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Garfield School 8th-Grade Class Photo, 1915

Free public education served as an important means of integration and advancement for generations of young Chicago Jews. It allowed them to overcome the disadvantages of their immigrant parents, and it paved the way for social and economic mobility. At one time, Garfield elementary school, located in the Maxwell Street Area, had a student body that was more than 90% Jewish.

Cheder, De Koven and Jefferson, ca. 1906

Early Jewish immigrants to Chicago from Eastern Europe typically sent their sons to cheders to obtain a traditional religious education. Cheders met daily after public school hours and sought to provide a background in Hebrew, prayers, and basic Jewish texts. The European-style schools had a reputation for poorly trained teachers and makeshift facilities.

Chicago Hebrew Institute Orchestra Class

The Chicago Hebrew Institute (CHI) was founded in 1903 as a grassroots community center for immigrant Jews of the Maxwell Street area. Its program encouraged education, promoted physical welfare, and reinforced a dual Jewish and American identity. The CHI offered classes in English, public speaking, citizenship, housekeeping, dressmaking, millinery, infant welfare, stenography, typewriting, bookkeeping, boxing, wrestling, basketball, and lifesaving. The CHI evolved into the Jewish Community Centers (JCC) of Chicago, which continue to play a vital role in Jewish community life.

Associated Talmud Torahs School Bus

Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago (ATT) is the central agency for Orthodox Jewish education in metropolitan Chicago. It was created in 1929 by a group of Orthodox educators who had seceded from the Jewish Education Committee (forerunner of the BJE). ATT was the first organization in Chicago to introduce all-day schools, such as Chicago Jewish Academy, and to initiate busing to and from school. Currently, ATT counts 6,000 students in its affiliated day schools, high schools, and religious schools, plus 1,000 in its summer programs.

College of Jewish Studies Commencement, 1942

The College of Jewish Studies (later Spertus) was established in 1924 as a division of the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago (BJE), with the primary purpose of training teachers for positions in formal and informal Jewish education. Today, Spertus serves as Chicago's center for Jewish learning and culture, offering a wide array of academic and public programs on-site, in select suburban locations, and via distance learning.

Chicago Jewish Academy Students in the Science Lab

Chicago Jewish Academy, today Ida Crown Jewish Academy, was Chicago's first modern all-day school. In 1942, leaders from the ATT and HTC established the Academy as a co-educational high school that integrated general and Jewish studies, part of a new trend in Jewish education. It is currently located in West Rogers park and has an enrollment of 281 students, led by Rabbi Dr. Leonard A. Matanky.

Florence Heller JCC Class Photo, 2010

The past decades have been a period of sustained support for Jewish education across denominations. We have seen dramatic growth in Jewish early education programs and adult education initiatives. The JCC's Early Childhood Services is the largest early childhood provider in Illinois, offering daycare, preschool, and adult/child classes at 15 locations across metropolitan Chicago.