Learn About Ida Crown Jewish Academy

Our History

A Quarter of A Century of Progress By The Academy

By Rabbi Shlomo Rapoport
March 1967

America was at the time in the midst of a total war for survival. 纳粹和日本大军已经侵入了欧洲的自由国家和东南亚偏远的岛屿. 1941年12月，美国对德国和日本这两个独裁国家宣战, 以维护美国的自由，确保西方文明的延续.

当美国的伟大政治家们为美国人民和他们的自由制度的生存而进行全面的军事斗争时, while the fate of liberty was being determined on the battlefield, 芝加哥的一群人聚在一起捍卫犹太社区的精神生存. In the early summer of 1942, eight men of “vision,” leaders from the Associated Talmud Torahs and Hebrew Theological College, 聚集在一起讨论如何加强犹太学校的教育计划，从而确保城市中传统犹太人生活的连续性. Present at this historic meeting were Alex Eisenstein, Rabbi Ephraim Epstein, Rabbi Jacob Greenberg, Rabbi Samuel Siegel and Rabbi Saul Silber (all of blessed memory), and Max Chen, Rabbi Leonard C. Mishkin and Rabbi Menachem B. Sacks. 他们表示担心，希伯来学校教育制度的肤浅将不能保证犹太学术的延续. Many boys were dropping their Jewish studies when they reached the age of Bar Mitzvah. 就在他们开始达到智力成熟的年龄，他们可以第一次理解和欣赏我们的圣人的教诲, they would terminate their Hebrew studies.

这个委员会提出的计划是建立一所高中，将芝加哥公立学校教授的世俗科目与犹太研究和仪式结合在一起, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, 这样学生们就不用在下午晚些时候去犹太学校或希伯来高中了, or evening, when they are tired and unreceptive, after a hard schedule in high school. 这样一所学校也许会吸引并留住最优秀的犹太青年. Once they would have a Hebrew education on the high school level, they might go on to still higher learning on a Yeshivah level, and from this learned youth would come our future rabbis and teachers. Or, even if they wouldn’t become Jewish professionals, 他们仍然是受过教育的外行，无论他们住在哪里，都要提高意第绪语的水平，为犹太社区服务. It was envisioned that they would be the ones who would attend services regularly, they would become the synagogue officers, they would lead Jewish groups in the true Torah tradition, and would enrich Jewish life wherever they are. They would pattern the Jewish community of the future.

会议一致同意在联合塔木德律法的主持下建立新的犹太中学, the central agency for Torah education in Chicago and the Hebrew Theological College, the Yeshivah for higher Jewish learning in the Middle West, which institutions the “founding fathers” represented. 不是从高中一年级开始，而是决定逐步发展学校, by starting off as a co-educational junior high school with grades 7, 8 and 9 and then to add another grade each year. Obtaining the students at the 7th grade level would serve a twofold purpose. First, parents would be more ready to send their children at this stage, rather than on the high school level, and secondly, the school would have them before the age of Bar Mitzvah, 这样，男孩们在13岁以后继续学习犹太课程的可能性就更大了. The name adopted was that of the Chicago Jewish Academy, 学校的预算由联合塔木德律法和希伯来神学院保证.

It should be noted that this was essentially a pioneering venture in Chicago. Although the Hebrew Parochial School was originally organized in 1928, it had remained an independent, unaffiliated institution which struggled for its existence through the years. (只有在学院成立后，以前的学校才开始取得一些成功.) Furthermore, the fact remains that in 1942, the year of the Academy’s founding, there were only seven Hebrew Day Schools located outside of New York. 1939年，在第二次世界大战前夕，全美国只有19所这样的学校. Over 90% of the existing Day Schools were established after 1940.

The specific purpose of the Academy, as stated by its founders, was “to integrate secular studies with a thorough Jewish education, in order to foster Torah learning and religious living among American Jewish youth.“它将寻求为他们提供一个传统犹太教和普通教育的综合项目，为他们在美国犹太社区的创造性和成功的生活做好准备. 它将提供标准的世俗课程，并结合犹太研究和托拉实践的强化课程.

