Alvin Schiff Board of Jewish Education Collection
1970-1990

About This Guide

Finding aid encoded December, 2009

Finding aid encoded in English.

Biographical Note

Alvin Schiff, a renowned Jewish educator, is an alumnus of Yeshiva University's Yeshiva College and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. He founded YU's Department of Graduate Jewish Education (now Azrieli Graduate School) in 1959, which he directed for 11 years. YU awarded him an honorary degree in 1977. He also served as executive vice president of the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York (BJE) from 1970-1991.

Schiff founded various educational programs that became mainstays of American Jewish life, including Tochnit Yod Gimmel Post High School Program in Israel, which has allowed some 6,000 students spend the year between high school and college studying at Israeli yeshivot (1958); Hidon Ha-Tanakh (Bible Contest) in the US (1959); Salute to Israel Parade (1965); and March of the Living (1988).

In addition, he is the author of numerous books, articles and studies, and served as editor of the Journal of Jewish Education from 1967-1997. He has been visiting professor or lecturer at institutions including, Brandeis University, City University of New York, Harvard University, New York University, and Tel Aviv University.

In 2005, the State of Israel awarded Schiff the President's Prize in Jewish Education, one of Israel's highest honors, for his contributions to the field of Jewish education.

Scope and Contents

The collection is comprised of materials on a broad range of topics relating to Jewish communal life, a large portion of which are on Jewish education. The majority of the materials consist of printed reports and pamphlets, however there are also some internal organizational reports and studies, as well as several term papers.

The Jewish educational materials contain many studies and reports undertaken by or on behalf of the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York (BJE), and examine issues such Jewish day schools, educational programming in Jewish Community Centers, and after-school programs. They also contain statistics on enrollment and participation, as well as budget reports and funding analyses. There are also reports by other major Jewish institutions such as the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel, and various clippings and articles relating to Jewish education. Finally, there are also curricula materials for various topics, particularly on teaching the Holocaust and the March of the Living program.

The materials on general Jewish topics consist of reports and articles on Jewish identity, conversion and intermarriage, observance, family, and population studies, many of which were produced by the Council of Jewish Federations (CJF), but also by other organizations as well as by individual experts and scholars on these subjects. There are also recordings of proceedings from the CJF General Assembly meetings from 1980, 1981 and 1989.

Finally, there are several term papers on topics in Jewish education written by students of Schiff, as well as a number of offprints and articles written by Schiff on issues in Jewish education and general Jewish communal topics.

Index Terms

This collection has been indexed under the following terms:

Conditions Governing Access and Use

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is available to researchers deemed to be qualified by the Archivist.

Conditions Governing Use

Restrictions may apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of materials in this collection. Please contact the Curator of Special Collections for information regarding Yeshiva University's reproduction policies and fees.