A Community Problem
 Only
one Jewish child in five received religious instruction
and there was very little opportunity for
girls--seventy-five years after the Chicago Jewish
community was established in 1845. This problem, exposed
in a study by Louis Hurwich for Associated Jewish
Charities, was foremost in leaders’ minds when AJC and
Federated Orthodox Jewish Charities merged in 1922 to form
Jewish Charities of Chicago. This new organization
immediately established the Jewish Education Committee “to
aid organizations teaching Jewish education.” In 1923, the
Committee invited Dr. Alexander M. Dushkin to conduct
another survey of Jewish education which confirmed that
only about 21% of Jewish children of elementary school age
received any kind of Jewish education and that facilities,
curriculum, teaching methods, and discipline required
improvement.
After Dr. Dushkin was appointed executive director of the
Jewish Education Committee, he proposed that the Committee
should not only subsidize education but also work to raise
standards of the schools. His proposal led to rapid
developments in Jewish education. In 1924, Orthodox
schools agreed that the Committee would be responsible not
only for finance and administration but also for the
appointment of faculty and supervision of programs.
The Jewish Education Committee was incorporated in 1926 as
the Board of Jewish Education, a name amended to Board of
Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago in 1970. The
BJE’s purpose was given as “to aid, improve, and extend
Jewish education for children, youth, and adults, to
operate schools, to train teachers and club leaders, to
provide facilities,” and to do whatever else may be
necessary “to teach the religion, history and culture of
Judaism.” During this time, the Board adopted a policy of
“acting as a service agency to the whole community,”
establishing a Department of Supervision to help secure
teachers, to observe their work, to provide in-service
training, and to suggest curricula and texts. Concern over
curricula led several Orthodox schools to sever relations
in 1926. They formed an education committee, which later
became the Associated Talmud Torahs. Other Orthodox
schools continued to value BJE assistance and to receive
services.
In 1924, the Committee established the College of Jewish
Studies to train teachers and the Extension Department,
which organized Tzofim Clubs in Hebrew schools and Talmud
Torahs and the Jewish Youth League for informal cultural
and social activities.
The following year the Committee took a major step forward
in secondary education by founding the Central Hebrew High
School. Its program was extended from three years to four
in 1929, and the High School of Jewish Studies was begun
with its first branch at the Jewish People’s Institute to
provide more systematic study for high school students not
attending Central Hebrew High School. Students here would
attended classes once or twice a week for two years. Dr.
Dushkin reported, “. . . now there is a graded period of
study extending over thirteen years: five years in the
elementary school, four years in the High School, and four
years in the College of Jewish studies.”
Music, art, and drama were integrated with the curriculum.
Harry Coopersmith organized the Halevi Choral Society in
1926. The next year, he was succeeded as director by Hyman
Reznick, who led the Society to renown over a forty-year
period. The Society performed an original cantata, “It’s
not in the Heavens”, at the 60th annual BJE dinner. In an
interesting 1929 experiment, BJE produced a musical Jewish
Radio Hour over Station WEDC. This was discontinued in
view of the effort involved and the existence of other
similar programs.
In the 1960’s, the College of Jewish Studies became
independent from BJE in order to gain accreditation by the
North Central Association of Secondary Schools and
Colleges. With the school renamed Spertus College of
Judaica, the teacher-training function declined. BJE’s
master teachers’ program helped to fill that function, and
the Morasha program now provides education in Judaica for
teachers and encourages them to pursue advanced work.
To involve lay leadership of the Jewish schools in making
policy and administrative decisions, the Board of Jewish
Education formed the Allied Jewish School Board in 1932.
It was composed of lay leaders, teachers, principals, and
BJE staff. The AJSB provided the Jews of Chicago with a
complete system of religious education. It was re-named
the BJE School Board Council in 1983.
Topics addressed at early annual meetings reflect issues
of concern to the BJE leadership at the time. For example,
in 1932, Dr. Shailer Matthews, Dean of the University of
Chicago Divinity School, spoke on The Place of Religious
Education in American Life, Rabbi Solomon Goldman offered
an appraisal of BJE, and Dr. Dushkin spoke to the
question, Who is responsible of Jewish education in
Chicago? In 1933, a symposium was held on the place of BJE
in a “community program." Among speakers at the 1934
meeting were Louis M. Cahn on the importance of a Jewish
school system in the life of a community, Rabbi Goldman on
curriculum, and Dr. Robert Sonnenschein on the need to
help the schools of the congregations.
