The Denver Jewish news., 1918-11-28

| But they were not so strict against inc
daughters as against the sons, and
under different names the girls were
enrolled in the modern schools and
The matter was winkcd at. The Eu-
ropean associations, too. knowing that
where there were Jews. education OF
some kind would be provided for the
boys on the spot. have tended to de-
vote themselves more particularly To
the foundation of girls schools. Be-
| fore the war there were in Jerusalem
| the big Evelina de Rothschild School.
Of which Miss Landau is the head. and
| which had GOO children on its roll, the
Alliance Israclite School with 2OO-;OO,
and the Hilfsvcrein Girls school with
| iOO-4O0. In Haifa, Safed and Tiberias
| there were Alliance Girls Schools. and
the Hilfsrerein also had schools for
girls in most of these towns.
The greater part of the children who
| receive such education come from
homes either of what we may term
Chalukah Jews. or of Sephardi and
Eastern Jews In both cases the wOm
en-. il not kept in state of subjectiOn.
have yet not been touched by the spirit
of independence and desire for equal
opportunities. In the case of the Ash
kenazi homo the father receives money
to study and pray and the mother
does her hest to clothe and feed her
children out OF the miserable pittance: !:
beyond the home she has very mar.
rowed vision. The Sephardi house,
hold has assimilated Eastern ideas of
the position of women during the many
years of abode in the East. The girl.
therefore, WHO attends the modern
schools comes into a perfectly new at.
mosphere, and receives a view of life
very different from what she is ac-
Customed to and tending to create diff.
ficultieS when size returns TO her old
fashioned home circle.
The Palestinian educa ationlst, there
fore, has had to contend with many
opposing forces, viz, the pcnury Of all
the homes. the custom, especially
among the Sephariim- of marrying
girls at the tender age of IA or 1o,
and the feeling among tie Ashkcnazim
that girls should not earn their liveli'
hood, but should just help ut home till
husband takes them to another home,
There is also the lack of good teach
crs for the skilled trades, the lack
of coordination between the different
societies. and the lack of cooperation
where funds for the institution of such
schools are solicited from abroad. The
better of the modern elementary
schools have realized these difficulties.
and by introducing the more practical
handicrafts sewing. lace-making.
cooking, etc.-into their ordinary cur
riculum, have given the girls taste
for this work. Further, public-spirit-
ed individuals, sccin: the necessity
and thinking that half loaf is better
than no bread, have begun technical
schools on insufficient means, and
have run them OH a scmi-educational,
semi.commcrcial basis. They have
been sorccd to look more TO the prac.
tical thun to the educational ana
aesthetic side of the venture. Such an
institution can only afford to teach
the more skilful and intelligent of its
pupils the higher arts; the rest, i'll
order TO be paid, must be given II more
or less unskilled job ut which they
can become proficient by practice.
Thus the Bezalel ttlie Jerusalem
School of Arts and Crafts, the lace
schools. of the Verband, and Mrs. lel-
Inns school of dressmaking all employ
great number of girls. but they are
workshops rather than schools.
There is no reason why home in
dustries-lace making, weaving. car
pet et-making-should not spread very
widely in Palestine. why girls should
not do their share of work on the
| land-specializing in poultry and dairy
produce. which is so much wanted in
Palestine--why they should not make
jams and perfumes and soaps OF
| large scale, and why they should not
help, as the more energetic already do,
| to build up when they are married
| their husbands business or trade.
For the girls secondary cduca ation
| the chief institutions are the Second
airy Girls ScaOol at Jaffa, maintain
| ed by the Odessa. Committee, with a
training college for women teachers
attached, and the wcll-knOwn Jaffa
| Gymnasium, where boys and girls are
| taught together. The greater part of
the secondary education In Palestine
has its roots in Russia. l. G.. it is fl
nanccd and stated from Russia. and
TO great degree the children come