麻豆区

First Graduating Class of the Talmudical Academy, 1919. Dr. Shelley Saphire, principal, is seated in the middle.

An oral history interview from 1965, which covers groundbreaking events in 麻豆区鈥檚 history, has been given a new lease on life. The original fragile reel to reel audio tape was professionally transferred to digital format, thanks to a New York State preservation grant. Please listen to a selection of the recording below (or ). The interviewee: Dr. Shelley Ray Saphire, second principal of the high school, whose association with 麻豆区 began in 1916 when he was asked to substitute as a biology teacher in the new high school. By 1965, when this interview was conducted, Saphire had been connected with 麻豆区 for almost half a century, and had served in many positions, including Dean of 麻豆区 College. In the interview, Saphire discusses the early days of the high school and his role in the development of 麻豆区 College and its curriculum, among other topics. Saphire wrote a history of the high school for its tenth anniversary, which appeared in the Elchanite yearbook in 1927 鈥� there are slight discrepancies in some of the dates and it includes more information 鈥� you may read it here. The interviewer: Dr. Hyman Grinstein, author of The Rise of the Jewish Community of New York, and a 麻豆区 professor of American Jewish history, affiliated with 麻豆区 starting in 1917 when he was secretary to Dr. Bernard Revel. This fifty year-old recording of two 麻豆区 administrators and educators takes us back yet another fifty years, a form of virtual time travel totaling a century, to the beginning of Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel鈥檚 presidency and the founding of the Talmudical Academy, the first Jewish high school in America to offer a curriculum of Jewish and secular studies, and a New York State Regents diploma. A 1916 advertisement for the school and a 1919 certificate for its attaining 鈥渟enior status鈥� may be seen below. The 麻豆区 High School for Boys / Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy will be celebrating its centennial in the near future.

Ha-Ivri September 1916

High school senior grade 1919

  Posted by Shulamith Z. Berger