In 1937, speakers included Rabbi Samuel M. Blumenfield on
Youth and Adult Education and Dr. Leo L. Honor on Jewish
Education and Our Future in America. In 1941 Rabbi G.
George Fox spoke on The Place of Jewish Education in
American Democracy, and in 1943, a panel discussed The
Basis for an Enduring Peace.
Camping Programs
 Responding
to a U.S. Government appeal for community groups to help
relieve the farm labor shortage caused by the war, BJE
founded Camp Avodah in 1943 in an abandoned Civilian
Conservation Corps property in Des Plaines, Illinois,
enrolling 105 high school boys in the first summer. In
1945, the camp moved to Winfield, Illinois, with the
participation of B’nai B’rith. In 1946, the camp moved to
Clear Lake near Buchanan, Michigan, and subsequently, in
recognition of a gift from the Perlman Foundation, was
renamed Morris Perlman Camp Avodah. The program’s goal was
given as “to provide Jewish high school boys with an
opportunity to spend two months in a wholesome Jewish
environment centered around work, self-government, and
study of Judaism. The camp became coeducational in 1954.
Also at Buchanan, the College of Jewish Studies
established Camp Sharon in 1948 for its students preparing
to teach. The camps thereafter combined as Camp Sura and
operated for four summers with elementary, secondary, and
college divisions. With the growth of other Jewish summer
camps and a lack of community funding, enrollment at Camp
Sura declined. Camp Sura, the only Chicago area camp
teaching Hebrew, was closed in 1970 and the property sold.
The BJE Early Childhood Centers opened a summer
day-camping program at three sites in the summer of 2000.
Growth
In 1938, BJE set requirements for Bar Mitzvah, which
contributed to the growth of enrollment in synagogue
schools. These requirements were later applied to the Bat
Mitzvah, which resulted in the enrollment of a larger
proportion of girls.
By 1944, 41 schools were affiliated with BJE -- 9
Orthodox, 13 Conservative, 10 Reform, and 9 Yiddish. In
1985, over 80% of children receiving a Jewish education in
the Chicago area were enrolled in the 72 units affiliated
with the BJE, including congregation schools, day schools,
early childhood centers, and the High School of Jewish
Studies which had 12 branches and enrollment of 812.
In 1984, The Board of Jewish Education and Associated
Talmud Torahs launched the Keshet program for children
with multiple handicaps.
Funding the
Work of the Board
Funding-raising for the work of the Board of Jewish
Education of Metropolitan Chicago has taken several forms.
Initially, Jewish Charities assumed total responsibility
for financing BJE activities. Effects of the economic
depression led to the appointment of several committees to
study the place of education in the Jewish Charities plan.
Their reports recognized BJE achievements but recommended
that a new method of financing the Board be found. In
1934, Jewish Charities began a special fund drive,
designating an annual period during which Charities’
personnel would work exclusively on the BJE drive, setting
a 1934 quota of $100,000. In 1937, when proceeds from the
drive failed to meet the needs of the Board, Jewish
Charities agreed to allocate to the Board 10% of the
donations of people who indicated no opposition to
supporting Jewish education in the Chicago metropolitan
area.
In 1940, the Charities set up a policy of diminishing
support, to reach zero after five years. BJE leaders
including Judge Harry M. Fisher, Benjamin R. Harris, and
Frank G. Marshall led such a successful campaign for
contributions that BJE programs could be maintained and in
some cases expanded and property acquired. BJE was
financially independent until 1948. At that time,
impressed by community support demonstrated in BJE fund
drives, the Jewish Welfare Fund of Metropolitan Chicago
offered to include the Board among its beneficiaries.
Hesitant to give up the Board’s independence and its own
successful fund-raising, directors agreed to accept this
offer in the interest of communal harmony, in spite of
previous experience with Jewish Charities.
The merger of the Jewish Welfare Fund and the Jewish
Federation in 1974 resulted in the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Chicago as the surviving organization, which
hereafter provided a large share of the Board’s revenue
until the end of 1993. Since January 1, 1994, BJE has
received no Federation funding.
Endowment, Gifts
and Grants
An endowment of $4,500,000 provides income to fund BJE’s
programs and grants to other educational agencies and
projects in the Jewish community. From the estate of Sarah
Elkin Braun, a BJE board member of long and devoted
service, came the Belle R. and Joseph H. Braun Fund in
1987 to support the Early Childhood Education Centers and
their family education programs. BJE also has the Dr.
