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Talmud Torah AI simulator
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Talmud Torah AI simulator
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Talmud Torah
In the history of Judaism, Talmud Torah (Hebrew: תלמוד תורה, lit. "Study of the Torah") is a form of religious school that was created in the Jewish diaspora among all ethnicities of Jews (Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Sephardim, etc.) for the education of boys and girls of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew and the Jewish sacred scriptures (especially the Torah), and the Talmud (and halakha). This was meant to prepare them for yeshiva or, particularly in the movement's modern form, for Jewish education at a high school level. The Talmud Torah was modeled after the cheder, a traditional form of schooling whose essential elements it incorporated, with changes appropriate to its public form rather than the cheder's private financing through less formal or institutionalized mechanisms, including tuition fees and donations.
In the United States, the term Talmud Torah refers to the afternoon program for boys and girls after attending public school. This form of Jewish education was prevalent from the mid–19th century through "the 1940s and 1950s." Although by the 1980s full-time Jewish day schools (yeshivas) were the norm in the United States, some European countries still had these.
The father was traditionally the sole teacher of his children in Jewish history (Deut. xi. 19). The institution known as the bei rav or bet rabban (house of the teacher), or as the bei safra or bet sefer (house of the book), is said to have been originated by Ezra and his Great Assembly, who provided a public school in Jerusalem to secure the education of fatherless boys of the age of sixteen years and above. But the school system did not develop until Joshua ben Gamla the high priest caused public schools to be opened in every town and hamlet for all children above six or seven years of age (B. B. 21a).
The expense was borne by the community, and strict discipline was observed. Abba Arika, however, ordered Samuel b. Shilat to deal tenderly with the pupils, to refrain from corporal punishment, or at most to use a shoe-strap in correcting pupils for inattention. A stupid pupil was made monitor until able to grasp the art of learning. Rabbah bar Nahmani fixed the number of pupils at twenty-five for one teacher; if the number was between twenty-five and forty an assistant teacher ("resh dukana") was necessary; and for over forty, two teachers were required.
Only married men were engaged as teachers, but there is a difference of opinion regarding the qualification of the melammed (teacher). Rabbah bar Nahmani preferred one who taught his pupils much, even though somewhat carelessly, while Rav Dimi of Nehardea preferred one who taught his pupils little, but that correctly, as an error in reading once adopted is hard to correct (ib.). It is, of course, assumed that both qualifications were rarely to be found in one person.
The teaching in the Talmud Torah consumed the whole day, and in the winter months a few hours of the night besides. Teaching was suspended in the afternoon of Friday, and in the afternoon of the day preceding a holy day. On Shabbat and holy days, no new lessons were assigned; but the work of the previous week was reviewed on Shabbat afternoons by the child's parent or guardian (Shulḥan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 245).
In later times, possibly influenced by the Christian parochial schools of the 12th–13th centuries, the reading of the prayers and benedictions and the teaching of the principles of Jewish faith and practices were included. In almost every Jewish community, an organization called Hevra Talmud Torah was formed, whose duty was to create a fund and provide means for the support of public schools, and to control all teachers and pupils.
Asher ben Jehiel (1250–1328) ruled to allow withdrawals from the funds of the Talmud Torah for the purpose of meeting the annual tax collected by the local governor, since otherwise great hardships would fall upon the poor, who were liable to be stripped of all their belongings if they failed in the prompt payment of their taxes (Responsa, rule vi., § 2). On the other hand, money from the general charity fund was at times employed to support the Talmud Torah, and donations for a synagogue or cemetery were similarly used (ib. rule xiii., §§ 5,14).
Talmud Torah
In the history of Judaism, Talmud Torah (Hebrew: תלמוד תורה, lit. "Study of the Torah") is a form of religious school that was created in the Jewish diaspora among all ethnicities of Jews (Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Sephardim, etc.) for the education of boys and girls of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew and the Jewish sacred scriptures (especially the Torah), and the Talmud (and halakha). This was meant to prepare them for yeshiva or, particularly in the movement's modern form, for Jewish education at a high school level. The Talmud Torah was modeled after the cheder, a traditional form of schooling whose essential elements it incorporated, with changes appropriate to its public form rather than the cheder's private financing through less formal or institutionalized mechanisms, including tuition fees and donations.
In the United States, the term Talmud Torah refers to the afternoon program for boys and girls after attending public school. This form of Jewish education was prevalent from the mid–19th century through "the 1940s and 1950s." Although by the 1980s full-time Jewish day schools (yeshivas) were the norm in the United States, some European countries still had these.
The father was traditionally the sole teacher of his children in Jewish history (Deut. xi. 19). The institution known as the bei rav or bet rabban (house of the teacher), or as the bei safra or bet sefer (house of the book), is said to have been originated by Ezra and his Great Assembly, who provided a public school in Jerusalem to secure the education of fatherless boys of the age of sixteen years and above. But the school system did not develop until Joshua ben Gamla the high priest caused public schools to be opened in every town and hamlet for all children above six or seven years of age (B. B. 21a).
The expense was borne by the community, and strict discipline was observed. Abba Arika, however, ordered Samuel b. Shilat to deal tenderly with the pupils, to refrain from corporal punishment, or at most to use a shoe-strap in correcting pupils for inattention. A stupid pupil was made monitor until able to grasp the art of learning. Rabbah bar Nahmani fixed the number of pupils at twenty-five for one teacher; if the number was between twenty-five and forty an assistant teacher ("resh dukana") was necessary; and for over forty, two teachers were required.
Only married men were engaged as teachers, but there is a difference of opinion regarding the qualification of the melammed (teacher). Rabbah bar Nahmani preferred one who taught his pupils much, even though somewhat carelessly, while Rav Dimi of Nehardea preferred one who taught his pupils little, but that correctly, as an error in reading once adopted is hard to correct (ib.). It is, of course, assumed that both qualifications were rarely to be found in one person.
The teaching in the Talmud Torah consumed the whole day, and in the winter months a few hours of the night besides. Teaching was suspended in the afternoon of Friday, and in the afternoon of the day preceding a holy day. On Shabbat and holy days, no new lessons were assigned; but the work of the previous week was reviewed on Shabbat afternoons by the child's parent or guardian (Shulḥan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 245).
In later times, possibly influenced by the Christian parochial schools of the 12th–13th centuries, the reading of the prayers and benedictions and the teaching of the principles of Jewish faith and practices were included. In almost every Jewish community, an organization called Hevra Talmud Torah was formed, whose duty was to create a fund and provide means for the support of public schools, and to control all teachers and pupils.
Asher ben Jehiel (1250–1328) ruled to allow withdrawals from the funds of the Talmud Torah for the purpose of meeting the annual tax collected by the local governor, since otherwise great hardships would fall upon the poor, who were liable to be stripped of all their belongings if they failed in the prompt payment of their taxes (Responsa, rule vi., § 2). On the other hand, money from the general charity fund was at times employed to support the Talmud Torah, and donations for a synagogue or cemetery were similarly used (ib. rule xiii., §§ 5,14).
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