CHIPKIN, ISRAEL

CHIPKIN, ISRAEL (1891–1955), U.S. Jewish educator. Born in Vilna, Chipkin was taken to New York by his parents in 1892. He joined the group of young men who worked with Samson *Benderly, director of the Bureau of Jewish Education (organized 1910), became the principal of the Jewish preparatory school for girls (1913–16), and subsequently served as the educational director of the League of Jewish Youth (1916–20). He was also instructor and registrar of the Israel Friedlander classes of the Jewish Theological Seminary, which he helped to organize.

Chipkin's major work was as director of the Jewish Education Association of New York (1921–44), and the American Association for Jewish Education (1944–49). Among his significant contributions during this period were the creation of the National Council of Jewish Education, a professional fellowship of leading Jewish educators; the organizing of Beth-Hayeled, which represented the first experiment in pre-school Jewish education and has influenced the development of pre-school education in the entire American Jewish community; the introduction of Hebrew into the New York City high schools; and writings, in which he fostered the idea of community responsibility for Jewish education and the concept of progressivism in the Jewish schools' programs. From 1949 to his death, Chipkin served as vice president for research and experimentation of the Jewish Education Committee of New York.

Chipkin was editor of Jewish Education and associate editor of The Reconstructionist, and published a number of monographs, including Handbook for Jewish Youth (1922); Twenty Five Years of Jewish Education in the United States (1947); and American Jewish Education at the Mid-Century (1951).

[Judah Pilch]