Minsk Memorial Anthology
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[Page 43]
Education as a central national-religious value. Preparations to the fulfillment of commandments. The threefold educational thread: the cheder, the synagogue and the parental home. Tasks of the community with respect to education as the trustee for the transmission of tradition from generation to generation. The status of the teacher (melamed). The curriculum of study and its level of efficacy. The educational ideal. The yeshivas and their style of study. The life of yeshiva students. Education and a constant pursuit. Education for adults of all strata.The autonomy of the community of Minsk, like that of all communities of Eastern Europe, manifested itself in the domain of education more than any other domain. The community and various institutions took full responsibility for the education of the children and youth according to traditions, and the national and civic authorities did not become involved in this area at all. This situation continued until the annexation of Minsk to Russia in the year 1793, and to a large degree even after the annexation, throughout the 19th century until the Bolshevik revolution. To the Jews, the concept of “education” did not meant the training of the youth toward a profession and the acquiring of practical, physical knowledge. The youth would receive such when serving as an apprentice with artisans or craftsmen, or in the home of his parents. Education meant the study of Torah, and therefore it was inextricably tied to religion. Education only meant forging the connections to religion and the fulfillment of the 613 commandments of the Torah, Talmud and Code of Jewish law. In addition to the maintenance of melamdim and cheders (in the 18th and 19th centuries, there were also a few secular teachers), the community was also responsible for the maintenance of the yeshivas, and even the publishing and purchasing of books. In accordance with a protocol of the Committee of Lithuania from the year 1662, each community that had at least 10 Jewish families was obligated to retain a melamed. In addition to the allocation from the communal council, trustees of the Talmud Torah also were active in Minsk. They collected donations as one of the seven charities for the maintenance of cheders and Yeshivas. It is worthwhile to specially note the craftsmen's unions, who not only maintained their own houses of worship, but also cheders, Beis Midrashes for the study of Torah for adults, and even yeshivas. The most prominent of these unions was the union of water drawers, whose ledgers exist until this day, as well as the organization of “Shiva Kruim” (The Seven Invited Ones) of wealthy householders.
Until the establishment of secular public schools for Jewish children in Minsk at the end of the 19th century, the cheder, synagogue and family served as a threefold educational thread, with wonderful harmony pervading among each of the three components. What one component lacked, the other made up. Unlike the situation in later years, there was no antagonism at all among each of the three components[1]. The laws of kashruth that the child studied in cheder were seen fulfilled in the parents' home. The weekly Torah portion that was studied with the melamed in cheder served as a preparation to the reading of the Torah on the Sabbath in the synagogue. The most important values of the Jewish community and the Jewish family were the fulfillment of Jewish tradition in its entirety and the imparting of such to the younger generation, not only through study but also through day-to-day practice. In Minsk, there was a special organization for the study of Torah under the supervision of the community[2]. Representatives of this organization or representatives of the community would examine the students on occasion in Chumash and Rashi, Mishna, laws, and Gemara. They would evaluate the teachers according to the attainments of the students.
The melamed had a low status in the hierarchy of values. Despite the great esteem with which the Jews of Minsk related to the education of children and the study of Torah, the melamdim did not have an honorable status, either because of their dubious qualifications, the fact that they made their Torah into their source of livelihood, or because they turned to teaching because they were unsuccessful in earning their livelihood through a trade or business. In the realm of existing educational arrangements, melamdim lacked any opportunities for advancement. Their salary was low and unsteady, and their level of dependence on the parents of the students, especially on the wealthy ones, as well as to the communal representatives, was high[3].
{Photocopy page 44: An official certificate of a melamed from the year 1897. (Translator's note: The document is in Russian.)}
The open connection between the study material and the ritual goals of religions life left its negative mark. For example, every Sunday, they would begin the weekly Torah portion with Yiddish translation (that was not always understood, since the translation contained plenty of archaic German words). Throughout the six workdays, they only succeeded in studying a few chapters of the portion, without completing it. The following Sunday, they would begin the following week's portion. Thus, the students, who spent several years in cheder, would never study the latter chapters of the portions. Maintaining the consecutive flow of the stories of the Torah did not concern the melamdim, for ensuring that their students understood the material was not their guiding light, but rather the review and repetition in a mechanical format. Nevertheless, there was also a great benefit to this methodology, for it was based on the practical needs of traditional Jewish life. Before each festival, the cheder children studied the prayers, hymns, laws and commandments connected with that festival. During those weeks, the study of Chumash was even further compromised.
The children studied the national connection and spiritual character of the Torah through the wonderful commentary of Rashi. The educational ideal, in addition to the role in daily religious service, was fitting to the value structure of the community, with the archetype of the scholar at its pinnacle.
