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JEWISH EDUCATION in PHILADELPHIA Historic Precedents and New Observations

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JEWISH EDUCATION in PHILADELPHIA Historic Precedents and New Observations JEWISH EDUCATION IN PHILADELPHIA Historic Precedents and New Observations JONATHAN ROSENBAUM, PH.D. President, Gratz College, Melrose Park, Pennsylvania and HELENE Z. TIGAY Executive Director, Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education, Melrose Park, Pennsylvania Philadelphia's Jewish community reflects the history of Jewish life in America. With the second oldest Jewish congregation in the United States and the country's oldest Askenazic congregation, both founded in the eighteenth century, Philadelphia has witnessed the unprecedented opportunities and the challenges of acceptance that America has embodied for Jews and other minorities who seek to preserve their heritage and transmit it to each new generation. This article examines some key elements of Philadelphia's role in American Jewish education. It begins with an historical survey of Jewish education in Philadelphia, followed by a statistical picture of the student population in Jewish schools. New data are then presented regarding the backgrounds of supplementary and day school teachers. Analysis of the data, suggestions for action, and proposals for further research conclude the article. JEWISH EDUCATION the establishment of a communal cemetery in IN PHILADELPHIA 1740, but it really blossomed in the 1770s IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (Marcus, 1989; Morals, 1893). In 1782, the congregation elected to build both a syna­ With a Jewish population estimated at gogue and a schoolhouse (King, 1983). 210,000 and its influendal history as one of While this acknowledgment of the need for America's most innovadve Jewish commu­ Jewish education indicates an early sensitiv­ nities, Philadelphia represents a vital source ity to an ongoing challenge, it did not lead to for long-range studies of Jewish communal a successful solution. The chazan of Mikveh life. In the specific area of Jewish education, Israel was paid directly by parents to provide Philadelphia has set a series of precedents Jewish learning, a system that invariably left that have national significance. Challenges, success in instilling both commitment and solved or ongoing; trends in day or supple­ knowledge dependent on the pedagogic qual­ mentary school educadon; the role of higher ities of the individual occupying that role. Jewish education at the undergraduate and No systematic curriculum, pedagogic infra­ graduate levels; successes in transmitdng structure, or oversight existed. This lack re­ Jewish knowledge and commitment or fail­ sulted in a haphazard delivery of critical ures to do so—all represent a useful model religious information and skills to early for further study. American Jews. Philadelphia's import in Jewish educadon is clearly linked to its long history. It is the In 1838, the Female Hebrew Benevolent only American city where two Jewish con­ Society addressed this challenge by estab­ gregations were founded in the eighteenth lishing the Hebrew Sunday School Society century. Philadelphia's senior Jewish con­ of Philadelphia. With the support of Isaac gregation, Mikveh Israel, is America's sec­ Lesser (1806-1868), the chazan of Mikveh ond oldest synagogue. Spanish-Portuguese Israel and one of the most influential Jewish since its inception, it traces its founding to leaders of nineteenth-century Jewry, Re- 187 Journal of Jewish Communal Service I 188 becca Gratz (1781-1869) played a leading 1983). He used the pages of his Jewish in­ role in establishing the new school. Gratz, tellectual periodical, The Occident, to em­ the scion of one of Philadelphia's founding phasize the need for such intensive educa­ Jewish families and an intellectual and cul­ don. Under his encouragement, the Hebrew tural leader, was deeply involved in the so­ Education Society was founded in 1848 and cial issues of her time, and thus the Hebrew chartered in the Commonwealth of Pennsyl­ Sunday School differed from the congrega­ vania in 1849 to teach "the elementary tional school that Mikveh Israel had estab­ branches of education, together with the sci­ lished in the late eighteenth century. The ences, modern and ancient languages, always latter was dedicated exclusively to educating in combinadon with instruction in Hebrew the children of members of the congregation; language, Hterature and religion" {Fifty the Hebrew Sunday School was open to all. Years Work, 1899). Yet, while biblical history and religion were The Society's first purpose was to estab­ important parts of its curriculum, Hebrew lish an elementary day school, which pro­ was rarely taught. vided the full range of secular educadon as The challenge of providing Jewish learn­ well as intensive Jewish learning. With com­ ing also affected the Ashkenazic immigrants munal support and a $20,000 gift from Judah who arrived in large numbers from central Touro, the leading American Jewish philan­ Europe (mostly Germany) between 1840 and thropist of the day, the school opened in 1880. By 1860, many German-Jewish fami­ 1851. At its height, it attracted as many as lies had hired tutors to instruct their children 