Lester Aronberg Fund, the Beatrice Glasser Education Fund,
the Isadore A. Weiss Educational Fund, the Morris and
Naomi Futorian Fund, and the Selma and Leo G. Krahn Fund.
Also in the endowment are the Benjamin R. Harris Endowment
Publication Fund for new material in the field of Jewish
education, the Jacob Levin Innovative Program Fund, the
Morris Shapiro Endowment Fund, and the Melvoin Family Life
Education Fund. In addition, there are a number of funds
generously established to provide scholarships for
children in BJE schools.
While most of this money was given with specified
intentions, the donors had confidence in BJE’s management
and did not restrict the use of their money. At
BJE’s Fiftieth Jubilee Dinner, creation of the Frank G.
Marshall Media Fund was announced. Organized by past
President Philip Heller and other friends of Frank
Marshall, this fund helps to support the work of the Frank
G. Marshall Jewish Learning Center.
In 1997, Mr. and Mrs. Mel Lieberman made a substantial
gift which is being used “to further our parent learner
agenda.”
BJE has received many generous gifts. Most recently, the
Pearl Fund was established in 1997 in memory of Michael J.
Pearl, who had been a pupil at the Beth Judea Early
Childhood Center. Family and friends made the gift for
“programs or facilities to help young children grow
creatively in the educational community of Metropolitan
Chicago.” This money was used to create costume closets in
the Beth Judea classrooms for drama, an activity that
Michael enjoyed, and to buy playground equipment.
Throughout the present decade, Charles and M. R. Shapiro
Foundation has awarded major grants to BJE for programs of
the Frank G. Marshall Jewish Learning Center.
Headquarters
 The
growth of activities and staff required that the BJE move
its headquarters in 1935 from the Jewish Charities
building at 1800 Selden Street to 30 North Dearborn
Street, where the College of Jewish Studies was holding
classes, and several years later to 220 South State
Street. In 1945, having raised $200,000 in its regular
fund drive, the Board launched an additional campaign
which allowed the purchase of the Chicago Women’s Club
building at 72 East 11th Street. Also housing the College
of Jewish Studies and the central branch of the High
School of Jewish Studies, this site became the educational
center of the Jewish community.
In 1982, to serve the convenience of the Jewish
Federation, the Board of Jewish Education moved its
offices and library to join Spertus College of Judaica and
other agencies at 618 South Michigan Avenue. Sherwin
Pomerantz, then president, recalls that some board
members, attached through long service to the 11th Street
building, were reluctant to authorize this move, while
others were concerned for BJE’s independence. He says, “In
the end, however, the BJE benefited financially from the
move and the new quarters were really much nicer.” The
sale of the old headquarters was negotiated by Allen
Dropkin for a price greater than the appraised value of
the property.
With the expiration of its working agreements with the
Community Foundation for Jewish Education in 1996, BJE
moved its office and the Marshall Learning Center to the
New Trier West High School Building in Northfield. When
the high school board decided to return the school to
classroom use, Vice-President Stephen Schwartz made a
survey of available rental properties, finding that
nothing suitable to BJE purposes was available. On his
recommendation, the Board bought vacant property at 3320
Dundee Road, Northbrook, Illinois, for a new building.
Discussions led to the concept of a “Campus for Jewish
Learning” to be built in three phases, providing quarters
for a BJE office, the Frank G. Marshall Jewish Learning
Center, and for other Jewish educational agencies that
might want to join this community center. Schwartz and
other officers found donors to support the project and a
groundbreaking ceremony for Phase One was held on December
5, 1999.
The Campus for
Jewish Learning
When the Board learned that BJE would have to leave
quarters at the New Trier High School west campus,
President Alan Brown and others conceived the idea of
establishing a Campus for Jewish Learning, where other
Jewish educational agencies could operate in company with
BJE.
Vice-President Stephen Schwartz found vacant property on
Dundee Road in Northbrook, Illinois, which BJE acquired,
and then led in planning to build phase one of the Campus
project to house BJE offices and the Frank G. Marshall
Jewish Learning Center.
Brown, Schwartz, Treasurer Donald Rattner, and Executive
Vice-President Roger Schoenfeld found donors to finance
the million-dollar building.
At the ground-breaking ceremony for the Campus for Jewish
Learning on December 5, 1999, President Brown spoke of the
qualities of leadership: commitment, courage, sacrifice,
and action that have marked the seventy-five-year history
of BJE and led to the dedication on the second day of
Chanukah.
