Talmud Torah Research Articles

Teaching Mishnah, Midrash, and Talmud at the University

During the past 25 years Jewish Studies and Hebrew language courses have become part of the curricula of many major colleges and universities in the United States. In a few instances where student demand, administrative support, and faculty expertise coincide, the offerings have included courses on rabbinic literature. While the ongoing study of Torah has been the central value of rabbinic Judaism for nearly two millennia and hence nothing new internal to the system, the presentation of the classic texts of rabbinism as part of the humanities curriculum of a secular university is novel and poses several problems. Courses in Mishnah, Midrash, and Talmud at the university address the classical texts either in the original Hebrew and Aramaic or in English translation. In analyzing the nature of such offerings we need to treat several issues independently. First, what are the goals and expectations of instruction of rabbinic texts in the original languages as part of the advanced Hebrew curriculum? How does the background of students affect the presentation? How does one select texts and textbooks? What are the secondary resources available? How does one achieve content-based language-skill acquisition? My experiences at the University of Minnesota since 1976 illustrate how I have met some of the concerns we face. Each year I have taught two to three upper-division undergraduate Hebrew courses mainly dealing with rabbinic texts of late antiquity through the middle ages. The size of the classes has varied each quarter from at most 15 to at least 2 students. Let me pause here to answer the inevitable (and mostly irrelevant) question: the majority (60 percent or more) of the students in these courses over the years has been Jewish. Some of those students had Talmud Torah backgrounds. Often students have been products of our own Hebrew program with no prior parochial Jewish training. It should be noted that non-Jewish students study these texts mainly to fulfill requirements for a Hebrew or Jewish Stud-

DR. GEORGE JACOB GORDON AND THE MINNEAPOLIS TALMUD TORAH

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsTheodore H. GordonRABBI GORDON, son of Dr. George J. Gordon, is rabbi emeritus of the Main Line Reform Temple Beth Elohim, Media PA. The Minneapolis Talmud Torah recently observed its 75th Anniversary. This article honors this significant occasion.

Israel Konovitz Jewish Education in America at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

A most important aspect of the educational component of the Kehillah experiment in New York City, 1908-1922, was the Talmud Torah school. The overall picture of Jewish education in the early years of this century was gloomy. But the Talmud Torah schools represented a more positive scene. They had a broad base of support, were independent of synagogue affiliation and, therefore, had a communal character; moreover, the schools had a degree of ordered, institutional management not found in other areas of Jewish education during that time period.

Half a Century in Jewish Education

I — Reminiscences Deuteronomy 32:7 Back in 1925, upon graduation from the Teachers Institute of Yeshiva University, I started my career as teacher in the first and oldest Talmud Torah in the United States, the Machzikey TT on East Broadway in Manhattan. I recall with pleasure how boys and girls spent ten hours a week in Jewish studies: giving the 12-13 year olds intensive instruction in Torah, Neviim, Mishnah, Hebrew Grammar, Hebrew Literature and Yiddish. For many years the Machzikey TT had a school enrollment of one thousand students and more. When the '30s came and the enrollment fell considerably, it became necessary to consolidate the school with the National Hebrew School, especially when the Downtown TT closed it doors.

Minneapolis Is Different

In years past, reporting on the state of the Minneapolis Talmud Torah Schools at national or regional educational conferences, the reaction was always: “Minneapolis”, “Minneapolis is different.”

Where Does “Jewish Studies” Belong?

The problem of the proper location of Jewish Studies continues to occupy the academic community. To resolve it scholars must recognize: that Jewish Studies is a data-field, that various disciplines can be applied to the data-field, and that the constellation of disciplines called Religious Studies offers the most apt methodology for dealing with the data. The intratraditional mode of study, Talmud Torah, is contrasted with the extra-traditional mode, Jewish Studies. These modes are continuous in the integrity of their work, in their readiness to utilize new methods of inquiry, and in the tendentious or normative purpose of their work. They are discontinuous in their respective views of history one paradigmatic, the other empirical; in the nature of their normative thrust one religious, the other nationalist-culturalist; and in their respective views of the nature of Truth. Various ideological commitments must be identified and acknowledged as such.

VIEWS ON JEWISH‐MRELIGIOUS EDUCATION BY AMERICAN ORTHODOX‐JEWISH LEADERS

The educational system of the Jewish community in the United States consists of three divisions: The Sunday school; the week-day late afternoon school; and the all-day school. There is about an equal division between the number of children who attend the one-day-a-week Sunday school and those that attend the threeday-a-week afternoon Hebrew school or Talmud Torah. A much smaller percentage of the total Jewish school population, about 8%, attend the Jewish all-day school or Yeshiva. The Jewish all-day school today is, by and large, under the auspices of the Orthodox-Jewish community. (In recent years, the Conservative-Jewish community has organized some all-day schools.) Even though there are Orthodox supplementary afternoon schools throughout the United States with a total school population of approximately 56,000 students, these afternoon schools are comparatively small and do not receive prime attention from the Orthodox-Jewish community. The Orthodox community is directing most of its energy and resources into the

The Revitalization of the Talmud Torah

(1950). The Revitalization of the Talmud Torah. Jewish Education: Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 20-24.

Is the Talmud Torah Doomed?

Is the Talmud Torah Doomed?

The Yeshivah and the Talmud Torah—an Evaluation

(1945). The Yeshivah and the Talmud Torah—an Evaluation. Jewish Education: Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 26-29.