SCHOOL, EDUCATION (skt7)1, ed'n-ka'shiln), (Gr. exoXt skhol-ay', Acts xix:9), a place where there is leisure, a place of tuition.
Before the Exile, the Jews, like the ancient Romans, seem to have had no notion whatever of public and national schools, since the sphere of our present elementary knowledge, reading and writing, was confined to but a few.
(1) Private Tutors. Children were usually taught the simple doctrines of religion by their parents, by means of aphorisms, sacred stories and rites (Deut. vi :7, 20, sq.; xi :19; Prov. vi: 2o), while the children of kings seem to have had tutors of their own (2 Kings X :I, 5). Even after the Exile, national instruction was chiefly limited to religion, as might naturally be expected from a nation whose political institutions were founded on theocratic principles.
Tile question naturally suggests itself here, How did it, then, happen that the Jews, confined to so small a territory in Syria, living continually isolated and apart from other nations, and not possessing in their own territory resources of any kind for the advancement of education, should, nevertheless, have mustered such an host of sages and learned men? It must indeed perplex those who are initiated in the Hebrew literature to dis cover by what means learning, thought, and in quiry were, under such circumstances, fostered and cultivated ; and it will be asked, In what con nection stood the so-called great synagogue, un der Ezra and Zerubbabel, with the schools of the prophets in previous times? And how did John, the herald of Christ, and Paul the Apostle, re ceive that education which made the former the teacher of his own nation, and the latter that of so many nations and ages? (2) Public Meetings. The solution of these questions we may find in the establishment of an institution among the later Israelites, unique in its kind, and eventually brought to a high degree of perfection ; namely, the public meetings of the learned men, for the purpose of expounding the sacred writings and of giving instruction in prac tical philosophy. We shall bring together some of the scattered records concerning this institu tion, to show its powerful influence upon educa tion in general.
For the latter period of Jewish civilization, from Ezra and Nehemiah to the destruction of Jeru salem by Titus, and its final complete overthrow in the second century after Christ, a great num ber of philosophical and religious aphorisms are found collected in the Talmud, as originating with the men of those learned assemblies in various epochs, and in which we may trace the spirit of many passages even of the New Testament.
In the Babylon Talmud (Tr. Sanhedrin) those desirous of knowledge arc exhorted to repair to the learned meetings of certain celebrated rabbis who taught in Lydda, Burin, Pekun, Jabneh, Bene barak, Rome, Sikni, Zipporim, or Nesibis; and in.
the land of captivity to the great teacher in Beth shaarim, and to the sages who taught in the hall Gaazith. The Talmud also mentions many other seats of the learned, such as Jerusalem, Cwsarea, Bethshan, Acco, Bether, Magdala, Ushah, Raccat (Tiberias), and Alexandria in Egypt. In Ti berius the most learned men of the age assembled to compose that famous monument of Jewish learning, the Talmud. (See TALmun). Gamaliel (Paul's master) was head of the learned assembly or college at Jabneh (Jamnia), which, it is stated, numbered not fewer than three hundred and eighty students. At Zipporim in Galilee also, where the celebrated R. Judah Ilakkadosh passed the latter part of his life, there is said to have been several of these schools, and eminent teachers, all of whom are mentioned by name. In Tr. Sanhedrin, we further read: 'There were three teachers at Bether, and in Jabneh four—R. Elie zer, R. Akibah, R. Joshua, and R. Simon; the last spoke in the presence of the others, although he still sat upon the ground' —that is, he was present as an auditor merely, although occasion ally allowed to act as a teacher. In the same tract it is said—'the meeting rests upon mcn;' on which the gloss is, 'Wherever there are ten men whose occupations do not prevent them from devoting their whole time to sacred learning, a house for their meetings must be built.' In the Jerusalem Talmud (Tr. Cizetub.) a tradition is alleged that there had been at Jerusalem four hundred and sixty synagogues, each of which contained an apartment for the reading of the law, and another for the meeting of men for inquiry, deep research, and instruction. Such a meeting-hall is called by the Talmudists Beth-Midrash, that is, an apartment where lectures were given, or conver sations held on various subjects of inquiry. There were three of these meeting-places in the Temple (Tr. Megillah), and in all of them it was the cus tom for the students to sit on the floor, while the teachers occupied raised seats (T. Hieros. Tr. Taanith); hence Paul describes himself as having, when a student, 'sat at the feet of Gamaliel' (Acts xxii :3).