In thehistory of Judaism,Talmud Torah (Hebrew:תלמוד תורה, lit. "Study of the Torah") is a form ofreligious school that was created in theJewish 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 inHebrew and theJewish sacred scriptures (especially theTorah), and theTalmud (andhalakha). This was meant to prepare them foryeshiva or, particularly in the movement's modern form, for Jewish education at a high school level. The Talmud Torah was modeled after thecheder, a traditional form of schooling whose essential elements it incorporated, with changes appropriate to its public form rather than thecheder's private financing through less formal or institutionalized mechanisms, including tuition fees and donations.
Given the nature ofTorah study inJudaism, which involves extensive citation and cross-referencing among hundreds of texts written over the course of thousands of years,Talmud Torah typically involves learning thefundamental principles and practices of Jewish faith through the main didactic and religious Jewish literary sources, including theTanakh,Babylonian Talmud,Jerusalem Talmud,Mishnah,Tosefta,Pirkei Avot, andJewish prayer books. In theUnited States, the termTalmud Torah refers to the afternoon program forJewish–American boys and girls after attending public school. This form of Jewish education was prevalent from the mid–19th century[1][2][3] through "the 1940s and 1950s."[4][5] Although by the 1980s full-timeJewish day schools (yeshivas) were the norm in the United States, someEastern European countries still had these.[6]
The father was traditionally the sole teacher of his children inJewish history (Deut. xi. 19). The institution known as thebei rav orbetrabban (house of the teacher), or as thebei safra orbet sefer (house of the book), is said to have been originated byEzra and hisGreat 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 untilJoshua 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.[7]
Only married men were engaged as teachers, but there is a difference of opinion regarding the qualification of themelammed (teacher). Rabbah bar Nahmani preferred one who taught his pupils much, even though somewhat carelessly, whileRav Dimi ofNehardea 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.[8]
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. OnShabbat andholy 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 theprayers and benedictions and the teaching of theprinciples of Jewish faith andpractices were included. In almost every Jewish community, an organization calledHevra 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 asynagogue orcemetery were similarly used (ib. rule xiii., §§ 5,14).
Because Talmudic and Torah education was traditionally deemed obligatory for males and not females, Talmud Torahs were traditionally single-sex institutions. It is common even in the present day for men to continue their full-time Torah studies well into their third decade of life while women marry.
The Talmud Torah organization inRome included eight societies in 1554, and was reconstituted August 13, 1617 (Rieger, "Gesch. der Juden in Rom," p. 316, Berlin, 1895). Later, certain synagogues assumed the name "Talmud Torah," as in the case of one atFez in 1603 (Ankava, "Kerem Ḥemed," ii. 78, Leghorn, 1869) and one atCairo. This was probably because the school was held in or adjoined the synagogue.
The income of the society was derived from several sources:[citation needed]
Samuel de Medina (1505–1589) ruled that in case of a legacy left by will to a Talmud Torah and guaranteed by the testator's brother, the latter was not held liable if the property had been consumed owing to the prolonged illness of the deceased (Responsa, Ḥoshen Mishpaṭ, No. 357). A legacy for the support of a yeshivah and Talmud Torah in a certain town, if accompanied by a provision that it may be managed "as the son of the testator may see fit," may be transferred, it was declared, to a yeshivah elsewhere (ib. Oraḥ Ḥayyim, i., No. 60; see also "Paḥad Yiẓḥaḳ," s.v., p. 43a).
The election of officers was made by ballot: threegabba'im, three vice-gabba'im, and a treasurer. Only learned and honorable men over 36 years of age were eligible for election. Thetaḳḳanot regulating these sources of the Talmud Torah's income were in existence in the time ofMoses Isserles. In 1638Yoel Sirkis, rabbi ofKraków, endorsed these regulations and added many others, all of which were confirmed at a general assembly of seventy representatives of the congregations on the 25th of Ṭebet, 5398 (1638; F. H. Wetstein, "Ḳadmoniyyot," document No. 1, Cracow, 1892).