170 students, but while its secular studies in Hebrew. The families were largely mem­ were strong enough to be accredited, en­ bers of Rodeph Shalom. In 1795, Rodeph abling its students to gain admission to pub­ Shalom was formed as the first Ashkenazic lic high schools, its Jewish studies were congregation in the Western Hemisphere and weaker. By the 1870s the school, like other the second Jewish congregation established such early efforts at day schools in the in Philadelphia. As the German Jews pros­ United States, had clo,sed (King, 1983). pered, they utilized the Hebrew Sunday In 1854, the Hebrew Sunday School So­ School Society of Philadelphia or private ciety of Philadelphia that Rebecca Gratz and tutors. the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society had With the East European immigration that founded was moved to the lower floor of the began in 1881, the heder emerged. A well- Hebrew Education Society (King, 1983). known sy.stem of Jewish education immor­ While the more intensive day school wob­ talized in Henry Roth's 1935 novel, Call It bled and eventually fallen, the Hebrew Sun­ Sleep, the heder provided classes for boys day School Society prospered. Indeed, na­ several times a week with a rabbi or mel- tionally, Jewish Sunday schools in the amed who focused on teaching rote reading nineteenth century remained successful, de­ of Hebrew and a limited introduction to the spite or perhaps because of the extremely Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary. limited level of their curricula. The pivotal figure in many early innova­ In contrast to the limited level of elemen­ tions in Jewish education was Isaac Leeser tary Jewish education that typified most (Sussman, 1995), a traditionalist but an in­ American communities, Philadelphia early novator who wrote schoolbooks for children, established institutions of Jewish higher ed­ prayer books for his congregation, and a ucation. That enterprise first reached fruition loose translation of the Bible, all of which briefly with the founding of Maimonides represented an important step forward at a College in 1868. At the urging of Leeser, time when Jewish education in America was Moses Dropsie, and others, Maimonides limited (Sussman, 1995). Leeser was an College was founded to combine study ofthe early proponent of Jewish day schools (King, classical languages, German and French, SUMMER 2002 Jewish Education in Philadelphia: Historic Precedents and New Observations I 189 belle lettres, homiletics, and comparative conferences, and through intensive immer­ theology with Jewish studies. In the latter, sion courses offered on its campus during the students immersed themselves in Hebrew summer or at other American venues as and Aramaic, Bible, Mishnah, and Gemara needed. (For a full descripdon of Gratz's as well as Jewish history, literature, and phi­ offerings, see http://www.gratzcollege.edu.) losophy. The faculty included Leeser, who While many Gratz graduates choose to re­ died three months after Maimonides' open­ main in Philadelphia, they can be found in ing in 1868, Marcus Jastrow, Rabbi Albert roles of educational and communal leader­ (Aaron) Siegfried Bettelheim, and Moses A. ship throughout the Jewish world. Thus, Dropsie as President. For all their efforts, the Gratz's purpose remains as the Trustees of commitment of dme that students had to Mikveh Israel intended, primarily to train make and the challenges of a linguistically Jewish teachers and other communal leaders intense curriculum led Maimonides to close rather than traditional academicians. in 1873. The latter responsibility was taken up by Nonetheless, the ideal of Jewi.sh higher Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate education in Philadelphia condnued. Well Learning, named for Moses Aaron Dropsie before Leeser's passing, Hyman Gratz, one and founded two years after his death in of his most eminent congregants at Mikveh 1907. By the time it became the Annenberg Israel, had laid the foundation. In 1856, Research Institute in 1986, Dropsie College Gratz established a deed of trust that stipu­ had awarded more than 200 Ph.D. degrees lated his three heirs who were to receive and had become a primary educator for the funds from the estate. A month later, he died, country's Judaic scholars. As Judaic studies and by 1893 his three heirs had all died became part of the curriculum of mainstream without issue. According to the terms of the American academic institudons in the 1960s trust, in that case Mikveh Israel was to use and thereafter, Dropsie's raison d'etre was the remaining funds to establish "a college absorbed by other institutions with greater for the education of Jews residing in city and resources. county of Philadelphia" (King, 1983; Kut- Hebrew was first taught at the University nick, 1998). Limited funds led Mikveh Israel of Pennsylvania in approximately 1780, at a to establish Gratz College for a more specific time when the institution had only seven mission: to educate Jewish teachers. Gratz's full-time members of the faculty. However, establishment in 1895 made it the oldest this early commitment to teaching Hebrew non-denominational college of Jewish learn­ addressed the interests of Christian rather ing in the Western Hemisphere.
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