Dear Editor of the Jewish Courier: Please permit me to express myself regarding the Jewish educational institute of Chicago, which has lately been very much neglected.

This is not a credit to the Jews of Chicago, but a shame, because by neglecting this institution we are neglecting the Jewish studies that have been always our source of life. We dwell in a desert that is drier and sandier than the deserts in Egypt or Canaan which our forefathers wandered through. The only difference is that the other deserts lacked water and here we lack the sacred Torah.

Our children are withering out of Jewish life. Imagine--in all the distance from New York to Chicago there is only one small rabbinical college teaching theology. This one was established about fourteen years ago through the efforts and sacrifices of a handful of poor Jews, who aimed to give the 2children a Jewish education in order that they might not remain heathens.

The few poor Jews, to whose ears the melody of the Gemara (commentary of the Talmud) is more beautiful than the best opera would be to our children, are to this day directors, and are sadly watching the theological school gradually lose its prestige. Attendance is decreasing gradually, and the institution has not sufficient funds; the Federation [of Jewish Charities] appropriates four thousand dollars a year for its operation, but five thousand dollars a year is required.

At a meeting attended by a large majority of Chicago rabbis, representing some of the largest synagogues, it was determined that the rabbis should influence the Federation to appropriate funds for the budget of the theological school, which has been forced by current circumstances to appropriate the salaries of the teachers; the Federation, however, pretended ignorance and sent in a check for the usual amount for the past semester.

If you wish to know what the theological school of Chicago has accomplished, 3ask Rabbi Greenberg, the former administrator. He will point out to you hundreds of Jewish children who have remained with us; he will take you to the Adas Israel and will show you many college students, as well as many good teachers, who are cultured Jews, and who try to spread Judaism and Jewish education among the youth.

Do not feel that we have altogether given up, for we still have four of the most experienced teachers teaching the children various studies. Especially notable is the highest class, conducted by Rabbi Winograd, who has taught the students more than thirty chapters of the treatise of the Talmud. And now we are on the verge of closing the doors of this Jewish high school. There is no money to pay the teachers, and they must make a living. So get together and work out plans to raise funds, so that we may be able to go on with Jewish education.