Thursday, May 23, 2013

75th Anniversary of TARBUT - HEBREW EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

On the stamp affixed to the FDC commemorating the 75th Anniversary of TARBUT, namely, the Hebrew EducationaL and Cultural Organisation, are photographs of students in the chemistry laboratory of the Bialystok Hebrew School, and an exercise class at the Tarbut School in Wolyn. 

The tab shows a picture of students at the Tarbut School in Rovno, Wolyn District, Poland. In the photograph, taken in 1919, the year the school was founded, the school's name can be seen in three languages - Hebrew, Ukrainian and Polish.

The goal of the Tarbut' schools was to inculcate Hebrew culture into the Jewish people in the Diaspora. The movement arose at the end of World War I, after the stabilization of the border lines in all of Poland, Lithuania and even in parts of Rumania. The central enterprise was the wide-ranging net of kindergartens and Hebrew schools. Tarbut helped the Jewish children acquire the treasures of the Jewish heritage of all generations as well as the blossoming new culture of Eretz Israel.

Most of the Tarbut elementary schools were founded in Eastern Poland, in the districts of Wilno, Nowogrudek, Polessie, Bialystok, Wolyn and Galicia.At the same time Hebrew high schools were also established. In 1926-1927 there were 16 Hebrew high schools in Poland. In the early 1920s, three Hebrew teachers' seminaries were established in Wilno, Grodno and Lwow respectively. In 1937-1938 there were 42,976 pupils in the Tarbut schools and 1,400 teachers in 267 institutions. This number amounted to 42% of the total Jewish pupil population in the non-government schools. The financial burden of maintaining the schools was on the parents' shoulders, practically without any government support. The teachers' salaries were meager. However, their spiritual satisfaction was enormous.

Thank you Dear Merja for this nice FDC.

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