Rabbi Harold L. Kudan commended BJE for realizing the
dream of this new center of Jewish education, placing it
in the tradition of Joseph the dreamer and Jacob, who
dreamed and realized, “God is in this place.” He said that
BJE “has brought additional presence of God to this
community” and “enlarged and enhanced the name of God.”
Stephen Schwartz thanked all those who had contributed to
the project, including Brown, Schoenfeld, Donald Rattner,
Marshall Center Director Judy Kupchan, and administrator
Laurel Sorman and said, “It will be an educated people
that will maintain the passion, love, and knowledge of the
unique position that we hold as Jews in the world and
provide for the continuity of quality Jewish life for many
years to come.”
After Rabbi Kudan led the assembly in Shehecheyanu, the
architect for the project, Fred Bernheim, sounded the
shofar, and adults and children took up shovels to open
the earth.
BJE offices and the Frank G. Marshall Center for Jewish
Learning moved into the Campus on September 18, 2000.
About 200 people attended the grand opening celebration
and silent auction held on November 4, enjoying music by
two groups, desserts, and contributing substantially to
the building fund.
In his welcome to the guests, Vice-President Steve
Schwartz expressed the hope that the flame in the BJE logo
on the building might “ . . . illumine our community’s way
towards increased education and serve as a reminder of
each Jew’s obligation to seek knowledge.” In dedicating
the Frank G. Marshall Jewish Learning Center quarters and
affixing the mezzuzah, Director Judy Kupchan said, “This
room is a sacred space because of what happens here every
day as teachers come to fulfill . . . the Shma: 'You shall
teach your children'."
Early Childhood
Education
 The
Board of Jewish Education moved in a new direction in 1972
by establishing an early child center at Beth Tikvah in
Hoffman Estates,
conceived by Marvell Ginsburg, after her many years of
consulting for BJE with congregation pre-schools, and
recommended by President Roy Brown. This early childhood
program integrated the secular and Jewish elements of
early childhood education, doubling enrollment within six
months.
Janice Cohn, later to become BJE’s Early Childhood program
director, was appointed to bring the latest child
development theory to Jewish education in a new Early
Childhood Center at Congregation Beth Judea in Long Grove,
meeting a growing need among young families in that area.
The first class had 14 children; 40 registered for the
second year.
The success of the program resulted in the establishment
of another Center in 1979, which moved, because of space
requirements, to several north suburban congregations and,
finally, in 1996, to its present location at Or Shalom in
Vernon Hills.
To gain space, the Beth Judea ECC moved in 1981 to the
Alcott School building in a cooperative arrangement with
another tenant, Congregation B’nai Shalom and then back to
Beth Judea in 1987.
When that building was sold in 1986, BJE President Jeffrey
Himmel brought BJE to the major decision, unusual in
Jewish early childhood programs, to build a center-- a new
wing at Congregation Beth Judea--that would provide
stability for BJE’s early childhood education program.
This building opened in 1987, shared with the
Congregation’s own religious education program.
Another BJE Early Childhood Education Center opened in
1986 at Congregation Beth Hillel in Wilmette. In 1987, BJE
accepted an invitation to re-open its ECC for B’nai Tikvah.
In 1993 President Alan C. Brown and and the BJE board
decided to build ECC quarters at B’nai Tikvah’s new
property in Deerfield, a project supervised by
Vice-President Steve Schwartz.
In 1992 Temple Beth El in Northbrook asked BJE to take
over its pre-school program. When the Early Childhood
Center was opened at Congregation Or Shalom in Vernon
Hills in 1996, Steve Schwartz oversaw construction of an
addition to the synagogue building and a playground. At
this point BJE Early Childhood Centers had over 600
children in five schools.
In 2003, the leadership of Temple Jeremiah in Northfield,
Illinois, invited agencies to make presentations of their
preschool programs. The Temple chose BJE. A sixth Early
Childhood Center opened there in September 2003.
The Early Childhood Center program continues to develop
curriculum by bringing the latest research in the field of
early childhood education to the extensive training of its
teachers. The Centers conduct parenting seminars and
family celebrations of Jewish events planned as “teaching,
living experiences." These include Shabbat, all Jewish
holidays, and an imaginary trip to Israel.
Reggio-Emilia
Program development for the Early Childhood Centers led
Director Janice Cohn and the staff to introduce the
Reggio-Emilia approach in 1994, based on principles
developed in the Italian towns of Reggio and Emilia. The
“Reggio” approach calls for extensive involvement of the
child in generating and directing learning experiences,
validation of a child’s feelings and interests by carrying
through, revisiting, documenting, and building upon the
child’s projects, work of teachers as active facilitators,
not supervisors, and strong parental involvement.
