Talmud Torah

Child seat in a synagogue Italian formerly used by the Talmud Torah local

Talmud Torah schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazi than Sephardi , to provide primary education for children from modest backgrounds, who received the rudiments of Hebrew , of the Scriptures (with special attention to the Pentateuch ), the Talmud , and sometimes Halakha ).
The Talmud Torah was intended to prepare students for the yeshiva or in its modern form, a Jewish school in high school. It was modeled on the heder , a traditional institution of Jewish education which he received the essentials, with appropriate modifications to its public, being a school heder "privately" financed through less formal and institutionalized, such as scholarships study or donations.

Origin of schools

In the Bible, the father is the only one to be invested in education and education of his child , followers of the prophets . The institution known as the "be rav" or "Bet Rabban "(master's house), or as the" be safra "or" bet sefer "(house of the book), would find its origins in a decree of Ezra and of the Great Assembly , which would have opened a public school in Jerusalem in order to provide education for fatherless son aged 16 and over, the high priest Yehoshua ben Gamla was then established public schools in all cities and all villages for all children from the age of six or seven years .

The costs were borne by the community, and strict discipline was required. Rabbi Samuel ben ordered however Shilat to treat students with kindness, to refrain from corporal punishment, or limit the use of footings for students refractory dissipated. One student was stupid until he made the monitor is capable of understanding the art of study. Raba fixed the number of students at twenty-five per teacher ("Melamed") when the number exceeded twenty- five but remained below forty, a teacher assistant ("Dukane resh") was necessary beyond forty, it was imperative to separate classes.

If all the Talmudic authorities agreed not to allow the practice of melamed only to married men, there was a difference of opinion regarding the competencies for their qualification. Raba preferred a teacher who taught his students in quantity, even at the expense of quality, while Rav Dimi of Nehardea advocated a teacher teaching but little good, for a read error when passed a difficult to correct These rabbis presupposed that it is rare to find these two qualities in one person.

Exclusions girls

Because women are traditionally excluded from religious education, girls were the Talmud Torah, and were more prepared to become good housewives and mothers. However, if we find the opinions of doctors of the law as eminent as Rabbi Eliezer to teaching that "he who teaches his daughter Torah is as if he learned tatting , "others like Moses Maimonides felt that the prohibition covered only the Oral Torah , that is to say, the Talmud and not the Torah, that is to say the Hebrew Bible , itself and Rashi taught them and the other to his daughters. Anyway, the education of girls is in private and was often less extensive.

Dispensation of education

The teaching in the Talmud Torah and occupied all day, the winter months, part of the night. Classes were suspended on Friday and the afternoon of the eve of a special day in the Jewish calendar. There was no class on Sabbath and special days, but during the previous week were revised in the afternoon with the parent or teacher .

It also rests with parents or teachers that education was regarded then as purely religious. The Talmud Torah had originally intended to instruct the student in the Law of Moses and the Rabbinical literature , raised a point of view "literary" rather than practical. Later, partly under the influence of Christian parochial schools, the reading of prayers and blessings as well as teaching principles of faith of Judaism were integrated into the curriculum. In almost all communities, an organization called "Chevra Talmud Torah" was formed. Its function was to obtain a fund for public school funding, and supervising teachers and students.
Asher ben Yehiel (1250-1328) also allowed to draw from to pay the tax collected by the local governor, education being considered less crucial than the consequences which might harm the poor, who were liable to seizure of all their assets if their taxes were not paid promptly . In return, it also authorized the Talmud Torah to draw on the common fund of charity or donations in a synagogue or a cemetery if necessary .

The Chevra Talmud Torah of Rome consisted of eight companies in 1554 and was reactivated on 13 August 1617 . Later, some synagogues were called "Talmud Torah," as was the case at Fez in 1603 or in Cairo , probably because the school was attached to or included in the building of the synagogue.

