Joseph Kaminetsky

Joseph Kaminetsky was the first and pioneering director of Torah Umesorah - National Society for Hebrew Day Schools of North America, based in New York City.

Dr. Joe, as he was affectionately called, set out to create a yeshiva day school in every city of 5,000 Jews or more. In most cities, people would tell him flatly, "you will build a school here when hair grows on the palm of my hand." The idea of an all-day Torah school was just too much for most American Jews to consider; it was something that they had never seen or experienced before. But Dr. Joe persisted, traveling from city to city, meeting, inspiring, motivating and following up. It was tough, pioneering work and he was traveling against the stream, but he was not a man to give up. In those years Dr. Joe would help create about ten schools per year. Since that time the name, "Joe Kaminetsky" has become synonymous with making the impossible happen.

In those days, America was called a "Torah desert," but the word desert did not describe the stark reality. A desert is passive, but the bulk of American Jews were negative. Even traditional Jews fought the idea of Jewish day school education tooth and nail. American Jewish parents were good and caring people but many of them believed that their children could be part of the great "American dream" only if they attended a public school. The immigrant generation had suffered enough poverty, discrimination and struggle. Now they had to adjust to the realities of a new country. Most American Jews had bought the idea that America was a melting pot and hoped that their children would get into that pot and melt away. While all wanted to be American – many also wanted their children to become loyal and observant Jews.

The solution came into focus only when the visionary Dr. Kaminetsky was drafted to lead the battle for Jewish survival. Persistently, this committed modern Orthodox educator explained to all those who understood the Jewish reality that the future of the American Jewish community could only be accomplished through the serious study of Torah and the creation of schools where Torah study formed a major part of the curriculum.

What was the magic of Dr. Joseph Kaminetsky? When he undertook to create the day school movement in the 1940’s, there was almost no American Jew who had all of the following qualifications: An Orthodox oedination, comprehensive knowledge of Talmud, a Doctorate in Education from an Ivy League University, and the confidence of the Roshei Yeshiva, the heads of the major yeshivot at the time.

His main goal in life was not to advance himself economically. He was a man with a cause who was totally dedicated to an ideal. To quote Dr. Hillel Goldberg, "Dr. Kaminetsky could sell Jewish education, not just because he believed in it, understood it, or cared. He did not found scores of Jewish day schools on these qualities alone. Still less, on these qualities alone did he persuade others to give up potentially lucrative careers to found hundreds more day schools. The secret...his secret? Dr. Joseph Kaminetsky convinced you that you were building the school, you were the leader, you were the doer, you were making the sacrifice, you had the abilities, you were making the difference."

Dr. Joe had even more special qualities. He had the ability to draw people closer to Torah. He was an accomplished speaker and had sweeping fervor. He was able to be polished and down to earth at the very same time. He knew how to act as the leader but at the same time, to allow others to lead.

The warmth he radiated, his desire to spread Torah and his love of Jewish children knew no bounds. These qualities enabled him to overcome the obstacles which lay in his path. He knew that the future of American Jewry lay in the balance. Experienced people knew that a community which did not have a yeshiva day school would probably not survive Jewishly. Sadly, history has borne out their analysis.

Dr. Joe had the unique qualities of caution and diplomacy. At every turn the opposition was fierce. We must keep in mind that he was creating an institution which communities had never before seen or experienced. Even people who came from Europe never knew of a school where Torah studies occupied the morning hours while secular studies occupied the afternoon hours. He was able to chart a path for parents who were dedicated to a Torah way of life but at the same time wanted their children to receive a quality secular education.

For many decades, Dr. Kaminetsky traveled the length and breadth of the United States from coast to coast, from Savannah, Charleston, and Peoria, to Bangor, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland, and Columbus, to dozens of cities where he spent hours and sometimes days persuading doubtful and questioning parents and Jewish leaders to understand that this was the most important effort they could possibly undertake, both for the Jewish survival of their children, their families, their communities and for American Jewry as a whole.

Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s he travelled extensively to promote and advise as to how best to build the first Jewish day schools. He recruited young rabbis from the major yeshivas, such as from the well-established Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in New York City, and other notable yeshivas such as of Baltimore, the Telshe yeshiva of Cleveland, the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin and Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn and a few others, whose graduates then set out to transmit the heritage of Torah study, study of Mishnah, Talmud and Jewish law and customs, Hebrew language, Jewish history, inculcating a love and desire for celebrating and enjoying the Jewish holidays, Shabbat and the mitzvot ("commandments"). By the end of the 1960s about five hundred schools had been established with close to one hundred children, and were officially affiliated with their "national organiztion" Torah Umesorah. Those statistics included children in yeshivas in the New York area as well that had been set up and affiliated with Torah Umesorah, but every community with about over ten thousand Jews would have at least one Jewish day school. Dr Kaminetsky retired in 1980.

Despite the efforts of recent revisionist spokesmen of the Chassidic and Yeshiva communities, it must be acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of American Jews, some of whom devote their entire lives to Torah study but most of whom are successful businessmen, doctors, lawyers, psychologists, scientists and stock traders owe their Torah observant life to Dr. Joseph Kaminetsky, a unique and special man. If only more of us could absorb some of his spark and make it our ideal as well.