Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/52

34 tained, and a firm foundation will have been laid for the Jewish belief, Jewish practice, and Jewish life of the child.

The teacher should endeavor to bring out constantly the story of Israel, to make the children realize that the stories told are, as it were, merely chapters in Israel's great and glorious history. There should be conscious endeavor on the teacher's part to further the children's sympathy with Israel's history and to develop their pride that they are Jews, descendants of the traditional ancestors about whom they have heard, in other words to develop their Jewish subconsciousness and self-consciousness. If this be well done, and be coupled with a proper knowledge of Jewish history and of Judaism, the foundation will be well laid and the children will become in time the conscious, loyal, earnest Jews we need and want, and whom the religious school must help to make.