Confirmation students in graduation dress, posed with their teacher at Adath Jeshurun. Adath Jeshurun was located on the South Side in a building designed by the architect Jack Leibenberg. In the late 1990s the congregation relocated to Minnetonka. Rabbi Gordon is in the back row wearing the tallit.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Confirmants in white robes are seated in two rows with Rabbi Aronson seated in the front middle row. Rabbi Aronson came to Beth El in 1924, and served the congregation for 35 years. Beth El, at the time the photo was taken, was on the North Side of Minneapolis. The congregation is now in St. Louis Park.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Confirmants dressed in white and arranged in two rows sit and stand with Rabbi Aronson seated in the middle. Rabbi Aronson came to Beth El in 1924, and served the congregation for 35 years. Beth El, at the time the photo was taken, was on the North Side of Minneapolis. The congregation is now in St. Louis Park .
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Students at the Capitol City Hebrew School portray the Maccabees for a Hanukkah tableau. Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabees victory over the Greek Syrians and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The children in the photograph are dressed up to represent the Royal Court at the St. Paul Winter Carnival. The photograph was taken in the basement of the George Kaplan Hebrew Seminary building at 1464 Summit Avenue in St. Paul.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
By 1924, when this photograph was taken, the Talmud Torah had moved to a new building space. The old building remained a community center, but the Hebrew school moved to the Emanuel Cohen Center. The school was also gaining national recognition at that time as a place of innovative teaching methods and rigorous curriculum. The Elementary Level lasted for 5 years and was the first level of Hebrew instruction.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A class picture of the pre-school students and teachers at George Kaplan Hebrew Seminary. The Seminary was founded in 1944 in St. Paul as a branch of the Hebrew Institute. It was intended to meet the needs of Conservative families on the West Side of St. Paul.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Portrait photograph showing the young men and women of the graduating class from the Saint Paul Talmud Torah. Max Gordon, the director of the Talmud Torah, is seated at the center of the front row.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The George Kaplan Hebrew Seminary was founded in 1944 in St. Paul as a branch of the Hebrew Institute. It was intended to meet the needs of Conservative families on the West Side of St. Paul. The school building was located on Summit Avenue in St. Paul.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A photograph showing members of the graduating class in caps and gowns. St. Paul differed from Minneapolis in that it supported two Hebrew schools rather than one centralized school. The Hebrew Institute and the Capitol City Hebrew School maintained their affiliations with founding synagogues: consequently, enrollments for the schools was smaller and funding for the schools was less robust than in Minneapolis. In 1956, Capitol City Hebrew School and the Hebrew Institute merged to become the St. Paul Talmud Torah.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The Hebrew class instructor stands with the students of the Hebrew class of West Side B'nai Israel Synagogue. The photograph was taken at a class outing in Lincoln Park in Duluth. B'nai Israel consolidated with congregation Adas Israel in 1930.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Graduates and instructors stand arranged on the steps of the Emanuel Cohen Center. The Emanuel Cohen Center provided recreation space and social services to the North Minneapolis community. The Center was named for Emanuel Cohen, an attorney and the Center's principle benefactor.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A portrait photograph of the Minneapolis Talmud Torah football team. The Talmud Torah attempted to engage young people not only through studies, but through social activities including sports. This stems in part from the early affiliation of the school with the Jewish Family Welfare Association.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Rabbi Margolis is in the middle row. Students are in secular clothes, rather than white, typical of a more Americanized approach to the ritual celebration.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Rabbi Silber was the leader of Kenesseth Israel, the most influential synagogue in North Minneapolis at the turn of the century. He is speaking at the dedication of the "new" Talmud Torah, which housed classrooms, social services, and recreational facilities for the community. Rabbi Silber is flanked by A. N. Bearman and Nathan Weisberg.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A large gathering of students, sit on benched in a hall in Moses Montefiore Hebrew School. The Hebrew School was formally organized in 1905 and incorporated in 1908. The driving force behind the school was Mrs. Ida Cook, a Lithuanian immigrant. The school, according to the articles of incorporation, was to "…furnish persons of Hebrew parentage with religious instruction in harmony with the Hebrew religion; to teach the Hebrew and English languages...and to promote religious principles and devotion." The school later became the Duluth Talmud Torah.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A photograph of four boys sitting at a desk while a fifth stands behind a podium. Orthodox synagogues on the west side of St. Paul jointly founded the St. Paul Hebrew Institute in 1911.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Dr. George Gordon, founder and driving force behind the Minneapolis Talmud Torah is in the center, front row. Dr. Gordon introduced modern teaching methods, grades, and a rigorous curriculum to Hebrew instruction, and remained administratively independent of any religious congregation. High school classes were the second level of instruction: students graduated after 3 years.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Group photograph of the Minneapolis Talmud Torah Women's Auxilliary Presidents. While most of the faculty involved in actual teaching at the early Hebrew schools was done by men, women were important to the ongoing success of religious education. The Talmud Torah Women's Auxiliary in Minneapolis was founded in 1911 as a club, and by the mid-1920s had grown to more than 500 members. In addition to raising funds for the school, the Auxiliary was committed to furthering Jewish civic pride and Jewish consciousness in the home.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
In Conservative congregations, girls graduating from confirmation classes wore white: in Reform rituals, participants wore secular clothing, suggesting a more "Americanized" approach.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives