History of education in ancient Israel and Judah

Education has been defined as, "teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible, but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization)". Formal education in this sense can be traced in Ancient Israel and Judah to around 1300 BCE with adoption of the Torah, which means "teaching", "instruction", "scribe" or "law" in Hebrew.

Torah commandments

Three Torah commandments (numbers 10, 11, 17) command provision of education in general society:

• Number 10 - To read the Shema twice daily, as it is written "and thou shalt talk of them . . . when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deuteronomy 6,7).
• Number 11 - To learn Torah and to teach it, as it is written "thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children" (Deuteronomy 6,7).
• Number 17 - For every man to write a Torah scroll for himself, as it is written "write ye this song for you" (Deuteronomy 31,19).

Thus the father was obligated as the sole teacher of his children in Jewish history (Deut. xi. 19).

House of the teacher

The institution known as the "be rav" or "bet rabban" (house of the teacher), or as the "be safra" or "bet sefer" (house of the book), is said to have been originated by Ezra' (459 BCE) 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 upward. However, the school system did not develop until Joshua ben Gamla (64 CE) the high priest caused public schools to be opened in every town and hamlet for all children above six or seven years of age (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 21a).^[1] Education began at the age of six or seven^[1] and continued throughout life; full-time basic education was completed before marriage at the age of about 18 years old.

Expense and conduct

The expense was borne by the community, and strict discipline was observed. However, Rav ordered Samuel ben 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. Raba 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.^[1]

Teaching staff

Only married men were engaged as teachers,^[1] but there is a difference of opinion regarding the qualification of the "melammed" (teacher). Raba preferred one who taught his pupils much, even though somewhat carelessly. Rav Dimi of Nehardea, preferred one who taught his pupils little, but correctly, as an error in reading once adopted is hard to correct (ib.). It is, of course, assumed that both qualifications were rarely found in one person.

Texts and subject areas

The standard education texts were the Mishna and later the Talmud and Gemora, all hand-written until invention of printing. However significant, emphasis was placed on developing good memory skills in addition to comprehension by practice of oral repetition.

Basic education today is considered those skills that are necessary to function in society. In Ancient Israel, the child would be taught from the six broad subject areas into which the Mishna is divided, including:

• Zeraim ("Seeds"), dealing with agricultural laws and prayers
• Moed ("Festival"), pertaining to the laws of the Shabbat and the Festivals
• Nashim ("Women"), concerning marriage and divorce
• Nezikin ("Damages"), dealing with civil and criminal law
• Kodashim ("Holy things"), regarding sacrificial rites, the Temple, and the dietary laws
• Tohorot ("Purities"), pertaining to the laws of purity and impurity, including the impurity of the dead, the laws of ritual purity for the priests (Kohanim), the laws of "family purity" (the menstrual laws)

To understand the subject areas the student was required to learn counting, basic chemistry, physics and astronomy, writing, geography, agriculture and animal biology, history, accounting and economy, social and cultural role differences, basic medicine and pharmacology, and many others. This is broadly known as Kol Torah, or Cul'Tura in the Jewish communities of the pre-Revolutionary Russian Empire.

Education for girls

Although girls were not provided with formal education in the yeshivah, they were required to know a large part of the subject areas to prepare them to maintain the home after marriage, and to educate the children before the age of seven, today considered the harder of the periods of education. In ancient Israel women did know how to read and write (despite popular belief to the contrary), and did participate in commerce independently, although not when married. This required them to be knowledgeable in all the laws of Nezikin not normally taught to girls.

Despite this schooling system, many children did not learn to read and write. It has been estimated that at least 90 percent of the Jewish population of Roman Palestine in the first centuries CE could merely write their own name or not write and read at all,^[2] or that the literacy rate was about 3 percent.^[3] Exact literacy rates among ancient Jews in Roman Palestine cannot be determined ^[4] Those are just estimations, and those estimations even cannot be applied to the period before the destruction of Jewish state, considering that destruction of state always has negative effects on the society.

See also

• History of ancient Israel and Judah

Notes and references