Exchange with Mayor Kollek about Need for Religious Education at Kiryat Shmuel (1973)

1. Jakob Michael to Mayor Kollek (Sep. 6, 1973)

1. Jakob Michael to Mayor Kollek (Sept. 6, 1973)

View The Text

This content is currently available in its original PDF format. As we expand the library, we plan to add a text version as well.

Next Letter

Exchange with Minister Porush about Religious Education in Israel (1966)

Dear Mr. Michael: I am still under the impression of the extremely pleasant hour I spent with you yesterday evening. I left convinced of your profound interest in our area of discussion. Your questions conveyed a rich understanding of the historic significance of Torah education for our people. Your telephone call this morning was most encouraging, and it is my pleasure to submit this memorandum as per your request. In thinking through the ideals of the forthcoming proposal, I was keenly aware of what its implementation could mean for the spiritual future of tens of thousands of our children in Israel. The following is a basic proposal and will be followed with a supplementary one: Chinuch Atzmai comprises two divisions; for the education of boys and girls respectively. Chinuch Atzmai, which established the entire system, directly supervises their educational program, and is directly responsible for the maintenance of their budgets. The girls’ network consists of 125 schools, whose educational program is patterned after the original Beth Jacob movement in Poland. Beth Jacob was founded by the renowned Sura Schenirer, of blessed memory, and later spread throughout the countries of Europe. Prior to the second world war, the Beth Jacob movement was directly responsible for saving an entire generation of Jewish girls from assimilation and ignorance of Judaism. Its graduates revolutionized the character of the entire European Jewish community. Since the war, the Beth Jacob ideal has struck deep roots in both contemporary major Jewish communities, America and Israel -- but with a specially dramatic impact in Israel.Just as the term Yeshiva has come to signify the standard type of Jewish education for boys, equally has the name of Beth Jacob become representative of Torah education for girls.In the recent history of Beth Jacob in Israel, we have been faced with one crucial problem of major proportions. Before the establishment of the State of Israel, some 85% of the immig…

Jewish Education

Letter to Jakob Michael about the Need for Religious Education in Kiryat Shmuel (1973)

Dear Mr. Michael: I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the spirit in which you responded to my request to cable Mayor Teddy Kolek, and for the cable itself. The problem has developed into a cause celebre, and since I talked with you I have seen photos and articles in the Israeli press about it. Actually, I am in a way acquainted with the problem first-hand. During the semi-Sabbatical I spent in Jerusalem, we lived in the neighborhood in which the religious parents are now seeking a Mamlakhti-Dati school. My own children had to walk long distances to get to school and back. Despite Jerusalem's generally good bus system, there were no connections between Rehavia and the major religious schools closest to us. And the area the children had to traverse was one that was chocked with traffic during the very times the children had to walk to school. Anyone acquainted with Israeli drivers knows what that means! It is obvious, from all that I have read about the situation and from my personal contacts, that religious education is not favored by the authorities who are themselves not committed to it -- and Kolek belongs in this group. (In the latest issue of Panim-el-Panim, the editor, who has long been antagonistic to the Mizrachi, had a major editorial complaining about the discrimination against religious education in Israel, and the current problem with this school was the major case in point.) Two of the people who are in the forefront of the struggle to get a religious school in the area are Naomi and Ben Zion Hochstien. They are American Olim, highly cultured, genuine Zionists, non-political, and people of moderate disposition. He is a businessman, she is a lawyer. I have known them and admired them for years. I enclose the letter I just received from them (please return it after you have read it). As you will see, it is unfortunate that your cable was not able to change the situation, and even more regretful that the Mapai people are able to use the small-…

Jewish Education