Access and Provenance Institutional Sketch Scope and Content Note Box and Folder Listing

A Finding Aid to the Association of Orthodox Jewish Teachers of the New York City Public Schools Manuscript Collection No. 719 1963-2003. 4.8 Linear ft.

ACCESS AND PROVENANCE

The ASSOCIATION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH TEACHERS OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (AOJT)was donated to the American Jewish Archives by the AOJT in December, 2002. Property rights are assigned to the American Jewish Archives. Literary rights to materials are held by the individual author or his/her heirs. Questions concerning rights should be addressed to the Director of the American Jewish Archives.

 The collection is open to all users and available in the reading room of the American Jewish Archives.

INSTITUTIONAL SKETCH top

Professional Orthodox Jewish teachers “having found that the viewpoint of Orthodox Jewish personnel working for the New York City school system have not been represented by any existing organization” founded the Association of Orthodox Jewish Teachers of the New York City Public Schools, “whose policy it will be to abide by the decisions of the leading orthodox Torah authorities in all matters which may be of a religious nature.”
Founded in 1963, the purpose of the AOJT was:

To promote the welfare of the Orthodox Jewish personnel employed by the New York City School system.

To encourage, assist, and defend the religious practices of the Jewish personnel employed by the New York City school system.

To act as spokesman for Orthodox Jewish teachers in matters relating to religious observance and upon any occasion deemed necessary.

To provide a forum for the exchange of cultural, social, and professional affairs of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Teachers.

To provide guidance and assistance towards the orientation and recruitment of new and future Orthodox Jewish teachers.

To promote an atmosphere of religious and racial understanding among all teachers and their students regardless of race, religion, or natural origin, and to help safeguard the rights of all children in the pursuit of their religious observances.

To cooperate with other organizations in order to achieve mutual understanding and fulfillment of their objectives.

The AOJT sponsored many activities designed to benefit its membership. Its Political Action committee sought to limit school activities during Shabbat, and to allow teachers to more easily take time off for Jewish holidays such as Yom Kippur. They also sought to guard their membership against employment discrimination, which led the AOJT to vigorously support the “merit” system of education hiring, instead of an “affirmative action or “quota” system that would consider race and ethnicity a factor in to promote diversity in New York Public Schools.

Aside from these political activities, the AOJT also sponsored numerous social and professional programs. Its Social committee supported local activities, such as ice skating, while the Tours committee organized vacations to Florida and Israel; the AOJT even attempted to buy land in Israel so Orthodox teachers could make aliyah and settle near each other.

The AOJT also sponsored professional education conferences that members could attend and still keep Shomer Shabbat. For students, the AOJT organized Akiva culture clubs in the public schools. In some schools these clubs had more than 100 students, while other clubs were less successful and had as low as five members.

SCOPE AND CONTENT top

The records of the ASSOCIATION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH TEACHERS OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS span the years 1963-2003, though the bulk of materials fall within the years 1971-1975. The records include meeting minutes, correspondence in regards to the activities of the AOJT, publications and circulars, reports, travel plans and documents, and near print.

Consisting of seven Hollinger boxes in just one series, GENERAL ACTIVITIES, the collection catalogues and notes the very diverse activities the AOJT organized. Due to this variety of activities, the folders are organized alphabetically by subject, and are not necessarily in chronological order. Folders contain information about the Akiva clubs organized by the AOJT, information about community relations, plans for dinners and conventions, plans and accounts of trips to Florida and Israel, political actions and social activities organized, and minutes and letters sent by the Executive committee.

BOX AND FOLDER LIST top

Box	Folder	Contents


SERIES A. GENERAL ACTIVITIES
SCOPE NOTES: Records are arranged by topic, then by date. 

1	1	Akiva Clubs. 1971. 
	2	Akiva Clubs. 1972. 
	3	Akiva Clubs. 1973. 
	4	Akiva Clubs. 1975. 
	5	Akiva Clubs. 1976. 
	6	Akiva Clubs Scholarship. 1972. 
	7	Annual Dinner. 1966. 
	8	Annual Dinner. 1967. 
	9	Annual Dinner. 1968.
	10	Annual Dinner. 1971. 
	11	Annual Dinner. 1973. 
	12	Annual Dinner. 1974. 
	13	Annual Dinner. 1975. 

2	1	Annual Dinner. 1976. 
	2	Annual Dinner. 1977. 
	3	Annual Dinner Booklet. 2003. 
	4	Annual Dinner Correspondence. 1971. 
	5	Annual Dinner Correspondence.  1973. 
	6	Anti-Semitism. 1968. 
	7	AOTJ Education Institute. 1975.   
	8	Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists. 1973.
	9	Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists – Convention. 1976.  
 

3	1	Board of Education. 1973. 
	2	Board of Education. 1976. 
	3	Building Documents and Building Committee. 1976-1977. 
	4	Community Council News. 1976. 
	5	Community Relations. 1973. 
	6	Community Relations. 1975. 
	7	Community School Board. 1973. 
	8	Community School Board. 1975. 
	9	Constitution and Proposed Revisions. 1963. 
	10	Constitution – 1964. 
	11	Convention. 1966. 
	12	Convention. 1968. 
	13	Convention. 1971. 

4	1	Convention. 1972. 
	2	Convention. 1973. 
	3	Convention. 1975. 
	4	Convention. 1976. 
	5	Convention. 1977. 
	6	Conventions. n.d, 1979, 1981. 
	7	Convention Correspondence. 1971. 
	8	Convention Correspondence. 1972. 
	9	Convention Correspondence. 1973. 
	10	Correspondence. 1968.
	11	Correspondence. 1973. 
	12	Correspondence. 1974. 