Also, because of the smaller size of the classes, 学生将从他的拉比和老师的个人关注和个人指导中获益. 与具有共同宗教背景的朋友和同伴的密切交往也倾向于加强他的犹太人身份，并发展他的性格和个性. 但对犹太男孩或女孩来说，最重要的好处是在我们的Torah遗产的传统和仪式上进行训练, a basic background for the future laymen and leaders of our communities.

In September 1942, the Chicago Jewish Academy opened its doors to 42 students. The building of the Hebrew Theological College, then located on the corner of Douglas Boulevard and St. Louis Avenue, was the first home of the school. From the very beginning of its establishment, the Academy made amazing progress. 所提供的课程足以满足所有家长对良好犹太教育的愿望，并为他们的孩子提供正规的公立学校课程. Besides the high standard of the secular and Jewish studies, daily religious services were held, where special emphasis was placed on synagogue decorum, earnestness in prayer, and social implications of Hebrew prayer and its content. A Student Council, 谁的目的是策划学生团体的活动，促进学校的整体福利，组织提供机会，在民主的生活和领导实践经验. 该教育项目的其他特色是学校论文的出版, the establishment of a monitor system, a program of lunch hour activities, charity drives, the conducting of various assembly programs and holiday observances.

Throughout the early stages, there was a constant desire to integrate both departments of the school in course materials, through combined faculty meetings, 以及宗教和世俗学科的教师在共同项目上的合作. 这两个领域的教师都认识到在宗教和世俗经验之间发现现实关系的挑战，并鼓励学生实现他们丰富的日常生活.

扩建学院的需要和获得官方认可的高中地位的紧迫性是购买一栋宽敞的大楼的动力, the Metropolitan Masonic Temple, in the Garfield Park area. On May 7, 1945 (V.E. Day to be exact), the Associated Talmud Torahs obtained its new center as the future home of the Academy. 由于改造过程的延误，学校最终在两年后才占用了这座建筑, due to wartime conditions.

In September 1945, 学院在其发展的最后阶段开设了一个完整的六年中学(初中和高中). In June 1946 the Commencement Exercises of the first graduating class of the Academy, representing the culmination of the first stage in the development and growth of the school, took place in the auditorium of the Jewish Peoples Institute. Nine students received both English and Hebrew diplomas, and all of the graduates were accepted by various colleges and universities. The Senior Class had also published an Annual in English and Hebrew, “The Academy Memoirs,” the yearbook which portrayed the activities of the student body, and specifically of the graduating class, in picture and story.

The year 1947 was an important milestone in the history of the Chicago Jewish Academy. For five years it had been housed in the Yeshivah building, and on June 22, 1947, the new Associated Talmud Torahs Center was dedicated as the future home of the school. 这座三层楼高的大楼已被改造成一座完全现代化的校舍，配备了所有必要的设施. 从夏季的7月和8月开始，计划将整个学校搬迁到新工厂所固有的困难降到最低, so that when the fall semester opened, the school began to function as smoothly as possible under the circumstances. 虽然在新楼开办学校和布置教室并配备必要的家具和设备方面存在一些技术上的困难, both departments of the Academy functioned without delay.

At the end of the school year, (on June 2, 1948), the Academy was visited by Dr. T.C. Hood, Assistant High School Visitor, 并获得了伊利诺伊大学和公共教育总监的官方认可. The school was also inspected on October 20, 1955 by Roy Clark, Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction, and in March 1956, at the annual meeting of the North Central Association, 该学院被列入伊利诺伊州官方认可的高中名单.

With the rapid deterioration of the West Side neighborhood and the Wilcox Street location, the Academy was forced by circumstances to relocate in midwinter, between semesters (February 1961), to the Torah Center. This building became available when its Torah Day School merged with the Hillel Day School. The moving operation was no small undertaking, especially since it took place within a space of a few days. One day was spent in packing, and two days, in the actual moving. 建筑物理设施的设置和调整过程是一个渐进的过程, but with the passing of time, quite successful. An extra classroom and shop were constructed, lockers were installed, the school plant was redecorated, and a stage curtain was installed. Through a government loan, a new physical science laboratory was built. 所有必要的改变都是在第一年完成的，从小学的走读学校大楼到现代高中的住房.