Camp BJE
The Early Childhood Centers’ day-camp program, opened in
the summer of 2000 served 176 children. Sixty-five
toddler-parent teams participated in creative movement,
art, and music in the centers and made field trip
explorations. One hundred eleven three- and four-year-old
children enjoyed a program focused on various aspects of
nature in terms of fulfilling the Jewish mission of tikkun
olam, taking care of the world. The children planted and
nurtured plants and learned about the needs of living
things in the camp environment. Children and teachers of
Camp BJE celebrated Shabbat together in the shade of trees
or a tent.
Media Services
 In
1985, BJE set up a media department to provide training
and instructional media services to the schools, which
later was named the Frank G. Marshall Multi-Media Center.
Enlarged facilities were opened in 1992 with the movement
of equipment and materials to the New Trier West High
School building in Northfield. The offerings were expanded
and the name changed to the Frank G. Marshall Jewish
Learning Center. With this move, the Center’s mission
became to “offer the Chicago Jewish community a setting to
visit, a place to turn, a space in which to grow,” and ”a
place which will support and enhance Jewish learning and
living,” in the words of Director Judy Kupchan. Following
extensive planning with educators and community members,
the Center increased programming, technology, physical
space and the audience it serves. The Center’s name
recognizes the vision of Frank Marshall, which inspires
its work and his gift, and the gifts of others, which
continue to support the Center. In 1996, the Center found
that activities and materials had outgrown the space and
moved to much larger, more attractive quarters in the
former library on the third floor of the building.
With a grant won from the Jewish Media Fund of the Charles
Revson Foundation in 1997 and matching BJE funds, the
Marshall Center acquired the Jewish Heritage Video
Collection of 250 feature films and the curriculum guide,
which organizes them for educational use.
In March 1999, the Marshall Center held a Jewish Film
Festival with viewings and discussions in the Center and
at the Wilmette Theater.
In April, 850 students of 17 synagogue schools and 2
day-schools attended a presentation of Attractive Land
organized by Marshall Center staff. This is a touring
program that includes a three-dimensional film on Israel,
a hands-on activity about Jewish history, and study of a
380 square-foot magnetic map of Israel.
Family Education
Recognizing that children’s education is most effective
when supported by strong family life, BJE introduced
family education to the Jewish community in the late
1980’s, expending some $50,000 each year from its own
resources to develop and implement a program to help
strengthen Jewish families.
Teacher Education
BJE’s Morris Shapiro Institute for the Training of Master
Teachers helped many teachers to advance their education.
For example, in 1987, nineteen people completed the
Institutes’ year-long course in The American Jewish
Experience.
Morasha: The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School for
Teachers was started 1994 in the Frank G. Marshall Jewish
Learning Center as a pilot program. It is now emulated
across the United States. This two-year program was
developed by educators and scholars at Melton Center for
Jewish Education of Hebrew University in Jerusalem to
present a multi-dimensional view of Judaism. First and
second-year classes run simultaneously, the second year
culminating in an intensive summer study-tour of Israel.
By June, 1998, Morasha had graduated 69 teachers, most
engaged in teaching at synagogue schools, but including a
group of 19 general studies teachers of Solomon Schechter
Day School.
The
Center for Jewish Teacher Education
In August, 2000, after a long period of preparation led by
Director Judy Mars Kupchan, BJE announced the founding of
the Center for Jewish Teacher Education to address two
major problems: the serious shortage of qualified teachers
for Jewish schools and the lack of a systematic program
for education of non-Orthodox Jewish teachers. The Center
brings together a coalition of partners including local
academic institutions as well as national organizations,
area schools, and experts in the field of teacher
education.
National Lewis University and the University of Illinois
at Chicago provide pedagogic content with the Judaic
element organized by BJE. The Campus for Jewish Learning
is home to the Center for Jewish Teacher Education. In the
fall of 2003, 216 people were enrolled in the various
Center programs.
Grant-Making
BJE makes grants in the Jewish community for projects and
programs in family education, parent education, creative
approaches to educational programming, school renewal and
schools in crisis. These have included a planning grant to
develop a family school at Beth Israel Congregation in
Skokie, a grant to assist The Jewish Literacy Project, and
grants to teachers in the Melton Adult Mini-School for
their experience in Israel. BJE was the largest financial
supporter of The Year of Jewish Learning in 1995,
organized to heighten the awareness of American Jews about
religious education and to stimulate improvement of Jewish
education. In August of 1998, BJE approved a grant to
assist the education program of the Russian Synagogue
meeting at Am Shalom in Glencoe.
