The Benderly Boys and American Jewish Education

Jonathan B. Krasner

• Publisher: Brandeis University Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781611682939
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Sociologia

Samson Benderly inaugurated the first Bureau of Jewish Education in 1910 amid a hodgepodge of congregational schools, khayders, community Talmud Torahs, and private tutors. Drawing on the theories of Johann Pestalozzi, Herbert Spencer, and John Dewey, and deriving inspiration from cultural Zionism, Benderly sought to modernize Jewish education by professionalizing the field, creating an immigrant-based, progressive supplementary school model, and spreading the mantra of community responsibility for Jewish education. With philanthropist Jacob Schiff and influential laymen financing his plans, Benderly realized that his best hope for transforming the educational landscape nationwide was to train a younger generation of teachers, principals, and bureau leaders. These young men became known collectively as the "Benderly Boys, " who, from the 1920s to the 1970s, were the dominant force in Jewish education—both formal and informal—in the United States.

Index

Note: Page numbers in italics refer to figures.

AAJE. See American Association for Jewish Education

Aaronson, Rebecca. See Brickner, Rebecca Aaronson

Abrams, Samuel, 13

Abramson, Frances, 253

academic schedule, standardization of, 96

accommodationism, accusation of, against Benderly, 114–16

acculturation: debate on, 219; and Jewish education, 96; postwar trend toward, 8. See also Americanization

Ackerman, Walter: on Benderly program, 3, 6, 7, 10, 205; on central agencies, challenges facing, 379; on Central Jewish Institute, 260–61; on JEC consultation, 390–91; on Jewish education, 128, 130, 418–19

Addelston, Susan, 285, 319

Adler, Cyrus, 38, 134

Adventures of K’tonton (Weilerstein), 236

afordability of education, Benderly’s focus on, 113–16, 407–8

After You—What? A Message to the Jewish Mothers of America (Benderly), 231

Agronsky, Gershon, 85

Agudath Ha-Morim Ha-Ivrim B’Nu York V’Sevivoteha (Hebrew Teachers Union of New York and Vicinity), 47–49, 56, 177, 179, 213, 219

Agudath Morim Muvtalim (Union of Unemployed Teachers), 179

Ahad Ha-Am (Ginsberg, Asher): Hashiloah and, 34; influence on Benderly and group, 4, 23, 25–26, 78, 291; influence on Berkson, 245, 249, 262; Kaplan (Mordecai) on, 77; on Palestine cultural center, 249

Aitz Chaim Congregation, 425n9

AJC. See American Jewish Committee

Akiba Academy (Philadelphia), 392

Alkabetz, Solomon Halevi, 410

Allen, Isaac, 383, 385 American, Sadia, 209

American Association for Jewish Education (AAJE), 181–83, 352–53

American Council for Judaism, 343

American Indians, playing of, in Jewish culture camps, 313–15, 314

Americanization: Benderly’s support for, 27, 35, 100, 115–16; community theory of (Berkson), 244–46; as conscious product of Jewish education, 345; critics of, 205; day schools and, 392, 393, 396; food and, 301; Jewish culture camps and, 301, 302, 312–13; JTA acceptance of, 214; Principals Association support for, 96. See also Jewish-American identity

Americanized Zion...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• I Making Order out of Chaos, 1900–1939
• II Jewish Learning for Jewish Living, 1910–1945
• III Between K’lal Yisrael and Denominationalism, 1940–1965
• Conclusion: The Benderly Revolution
• Notes
• Index