Ting Zhang

• History of Jewish Education

Throughout Jewish history, the tradition of Jewish education began with the Old Testament during biblical times. The bible describes the purpose of Jewish education. The main purpose in the bible is to know how to worship God. Therefore, Jewish parents needed to teach their children about some basic prayers and what the Torah forbids at their young ages. Parents should have transmitted Jewish morals, faith, and values to their children. The bible’s teachings have important impact on Jewish education. Because of this, Jewish education is rooted in the Torah. Nathan H. Winter wrote, “Torah has also been described as that dealing with the whole existence of the human being; that which touches life at every point. Torah also connotes learning, instruction, and guidance. Jewish education was concerned with the transmission of this cultural heritage to the individual Jew.”

A history of Jewish education in America was developed during the colonial and early federal periods, which was the years 1654-1830 in the nineteenth century. The Jewish education was achieved by early settlers. There were small groups of Jews who came from Spain and Portugal to move to the U.S. Jewish immigration to the New World between the years 1654 -1830, and the number of Jews in the U.S. was no more than 1500. The largest of Jewish settlers was in New York City, including 242 Jews with 40 houses holds. The another largest group was located in Charleston, South Carolina had 200 Jews with 52 households. In Philadelphia, it consisted of about 20 or 25 families with 112 Jews. The number of Jews had grown to nearly 2750 in 1820. The number of Jews in New York City had risen to 76 families and 550 Jews. In the year 1820, 58 families and 402 people lived in Philadelphia. The Jewish education emerged with the number of Jews immigrating and their economic status. With an expanding population, there were different kinds of schools established to serve the needs of the Jewish community.

• Jewish Schools in the Nineteenth Century

o Publick School

The Jewish settlers who came to the United States brought their religious, culture, and education philosophy. Since the number of Jewish immigrants had continued to increased, the Jewish settlers during this period built a “Publick School” in 1755. “Publick School” taught children both Hebrew and secular subjects. The school was operated as a day school from 1808 until 1821, and taught Hebrew and English subjects.

o Sunday School

The second wave of Jewish migration came from Germany in 1815. German Jews had simple education standards such as the five books of Moses, other books of the bible, and Hebrew literatures. German Jews wanted their children to gain the knowledge of Jewish rituals.

In 1838, a person named by Rebecca Gratz established a Sunday school in Philadelphia, and the school’s curriculum focused on teaching the Jewish history and related subjects. The Sunday school usually opened from 9-1 on Sunday mornings. The Sabbath school began from 1 to 4 in the afternoons. The teacher Miss Gratz, who taught children to repeat the prayer and read chapters from the Bible. The Sunday or Sabbath school offered the opportunity for children to practice their religious beliefs.

o The Hebrew Free School

The Jews of New York established a Hebrew school in 1865, which children could have learned the Bible in the Hebrew language. This school was considered to be all-day free school at that time. Until 1866, the school had 300 students and 6 faculties. The curriculum were general classes and Jewish subjects. The problem of this school was that students came to study and soon left for the public schools. The Hebrew Free School struggled with financial issues because students were just coming and leaving.

o Private Jewish Schools

The private school developed fast after the failure of the Hebrew free school. Private school provided English and Hebrew subjects such as reading the prayer book and studying the biblical history. The school was added French and German studies by Dr. Joseph Sachs in 1859. The students needed to pay $ 2.00 a month for tuition fees in the private Hebrew school. The school was continued to develop until the twentieth century.

o Yiddish School

At the beginning, most Jewish immigrants came from Portugal, and they did not speak Yiddish. As German Jewish immigrants moved to the United States later, Yiddish became a dominant language in the Jewish community. German Jews would like to read newspapers and magazines in the Yiddish language. Most of the German Jewish immigrants considered Yiddish was their native language. Yiddish school taught history, music, literature, customs in the Yiddish language. In 1933, the school decided to teach Jewish ethnology to guide Jewish students to live in a religious life.

• The Problem of Jewish education for immigrant Children

o Cultural

The problem of Jewish education for the Children of Immigrants were the difference of culture and history. During this period between 1880 and 1924, Jews emigrated from different countries in Eastern Europe such as Russia, Spain, French, Germany, and Poland. Russian Jewish immigrants encountered cultural, economic, political challenges in the United States. They wanted to integrate into the American Jewish community, but they kept a certain degree in distance. They opened their own synagogues and yeshivas every Sabbath. Russian Jewish children had difficult time to study of the Talmud and no more be bridged. Lloyd P. Gartner wrote, “The Russian Jewish immigrants endeavored to reproduce the religious, and what interests us here particularly, the educational agencies of Russian Jewish life.”

o Financial Cooperation

In New York City, the enrollment of 7050 students spent $100.000 each year. The parents who were regular membership dues yielding 23.9 percent of their income. The tuition fees for less poor family was about 28.4 percent. There were 4963 students paid from $1 to $3 for an academic year. The school decided to investigate students by the bureau in their home, and then to made sure which financial groups they belong. Lloyd P. Gartner wrote, “The tuition fee is to be collected by the bureau in the homes of the children in monthly installments and the objection able methods of collection hitherto practiced are to be discontinued.”

• Gender and Jewish Education

In the Jewish society, most teachers and scholars were men. Women were not allowed to participate in most synagogue prayer, and they only allowed to engage in communal prayer. Whatever synagogue or communal prayer, man always had dominated space. During the nineteenth century, women could only read Yiddish. Parents should have sent their sons to the primary school, so that their sons could have learned the Hebrew language and the Torah text. Some wealthier parents even employed private tutors for their sons at home. However, the education of girls was not as formal and extensive as boys did. Some girls in the wealth family may be given the opportunity to learn Jewish vernacular and Hebrew as well. Many girls remained illiterate during the old times. Women stayed home with their family or worked jobs such as maids and seamstresses. As the World War II began, more and more women were used as spies, couriers, nurses, and some even became soldiers. Until the end of World War II, women had transformed into Jewish studies research and teaching in the twenty-first century. The balance of women and men made great strides in equality in Jewish schools.

Feedback on Outline

This looks like a good start, but it is difficult for me to tell from looking at this outline what is your new content and what already exists in the current article. You do not give sources for each section and sub-section that you have. However, you cite excellent sources at the end. --Prof. Bitzan (talk) 23:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)