The Hebraic Tradition in Education

The Jewish people has an educational tradition as old as history (see *Education, Jewish). From the very beginning
of their identification as a distinct entity, Jews have contributed not only to the advancement of their own education,
but also to that of the world at large. The educational principles of the Bible found their way into the educational
thought of Christians and Muslims. As an example one might cite the moral, spiritual, and character education through
the family and community described in the Book of Proverbs. Compulsory teaching, incumbent upon the father in the
first instance, is ordained in Deuteronomy 6:6–9 and 11:18–20. Compulsory school attendance was decreed by *Simeon
b. Shetah in 75 B.C.E. and by *Joshua ben Gamla in 64 C.E. In recent years, educators have come to recognize that
ancient Jewish education anticipated, and no doubt indirectly and remotely influenced, modern education. Thus the
National Education Association of the United States cited the Babylonian Talmud as authority for a maximum class size
of 25 pupils (BB 21a). The same source requires, under Joshua ben Gamla's ordinance, that children start school at six or
seven, the age at which children all over the world traditionally enter school. Adult education is sometimes traced by
educational historians, such as I.L. *Kandel, to the bet ha-midrash of Second Temple times. The importance of the
teacher in the learning process is repeatedly emphasized in the Talmud (Avot), as is the significance of motivation in
teaching and of vocational training-principles, which are basic to effective instruction and a modern educational system.
The practice of "each one teaches one," inaugurated by Frank C. Laubach in teaching literacy to the people of developing
nations, has a Talmudic prototype.
For most of their history, Jews educated their children in their own institutions and expressed their educational ideas in
their own languages, until the late 18 th century. There was little contact between Jewish and non-Jewish pedagogues.
Jews made few, if any, contributions to general education during the greater part of the development of education from
ancient times. One outstanding exception may be Constantinus Afer or Africanus (d. 1087), believed by some historians
to be Jewish. He influenced the course of medical education at the University of Salerno and other medieval universities,
chiefly through his Latin translations of Greek and Arabic medical works, many of the latter of Jewish origin.Reuchlin
then learned his Hebrew from Jacob Loans, physician to the emperor Frederick III, and from R. Obadiah *Sforno, the
biblical exegete. Reuchlin went on to introduce the study of Hebrew as a learned subject in German universities. In this
way Jews exercised an impact on the development of the European university curriculum.

Among the Jewish contributors to education in the early 19 th century was the Austrian philanthropist Joseph
Ritter von *Wertheimer who, among other things, was responsible for the development of Austrian kindergartens, the
first of which he founded in Vienna in 1830. Another was Sir Isaac Lyon *Goldsmid, the first Jewish baronet in England,
who helped to finance the establishment of University College in London (1825). The list of Jewish philanthropists in
education is long. It covers many types of institutions in many countries. Among the men who made munificent and
influential benefactions to education were Julius *Rosenwald, who contributed huge sums for the founding of schools
for Blacks in the Southern states of the U.S.; James *Loeb, patron of the Loeb Classical Library; Sir Ernest *Cassel,
founder of the Anglo-German Institute for the advancement of cultural relations between the two countries through the
encouragement of mutual studies; and the Baroness Mayer de *Rothschild, who founded the Association for the Oral
Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb in London on the basis of the lip-reading method practiced by William van Praagh. The
kindergarten movement received much attention from Jewish educators and philanthropists. Adolf Pick (1829–1874)
founded a pioneering kindergarten in Italy on the German model. In Germany, the original home of the kindergarten,
the well-known feminist Lina *Morgenstern-Bauer was an ardent propagandist of the movement through her writings
on childhood development, as well as a founder of kindergartens and seminaries for training kindergarten teachers. In
still another branch of education there was a Jewish pioneer in the 19 th century. Otto Salomon (1849–1901) promoted
the teaching of manual skills in Swedish schools. In 1875 he established the Sloyd Seminarium at Nääs, where he trained
teachers of manual crafts from all over the world. His impact on education was extensive not only in Sweden, but in
other countries as well. A notable educator in the specialized field of teaching deaf-mutes was the
Frenchman Jacob Rodrigues *Péreire. The first teacher of deaf-mutes in France, Péreire was to influence Maria
Montessori a century later in her teaching of handicapped children. The international authority Edouard Séguin has also
testified to the significance of Péreire's work. Perhaps the most long-lasting contribution to general education was the
opening in 1805 of a school in Seesen, Germany, by Israel *Jacobson, an initiator of the Jewish Reform movement and
an ardent advocate of closer Christian-Jewish relations. Among German historians this type of school is known as a
"Simultanschule," an institution where religious instruction is given to different religious groups within the same school
building. For 30 years, between 1838 and 1867, there was an equal number of Jewish and Christian pupils in the school,
but because of the shortage of Jewish teachers of secular subjects, especially the sciences, as a result of the earlier
limitations on higher education for Jews, there was a much larger proportion of Christians on the staff. Jacobson's school
remained in existence until the advent of the Nazis in 1933. Few other Jews in the 19 th century made any recognizable
mark on general education. Félix Hément (1827–1891) rose from elementary teaching in France to become inspector of
primary schools in the department of the Seine and, upon his retirement, honorary inspector-general of public
instruction. Naphtali Herz *Imber, author of Ha-Tikvah, contributed bulletins on ancient Jewish education to a series
published by the U.S. Bureau of Education.

In the 20 th century, the liberalization of the position of Jews in the Western world made it possible for more
of them to participate in the educational thought and work of the world at large. Ferenc Kemény (1860–1944), a
Hungarian convert to Christianity who served as teacher, principal, school inspector, and professor at the University of
Budapest, was active in promoting plans for international education toward world peace. Emile *Durkheim, professor of
sociology and education at the universities of Bordeaux and Paris, won an international reputation not only as a
sociologist, but also as author of a number of influential and scholarly works on education. International figures in
education included William *Stern, an émigré from Hamburg to Duke University in the U.S., whose Psychologie der
fruehen Kindheit (1914; Psychology of Early Childhood, 1924) and interpretation of the nature of intelligence were most
helpful to teachers on both sides of the Atlantic. Also of international interest was Kurt Hahn (1886–1974), another
refugee from Nazi Germany, who moved his Salem progressive school to Gordonstoun, Scotland, where Prince Philip
and his son Prince Charles received their education.

To obtain a balanced view of the Jewish contribution to education the subject should also be considered from the
standpoint of particular nations.

In the United States, the Jewish contributions to general education in the 20 th century have been varied, frequent, and
profound. Probably the single most influential force in changing American education was Abraham *Flexner, the author
of reports on medical education (1910) and universities (1930). Another powerful force in education was the mostly
Jewish United Federation of Teachers in New York with over 140,000 members. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with
the controversial Albert *Shanker serving as president 1964–74, it led a number of major strikes to improve the
conditions of the city's teachers.

Two Israelis have won international recognition in education. The philosophical and educational writings of Martin
*Buber have had a profound impact in educational theory and on teaching in Protestant theological seminaries in
various countries. Ernst A. *Simon pioneered in the teaching of general educational history and theory in Israel, in
research in these fields, and in advancement of comparative education.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

S. Kaznelson (ed.), Juden im deutschen Kulturbereich (19592), 307–22; C. Roth, The Jewish Contribution to

Civilisation (19563), 37–53 (bibl.), 281–2.