"What role does the Northwest Side Hebrew School play in the education of Jewish children, in this community?" Mr. Seigel was asked.

"In order to understand what this school does for the Jewish children of this community, you must first acquaint yourself with the history of this important institution," Mr. Seigel answered, "as only then will it be possible to compare the conditions that reigned before the Talmud Torah was built and the great changes that took place in the education of the children; thanks to this institution.

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"About fourteen years ago, very few Jews lived on the Northwest Side - mostly Germans lived here then. Yet many Jewish children were out in the streets without any Jewish education. This naturally started the Jewish people thinking that something must be done about it.

"The Jews of this community," said Mr. Seigel, "consider themselves as more or less intelligent, so they decided to build a magnificent Talmud Torah and have the best teachers Chicago Jewry possesses. They could not satisfy themselves with a Talmud Torah like that on the West Side, so naturally they built a nice modern building on Wood Street, and hired the best teachers in Chicago at that time.

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"But the number of Jews living in this community at that time was so small that it was difficult to maintain such a Talmud Torah - since there was so little money coming in. It was decided to sell the Talmud Torah building.

"At about the same time a movement was in progress to found a home for Jewish orphans in Chicago. The Talmud Torah director, reaching the conclusion that we could not maintain it, began negotiations with the directors of the orphan home to take over the Talmud Torah building. On the approval of Rabbi Lesser, who was then in Chicago, it was decided that the directors of the orphan home should pay to the directors of the Talmud Torah one-third of what the building actually cost.

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"When the directors received the money they immediately talked over plans for another Talmud Torah, one that could exist and develop further.

"They came to the conclusion that the reason they could not maintain the last one was because it was too large for the small settlement of Jews in that community. Since, however, it was agreed that a Talmud Torah must exist, they built a smaller but magnificent building on Marion Court.

"In the last few years the Jewish community on the Northwest Side has grown enormously," said Mr. Siegel, "The Talmud Torah - has 255 children divided into six classes."

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"One hundred and twenty-two children are being taught absolutely free, because some of them have no parents, while others, have parents who have not the means to pay. The rest pay very little. This proves that the Talmud Torah helps poor Jewish families, by giving their children a Jewish education.

"What is the character and spirit of the Jewish education on the Northwest Side?" Mr. Seigel was asked.

"The main task of the Talmud Torah is not only to teach them religion, but to educate them to be nationalistic Jews. They are also taught Chumish, Torah, and the national Jewish spirit. We try to awaken their love for 6the Jewish prophets and the Jewish past. We aim to plant the seed of the Jewish traditions in the hearts of the Jewish children and connect them with the life of the entire Jewish people. In our Talmud Torah we teach the children the meaning of each Jewish holiday.

"It is taught to them in such a fashion that it will instill in their young hearts the spirit, beauty, and solemnity therein contained.

"The teaching is so interesting to the children that they find it no hardship. When we take children away from play and bring them to the Talmud Torah - to learn Judaism, we must see to it that we return to them the same pleasures that they were deprived of, and oftentimes with interest.

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Our teachers have always found it to be true that when the children are interested in the subjects, they learn better and know their lessons better. They get so that they devote their life and soul to their studies in the Talmud Torah.

"If the parents would interest themselves in a Jewish education for their children when they reach the age of five or six, it would make it much easier for them to start from the beginning, and much easier for the teacher as well. This proves that the parents don't realize the value and meaning of Jewish education."

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"What sort of moral effect has the Talmud Torah on the Jewish children?" was the next question, and Mr. Seigel's answer was: "A very good effect. The fact alone that they are kept off the streets where they get spoiled, and that they receive their Jewish education from childhood on are meritorious. From my own experience," Seigel continued, "those boys that went through all the classes of the Talmud Torah will never enter - nor go near a pool room, but you will find such boys at Jewish meetings, lectures and conferences. They will organize their own national clubs, they will interest themselves in Jewish cultural work.

"Many such children are active in Zionist organizations, and for the five years that I have been manager of this Talmud Torah I have heard of no one who went through here, who was ever found or seen in a non-Jewish society.

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"For the success of this Talmud Torah - we are thankful to the well-trained teachers who understand how to win the love of the children, and whose teachings develop Jewish children into better and prouder Jews and people."