5	1	Correspondence. 1975. 
	2	Correspondence. January-June, 1976. 
	3	Correspondence. July – December 1976. 
	4	Correspondence Received. 1965, 1969, 1970-1971. 
	5	Correspondence Received. 1971. 
	6	Correspondence Received. 1972. 
	7	Correspondence Sent. 1971. 
	8	Correspondence Sent by Dr. Melvin Hyman. 1976. 
	9	Correspondence – Membership. 1963. 
	10	Correspondence – Membership. 1964. 
	11	Correspondence – Membership. 1965. 
	12	Correspondence – Membership. 1966. 
	13	Correspondence – Membership. 1967. 
	14	Correspondence – Membership. 1968. 
	15	Correspondence – Membership. 1969. 
	16	Correspondence – Membership. 1970. 
	17	Correspondence – Membership. 1971. 
	18	Correspondence – Membership. 1972. 
	19	Correspondence – Membership. 1973. 
	20	Correspondence – Membership. 1974. 

6	1	Correspondence – National Membership. 1972-1973.
	2	Correspondence – National Membership. 1974. 
	3	Decentralization. 1968. 
	4	Discrimination. 1968. 
	5	Federation Employment Guidance Services. 1973. 
	6	Federation Employment Guidance Services. 1976. 
	7	Florida Trip. 1973. 
	8	Florida Trip. 1975. 
	9	Fogel Endowment Fund. 1975. 
	10	General – 1963. 
	11	General – 1964. 
	12	General – 1965.
	13	General – 1966. 
	14	General – 1967. 
	15	General – 1968. 

7	1	General – 1971. 
	2	General – 1976 – 1. n.d. 
	3	General – 1976 – 2. January – December. 
	4	Government Aid to Parochial Schools. 1966. 
	5	Grievance Letters. 1969, 1973-1974. 
	6	Holiday Pay. 1964. 
	7	Holiday Pay. 1965. 
	8	Holiday Pay. 1966. 
	9	Holiday Pay. 1968. 
	10	Integration Plan. 1965. 
	11	Integration Plan. 1966. 
	12	Israel Community Project. 1973. 

8	1	Israel Community Project. 1975. 
	2	Israel Trip. 1971. 
	3	Israel Trip. 1972 – 1. 
	4	Israel Trip. 1972 – 2.
	5	Israel Trip. 1973. 
	6	Israel Trip. 1975. 
	7	Israel Trip Correspondence. 1972. 
	8	Jewish Studies. 1971.  

9	1	Jewish Studies. 1972. 
	2	Jewish Studies. 1973-1974. 
	3	Jewish Studies – Funding. 1974. 
	4	Jewish Teachers Association. 1972. 
	5	Jewish Teachers Association. 1976. 
	6	Jewish Teachers Community Chest. 1968. 
	7	Jewish Teachers Community Chest. 1970-1971.
	8	Jewish Teachers Community Chest. 1972.
	9	Jewish Teachers Community Chest. 1973. 
	10	Jewish Teachers Community Chest. 1975. 
	11	Jewish Teachers Community Chest. 1976. 
	12	Membership. 1975. 
	13	Minutes – Executive Board. 1964. 
	14	Minutes – Executive Board. 1965.
	15	Minutes – Executive Board. 1966. 
	16	Minutes – Executive Board. 1967.
	17	Minutes – Executive Board. 1968.  
	18	Minutes – Executive Board. 1971. 
	19	Minutes – Executive Board. 1973.

10	1	Minutes – Executive Board. 1976. 
	2	Minutes – Executive Board and other Committees. 1975. 
	3	Minutes – Steering Committee. 1976. 
	4	National Council of Young Israel. 1965. 
	5	National Council of Young Israel. 1966.
	6	Newsletter. 1973-1974. 
	7	Newsletter. 1976. 
	8	Political Action. 1967.
	9	Political Action. 1968.
	10	Political Action. 1971. 
	11	Political Action. 1972. 

11	1	Political Action. 1973. 
	2	Professional Conference. 1967. 
	3	Professional Conference. 1972. 
	4	Professional Conference. 1973. 
	5	Publicity. 1965. 
	6	Publicity. 1966. 
	7	Publicity. 1967. 
	8	Publicity. 1968. 
	9	Publicity. 1971. 
	10	Publicity. 1972. 
	11	Publicity. 1973. 
	12	Queens Jewish Community Council. 1976. 
	13	Religious Guidance. 1973. 
	14	Sabbath Problems. 1965. 

12	1	Sabbath Problems. 1966.
	2	Sabbath Problems. 1968. 
	3	Sabbath Problems. 1973. 
	4	School Representatives. n.d. 
	5	School Representatives. 1964. 
	6	School Representatives. 1967-1974. 
	7	Singles and Social. 1967. 
	8	Singles and Social. 1973. 
	9	Singles and Social. 1976. 
	10	Survey Questionnaire. 1965. 
	11	Torah Classes. 1971-1974. 
	12	Torah Conference. 1976. 
	13	Torah Umesorah. 1968. 
	14	Torah Umesorah. 1971. 
	15	Tours. 1973. 
	16	United Federation of Teachers. 1967.
	17	Wacholder, Shirley, Memorial Fund




  

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