By Robert E. Sutton
Jewish teaching and learning have been essential components of Jewish tradition since the earliest times. The command to “teach your children” first appeared in D’varim (Deuteronomy) as part of what later became the Shema – the most central of Jewish prayers. Rabbinic literature is filled with references to schools and schooling and to teaching and learning taking place at all levels, and for all ages from the youngest children through adulthood. According to the midrash on Bereshit, the first thing that Beit Yakov did on leaving Canaan was to establish schools. It is no accident that Jews are often known as “The People of the Book.” Jewish life is lived according to texts, commentary, and interpretation of those texts. The varied methods of teaching them include instructive, experiential, argument, and discussion. And that methodology continues to this day.
The task of describing an educational system for anyone’s culture is difficult since cultures constantly change. It is likely that Jewish education underwent significant alterations during its long history. This is especially true of educational institutions, which were no doubt affected by the vicissitudes of political history. In general, education, as it was known at the time of the Shoftim or Judges (12th- 13th centuries B.C.E.), did not remain unchanged by the time of the Maccabees (2nd-century B.C.E), who were confronted with Hellenistic culture. Moreover, education was not necessarily uniform throughout all levels of Jewish society.
Cultures absorb influences from other cultures. Built into the Jewish religious system were careful rituals, symbols, and systems intentionally created to preserve the tradition, to keep it pure and untainted by outside forces. That is, the tradition worked at keeping the tradition. Yet at the same time, traces of other civilizations, particularly those of Canaan, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece, were undoubtedly assimilated into Jewish educational practices.
Before the Babylonian Exile In the early period of Hebrew history, prior to the exile of 586/587 B.C.E, the primary teachers were the shevet (tribe) and the family, particularly parents, and education was focused on the children. The Jews being originally nomadic tribes, the training involved participation in the various agrarian occupations, such as farming, tent-making, making of tools, and fishing. Knowledge was passed from generation to generation through stories and allegories.
As the offices of Kohanim (priests) and Nevi’im (prophets) began to emerge, written literature developed from the rich repository of oral tradition within the culture. As the need to be able to read became important; education began to focus on teachers who would teach reading and writing. It was natural for priests to be considered the teachers of the community.
Within the community, prophets were also considered teachers. They were regarded as the channel through which God could speak. And although they were visionaries, seers of the future, prophets also served as wandering, public instructors, teaching the people the word of God regarding matters of public and private religious concern.
EXILE
By the time Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586/587 B.C., the family was still the primary learning center, even during the 70 years of the Exile. Children were seen as a gift from God, and a great amount of energy was given to educating them for the future. Parents were answerable for their children’s conduct and were the primary teachers. While both parents were responsible, the primary responsibility in the patriarchal culture was given to the father.
The holiday cycle provided many teachable moments for the young Jewish child. Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot were important teaching tools and provided opportunities for children to ask questions and to learn.
During the time of the Exile, however, more formal education began to emerge. Boys were taught to read and write. Elementary education in childhood taught the Jewish boy to learn and memorize portions of the Tanach, especially the Torah. Primary education gave him a thorough knowledge of Mosaic history. Higher education was given to the detailed study of the Law, its practice, and its definition.
Girls were given instruction in domestic duties, such as spinning, weaving, the preparation of food, and caring for children. Women were also formally trained in such concerns as midwifery and medicine. Other educational opportunities existed for women, especially those of the wealthier classes. There is a debate in the Mishnah on the education of women, meaning that some rabbis did consider women appropriate candidates for schooling. The later stories of Beruriah (100 C.E.), the daughter of Rabbi Hananiah Ben Teradion, similarly support this view of women’s education.
SECOND TEMPLE AND THE REVOLT
Preserving the nation through religious education became even more important after the return to Jerusalem, and an elaborate instructional system was fashioned. Priests maintained a primary educator role, in addition to their ceremonial duties and administration of the Temple. In time, however, as the Temple functions became even more complex, their functions as teachers were given over more and more to the scribes. Likewise, as the tradition strengthened in numbers and purpose, a more complex educational system developed. Where before the society’s educational needs had been served primarily by the tribe and the family, in this period education became universal for Jewish boys and men.
Two great names are associated with Jewish education. In 75 B.C.E., Shimon ben-Shetach declared elementary education compulsory. In 64 C.E., Yehoshua ben-Gamla, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) made the momentous decision that “teachers of young children be appointed in each district and town and that children should start school at age six or seven. Although there was formal education before him, Gamla reformed it, making the system universal and more effective. The Talmud declares that were it not for Yehoshua ben Gamla, Torah would have become forgotten among the Jewish People.
THE TEACHER
A teacher was held in high esteem. In some cases, respect for the teacher surpassed even parental respect. Certain qualifications were required: the teacher, even in elementary school, was to be male and married. He was not to be idle, but even-tempered and possessed of high moral standards. In fact, the moral character of the teacher was deemed more important than his academic standards. The teacher was to teach without pay—the model was that a teacher should have a trade that would satisfy his material needs. The rabbis felt there was a certain danger in simply maintaining an academic life; everyone needed a trade or skill.
THE PUPIL
Even during the early years of the common era, teachers had sufficient practical knowledge of psychology to realize that different types of minds must be approached by different methods. There were (and still are) four classes of pupils, which teachers evaluated in terms of their ability to retain the knowledge taught to them: The Sponge: retains everything, but is unable to distinguish between correct and incorrect points or significant and insignificant ones. The Funnel: lets information go in one ear and out the other, gaining nothing. The Strainer: discards significant material and retains the incorrect or insignificant points. He remembers all sorts of trivial, useless details of the material he studied, and no more. But The Filter: retains all the significant material, and discards the trivial and inconsequential details.
THE PEDAGOGY
In elementary school, all young Jewish boys learned to read by reciting aloud portions of the Tanach. The basic elements of arithmetic, geography, and history were also taught, probably in conjunction with the reading of the Tanach. As soon as the child could read, he was given parchment rolls with particular passages to memorize, including the Shema, Hallel, The Story of Creation, and the essence of Levitical Law. In addition, the boy had to find and learn a personal text, a text that began with the first letter of his name, and ended with the last letter of his name. Thus if a student’s name was Benyamim Ben Moshe he would memorize the first 20 pisukim (sentences) of Bereshit (Genesis).
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
Even though the form and content of education have changed with the demands of various times and places, it has remained a constant and powerful force in Jewish homes, culture, and society. Whatever the time or place, education has provided a structure for passing on valued teaching and sacred tradition, and as such it must be considered one of the most fundamental building blocks of Jewish life and faith.
Robert Ephraim Sutton is the Editor in Chief and Creative Director of AMIT Magazine.