly. We cannot afford to expend much time on the niceties of syntax. For the most part grammar must be learnt incidentally. The laborious out- lining and decoration of the square characters should be avoided. When once the square writing has been thoroughly mastered, there is in my view no objection to the use of the cursive letters. It has the great merit of saving time. For infants there are many aids and devices in existence to help in a quick grasp of letters and words. Letter-cards, card- board-words, wooden letters for a spelling-game, and Hebrew " lotto " are instances. Above all, the superintendent must keep the end constantly in view. His aim is to make his pupils thoroughly familiar with Hebrew before they leave his school, so familiar, that they cease to regard it as a foreign language. It is useless therefore to build up an elaborate sub- structure of calligraphy and suffixes if the roof of the building 14 PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE is never put on. Until the child can render into English without assistance a straightforward piece of one of the historical books of the Bible, it has not learnt Hebrew. The Bible. The Pentateuch is not everything, and we must insist that our children shall become familiar, at least in English, with a good part of the remainder of the Bible. Isaiah and Jeremiah must be no mere names to them. In a special degree they should make the book of Psalms their own. Whether in Hebrew or in English, they should know a number of them by heart, and they should be taught to love the book and to turn to it of themselves and to choose a favourite psalm. This will be ten times easier if we can give them for their own a little pocket edition of the book. In olden times a pious Jew seldom set out on a long journey without slipping in his little " Tehillim," the faithful companion of bright and stormy days. To-day most of these weather- stained volumes are treated as curios. It is time that we reclaimed this nearly-forgotten possession. The Synagogue. Every effort should be made to induce our children to attend regularly at Synagogue and to take an active par- ticipation in its services. They should be taught con- gregational melodies and encouraged to join in the singing. Lads should, I think, sometimes be allowed to read the Haphtarah, provided that they have learnt enough to under- stand the full meaning of the passage which they are in- toning. The Barmitzvah should mark an epoch in the boy's life. It should be the culmination of careful pre- paration in the realization of the duties and privileges of a Jew. In all this the Minister, even if he is not himself the Superintendent of the Classes, can be counted upon to render whole-hearted co-operation. For he will see in the pupils of the religion-class the future members of his flock. The PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE 15 Synagogue and the School are indeed almost the same in- stitution, and turning to the one it should be possible to say, ' This is none other than the house of God," and to the other, " And this is the gate of Heaven." Personal. You will forgive me if I add a personal word on this occasion. It was not without hesitation that I decided to accept the post of Director of Jewish Education. I know how much the Community has staked by this new venture, and how great my responsibility will be. But the grandeur of the work appealed to me. For I cannot conceive how any man can have a nobler task in his life than to help to spread the religious ideals in which he himself firmly believes. And I felt that it would be a great thing if I could add ever so little to the work for our faith which has been done by my fathers before me. In the face of considerations such as these, I no longer felt any doubt. Difficulties there will be. I should not be here if there were no difficulties to overcome. I only ask that you will put the best construction on all that I do, and that you will credit me with the unbiassed desire to work for our cause for its own sake. It has already been a source of constant pleasure to me to come into contact with Mr. Fersht and the staff of the Jewish War Memorial. I am convinced that there could be no more devoted workers than Mr. Fersht and those who are assisting him. He is a practical idealist, who never spares himself. I have said that I will undertake this work for ten years. I do not say at this stage that I shall see the achievement of all my hopes. " Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off." But if at the end of ten years I can come before you and say that to some extent I have succeeded, it will be the proudest day in my life. 16 PLANS AND HOPES FOR THE FUTURE The Future. Progress is not going to be dramatic. We cannot do everything at once. There are persons who believe that an advance is only possible as the result of a succession of flashes and explosions. But religious education cannot be propelled on the lines of a petrol-driven engine. To my mind progress in this field can only be made by setting to work forces, the influence of which will bring about the result we desire, an influence potent and inevitable as the attraction of the constellations. " What though the tired waves vainly breaking, Seem here no painful inch to gain ? Far back, through creeks and inlets making, Comes silent flooding in the main." PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE DEVONSHIRE PRESS, TORQUAY.