Elijah ben Solomon Abraham ha-Kohen (1640–1729) decided that it requires the unanimous consent of the eight trustees of a Talmud Torah to engage teachers where a resolution has been passed that "no trustee or trustees shall engage the service of a Melamed without the consent of the whole" (Responsa, ii., No. 89, ed. Venice, 1592). As a specimen of the medieval organization of these schools, that of the Kraków schools may be selected. From the congregational record (pinḳes) of Kraków in 1551, it appears that the Talmud Torah society controlled both private and public schools. It passed the followingtaḳḳanot, or Jewish legal writs:
(1) The members shall have general supervision over the teachers and shall visit the Talmud Torah every week to see that the pupils are properly taught.
(2) Nomelamed may teach theTorah except with the translation "Be'er Mosheh" (Judæo-German transl. by Moses b. Issachar, Prague, 1605), "which is in our vernacular"; for the advanced pupils, he shall use no other thanRashi'scommentary.
(3) Amelamed in the primary class shall teach not more than twenty-five pupils and shall have two assistants.
(4) Onemelamed shall not compete with another during the term of his engagement, and shall not seek to obtain a pupil in charge of another teacher, even at the expiration of the term, unless the father or the guardian of the pupil desires to make a change.
(5) The members of the Ḥebra Talmud Torah shall hire a competent and God-fearingmelamed, with an assistant, for poor and orphaned boys at thebet ha-midrash.
(6) Themelamed and assistant shall teach pupils theHebrew alphabet (with the vowels), theSiddur, theTorah (with the "Be'er Mosheh" translation),Rashi'scommentary, the order ofJewish prayers, etiquette, and good behavior—every boy according to his grade and intelligence; also reading and writing in the vernacular. The more advanced shall be taughtHebrew grammar andarithmetic; those of the highest grade shall study Talmud with Rashi andTosafot.
(7) Boys near the age of thirteen shall learn the regulations regardingtefillin.
(8) At the age of fourteen a boy who is incapable of learning Talmud shall be taught a trade or become a servant in a household.
In the history ofEuropean Jewry, theSephardim are said to have conducted their Talmud Torah schools more methodically than theAshkenazim. The one inAmsterdam was highly praised byShabbethai Horowitz ("Wawe ha-'Ammudim", p. 9b, appended to "Shelah", Amsterdam, 1698).Shabbethai Bass, in the introduction to hisSifte Yeshanim (p. 8a, ib. 1680), describes this Talmud Torah and wishes it might serve as a model for other schools:
It is built near thesynagogue, and has six rooms, each accommodating a separate class under amelamed. The first class is for small boys who are learning to read theirprayers. In the second class they learn thePentateuch from beginning to end, with the musical accents. In the third, they translate the Pentateuch into the vernacular and use theRashicommentary, divided into the regular weeklysidrot.
In the fourth, they learn theProphets and theHagiographa, with the proper accents and translation. In the fifth, they learngrammar and begin upon a series ofhalakhic excerpts from theTalmud, the text being in Hebrew and the explanations in the vernacular. Before the approach of a holy day they memorize the laws in theShulchan Aruch pertaining to that holy day. The sixth class is preparatory to theyeshivah in thebet ha-midrash, and is conducted by theḥakam-rabbi. In this class every day onehalakhah, with the commentaries of Rashi and theTosafot, is studied, and compared with the conclusions in the codes ofMaimonides,Asheri, andCaro.
The hours of study are from 8 to 11 in the morning, and from 2 to 5 in the afternoon; in winter, till theMinchaprayer. The expense of maintaining this school is defrayed from a fund contributed by the members of the Ḥebra Talmud Torah. This Sephardic school made an exception to the rule of keeping the pupils in Talmud Torah all day, and a few hours of the night in the short winter days.
