Samson Benderly

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Samson Benderly (1876 – July 9, 1944) was a major figure in promoting Jewish education in the United States.[1][2] He was born in Safed, Ottoman Palestine, and he later emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland, arriving on 23 September 1898. He studied medicine and became a physician, but he abandoned medicine to focus on Jewish education.

Career[edit]

In 1910, he began the Bureau of Jewish Education in New York.[3] “He was the American organizer of Ivrit be-Ivrit pedagogy – the use of Hebrew as the language of instruction.”[4] This "teaching Jewish content in Modern Hebrew ... reconceptualized Hebrew education not only as a form of language acquisition, but as a means of defining and giving shape to American Judaism for the Jewish immigrant community at that time."[5]: 119  In 1927 he founded Camp Achvah, the first Hebrew-speaking summer camp in North America.[6]: 276–281  He also supported the founding of the Jewish Teachers Association, seen as “a counterweight to the immigrant dominated Agudath Ha-Morim Ha-Ivrim, the Hebrew Teachers Union of New York.”[6]: 213 

A cadre of young men that he encouraged, mentored, and taught went on to be leaders of Jewish education in the United States and became known as the “Benderly Boys.”[6] This group included Alexander Dushkin, Isaac Berkson, Albert Schoolman, Emanuel Gamoran, and Barnett Brickner. There were also a few women considered "Benderly Girls," including Rebecca Aaronson Brickner and Libbie Suchoff Berkson, although, as women, they had fewer opportunities for leadership.[1] The Bureau was also a professional home for other Hebraists in the USA, including Zevi Scharfstein, although Scharfstein, an immigrant, believed Benderly favored American-born recruits with weak Hebrew abilities and credentials over better qualified immigrants because he had greater influence over his local recruits.[7]

Morris Waldman, executive secretary of the American Jewish Committee from 1928 to 1945, wrote of Benderly in his autobiography Nor by Power: "If a future Jewish historian were some day to write the biographies of, say, the ten most decisive Jews in American history, Benderly would have to be one."[8]

Theories about Jewish education[edit]

Benderly saw variety of forms of Jewish education, “a hodgepodge of congregational schools, khayders, community Talmud Torahs, and private tutors.”[6] He found that the Talmud Torah system would be the easiest to reform. This was because "despite their precarious finances and historical association with the impoverished, the schools enjoyed community support. They were generally governed by local boards of directors and supported through a combination of donations, charity benefits, and tuition collections.”[6]: 91 

Benderly was inspired by the writings of Johann Pestalozzi, Herbert Spencer, and John Dewey, and the concept of cultural Zionism. His goal was to modernize Jewish education by making it more professional and “creating an immigrant-based, progressive supplementary school model, and spreading the mantra of community responsibility for Jewish education.”[6] Unlike some branches of traditional Jewish education, Benderly stressed cognitive learning and “continued to view as core knowledge Hebrew and Judaism’s classical texts.”[6]: 191 

He developed a model of education that has also been called the "Protestant Model," because it followed the typical schooling model of Protestants in the United States, which separated general education and religious education.[9] It is described as "a philosophical belief that state-funded schools should teach patriotism, civics, and critical skills while separate denominational-sponsored supplementary school should teach religious doctrine and practice."[5]: 125 

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Holtz, Barry (19 August 2011). "How One Man Shaped American Jewish Education". Forward. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  2. ^ Shargel, Baila. "Reinventing Jewish Education for the Twentieth Century: Samson Benderly and His "Boys"". H-Net. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  3. ^ David Kaufman (January 1999). Shul with a Pool: The "synagogue-center" in American Jewish History. UPNE. pp. 148–9. ISBN 978-0-87451-893-1.
  4. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia article
  5. ^ a b Avni, Sharon (2016). "Hebrew learning ideologies and the reconceptualization of American Judaism: Language debates in American Jewish schooling in the early 20th century". International Journal of the Sociology of Language (237): 119–137.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Krasner, Jonathan B. (2011). The Benderly Boys and American Jewish Education. Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press. ISBN 978-1-61168-293-9.
  7. ^ Goren, Arthur A. (1 June 1969). "Review: 'Jewish Education in a Pluralist Society: Samson Benderly and Jewish Education in the United States'". American Jewish Historical Quarterly. 58 (4): 515–520. JSTOR 23876029. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  8. ^ Waldman, Morris (January 1, 1953). Nor by Power (First ed.). New York City: International Universities Press. p. 397. ISBN 9781125205006.
  9. ^ Sarna, Jonathan. 1998. American Jewish education in historical perspective. Journal of Jewish Education 64(1-2):8-21.

Benderly's own writings[edit]

  • Benderly, Samson. "Jewish education in America." Jewish Education 20, no. 3 (1949): 80-86.
  • Benderly, Samson. "Aims and Activities of the Bureau of Education of the Jewish Community (Kehillah) of New York, 1912." Jewish Education 20, no. 3 (1949): 92-109.
  • Benderly, Samson. "The school man's viewpoint." Jewish Education 20, no. 3 (1949): 86-92.
  • Benderly, Samson. "STANDARD CURRICULUM FOR JEWISH WEEK‐DAY RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS." Religious Education 11, no. 6 (1916): 526-531.
  • Benderly, Samson. "LOUIS MARSHALL AND JEWISH EDUCATION (A PERSONAL APPRECIATION)." Jewish Education 1, no. 3 (1929): 144-147.
  • Benderly, Samson. "The present status of Jewish religious education in New York city." Journal of Jewish Education 67, no. 3 (2001): 74-77.
  • Benderly, Samson. "The Gary Plan and Jewish Education." Jewish Teacher 1 (1916): 41-47.
  • Benderly, Samson. "The Jewish Educational Problem." The Maccabean (1903).


Relevant literature[edit]

  • Brickner, Rebecca A. "As I Remember Dr. Benderly." Jewish Education 20, no. 3 (1949): 53-59.
  • Chipkin, Israel S. Dr. Samson Benderly, Reminiscences and Reflections. Jewish Education Volume 20, Issue 3: 21-52.
  • Dinin, Samuel. "Samson Benderly—Educator." Jewish Education 20, no. 3 (1949): 33-37.
  • Dushkin, Alexander. 1949, The Personality of Samson Benderly — His Life and Influence. Jewish Education Volume 20, Issue 3: 6-15.
  • Ingall, Carol. 2010. The Women Who Reconstructed American Jewish Education, 1910-1965. Brandeis University Press.
  • Krasner, Jonathan. 2011. The Benderly Boys and American Jewish Education. Brandeis University Press.
  • Stern, Miriam Heller. "“A Dream Not Quite Come True:” Reassessing the Benderly Era in Jewish Education." Journal of Jewish Education 70, no. 3 (2004): 16-26.
  • Stern, Miriam Heller. "The Benderly Boys & American Jewish Education." Journal of American Ethnic History 32, no. 3 (2013): 128-130.
  • Winter, Nathan. 1966. Jewish Education in a Pluralist Society. New York University Press.
  • Winter, Nathan Harold. 1963. The role of Samson Benderly in Jewish education in the United States. New York University.


External links[edit]

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