We are glad to announce that the plan to establish a center for Jewish learning in Chicago is rapidly approaching its realization. The center of Jewish learning to be established will be known under the name of Beth Medrosh L'Torah. It will be a combination of three or four different institutions, a Talmudical high school, a rabbinical seminary, a teachers' seminary, and, probably, free courses in Talmud and Hebrew for all those who are anxious to acquire a knowledge of Talmud and Hebrew literature without intending to use their acquired knowledge professionally. There is a Talmudical high school in existence, called the Yeshivah Etz Chaim [and] there is a nucleus of a rabbinical seminary in existence. The teachers' seminary will be established as soon as possible, because it is felt everywhere that the problem of Hebrew education in the city of Chicago cannot be solved as long as there is no Hebrew teachers' seminary in existence to provide the Hebrew schools 2with efficient and well-trained teachers.

In time the Beth Medrosh L'Torah will find ways and means to spread the knowledge of Judaism among our masses and classes by organizing free courses in Hebrew and Talmud. We need not tell our readers that such an institution is an absolute necessity, because without it the community is, from a spiritual point of view, a wilderness. Chicago being the second largest Jewish community in the world, [it] is in honor bound to maintain such an institution. It may not only counteract the progressing de-Judaization of the young generation, but it may and will stimulate and foster Jewish intellectual life and rejuvenate Hebrew and Talmudic learning in America and particularly in the Middle West.

The first thing the leaders of Beth Medrosh L'Torah intend to do is to erect a building to accommodate all, the Yeshivah Etz Chaim, the rabbinical seminary in the stage of formation, and the Hebrew teachers' seminary to be established. Lots have already been secured, plans for the building drawn up and accepted, 3a contract with the builders concluded, and a committee to raise the necessary funds established. Ten thousand dollars have already been raised for the building fund. It testifies to the idealism and earnestness of the leaders of this movement that men who can in no way be called rich or even wealthy have donated from two thousand to five hundred dollars towards the building fund. Their deeds will be an inspiration to others to give. We hope that the major part of the sum required to erect the building will be raised within a couple of months, and that within six months or so, the building will be an accomplished fact, because the small group of men and women interested in the movement are enthusiastic workers and will do their utmost to attain their goal. We can assure them that we, for our part, will do everything we can to convince our readers of the utmost necessity of such an institution, and to persuade them to do for it whatever they can. We have been fighting long enough for the establishment of such an institution, and now that it is being established, it is our duty to see to it that the plans be carried out in a manner befitting the great cause and befitting the Jewish community.

At present there are about three hundred Jewish boys in the city of Chicago who devote their free time to the study of Talmud and Hebrew. The conditions under which they study are not the very best ones, because neither of the already existing Talmudical institutions has a proper location and neither is a solid organization. They are always fighting for their existence and they are always short of funds. Under such circumstances, it is very difficult to attract more young men to these institutions, and the result is that they are stagnant from the point of view of numerical growth. But as soon as a new building will be erected, and the already existing Talmudical institutions, and those to be established, will be well accomodated, and when they will be placed on a more solid basis financially, then not three hundred, but at least one thousand Jewish young men in Chicago will be found who would declare their readiness and willingness to devote their free time to the study of Talmud and Hebrew. In this way it will be possible to make Chicago a real center of Talmudic and Hebraic learning, and this center will radiate its energies not only in the city of Chicago but all over the Middle West, and become a driving force in the life of Middle Western Jewry. It may educate rabbis in the spirit 5of historical Judaism; it will surely [afford an] opportunity to acquire a fair knowledge of Talmud and Hebrew.

Such are the prospects of the institution. We confidently hope that all the well-meaning and devoted Orthodox Jews in the city of Chicago will respond to every appeal made in behalf of this institution to enable the leaders to carry out their plans of building and reorganizing so that the Beth Medrosh L'Torah may soon be an accomplished fact, and hundreds of more Jewish young men may have an opportunity to study Hebrew and Talmud and thus continue the old and venerable traditions of our people in the New World.