From 1724 to 1744, the Talmud Torah atNikolsburg,Margraviate of Moravia, in theHoly Roman Empire (today in theCzech Republic), gave poor boys an education equal to that which was offered their more fortunate companions. The studies consisted ofSiddur,Chumash (Pentateuch), andTalmud (Moritz Güdemann,Quellenschriften zur Gesch. des Unterrichts und der Erziehung bei den Deutschen Juden, p. 275). The schools inCentral and Eastern Europe retained the ancient type and methods of the Ashkenazic schools up to the middle of the 19th century, when a movement for improvement and better management took place in the larger cities.
In Dublin, both Stratford National School andStratford College inRathgar are managed under the patronage of the Dublin Talmud Torah.[9] Stratford College was founded in 1954 by theDublin Jewish Community and has a multi-denominational ethos but is also committed to the religious education and formation of its Jewish students.[10]
InJerusalem, the Talmud Torah of theSephardim, calledTiferet Yerushalayim, was reorganized by theHakham Bashi rabbiRaphael Meir Panigel in 1891, with 300 pupils and 13 teachers. The boys learnedArabic andarithmetic in addition to other subjects, which ranged from theHebrew alphabet to the Talmud. The time of study was from sunrise to sunset. The largest contributions for the support of the school came from theSassoon family,Baghdadi Jews ofBombay andCalcutta, through themeshullachim.
TheAshkenazic Talmud Torah andEtz Chaim Yeshiva, with 35 teachers and over 1,000 pupils, succeeded the school established byJudah He-Hasid. It was started with a fund contributed by Hirsch Wolf Fischbein and David Janover in 1860. The annual expenditure was in 1910 about $10,000, over half of which was collected in the United States. The Talmud Torah and yeshiva Sha'are Torah were established and organized in 1886 by N. H. Lewi inJaffa, with 9 teachers and 9 classes for 102 boys. Its expenses were about 2,000dollars yearly, mostly covered by donations from abroad.
In 1857 atOdessa,Odessky Uyezd, in theRussian Empire (today inUkraine), the Talmud Torah, which had existed ever since the city was chartered, was reorganized into a model school by distinguished pedagogues. In 1881,S. J. Abramowitch was appointed principal over 400 pupils. In 1904 two branches were opened in the suburbs with an additional 400 pupils. The boys were furnished text-books and clothing for free. Expenses were altogether 20,000rubles annually. Every major city within thePale of Settlement in Imperial Russia had a similar school. The income was derived from aJewish tax on Kosher meat and from private contributions.
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In theUnited States, the Machzikei Talmud Torah inNew York City, anAshkenazic Talmud Torah, was organized in 1883 by Israel (Isidor) Rosenthal. It maintained schools on its own premises at225–227 East Broadway. It instructed over 1,100 boys at a yearly expense of about $12,000. On January 22, 1905, the society opened a branch at 67 East 7th street, to which Jacob H. Schiff donated $25,000. The society was managed by a board of directors and a committee of education. The studies comprised elementaryHebrew, the reading ofJewish prayers, thetranslation of the Torah intoYiddish andEnglish, and theprinciples of Jewish faith andpractices.
Girls in the United States at this time were often educated at public schools together with boys, and they received their Jewish education through programs at synagogues and Sunday schools, becauseJewish day schools were less common.[11] As a result, the "New World" Talmud Torah of the first half of the 20th century was provided in aco-educational environment. The time of study occupied only two hours per day, after public-school hours, as all pupils attended the city schools forsecular education. There were several other Talmud Torahs inNew York City, and similar institutions existed in other major cities of the United States andCanada with alarge Jewish population.
offspring of Orthodox Jewish immigrants, enrolled in the Talmud Torah ... every afternoon after public school and on Sunday mornings
When he was seven, his parents sent him to the Talmud Torah to prepare for his bar mitzvah... didn't want to go at first, but
They come to Talmud-Torah straight from their Marxism-Leninism courses in school
They understood that Jewish day schools were not an option, being more appropriate for the Old World and the ghetto. Jewish education in the United States would have to be retrofitted around public schools.