与以前的位置相比，托拉中心的一些优势是它位于一个更好的地理区域, the building had more modern facilities, the school had a gymnasium on the premises, the kitchen was much more spacious, the office had a much larger area, and in general the structure itself was more compact. Also, since the majority of the student body lived in the greater North Side area, 学院的湖岸位置对他们来说更方便，同时仍然可以为来自南岸和其他偏远地区的学生提供服务.

Simultaneously with the relocation of the Academy, primarily because of the long distance involved in transporting the boys, 在斯科基，在希伯来神学院的校园里建立了一所犹太高中，作为学院的一个分支, for the out-of-town boys and those Chicagoans who would reside in the dormitory. 叶史瓦高中的教育计划与芝加哥犹太学院的教育计划是平行的, except that the Talmudic studies would be intensified.

In order to relieve somewhat the congested conditions in the main center of the school, 与此同时，为了满足那些希望为女孩提供单独设施的父母的需求, a 9th grade girls’ class was opened at the Beth Shalom Synagogue building in September 1963. This was the nucleus for the third division of the Academy, the Girls’ High School, in addition to the Academy proper and the Yeshiva High School in Skokie.) Since then, the Girls’ High School Branch has become a four-year school, and is presently housed in the Religious Zionist Center.

把学院搬到托拉中心被认为只是一个临时的权宜之计. 随着时间的推移，建造一座新建筑作为学校永久住宅的需求变得越来越明显. The structure was seriously inadequate because of space limitations, with an insufficient number of classrooms and special rooms. There was excessive congestion in the building because of the narrow corridors, small library, and small lunchroom, which were not able to accommodate the large numbers of students in the high school. There were many desirable and necessary facilities which could not be provided, and educational practices which could not be introduced because of the space problem. The Academy was in desperate need of additional “lebensraum” for growth and expansion, with the continuing increase in enrollment. There was also no play area or adequate playground space; students were confined to the interior of the building all day in spite of an extra-long day schedule. Furthermore, 因为绝大多数学生来自北部的偏远地区(包括郊区), 人们觉得他们在往返学校的路上浪费了很多宝贵的时间，并且在这个过程中变得疲惫不堪. 一个更集中的地点将消除交通问题，并吸引更多的学生.

In the early months of 1964, with the acquisition of land in the heart of West Rogers Park, a center of Jewish population, the Associated Talmud Torahs formally announced to the Jewish community, after having received clearance by the local Jewish Welfare Fund, that a new education center would be constructed to house the Academy. 联合塔木德律法宣布了一项150万美元的运动，以建立一个可容纳750名学生的学校工厂. The school would bear the name of the Ida Crown Jewish academy, as a result of the generous philanthropy of the Crown family.

自从芝加哥犹太学院作为一所宗教和世俗研究的中学成立以来，已经过去了25年. During this period of its existence, 学校已经超越了其创始人的所有期望，并已成为全国同类优秀机构之一. In student enrollment alone, the Academy has multiplied in numbers over ten times, until it now has an overall student enrollment of over 475. In every phase of its educational program, the school has made remarkable progress, and has, as a result, acquired a national reputation.

The Academy through the years, has maintained very high scholastic standards. 事实仍然是，与芝加哥地区的大多数其他高中相比，该学院获得的奖学金与学校人数的比例要大得多. The high percentage of scholarship awards attests to the success of the academic program. The school, indeed, enjoys an excellent reputation in colleges and universities of the Chicago area, as well as Yeshivot, throughout the country, and even in Israel.

The Academy has up to date over 1,000 alumni, 他们中的许多人已经在科学和专业领域取得了杰出的成就，并作为非专业和专业的年轻犹太领袖在社区中留下了自己的印记, in Jewish communal work, in Jewish education, and in the rabbinate. In Chicago, the Academy has elevated the standards of Jewish education, and many of its products have entered the field as teachers and administrators.

Although the educational future of the Academy is well established, the institution will have further opportunities for development. Because of its unique nature as a pioneering venture, 学校将继续挑战所有参与其发展和运营的人的愿景和理解. With this long-range policy in view, 塔木德律法协会正在建造的新大厦将成为伊达皇冠犹太学院的所在地. In its permanent home, 这所学校将在招生和教育方面取得更大的进步，并成为芝加哥犹太社区更大的财富.