Jewish education was an arena of conflict – a conflict between orthodox Jewish immigrants and the host community, but also among anglicized Jews of differing levels of observance. Drawing on organizational reports and the press, this chapter considers the evolution of religious practice and explores the ways established Jews used religious education to promote anglicized Judaism. Initially committed to minimizing religious distinctiveness, by the first decade of the twentieth century concerns about inadequate knowledge and observance brought a new urgency to Jewish education.

Styles of Jewish Education

Jewish children could learn about their religion in three types of schools. Imported from Eastern Europe, cheder (plural, chedarim) offered very traditional, intensive after-school study, usually in small, crowded spaces, taught in Yiddish. Talmud Torahs provided a relatively traditional course of study, often taught in English and in modernized buildings. Least intensive, the Jewish Association for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge (JADRK, founded in 1860) and its successor the Jewish Religious Education Board (JREB, founded in 1894), provided classes at some board schools and supplementary Sabbath classes. Early in the twentieth century, JREB leaders sought to improve instruction by introducing more effective teaching methods.

Two major umbrella groups of synagogues, representing two approaches to Orthodox Judaism emerged during the late nineteenth century. The more dominant United Synagogue, founded in 1870 as a union of five Ashkenazi synagogues in London (the Great, the Hambro', the New, Central and Bayswater), developed under the leadership of the Chief Rabbi and represented anglicized, Orthodox Jews.