The education of Jewish children in Rome (16th–early 17th centuries): A world unto itself

Résumé 0

Most studies of early modern learning have focused on the humanistic education of the elite, whether of Jewish or Christian. Jewish education can be studied across all social strata, even for girls. The proportion of well-education young Jews was demonstrably higher than that of their Christians counterparts, as evidenced by the case of Rome from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Most young Roman Jews attended the Talmud Torah community school to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. Attendance, in theory, was compulsory, with no distinction between Italian or other Jews. Students learned to read Hebrew, even though Italian was the language of instruction. Some learned to read the Latin alphabet from Christian teachers. Not all Jews received the same level of education. The wealthy had private tutors, while others were lucky enough to study in small schools. Young girls learned embroidery (lavori femminili) from female instructors, as well as how to read, so that they could stitch biblical verses on Torah binders (mappot). There was also a more “practical” kind of education, akin to apprenticeships: dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, but also sword-making, clothes-making, woodwork, and even the art of ritual slaughter. What set Jewish education apart from that of Christians was that Jewish law made parents responsible for their children’s education. Among Christians, this task fell largely to the clergy, who concentrated on “discipline.” Unlike young Christians, Jewish children were taught to read the Bible directly. The article draws on corpus of pertinent texts.