JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

the modern period, 1800–1939
General
The political emancipation of Jews in 19th-century Europe was
associated with the so-called “Enlightenment” (Haskalah), in
the educational and cultural spheres. Its effects differed in the
various European lands, depending upon the local culture and
politics, and on the numerical strength and the social and economic
status of the Jewish populations.
Italy and Western Europe
The small French Jewry, formally organized as a consistory,
opened two schools in Paris, one for boys (1819) and one for
girls (1821), which were shortly afterward taken over by the
municipality. Besides the general, secular subjects they offered
a very limited program of Jewish studies. Additional schools
of the same type came into being as the Jewish population
increased, in Paris and in several other cities, particularly
in southern France. After mid-century, however, most Jewish
families began sending their children to the government
schools. Supplementary religious instruction was at a minimum.
In Alsace and Lorraine Jewish education was more intensive,
but here too it became mainly supplementary by the
beginning of the 20th century. Even more precipitous was the
decline of Jewish education in Italy, where for centuries prior
to the French Revolution a well-organized system of both
elementary and advanced Jewish schools was in operation.
Many small communities were virtually depleted of Jews by
their migration to bigger cities, but here too a desertion of
the Jewish schools took place, especially by those in the upper
economic strata. About 1,600 pupils attended Jewish schools
in 1901, mainly four-year elementary schools (some with twoyear
kindergartens, known in Italy as “asili”), accepted by the
government authorities as fulfilling the legal requirements of
elementary education. Jewish instruction was given in these
schools for about one hour daily and consisted of reading,
prayers, selections from the Torah, and a Jewish catechism in
Italian. Older pupils received “religious instruction.”
The rabbinical seminaries in France and Italy were similarly
weak. The years 1827 and 1829 saw the establishment of
such higher institutions of learning in Metz and in Padua. The
Ecole Rabbinique moved to Paris in 1859, but continued to attract
some students from the Alsace and Lorraine areas, and
later, in the pre- and post-World War I periods, also from the
East European Jews who settled in France. The Italian seminary,
in its early years under the direction of Samuel David
*Luzzatto, attracted a small group of eager young students, but
declined after Luzzatto’s death (1865). Removal of this Collegio
Rabbinico to Rome (1865) did not improve its status. It
was reinvigorated when it was again transferred, this time to
Florence (1899), and came under the directorship of Samuel
Hirsch *Margulies, chief rabbi of that city, who raised its level
of scholarship and who introduced a Jewish nationalist spirit
into it and into Italian Jewry.
In England, prior to the introduction of compulsory education
(1870), Jews maintained schools of their own, some
EDUCATION, JEWISH
of which continued in existence for many years. When immigration
brought many Jews from Eastern Europe, philanthropists
established Jewish Free Schools for them in several
cities. One of those in London was toward the end of the 19th
century the largest school in England, with 3,000 pupils. Jewish
studies were allotted limited time, no more than one hour a
day. Some of the immigrants, displeased with this meager Jewish
program, opened ḥadarim for supplementary instruction.
Jews’ College, for the training of ministers, was established in
1855. It had at all times a very limited enrollment.
The few Jewish schools that were founded in the 19th century
in the Scandinavian countries closed their doors after
the introduction of general compulsory education. Religious
instruction preparing for confirmation became the accepted
form of Jewish education. In Holland too, Jewish education
was converted into this type of schooling, but here the Jewish
community took it rather seriously, as did also the Dutch people
their Christian religious instruction. After the enactment
of the law of 1889, which permitted various religious groups
to organize schools of their own to be supported by the government,
Jewish full-time schools were opened in Amsterdam.
Their program of Jewish studies was limited, but Jewish
practices were strictly observed, and a Jewish spirit prevailed
in them. Some private schools offered a more solid Jewish
education. A rabbinical seminary, founded in 1808, began to
train teachers as well as rabbis. A small Sephardi bet midrash
likewise trained teachers and occasionally a rabbi.
Germany and Austria
The German lands present a more complex picture. Here
emancipation and the “Enlightenment” brought about major
changes in Jewish style of living and education, strong assimilationist
tendencies, and considerable conversion. The old style
ḥadarim were replaced by modern Jewish schools for those
who did not wish to send their children to the general schools
where an anti-Jewish attitude often prevailed. The number of
these modern Jewish schools was rather small. Besides, their
Jewish program was very meager: reading of prayers, some
portions of the Bible translated into German, bits of Jewish
history, mostly biblical, and religion and ethics. The traditional
study of Mishnah and Talmud was abandoned, even in the
secondary schools. After mid-century, when larger numbers
began to enroll in the general educational institutions, supplementary
schools came into being, from which students usually
withdrew after the age of 13. Some religious instruction was
also given in the general schools to Jewish students.
There was, however, a movement in Germany that countered
these tendencies. Samson Raphael *Hirsch opened a coeducational
school in Frankfurt (1855) offering a substantial
program of Jewish studies, including Hebrew, Bible, and some
Talmud, as well as the general subjects programmed after
the pattern of the government or private German schools. A
similar institution was opened in Fuerth (1862) after the previously
existing Jewish school in that city was made nonsectarian.
The Orthodox element, following Hirsch’s approach,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 181