Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-08
SIMON ON SABBATH SCHOOLS
Conclusion Of the PAPER Read at the 81
Louis Conference.
PROBLEMS FOR THE TEACHER TO SOLVE
Importance of the Giving of seeulaE
and Religious Instruction In
sisted Upon and special Train
ing Urged as Necessary.

In its last Sunday issue The Bee printed
the opening portion Of the paper on
Problems Of the Jewish Sabbath Schools"
read by Rabbi Abram Simon at st. Louis.
The concluding portion Of the paper fol-
lows:
ID The real. serious business Of Sab
bath school instructions begins with the
second class OF children ranging in years
from S to 10. The child has by this time
grown from his instructive life into that Of
the sensort-motor phase; reflex action is
slowly developing into reflective. The
child lives a life Of the senses, reveling
in feats Of strength. trials Of skill and dis
play Of force. Heroes and demigods, with
their thrilling and dramatic experiences,
fill in his world of ideals. Israels epoch
from the patriarchs through Moses, Joshua,
the Judges and The FIRST three Kings CORE
spends to this stage in child-life. The
teachers art is here put to the test. II is
not a matter OF text book, but Of talent.
He must know the art of storytelling; not
with the avowed object Of adjoining It with
a moral. often forced and far-fetched, but
for the worth of the tale itself. II we'll
told, the child grasps the moral at a bound
and the lesson becomes the deeper i'm
printed on his MIND The child should ex-
tract the mOIdlt uOl utItig ItptdA NhN
teacher said. The child's sense of per-
s%onality, growing more intelligent and
purer with maturing years. plays and
twines itself about these heroes and at
taches itself to them in accordance will
the special qualities they display to the
child-interest. Religion can best be taught
by means of these biblical characters. But
the essential idea must be pressed home
that these heroes act thus through God and
perform their mighty acts Of valor and of
glory with Gods help. Physical prowess
| will form a leading attribute Of God at
this period. Soon a quality Of marked
value comes to the front and, uniting with
strength. forms a new ideal Of God. 1 refer
to justice. Fair play is the insistence Of
every child. His heart is with the weaker
party. especially when In the right. He
applauds the divine aim Of David's sling
and glories in the treatment that the
Egyptian bully received at the hands OF
Moses. He annot appreciate the seeming
injustice that the Promised Land should
be withheld from the great law-giver. He
acts on the principle Of eye for eye and
lives in the Law rather than in the
Prophets. The Ten Commandments, the
"shalts" and SHALT nots" and mighty
words against theft, murder, impurity, the
irreverent use Of Gods sacred name, whose
reckless uttersnce becomes a sacrilege and
whose holiness shall inhsbit the heart
rather than be banded on the lips, are the
ripe fruits Of this stage. His ethical stand
ard takes on this new emphasis. Note his
self-assertion and violent indiyidualisml
Do they not correspond to Israel's past
when leach man did what was right in his
own eyes?" 1t marks the inward eombat
between self and not-self-between the
carnal and the divine word. Toward the
thirteenth year the passions and proctivi-
ties become organized and a more orderly
regime Of life prevails, more nearly
analogous to the reign OF the Kings when
| political life was centralized