The Denver Jewish news., 1924-06-05
RABBI SCHAPIRO. A LEADER
OF RARE CHARM AND
PERSONALITY.
An InteryIew by IIarold Bermnn

cntional Institutions In the wur-ruvng-
cd lands, the Rabbi Of Koyno, Lith-
uania, Rabbi II. schaplro is an extra
ordinarily interesting member.
Rabbi Schaplro, aside from being n
pillar of learning, THlmudlc scholar
Of highest rank and of greatest magni-
tude is also man of culture, world.
ly-wise and an all around man of prac'
tcal sense and experience. His under
standing of the currents of the prac
teal everyday life that surge about
him, his understanding Of the moves
and countermovcs upon the political
cbcss.board In Eastern Europe since
the war on which the welfare Of our
own people SO much depends, is rare
indeed among the leaders Of the older
generation. They are mostly closet
men, immurcd in their narrow study
walls for, far away from the "madding
crowd and the surglng movements
that throb all about them and cngross
so much of the time and attention of
the people about them, with the re
suit that there is created n rift be
tween the leaders and those who are
to be led by them.
No so, however, is Rabbi Schapiro,
who Is man OF the World in the full
sense of the term, is au courant with
the life of the people about him, with
all the questions and problems many
of them of great magnitude and su.
preme Importance that agitate them
with all the GIBBS and floods of opinion
and sentiment and strife, internal as
well as external. He is thus eminent
in the Jewry of today, of the Jcwry of
Lithuania especially, the country that
has ever been the center of Jewish cul-
ture and learning, Of public spirited ac-
tivity for countless past generations, a
state of affairs entirely well known
to ali attentive students Of Jewish his
turtles.
In my anxiety to learn something at
first hand of the social and cultural
conditions of the Jews of Liihuania
since the day of her becoming a free
and independent nation; TO learn some
thing that is both more dependable as
well as more explicit and detailed than
the news that we usually receive thru
the not-always reliable news dispatches.
The result of my venture have been
far more gratifying than even by fond
est hopes had led me to expect. For
here there was no ordinary man of the
street before me, repeater of mere
rumors and market-place gossip, but a
man who is enjoying exceptionally
great opportunities of ascertaining
real facts rs well as for being in
formed about things that are not us
ually imported to every man, woman
and child.
And right here l must make n con-
fession. That confession is to be
made right here and now, and in the
following brief words. / was more in
terested in the spiritual and intellectual
side of the life of our people in Lith-
uania than in their material life and,
with that end in view, | shaped my
questions. In brief, | asked Aabb
detailed information as to the condi-
tions of their schools, their method of
operation how far, and how efficiently.
Rabbi Schapiro, after listening at
tentively to the torrent of questions
that / poured out before him, said, in
reply, the following: THE conditions
of our schools are both excellent and
bad, at one and the same time. If
we consider their work, their accom-
plishmcnt for the young who are re-
ceiving their education in them, then
they are doing incompatible work in
deed. If we are to speak however of
their material conditions, of their
struggles with limited funds and their
continual shifting to make ends meet,
the nthey are in perilOus condition.
1t would break the heart of anyone
of our American brothers were he to
see cur constant struggles to afford
our youth the education that it so
Graves. And our struggle is further
enhanced by the fact that we have to
provide not only for our native chill.
dren and youths but also for those of
the thousands of refugees who flock
TO us from Bolshevlk Russia. AT pres
ent, we have in operation four Rab-
binical Seminaries, 20 odd intermediate
schools, as well as a respectable nun.
her Of schools wherein secular edu-
cation is given TO the pupils in addi.
tion to a specifically Jewish education.
We are doing the best that we are able
with our limited resources. 1t is
American Initiative and aid that has
all along encouraged the more-or-Iess