Abstract
Pre-modern Jewish education centered on a unique vision of the workings of the universe and the path to human wellbeing. The Hebrew Bible—the foundation of Jewish belief and practice over the ages—emphasizes the centrality of knowledge of the covenantal demands imposed by God on the Jewish people. When communication of these demands shifted from oral pronouncement via divinely appointed messengers to the received biblical text, immersion in this text became a central feature of Jewish life, enshrined by rabbinic leaders in every facet of synagogue and home ritual. The semi-autonomous Jewish community—with broad powers assigned by the overlords of the Jews all through the pre-modern centuries—was able to create an all-encompassing educational system firmly anchored in the biblical and rabbinic worldview.
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Chazan, B., Chazan, R., Jacobs, B.M. (2017). Pre-Modern Jewish Education. In: Cultures and Contexts of Jewish Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51586-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51586-1_1
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