UP JEWISH
_Friday, November. 17, 1972^HE BULLETIKI—5
Refonn, Conseivative begin jofntsc^
immersion
BY DOROTHY ROMALIS
^We think  this is an exciting Talmud Torah is a liberal edu-
|<le;'' said Pinchos Bak, prin- cation. To clue them in they are
lal of Vancouver Talmud Torah, given a little book, a sort of
Id we're proud of the fact that glossary of Jewish holidays and
MANCHESTER, N.H. ~ Manchester's Conservative synagogue. Temple. Israel, and its Reform Congregation Adath Yesh-urun ' have established a joint Hebrew junior high school and senior high school program for the current school year.
The classes use the physical facilities of both synagogues and the administrative and educational staffs of the congregations. .
Students in the combined classes maintain their original religious afniiation, attend services in their respective congregations but participate in the progV-ams i^both.
The officials said that the curriculum offers a wide range of Jewish knowledge, representing a historical approach and respect for the congregational members* approach to Jewish observances,
children  like to come to
four reporter, sitting in the rary with the principal, had to ree, thinking this would be a place to start school all over Un, even at the grade one Jevel. mere were all those books and strips. School had never been this in her childhood. "Would like to see a film strip?" asked principal. She  hesitated be-sen Pauline Johnson and the li Shem Tov, comprised on [»ses Montefiore. A little lesson listory, enough to whet a child's riosity- - or an adult's - un-|led before her eyes. The subject matter of the "non-Init materials," i.e. film strips, psettes and multi-media learn-aids alone, is fantastic in its sadth. Fantastic, also, in so liditional an institution as the limud Torah, is its relationship th the Little Flower Academy, jrk House and other non-Jewish Wate schools.
rhiBy cooperate in getting films )m the National Film Board. |ey   exchange   teachers for jcial occasions. For instance, jeh the pupils of the Little Flower fcildemy were studying the "Diary [Anne Frank," Talmud Torah was luested to send a teacher to /e a lecture on the Holocaust, vilarly,  when Talmud Torah )il is were studying the Reform-Ion, a priest came to explain itfidlic dognia'tb the class. Children can start at Talmud Frah as soon as they are old iuigh for nursery school and itinue till they have completed ide nine.   The  entire public Hool   curriculum  is covered, ile at the same time the child ts thorough immersion in Jewish Bdies. The interesting thing is tt while carrying this double Id Talmud Torah pupils seem |"go far more deeply into their jjects than their peers in public lool.
[t'We use the public school cur-iuiuni as a guide but we enrich program. It's amazing, what ildren can absorb," Mr. Bak ierts.
It seems to work that way. The lildreh are well ahead of public lool pupils. French is begun in ide six, two years earlier than most schools. "It is without ibt the finest school in Van-jver" says a mother whose lildren attend the Talmud Torah. lAre the Talmud Torah pupils /gifted children? "Not ," says the principal. "They can good, work with only average lility because the motivation is "jre."
common Yiddish and. Hebrew words and phrases.
The children's recreation is well looked after. Grades onie to thrse have a P.T. program and a playground designed by a fanious landscape architect, which is in itself an aid to developing im-
high school, often find they can skip grade - ten and proceed to grade eleven. Is it really an advantage to be a year ahead of one's peers? Well, in a world with so much to learn and so much to do it probably is an advantage.
"If one doesn't want to go straight on to University," says the principal^ "that extra year can be used for travel, or to pursue some independent line of study
agination and creativity. The older   or activity - perhaps as a testing
children go to the Jewish Community Centre for swimming and sports. Various ^ames are played at the school and in spring teams enter into competition with other schools. On rainy days films are shown during recess for those interested.
The children are obviously highly motivated and when they leave after grade nine to enter
ground for a career."
"In any event," he concluded, "it's not just an education the student has aqiiired, but good work habits, self-discipline and the ability to think. These habits carry over and are useful in any field of endeavor."
The Talmud Torah is a beneficiary of the Jewish Community Fund.
Yiddish is emphasized at the Peretz school
[Any dropouts? "A few, but not tcause we push them too hard, le kids who can't make it with have the same trouble in public Ihool. But we do everything we to keep them. We have*rem-lial   classes  and  give them Ifecial help and try to bring iir work up to standard. Most Jthfi time we succeed." [Classes are small, an average 20 pupils to one teacher, and teachers are carefully chosen. Jjl only the educational back-[qund but the personality of the icher is considered. Has he or le the ability to stimulate the [ild's natural curiosity and to ike lessons absorbing instead la "drag"?
There are 25 teachers, 10 of 6om are not Jewish and who,. course, teach secular subjects, fese are recruited locally while Jewish teachers come from as away as , LsraeLr Forthe norir teachers,    working at'
The Peretz school takes pride in . the fact that it is the only institution in Vancouver that emphasizes the continuation and promulgation of the Yiddish language.
"We are carrying on the ideals of iPeretz, Sholem Aleichem and Mendele,"'stated the school's new principal, Alex Kliner. "We teach the culture and literature of the great humanists who contributed to the world of Jewish thought.'
Many of the parents whose children attend Perietz school are themselves graduates of Vancouver's or other Peretz schools in Canada.
One such mother said, "In spite of air difficulties; the people who love Yiddish are still pretty determined to keep the language alive and pass it on to our children and their children." ^
That this has not been in vain is evident at Peretz school festivities when not infrequently three generations of the same family appear.
Interestingly^ enough, there appears to be a real revival of Yiddish learning, but at the college level. In the United States, and in Montreal and Winnipeg, Yiddish is being taught as a subject in the departments of Judaic studies. Many students who missed learning it in their childhood are now becoming interested. Perhaps it has something to do with the search for identity. Perhaps it is the great warmth and humanity of the Yiddish classics.
Peretz school teaches Jewish history and culture, and the Yiddish language. Hebrew is also taught but the emphasis is on Yiddish. The significance of the holidays' is made clear. Last Succot the children built their own large  Succa  and  invited their
parents to a joyous party. Eighty parents and children attended.
The Peretz school auditorium is also from time to time the scene of a unique entertainment -"Ergetz-vu" which features Yiddish folksongs, readings and reci-tatioms artistically performed.
Peretz School is a beneficiary of the Jewish Community Fund.
D.R.
Rabbis^ visits induce Jewish educotion
MONTREAL—Members of the Quebec region of the Rabbii^al Council of America dramatized their concern over the large percentage of Montreal Jewish children not enrolled in Jewish schools by personal calls on families in their neighborhoods.
The Orthodox rabbis were generally well received and a number of children were subsequently enrolled in Jewish schools.
it was recommended to the jiew committee on Jewish education of the Canadian Jewish Congress that future enrollment campaigns be held with a task force of adults and college students mobilized to make personal calls on families with unenroUed children.