Guide
Study and Instruction in the Synagogue
1st–7th Centuries
Teaching and instruction were important components of the Sabbath liturgy, following readings from scripture. Many sources also associate the synagogue with schooling, in some cases referring explicitly to the use of the premises for educating children. Some of the excavated synagogue buildings have adjoining benched rooms, which may have been used for this purpose. However, many do not have them, and while classes may have been held in the assembly hall, it is equally possible that those synagogue buildings were not used as schools.
Related Primary Sources
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Schools of Temperance and Justice
While I have a great abundance of evidence to show the wishes of your great-grandfather Augustus I will content myself with two examples. The first is a letter which he sent to the governors of the…
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A Place to Study Virtue
For it was customary on every day when opportunity offered, and pre-eminently on the seventh day, as I have explained above, to pursue the study of wisdom with the ruler expounding and instructing the…
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The Palestinian Talmud on Education in the Synagogue
As R. Phineas said in the name of R. Hoshaiah: There were 480 synagogues in Jerusalem, each of which had a school and a Talmud study; [the school] for…
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Genesis Rabbah on Children’s Study in the Synagogue
R. Ḥiyya bar Abba said: As I was passing before the synagogue of the Babylonians in Sepphoris, I heard children sitting and reading [scripture]: Abraham journeyed from there (Genesis 20:1). And I said…
Primary Source
Menorah Mosaic, Sepphoris
This portion of the mosaic floor in the Sepphoris synagogue depicts a menorah surrounded by ritual objects, including a shofar and a bowl with a lulav and etrog, representing several Jewish holidays…
Primary Source
The Babylonian Talmud on Children’s Study in the Synagogue
Rav said to R. Ḥiyya: [By] what [virtue] do women merit [this reward? R. Ḥiyya answered: They merit this reward] for bringing their children to read [the…