JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

nature of biblical educational institutions. However, this material
must be used judiciously, with an eye to the particular
limitations of each society. For example, higher education or
book learning in Mesopotamia and Egypt was formal and limited
to the scribal class, which does not seem to have been the
case in Israel. The difference was no doubt due to the simpler
alphabetic system of writing used by the Hebrews.
Any description of education in the biblical period is
necessarily incomplete and must ultimately rely on general
impressions of what was applicable to most levels of society,
as it is reflected in the Bible and later Jewish sources.
Historical Survey
The sources at hand do not allow for a precise, chronological
description of the development of pedagogical institutions or
methodology. Three major periods may be discerned, each
displaying a distinctive political, social, and economic order
in ancient Israel.
THE PATRIARCHAL PERIOD AND THE SETTLEMENT. During
this crucial but sparsely documented period, the Israelites
developed national-religious institutions that were to
have a profound influence on them and on the world at large.
For most of this period, they were seminomadic, residing
in the great cultural centers of the ancient world, from Ur in
Babylonia to the eastern Nile Delta in Egypt. Politically they
were subject to greater and lesser powers in the Fertile Crescent.
The family or bet av was the basic socioeconomic unit
tending to the communal needs of its members, including
educating the young. In matters of war and external affairs
the families acted concertedly with related groups to form
the tribe and nation. There was little economic diversity. As
the need arose, other clans that had specialized as scribes
joined the confederation of shepherds and farmers (I Chron.
2:55).
The character of the Israelite nation was shaped during
this period. Central to the religion of Israel were the promise
to Abraham (Gen. 15), the exodus from Egypt (Ex. 7ff.), and
the theophany at Sinai (Ex. 19–20). These historic moments
welded the tribes into a nation related through blood and history.
Guided by prophets and priests, they set upon the united
goal of the conquest and settlement of the Land of Canaan.
The revolutionary ideals of monotheism were later crystallized
in the laws of the Torah and the historical narratives of
the lives of the Patriarchs.
THE KINGDOM. Through the genius of David, the Israelite
tribal union was reshaped into a politically independent,
centralized monarchy. Over the following 400 years, and in
spite of the internal split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah
were able, at times, to control politically and influence their
neighbors (David-Solomon, Ahab, Jeroboam II, Uzziah, and
Hezekiah). To serve the needs of this society, new institutions
evolved. Tribal allegiances were subordinated to the new order.
The country was redivided into administrative areas, not
EDUCATION, JEWISH
always along tribal lines (I Kings 4:7–20). A bureaucracy, patterned
after local Canaanite models, came into existence, introducing
new administrative forms (I Sam. 8:11–18).
The portable tabernacle and local shrines were overshadowed
by the Jerusalem Temple, which was patronized by the
king and officiated at by his appointees. The king’s conquests
and military establishment superseded the tribal holy wars.
Professional soldiers and mercenaries now fought the battles
of Israel (Song 3:8).
The centralized monarchy and subsequent urbanization
directly affected all aspects of education. The need was felt
for trained professionals and skilled artisans. Religious ideals
of the covenant were transmitted to the people at the Temple
and sanctuaries by a recognized priesthood. In reaction to the
increased social injustice found in urban society, the classical
prophets appeared in the eighth century to interpret the social
implications of the election of Israel to the people.
THE BABYLONIAN EXILE AND HELLENISTIC TIMES. The
Jewish people successfully overcame the trauma of the Babylonian
Exile. The small province of Judah that was established
subsequently was politically part of the Persian Empire
and economically dependent upon the gifts of wealthier
Jews in exile.
Ezra the Scribe and his colleagues were empowered to
teach the Torah to the Jews (Ezra 7:25), and under his guidance
the Torah became the accepted basis of individual and
community life. Beginnings of a program of mass education
(Deut. 31:12–13; II Chron. 17:7–9) matured under Ezra into
new institutions, intensifying the study of Torah and raising
the quality of popular knowledge. Recognized instructors,
called mevinim, were appointed to teach publicly. The Torah
was read out and explained (Neh. 8:7–8). It was the beginning
of the regular public lection of the Torah, later connected with
the synagogal liturgy and ascribed anachronistically to Ezra
(BK 82a). The internal tensions between stipulations of the
Torah, on one hand, and between the Torah and the reality
of the period on the other, led to a search for new meaning in
the biblical text, thereby creating Midrash (Dan. 9:23–27; Neh.
8:13–15). In Hellenistic times there began to appear schools for
public instruction (Eccles. 12:9; Ecclus. 39:1–3). Ben Sira, the
late third century B.C.E. pedagogue, seems to have introduced
tuition-free education (51:28–30). It was not uncommon for an
informal study session to take place even at a student’s house
(Avot 1:4). Finally, toward the end of the second century B.C.E.,
*Simeon ben Shetaḥ inaugurated the first known system of
community-supported public education. A new intellectual
model had emerged: the biblical ḥakham, or wise man, gave
way to the rabbinic talmid ḥakham, or scholar.
The Goals and Orders of Instruction
The goals of education may be broadly summed up: (1) To
transmit knowledge and skills from one generation to another
or from one person to another; (2) To broaden the
range of man’s knowledge and skills; and (3) To concretize
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 163