JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

This entire educational enterprise, however, was restricted
to the male population. Girls did of course learn a
great deal at home and were taught those observances that
applied to their function as housekeepers. They knew the
benedictions and prayers related to these activities. Some of
them also learned to read and attended synagogue services.
There are references to an organized girls’ class, to a girl that
attended school together with her brother, and even to some
women teachers. But these were exceptions. By and large the
Jewish women of that period were untutored and either completely
or partially illiterate.
The West Mediterranean Lands
In the West Mediterranean countries of Spain, southern
France, and Italy, one finds in the eighth and ninth centuries
the same basic educational pattern that prevailed in Babylonia.
But in the course of time a substantial network of elementary
schools and important academies for advanced study were
established in Spain, which inherited Babylonia’s place as the
Diaspora’s leading Jewry, and the dependence on Babylonian
scholarship lessened considerably. The elementary Judaic
program remained much the same as in earlier centuries in
Babylon. On the more advanced levels, however, many new
books were introduced, most of them by Spanish authors,
but including the commentaries of northern France’s *Rashi.
There was also a tendency to engage less in pilpul (the casuistry
of excessive arguing pro and con on all halakhic matters,
which was supposed also to sharpen one’s mind) and concentrate
instead on works of such codifiers as Isaac *Alfasi and,
later, *Maimonides.
Another innovation was the introduction into the curriculum
of Hebrew language and grammar, a more serious
study of the Prophets and Hagiographa, and of contemporary
Hebrew poetry. Judah *Al-Ḥarizi (c. 1200, Spain) speaks
of the “inspiration that descended upon the Jews of Spain …
in the year 4700 (940 C.E.) to train their manifold tongues in
the style of poems,” which was very poor at first but improved
in the course of a century until “they learned to construct a
stanza in meter and proper form.” In Spain also the curriculum
expanded, especially in the upper classes, to include general,
secular instruction. The language of the country, Arabic, was
studied in order to improve one’s professional or business opportunities.
Judah ibn *Tibbon (1120–1190, Spain and France),
in his “testament” to his son, stated that “as you know, the great
men of our people did not achieve their high position except
through their knowledge of Arabic.” Some students found it
feasible to combine the study of Bible and of Arabic, and Ibn
Tibbon advised his son to review the weekly sidra every Sabbath
both in the original and in Arabic translation, “as this
would be of benefit to you [in understanding] the vocabulary
of Arabic books.” Good writing, too, was taught: fine penmanship
to the young, proper language and good style to the
more advanced.
The progression in the Judaic program of studies was, as
elsewhere, reading the Pentateuch, then Mishnah and Talmud.
EDUCATION, JEWISH
Obviously, not everyone continued through all these stages
of learning. *Baḥya ibn Paquda, in a classification of educational
accomplishments, describes the person on the lowest
level of achievement as able to read a biblical verse without
understanding its content, without even knowing the
meaning of the words, as “comparable to an ass carrying
books.” There were then some, perhaps many, who remained
ignorant. Others advanced to substantial levels of knowledge.
During this period there appeared for the first time in
Jewish literature treatises on education, mostly chapters in
various books, testaments, or commentaries, some of which
are quite informative about the educational practices of the
time. A school curriculum was fully outlined by Joseph ibn
*Aknin who lived mostly in North African lands, but whose
opinions represent typical Spanish views. Besides Torah,
Mishnah, and Talmud, he advocated the study of grammar,
poetry and continuation to logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, music, physical science, and metaphysics. Ibn
Aknin also expressed definite opinions about teacher qualifications
and prerequisites for the good student. The teacher
must be well versed in the subject he instructs; must practice
what he teaches or preaches; should be patient with students
and consider their learning abilities; should stress ethical behavior,
etc. The good student is to acquire habits of cleanliness
and good manners; should not be too bashful to ask questions;
should pay attention and subject himself to his teacher’s
discipline; must never be idle; should study for the sake of
knowledge and not in order to acquire wealth or for any other
ulterior purpose. The mature student should seek out communities
that have good schools and try to learn from qualified
teachers rather than exclusively from books. Other writers
give programs of study similar to Ibn Aknin’s or to parts of
it, suggesting that in all likelihood some such programs were
actually followed in many communities. An even more detailed
and ambitious outline by Judah ibn *Abbas (13th century,
Spain) offers curriculum guidance for virtually a lifetime. At
the age of three or three and a half the child learns the alphabet,
reading, and proper vocalization. He is then taught the
weekly portions of the Torah, with stress on correct reading
and cantillations; the translation of the Torah into Aramaic,
which will prepare him for the language of the Talmud; the
Former Prophets, with emphasis on accurate meaning, syntax
and writing, to be followed by the Latter Prophets and the Hagiographa.
This program should be covered by about the age of
13. The boy will then study grammar and language. Only after
such well-grounded preparation does one begin studying the
Talmud with commentaries. The halakhah requires separate
attention, and is taken up next, culminating in Maimonides’
Mishneh Torah. When the young man reaches the age of 18
or so, he studies medicine, mathematics, astronomy, logic,
and natural sciences. Specific works are named in textbooks
for the various subjects. Ibn Abbas warns that at all times the
scholar must observe the commandments, and the more he
delves into the various subjects (ḥokhmot), the more must
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 173