Passionate Pioneers: The Story of Yiddish Secular Education in North America, 1910-1960
.....Freidenreich's detailed analysis of the curricula of the various shule networks is in some ways the most interesting part of her book. Yiddish language and Jewish history were initially major features of the curriculum of all the shuln (the IWO shuln came to the importance of those topics later than the other three [networks] did because of their heavier emphasis on political indoctrination) but after the 1940s as Yiddish was spoken less and less by the families of shule students and by the Jewish community in general, Yiddish language per se gradually faded as a major factor in the curricula conversely, celebrations of Jewish holidays and rituals, which had initially been considered treyf in these secular schools, started to be more and more prominently featured in their curricula, though the celebrations usually had a nonreligious, cultural cast.The third part of PASSIONATE PIONEERS describes the large number of Yiddish-secular and other Jewish summer camps that were established, thrived, and mostly faded away during the 20th century. In the early years, though some Jewish camps featured Hebrew language programming, most did not offer any significant Jewish cultural component at all, certainly not a Yiddish cultural component Rather, the original impetus for establishing Jewish summer camps was socio-economic: to provide a healthful, fresh-air vacation for urban Jewish children, especially poor children. As late as 1946, Albert Schoolman, a pioneer of Jewish camping, stated that "most camping programs were urelated to ay any aspect of Jewish cultural experience..."... Freidenreich leads the reader skilfully through this maze [of summer camps and their sponsoring organizations] and presents as clear a picture of the histories and programs of all these camps as is possible, given the sometiimes sketchy nature of the available documentation. All of the camps initially placed heavy emphasis on Yiddish language and culture but. as in the case of the shuln, this faded as the American Jewish evironment changed. Aside from this shared interest, however, the programs of the various camps differed according to the ideologies of the sponsoring organizations. For example, the Farband camps tended to promote Zionist ideology and Hebrew language, the IWO camps were heavy on leftist politics and support for the Soviet Union, and Workmen's Circle camps promoted labor unions and socialist ideology..... ----Barnett Zumoff --Jewish Currents, Spring 2011