Figure 1.--This early-20th century snapshot is identified only as a New York City 'Jewish Private School'. We assume the boys are on a break outside the school or waiting for classes to begin. We assume all the children are students, including the African-American boy which would have been a little unusual. We would guess th photograph was taken about 1905. Put your cursor on the image for another view.

Jewish education in America has been nfluenced as might be expected by the nature of Jewish immigration from Europe. Jews were essentially maintained as a separate community by laws in Europe. This began to change with both enfranchisement and public education durung the 18th century Enlightenment and even more so the 19th century. This was even more so in America which never had laws which limited Jewish life. There werevery small numbr of Jews in colonial America and vitually all were Sephardic Jews. Here we see the first Jewish chools. The numbers of Jews increased somewhat and we see the first congregational schools established by the German-Jewish community (mid-19th century). Many of these early arrivals came to live in comfortable circumstances. This change fundmentally when Tsar Alexander III launched an anti-Semetic campaign. Vicious Tsarist pograms drove enormous numbers of Jews fromthe Russian Empire, maning primarily Poland, Lithuania, and the Ukraine--the Pale of Settlement. These were Ashkenazi Jews and arrived in America destitude in mumbers that overweamed the small Sephardic community. They establish community-based schools that served the Eastern or Tsarist Empire immigrants (late-19th and early-20th century). Most Jewish children attended public schools. Some Jewish schools competed with the public schools. More commonly they comlimeted or supplement the public schools, offering instruction in Jewish traditionse. This included Talmud/Torah schools. Interestingly, Jewish schools both assisted assimilation and preserved European Jewish culture and tradition. Jewish educators have debated the properfocus for education. A major problem for American Jewey has bee the ease of asimilation and the possibolity of Gews disappearing into the American melting pot.

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Created: June 5, 1999
Last updated: 2:10 AM 9/1/2004