On My Mind: "An Illiterate Jew Has Not Yet Been Born"

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September 24, 1993 - I have often had occasion to say these words, especially in Africa - a continent which is struggling to introduce literacy where almost none exists, despite the untold millions of dollars that the United Nations has poured into efforts to teach the people to read and write. But even here in the United States illiteracy is a serious problem. Only the other day the New York Times reported that about 50% of all males in the country are unable to read properly.

Therefore, not surprisingly, I am often asked how it is that Jews have always been fully literate. My answer is that knowledge of reading and writing is a religious commandment for us. Reading and writing are often demanded of us by the Torah - we are commanded to read and study the Torah day and night, and teach our children to do likewise, we have to write mezuzot, the Torah scroll, etc. - all of which makes literacy part and parcel of our tradition from the dawn of our history. Thus, in the Psalms and in Proverbs, in the Book of Ben Sira and in the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are references to the absolute necessity of teaching our young.

The Jewish School System

But beyond being a religious commandment, what are the tools of our forefathers used to put the commandment into action? The fools have always been the special concern for implementation of our age-old school system. Already in the Talmud (Baba Batra 22a) there is a clear description of how it developed:

Originally education was left as a responsibility of each father privately. When that proved insufficient, teachers were appointed in Jerusalem to instruct the children. Again, many did not bring their sons to these teachers, so then teachers were placed centrally in every district for boys from the age of 16 or 16 and up. However, many students stopped learning and left their schools. It was then that the famous R. Yehoshua ben Gamla appeared and ordained that school education must start at the ages of 5 or 7, and that teachers should be appointed for every town and village, not only in district centers. This became the standard for the successful Jewish school system throughout history.

Historic Jewish Documents Stressing Establishment of Yeshivot

Wherever Jewish documents are found, as far back as one goes, there are references to yeshivot and providing teachers for children. Whether in the 12th century Genizah fragments found in Cairo or the inscriptions on Jewish tombstones in far-away Surinam of the 18th century, schools for children are mentioned, and their priority is clearly stressed.

A number of very significant 300-year-old documents from small Jewish communities in Moravia, today's Czech Republic, were recently published by the Mekitse Nirdamim Society - of which I am a Board member - and they throw marvellous light on how the education of children was conducted.

These communities had councils which issued takanot, ordinances, which strictly regulated community life. In almost all cases, the takanot are headed by the regulations for establishing yeshivot and hiring teachers for children at least up to the age of 13. Here are a few examples:

Takanah of Gaya (1650): "Each community within our district must maintain a yeshiva with a minimum of six mature students and six young students, with a weekly stipend for each student. Each family must invite a student for Shabbat meals, including their teacher."

Takanah of Brody (1677): "Professional teachers of young children, who are too poor to pay any of the communal taxes, are free from such taxes. If any community nevertheless levies taxes on them, that community shall be fined. If, however, a person teaches just to supplement his other income, he is obligated to pay the taxes."

Takanah of Kremsier (1681): "We have just lived through a period of warfare and pestilence, therefore the level of learning has suffered. No yeshiva has been maintained and learning has stopped. But unless there are calves there won't be any oxen, as the saying goes."

"Therefore we have decided to return the crown of the Torah to its old glory, and have introduced the following method to revive learning: Every district community must establish a yeshiva. Those communities which do not maintain a yeshiva must pay the cost of such a yeshiva for the support of the students. Furthermore, they must support the students during the summer and winter vacations when the yeshiva is closed. They should invite the students to come to their communities as their guests."

Takanah of Goeding (1689): "There must be yeshivot in all communities in our district. A fine will be levied on those communities which are remiss in this regard. Further, all yeshivot should learn one and the same mesechta (Talmudic Tractate) on pain of fine if they vary from this ordinance."

Takanah of Kresmier (1964 - in which the yeshivot established by the takanah of 1681 are subjected to more detailed regulations): "A community which can afford large stipends should admit a least six students and six helpers (advanced students who will assist the younger ones). Those communities which can only afford a lower stipend should at least admit four students and four helpers. Such students should always come from outside communities, in addition to the students form the community.

"The head of the Beth Din is responsible for individual supervision to see to it that each student learns with proper zeal, so that the Torah will be fluent on their lips and they should not leave until they are at least 15 years of age. The rabbi of the province is responsible for supplying copies of the Gemara, against payment, so that all yeshivot can learn one and the same mesechta."

Takanah of Butschowitz (1709): "After a lapse of several years of warfare there was no yeshiva in the entire country and Torah dwindled. Now that we have a brilliant rabbi, Rav Gavriel Eschquils, whose Torah shines out and influences all inhabitants of the land, it is proper to reintroduce the takanot of Kresmier of 1694.

"Accordingly, each community is obligated to maintain and support a yeshiva and the rabbi will send copies of the extracts from the Gemara (kuntreisim) to the local rabbis, who will distribute them to each community as needed so they can all learn the same mesechta. Any family which fails to invite a student for the Shabbat will be fined. The rabbis must not accept money for admitting a student."

Takanah of Kanitz (1713): "After some years of warfare and turbulence, the communities did not support the yeshiva as they should have. Therefore it is proper to renew them so that Torah again becomes the main pillar of our communities. "He who increases yeshiva increases wisdom" (Avot 2:7). Our great rabbi, Rav Gavriel ben Yehuda Lieb Eschqils of Cracow, will lead us by his light to re-establish yeshivot in at least five communities, by lots drawn by the rabbi.

"Those chosen must maintain their yeshivot, and will be fined if they fail to do so. Half of the monies collected will go for the study of Torah, half for redemption of prisoners (no doubt referring to men taken prisoner in the so-called War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-13)."

"We have been taught by our ancient rabbis to be especially concerned with poor students, because it is from the poor students that the Torah will flow (Nedarim 81a). Now, there are communities where the poor cannot support a teacher for their sons, while there are rich Jews who refuse to contribute to the support of teachers because they claim they have no sons of their own, or they use some other excuse; in such cases the community council must hire teachers so that the students learn each one according to his capacity to understand and learn, and help those parents who have sons, so that not one of them is void of Torah learning. each father, too, must learn with his son and encourage him to learn at least till the age of 13."

An Inspiration for Our Generation

These seven takanot were instituted during turbulent years in Jewish history. The 30-Year War had ended in 1648, and the pogroms which followed produced a complete breakdown in Jewish community organizations. Yeshivot closed and copies of the Gemara were non-existent - they had to be procured from far away printers in Prague and Cracow, and sometimes these were not even complete volumes, but only extracts. (By 1697 there was another all-important source of Gemarot: the famous German Court Jew, Behrend Lehmann of Halberstadt, financed the printing of an entire Shass at the printing house in Frankford-on-the-Oder).

Yet the first thing the communities did when times returned to some normalcy was to rebuild the yeshivot and see to it that their sons had teachers. They also introduced a uniform program so that all yeshivot could freely communicate and discuss their learning with one another.

These takanot, spanning 63 years, are a fitting memorial to the heroic efforts of these poor and persecuted Jews, for whom the maintenance of Torah learning was always their number one duty. They did not allow either war conditions or pestilence to interfere with mitzva!

No wonder that an illiterate Jew has not yet been born!

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