Financing

The capital of the company came from several sources:

1. sixth collections made in the synagogue and other places of worship on Monday and Thursday;
2. donations during circumcisions guest at the party;
3. donations at weddings the bride and groom and guests;
4. tenth of the cases of tzedakah , known as the "ba-Mattan setar '(anonymous donation).

Samuel de Medina (1505-1589) decreed that in case of testamentary will make a donation to the Talmud Torah and guaranteed by the brother of the testator, the latter could not be held responsible for any use of the donation because of prolonged illness of the deceased . A post-mortem donation to a yeshiva or Talmud Torah in a certain city, accompanied by a statement that it can be managed "in the manner that suits the son of the testator," can be transferred to a yeshiva or Talmud Torah from another city .

Stewardship

The election of officers was made by vote, three gabbam , three vice-gabbam and treasurer. Only men over 36 years and education were eligible. The takkanot regulating those sources of income of the Talmud Torah existed at the time of Rabbi Isserles. Yoel Sirkis , the rabbi of Krakow in 1638 , validated these regulations and added others, all approved by a meeting of 70 representatives from 25 congregations Tevet 5398 .

Staff

Solomon ben Abraham Hacohen ( XVI ^century ) decided he needed the unanimous approval of eight directors of a Talmud Torah in order to engage Melamed .

Krakow schools can serve as illustrations to the medieval organization. According to the annals of the Congregation in Cracow in 1551 , the Chevra Talmud Torah controlled all schools, both private and public. She passed takkanot the following:

1. Members will exercise general supervision of the teachers and visit the Talmud Torah each week to ensure that students are properly educated.
2. No one can teach melamed the Pentateuch with the exception of the translation Be'er Moshe , "which is our vernacular," for advanced students, no other comment than that of Rashi could not be used.
3. A primary school teacher does not teach more than twenty-five students and have two assistants.
4. The melamedim would not get competition for the duration of their contracts and not seek to obtain a student in charge of another Melamed, even after his contract expires, unless the father or guardian of the student wishes itself such a change.
5. Members of the Chevra Talmud Torah Melamed initiate an appropriate and fearing God, with an assistant, for poor children and orphans hamidrash bet.
6. The Melamed and his assistant teach students the Hebrew alphabet (with nikkoud ), the siddur , the Pentateuch (with translation Be'er Moshe), the commentary of Rashi , the order of prayers, etiquette and good conduct - for every child according to his year and his intelligence, they should also teach children to read and write the vernacular. The gifted are taught Hebrew grammar and arithmetic, children learn in the last year the Talmud with commentaries of Rashi and Tosafists.
7. Children learn almost 13 years the requirements for wearing tefillin.
8. At fourteen, a child unable to study the Talmud learn a trade or become a household servant.

Curriculum

Jews Sephardim have led their schools with more method that Ashkenazim , particularly in Europe. The Talmud Torah of Amsterdam was particularly praised by Rabbi Sheftel ben Isaiah Horowitz . Shabbetai Bass describes this Talmud Torah in the introduction to his Sifte Yeshanim , hoping that it serves as a model of other schools:

"It is built around the synagogue and has six parts, each serving separate class under the authority of a Melamed. The first year, the boys learn to read their prayers. The second year, they learn the Pentateuch from beginning to end with diacritics cantillation. Third, they translate the Pentateuch in the vernacular, using the commentary Rashi , according sidrot week ordinary.
The fourth year, they learn the Prophets and Hagiographs with accents and translation. Fifth, they learn the grammar and begin learning awards halakhic extracted from the Talmud, the text is in Hebrew and explanations in the vernacular. Before the coming of a holy day, they memorize the laws of the Shulchan Aruch on this day. The sixth year is preparatory to the yeshiva in bet hamidrash and is taught by hakham - rabbi. In this class, we study a daily halacha with the comments of Rashi and Tosafot , and compared the findings in the codes of Maimonides , Asheri , and Caro. One study of 8 to 11 hours of the morning and 2 to 5 o'clock in the afternoon in winter to the Office of Mincha. Maintenance costs of the school are drawn from a fund contributed to by members of the Chevra Talmud Torah. This school Sephardic deviated from the rule of keeping students in the Talmud Torah all day and some hours of the night when the days shortened winter. "

Early ^twentieth century

Russia

The Talmud Torah Nicolsburg in Moravia dispensed to poor children in 1724 to 1744 an education equivalent to that of children from wealthy families. The studies focused on the siddur, the Houmash and the Talmud . Schools Eastern Europe retained the style and method Ashkenazi until the middle of the nineteenth ^century , when a movement for improvement and better management took place in the larger cities.

