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Jewish Released Time, also known as Sheloh (an abbreviation for Shi'urei Limud Hados (Classes for Learning the Religion)), is an organization promoting released time for the Jewish education of Jewish children learning in public schools.
In 1943, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn founded Sheloh as a part of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational branch of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The program was first directed by Rabbi Y. Feldman. In 1945, Rabbi Jacob J. Hecht was appointed director, and continued in this position until his death in 1990. Rabbi Schneersohn, and his son in-law and successor Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, were constantly involved in the program. [1] In 1961, when the legality of the Released Time hour was challenged in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Schneerson worked hard to fight for its continuation, even sending a delegation to Washington to support it. [2]
These classes take place off public school premises, in keeping with the United States Supreme Court decision in McCollum v. Board of Education (1948). Generally they are held in a nearby synagogue, but if none is available, they may be held in a wedding hall or similar venue. [3] [4] [5]
Jewish released time classes, like those organized by other religious groups, take place for one hour each week (generally on Wednesdays), [6] at the end of the school day. In these classes, children are taught to recite basic Jewish prayers, and learn about the Torah, Jewish history, Jewish law, and Jewish ethics. The teachers are Rabbinical students from the local central Lubavitcher Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim; for locations where there is no such Yeshiva, the teacher is the local Shliach or one of his assistants. [7] [8] [9]
Sheloh's 1946 year-end summary stated that there were 5000 children from 150 different public schools attending their classes every week, with separate classes for boys and girls. By the later 1940s, there were 10,000 children attending Released Time's weekly sessions. [6] (Decades later the classes became generally co-educational.)
Given the limited amount of time, actual reading of Hebrew was not part of the curriculum. [6]
Sheloh is a division of The National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, founded by Rabbi Jacob J. Hecht. The current chairman of NCFJE is Rabbi Sholem Hecht, and the director of Sheloh is Rabbi Zalman Zirkind.
Sheloh's mission has broadened to include assisting children who are interested in full-time Jewish education to enroll in Yeshivos. Sheloh also hosts other programs such as Released Time Winter Camp and Shabbatons (Shabbat get-togethers). These activities, in turn, have led to many parents becoming Baalei teshuva as a result of their children's interest in Judaism. [10]
Zorach v. Clauson In 1952, the case of Zorach v. Clauson came before the Supreme Court. The case involved the education law of New York State, particularly a regulation by which a public school was permitted to release students during school hours for religious instruction or devotional exercises. In a 6 to 3 ruling, the high court upheld the New York law.
In the majority opinion, Justice William O. Douglas wrote that New York's program "involves neither religious instruction in public schools nor the expenditure of public funds", unlike the earlier McCollum case that the Zorach plaintiffs had cited as precedent. [11]
Douglas wrote that a public school "may not coerce anyone to attend church, to observe a religious holiday, or to take religious instruction. But it can close its doors or suspend its operations as to those who want to repair to their religious sanctuary for worship or instruction. No more than that is undertaken here."
The Court's opinion stated that
In the McCollum case the classrooms were used for religious instruction and the force of the public school was used to promote that instruction. Here, as we have said, the public schools do no more than accommodate their schedules to a program of outside religious instruction. We follow the McCollum case. But we cannot expand it to cover the present released time program unless separation of Church and State means that public institutions can make no adjustments of their schedules to accommodate the religious needs of the people. We cannot read into the Bill of Rights such a philosophy of hostility to religion. [12] [13]
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known to many as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply the Rebbe, was an Orthodox rabbi and the most recent Rebbe of the Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty. He is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century.
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch, is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic groups and Jewish religious organizations in the world. Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad operates mainly in the wider world and caters to secularized Jews.
Yosef YitzchakSchneersohn was an Orthodox rabbi and the sixth Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement. He is also known as the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe RaYYaTz, or the Rebbe Rayatz. After many years of fighting to keep Orthodox Judaism alive from within the Soviet Union, he was forced to leave; he continued to conduct the struggle from Latvia, and then Poland, and eventually the United States, where he spent the last ten years of his life.
Sholom Dovber Schneersohn was the fifth Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement. He is known as "the Rebbe Rashab". His teachings represent the emergence of an emphasis on outreach that later Chabad Rebbes developed into a major theme.
Beth Rivkah, formally known as Associated Beth Rivkah Schools, is a private girls' school system affiliated with the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement.
Kehot Publication Society is the publishing division of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Chaya Mushka (Moussia) Schneerson, referred to by Lubavitchers as The Rebbetzin, was the wife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh and last rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. She was the second of three daughters of the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. She was named after the wife of the third Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn.
The Rabbinical College of America is a Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic yeshiva in Morristown, New Jersey. The Yeshiva is under the direction of Rabbi Moshe Herson. The growth of the Yeshiva college has had a significant cultural effect on the community and has influenced many Jewish families to move into the area to be near the Yeshiva and the surrounding synagogues. It is supported by Jewish philanthropists such as David T. Chase and Ronald Lauder of Estée Lauder Inc.
Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Aizik Hodakov was the chief of staff of the secretariat of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson for more than 40 years. From 1950, until his death, Hodakov served as chairman of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, the umbrella organization of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Agudas Chassidei Chabad is the umbrella organization for the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The chairman of the executive committee is Rabbi Abraham Shemtov.
In the United States public school system, released time or release time is time set aside during school hours, typically an hour a day or a week, for students to receive off-campus private religious education. There were challenges, but the concept was upheld and a defined implementation resulted, blocking hostility to religious instruction for these students whose parents approved, permitting accommodation yet precluded public funding.
The Library Of Agudas Chassidei Chabad is a research library owned by Agudas Chasidei Chabad. Its content had been collected by the Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbes. The library is housed next to the Lubavitch world headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, and is utilized by Chabad and general Judaic scholars. It is viewed by thousands of visitors each year.
Yehuda Leib "Leibel" Groner was an American Hasidic Jewish teacher, scholar, and author. He is best known for having served as the personal secretary to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, for 40 years.
Nissen Nemanov (1904–1984), known familiarly as Reb Nissen, was a Belarusian Orthodox rabbi. He served as a Mashpia, Hasidic mentor, in the Yeshiva of Tomchei Temimim in Brunoy, near Paris, France. He taught many thousands of students during his lifetime, and was renowned for his piety and abstinence. He was buried in the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Jacob J. Hecht, known occasionally as Rabbi JJ, was the assistant and translator of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneerson, and a leading Chabad rabbi, educator, writer and radio commentator.
Shmarya Rosenberg is a former blogger who published the blog FailedMessiah.com.
The National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE) is a non-profit organization run by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. It is a division of the Chabad movement's educational arm, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch.
Machne Israel is the social service organization of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Chabad customs and holidays are the practices, rituals and holidays performed and celebrated by adherents of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. The customs, or minhagim and prayer services are based on Lurianic kabbalah. The holidays are celebrations of events in Chabad history. General Chabad customs, called minhagim, distinguish the movement from other Hasidic groups.
Yisroel Jacobson (1895-1975) was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi and the representative of the sixth Chabad rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, to the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. He was one of the first Lubavitcher activists to arrive in to the United States. He was born in Russia and migrated to the United States in 1925.
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