A Turning Point
The finances of Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan
Chicago became strained as Jewish Federation support
remained static in the face of inflation and rising costs
and finally was reduced to a six-month commitment in 1993.
In 1992, after the promulgation of a communal study
report, BJE joined the Jewish Federation and
representatives of the Reform, Conservative, and
Reconstructionist communities to consider a wide approach
to Jewish education with an infusion of new funding and
innovative ideas. The result of these extensive
deliberations was the execution of five operating
agreements between BJE and a new organization as a
three-year experiment to achieve these aims. The Community
Foundation for Jewish Education, incorporated by the
Jewish Federation as a “support” foundation with itself as
sole member, came into being in 1993. The BJE furnished
its organization, equipment, materials, employees, and
premises to the Community Foundation to support the
proposed new era in Jewish education based on significant
greater funding for Jewish education. As the contracts
approached their end in 1996 with little promise of
meeting any of the goals, BJE gave notice of non-renewal
and called for a financial accounting and return of its
property.
Return to
Independence
Freed of a contractual relationship with the Community
Foundation, The Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan
Chicago, moved to the New Trier West High School building,
and focused on the programs of its Early Childhood
Education Centers, the Frank G. Marshall Center Jewish
Learning Center, grant-making in the community,
reinvigorating its administration and advocacy for Jewish
education. BJE espoused a broad mission in its report,
Renew Our Days: To insure the continuity and quality of
Jewish life through Jewish education, and to be the leader
in implementing the vision of Jewish education. In that
report, President Alan Brown wrote, “We work with others .
. . , we plan for the future, and in every possible way we
try to be a catalyst and an advocate . . . of Jewish
education in the community.”
Into A New Century
BJE celebrated 75 years of service to the community on
February 14, 1999, with an exhibit of the work of the
Early Childhood Centers, a reception, and an exciting
concert in which entertainer Craig Taubman performed with
children’s singing groups. Some nine hundred people
attended this event where BJE teachers and staff were
given service awards and Janice Cohn, Early Childhood
Director, and Judy Kupchan, Marshall Center Director,
received plaques for their “inspired leadership.”
President Alan C. Brown received a plaque with a silver
yad, recognizing his “leadership, commitment, and vision”
in service of Jewish education.
BJE’s 80th anniversary was celebrated with a reception at
the Campus for Jewish Learning on September 14, 2003. A
young Jewish comedian, Joel Chasnoff, entertained some 250
people in a tent on the property. Honored at this event
were Janice Cohn, former director of the BJE early
childhood centers who introduced the Reggio-Emilia concept
to the centers, Sara Shapiro, senior consultant to BJE who
has served Jewish education all her life, and Betty and
James Hamilton, daughter and grandson of Frank G. Marshall
who honor his memory with their service on the BJE board.
Rambam Awards
In June, 2004, BJE instituted the Rambam awards to honor
“individuals who, like the Rambam himself, understand the
sacred obligation to provide for the Jewish community and
to provide for the Jewish future.” Those chosen for awards
have contributed to Jewish education through professional
service, lay leadership, or financial donation, following
the Rambam’s call to “give graciously, cheerfully, and
sympathetically.”
The very first honorees were Phyllis and Melvin H.
Lieberman, generous partners in BJE’s early childhood
education program, Ivan Himmel, BJE’s longest serving
board member, and Rabbi Gerald Teller, a leader in Jewish
education for many years, and BJE’s superintendent,
1987-1996.Rambam Award Recipients
2004
Phyllis and Melvin H. Lieberman
Ivan Himmel
Rabbi Gerald Teller
2005
Stephen L. Schwartz
Francine A. & James L. Schwartz
Dr. Betsy Dolgin Katz
2006
Caryn G. Zelinger
BJE Young Pioneers
Eric William Feinberg
Jessica Laurel Martin
Conclusion
The history of the Board of Jewish Education of
Metropolitan Chicago is marked by a sensitivity to
community needs, adaptation to change, and commitment to
broadening and deepening Jewish learning. BJE is using
these strengths to help build the future of Jewish
education in the Chicago metropolitan community. Now, in
opening the Campus for Jewish Learning, starting Camp BJE,
and founding the Center for Jewish Teacher Education, and
strengthening our established programs, BJE continues to
“realize the vision.” |
