The Jewish outlook., 1908-01-31

the Fifth Commandment, "Honor
thy son and daughter" Rabbi A. B.
Rhine pronounced the benediction.
The business session of the confer
ence opened at 2 clock Saturday aft
ernoon. Rabbi Ephriam Frisch, pres
ident of the conference, read his
brief message in which he pointed out
that the rapid growth Of the confer
ence since the preceding year both in
numbers and in enthusiastic support
by teachers and congregations had
brought the organization beyond the
experimental stage. He recommended
the present method of housing the del
egates in private Jewish homes. He
also recommended that membership
dues should be paid by the several
Sabbath schools as units, the amount
to vary in accordance with the number
of pupils in the school. He urged the
purchase of stereopticon lantern and
other requirements for the conference
whenever the items were beyond the
means of the individual schools. After
the minutes and reports of the secre-
tary were read the conference lis
tened to DR.. Junius Jordan, super
intendent of the Pine Bluff public
schools and former president of the
Southern Teachers Association, who
delivered an address on the subject
"To What Extent May Public School
Methods be Used in Sabbath School
Instruction." in the course of which
the speaker advocated the Socratic or
;nductive method for Sabbath school
teaching. Rabbi Louis Witt of Little
Rock, then read paper on "L"arn-
ing by Play" He said that the pres
ent method of learning by note is
acquisitive of facts but destructive of
living interests. Accordingly knowi-
edge is looked upon by the children
as dry and is neglected. Learning by
play on the other hand is learning by
interest, interest in the living prin:i-
pie in knowledge. To learn by inter-
est is to learn with zest, and retain
with ease and to have desire to con-
tinue learning. This holds especially
true of learning in our Sabbath
schools where the aim is to beget an
interest i'm and love for Judaism.
Rabbi A. l.. Rhine of Hot Springs
followed with Il paper on "How to
Instill Love for Jewish Literature.
Conceding that rabbinical literature
proper was so much dead matter for
the average man. he cOntended that
there was enough belles-lettrestic jew
ish literature to interest and delight.
The trouble lay in the circumstance
that this literature is inaccessible to
the English reader. because it is al
most exclusively in foreign or forgot
ten tongues. Translations. adapta
tions and juvenilization of this litera-
ture are therefore pressing need.
Both papers aroused spirited discus
sion among the delegates. Rabbi
Reichler of Helena leading the dis
clssion of the last one.
A short session was held Sunday
morning when Rabbi L. Frisch read
his paper on Glow to Teach Myths
and Miracles. - Taking the position
that in our general attitude towards
myths and miracles fidelity to truth
requires us to adopt the liberal view
as opposed to the orthodox, he pre-
sented the various methods that might
be used in teaching myths and mira
cles to children. mentioning the adj
vantages and disadvantages of each.
OF all the possible methods, he recon-
mended the one which eliminates the
mythical and miraculous elements of
the stories while at the same time
heightning the moral effects, its chief