Of all the reports received by the Courier from the various institutions in Chicago, the report of the Yeshiva Etz Chaim is the most interesting. It shows that the Jewish community of Chicago is not entirely sunk into [the morass of] materialism, and that there are plenty of idealistically inclined Jews in this city who still remember the writings of our sages.

The Yeshiva Etz Chaim in Chicago, the only place of learning in the city, is a great institution in every respect. It has a yearly budget of fifteen thousand dollars and gives approximately one hundred Jewish children the opportunity to acquire a Talmudic education. The Yeshiva employs four teachers, Rabbis Israelson, Dolnitsky, Levin, and Finfer, and provides for the material needs of a large number of the students of the Yeshiva.

The administration of the Yeshiva gives many students a weekly allowance, 2and also provides them with clothing and shoes, and sees to it that no one lacks anything. The Jeshiva Etz Chaim is the only Jewish institution in Chicago which is wholly idealistic in its aims and purposes. A Jewish hospital is a concrete material need; the same is true of an orphanage, a home for the aged, nurseries, etc. All these philanthropic institutions are serving practical purposes. On the contrary, the Yeshiva is serving only idealistic aims--no one benefits materially from the Yeshiva;it is maintained for purely idealistic purposes. When the Jewish community of Chicago spends thousands of dollars a year for pure idealism, for knowledge, then this Jewish community of Chicago is not the worst community in the world, and we can well imagine how much the Jewish community of Chicago would be willing to spend on similar idealistic undertakings if unity, order, and discipline prevailed within it. We believe that if it is possible, under present conditions, to obtain fifteen thousand dollars a year in Chicago for such an idealistic institution, then under normal conditions it would be possible to raise a sum of three hundred thousand dollars, and Chicago could then become an important center of learning.

The Jewish community of Chicago is even now spending more than fifteen thousand dollars a year for Jewish education, but most of the money is wasted. There are great many agents in Chicago representing various Yeshivoth, that in some cases do not even exist. They collect many thousands of dollars every year and no one knows where the money goes, nor how it is spent; how much of it is forwarded by the agents, how much remains in their own pockets.

For many years, money has been collected for the great Yeshivoth of Russia, such as the Wolozin, Slobotka, and others. These Yeshivoth were destroyed during the [World] War and there is no longer any place to which to send money. Yet, money is still being collected because there is no order in the life of the Jewish community of Chicago. Everyone does as he pleases and the individual continues to donate without troubling to ask himself: for whom or for what?

As long as the organized Kehilah is not strong enough to control the Jewish community life in Chicago--as long as the work of the various agents of all 4kinds of Yeshivoth is not controlled by the Kehilah through a special committee--so long will every lover of Jewish knowledge in Chicago do more for Jewish learning by contributing to our local place of leaning--to the Yeshiva Etz Chaim.

When he contributes to the Yeshiva Etz Chaim, he knows where and how the money is spent, and he knows that he is helping Jewish knowledge to gain a foothold in our city. But when he gives money to these agents, over whom we have no control, he is perhaps doing them a favor, but we doubt whether he is doing anything for Jewish knowledge in Russia. Besides, it is our specific duty to strengthen our local Yeshiva. With fifteen thousand dollars a year, something can be accomplished, but not a great deal; at any rate, not as much as could be accomplished with the proper means.

The Yeshiva Etz Chaim, in order to become a genuine Talmudic academy--it is now only a Talmudic high school--must have two additional departments for young men who are capable of interpreting Talmudic passages by themselves. It must also have a qualified rector, who is a well-known scholar, with a 5fine personality, and a teacher of Hebrew and Jewish history.

To develop the Yeshiva along these lines would require several more thousand dollars a year. This sum can easily be raised in Chicago, but where can we find a few more idealistic and earnest Jews who wish neither to become involved in anything shady, nor to play politics, who would contribute their time and energy to such an idealistic institution, as the Yeshiva Etz Chaim?

Thanks to the untiring work of a few individuals, who are truly concerned with Jewish knowledge only, and not with politics, we have a Yeshiva Etz Chaim in Chicago. Although it is small, it is, nevertheless, a solid and legitimate institution of learning. A few more devoted social workers can turn the Yeshiva Etz Chaim into a great center of Jewish knowledge, of which not only the Jews of Chicago but all American Jewry can well be proud.