In 1857 in Odessa , the Talmud Torah had existed since the city had been indicated on the maps was reorganized into a model school by eminent educationists. In 1881 Abramowitch SJ was appointed Rector of 400 students. In 1904 , two branches were opened in the suburbs to accommodate 400 more students. Unifomres and school supplies were free. The annual expenditure amounted to 20,000 rubles. Every city in the area of residence in Russia had a similar school. Revenues came from a tax imposed by the Jews on Meat and private donations.

Ottoman Palestine

In Jerusalem, the Talmud Torah Sephardic Tif'eret called Yerushalayim was rearranged by the Bashi Hakham Panigel Raphael Meir in 1891, with 300 pupils and 13 teachers. The boys learned Arabic and arithmetic in addition to other subjects, from the alphabet to the Talmud. Were studied from sunrise to sunset. The main source of school funding came from the family Sassoon , traders Baghdadim of Bombay and Calcutta , via meshoulla'him.

The Talmud Torah (and yeshiva ) Etz Hayyim Ashkenazi, succeeded with its 35 teachers and over one thousand students at the school established by Yehuda HaHassid. It was inaugurated with a fund offered by Hirsch and David Wolf Fischbein Janover in 1860. The amount of annual maintenance in 1910 amounted to about 10 000, half of which was collected in the United States.

In Jaffa, the Talmud Torah and Yeshiva Torah Sha'arei was organized in 1886 by NH Lewi, with nine teachers and nine classes totaling 102 men. It cost about 2 000 per year, mostly from foreign donations.

United States

In America, the Talmud Torah was founded in Ashkenazi Machzikei New York City in 1883 by Israel (Isidor) Rosenthal. He maintained schools at 225-227 East Broadway and instructed more than 1,100 boys for an annual expenditure of about 12 000. On 22 January 1905 , the company opened a branch at 67 East 7th Street, thanks to a donation of 25,000 by Jacob H. Schiff. The company was managed by a Board of Directors and Education Committee. The studies included bases in Hebrew, reading the prayer, the translation of the Pentateuch in Yiddish and English , and the principles of Jewish faith and practice. It studied 2 hours after the public school, the school does not dispense with secular education.

Many other Talmud Torah existed in New York and other cities in the United States and Canada, where the Jewish population was to grow.

Today

Talmud Torah schools continue to exist throughout the Jewish world. It is most often primary schools in their curriculum incorporating Jewish and secular subjects to prepare students for a Jewish education in secondary school or yeshiva. The schools are mostly mixed, following a traditional focus of Jewish education, that is to say, congruent with the historical orientation Ashkenazi and Sephardic rather than Ashkenazi currents appeared to modernist or progressive ^nineteenth century and ^twentieth century , namely the Reform Judaism , Conservative and Reconstructionist.

It is also noteworthy that in its ordinary meaning, means very often Talmud Torah religious education that give children the Jewish synagogues. In this sense, the Talmud Torah is in catechism for Catholics.

See also

• Synagogue
• Heder
• Yeshiva

References

Talmud Torah in the Jewish Encyclopedia , which states:

• Judah Lb , Omer mid-Yehudah, Brnn , 1790;
• Zederbaum Die Geheimnisse von Berdichev , p. 38-44, Warsaw , 1870 (draft);
• Brandstdter , roughing in Ha- Eshkol , v. 70-84.

This article incorporates text from the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906, a publication now in the public domain.

• Portal of Jewish culture and Judaism

Leave a Reply