The majority of the cheder students, including children of the poorest families, continued their studies until the age of Bar Mitzvah. Those whose parents could afford it continued on in yeshivas. Among the yeshiva students of Minsk there were also some talented children of poor families who studied at communal expense, even though it was the custom of talented youths whose hearts desired Torah to study in yeshivas outside the city, and even to wander a great deal from place to place. Many youths from outside the city studied in the Yeshiva of Minsk. Whereas the locals often studied only part time, and assisted their parents in their trades or work, those from outside studied an entire day and also during the evenings, and formed the foundation of the yeshivas, for they were solely dedicated to their studies. Unlike the melamdim of the cheders, the teachers of the yeshiva, especially the rabbis and Rosh Yeshivas, had a great deal of honor and esteem. When a teacher, or especially a Rosh Yeshiva, was accepted at the yeshiva, negotiations would take place with the householders as the number of “tables” that would be reserved for his students from outside the city. The status of the yeshiva teacher was dependent on the renown that he had in the country and his success at attracting students from outside, but not on his formal abilities. The methodology of learning in the yeshiva was based upon two foundations: lessons from the rabbi that were delivered to the entire class, and private study alone or in pairs. The veteran students had to prepare the younger youths for their lessons, and to teach them the Talmudic material. The goal of “learning with him”, and not “teaching him” created a sublime pedagogical situation that was built on active partnership. The student was not passive, and did not suffice himself with mere listening. Rather, he was forced, along with his teacher or peer guide, to exercise his brain in order to penetrate the depths of the law[4]. Like the apprentice with the craftsman, the Yeshiva student studied with his rabbi through activity and emulation.
The annual term of study in the yeshivas was divided into two semesters: from Rosh Chodesh Iyar until the 15th of Av, and from Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan until the 15th of Shvat[5]. At the beginning of each semester, they studied didactics or differences of opinion, and later they dealt with halachic decisions. In general, the studies were completed with the degree of “chaver” (comrade) at the age of 18, which was the age of marriage. Those who were able to continue for two or more years earned the title of “moreinu” (our teacher). These degrees were granted not necessarily by the Rosh Yeshiva, but by the rabbis of the city, heads of the rabbinical court, or communal leaders. In Minsk, at times the rabbi of the city served also as the Rosh Yeshiva. In the 18th century, the power of the community as the disseminator of tradition diminished, and the power of the Yeshiva rose.
One of the fundamental values of Minsk Jewry in its entirety was the study of Torah in the broadest sense of the term. The soulful connection to the methodology of study, especially among the adults, was not merely out of “intellectual curiosity” and the desire to obtain knowledge. Rather, the essence of the study was to fulfill the religious obligation, as a form of holy service. Studying for its own sake encompassed all strata of the Jewish population of Minsk, even the poorer people such as the water drawers, wagon drivers, butchers and other tradesmen[6].
Among the Jews of Minsk, educational activities were a constant endeavor that extended throughout one's lifetime. After a difficult day of work, even during the days of fierce cold, the Jew would hasten to the Beis Midrash to study in groups, to listen to the words of Torah of the guest preacher, and to participate in a spiritual experience. Professor Saul Lieberman relates that in one of the cities of Eastern Europe, the German consul caught wind of a suspicious movement among the Jewish wagon drivers, who traveled to a secret place without drivers at a specific time after nightfall. He sent his emissaries who followed after these suspicious “conspirators”, and found that they went to a small Beis Midrash to study Torah. He did not believe the situation, and went himself to see the wonder: How poor Jews, after a day of toil, hasten to study Torah and to bask in spiritual pleasure. He declared that in no community, even among the enlightened German nation, did such a phenomenon take place[7]. Indeed, Minsk was one of the communities that excelled in this realm.
During the liberal era of Alexander I, and especially after the victory of Russia in the Napoleonic Wars, the winds of progressiveness and enlightenment from Western Europe began to penetrate Eastern Europe. Along with this came the ideas of the Jewish Haskalah movement that attached great importance to educational reform, the study of the vernacular languages of the nations in which the Jews resided, the study of economics, and the improvement of the general knowledge of the Jewish community. This movement brought with it the birth of Hebrew literature and the development of the Hebrew language and its suitability for the promulgating of these ideas. The yeshiva students began to secretly read books in the vernacular, and enjoyed the writings of Avraham Mapu, Peretz Smolenskin, Yehuda Leib Gordon, Yitzchak Ber Levinson (Rib”l), Ada”m HaKohen, Mich”l, and others.
The first of the Maskilim in Minsk was Yaakov Kaplan (1801-1841), the son of a wealthy innkeeper, who came into contact with Christian scholars who stayed at his father's inn. Yaakov learned the German language by studying the commentary of Moses Mendelsohn, and Polish and Russian from the guests and their books. Yaakov Kaplan maintained contact with the Maskilim of Vilna, and wrote a book on Biblical geography called “The Ancient Land”, which was published in Vilna in 1839. Ideas about educational improvements were spread in Minsk by David Luria (1873-1911), who reestablished the Talmud Torah, and moved the school from the synagogue courtyard (“shulhauf”) to a new building. He included the study of the vernacular languages, as well as secular subjects such as mathematics, geography, history, etc. He also founded a school for the children of wealthy families called “Midrash Ezrachim”, where Menachem Mendel Levin, the author of “A Grammar of the Russian Language” and Yehuda Libman, who wrote a book on the philanthropist Tzvi Hirsch Zaltzman called “Tzvi in the Land of the Living” (Vilna 1839) served as teachers. However, the head of the Maskilim of Minsk during the 1860s and 1870s was the Hebrew-Russian writer Yehuda Leib Levanda[8].
A Jewish government school, the first in all of Russia, was opened in Minsk in the year 1846 by the ministry of religion and education. The Maskilim also greatly valued independent study for adults. To this end, they wrote popular science books in Hebrew, for most of the community had not yet sufficiently mastered the vernacular languages. Yehuda Betzalel Eliasburg, a Maskil from Minsk, translated a popular medical book called “Cures for the People” (Vilna 1843) from Polish to Hebrew. His friend Zecharia Yeshayahu Yolles published a popular book on philosophy.
During this era, all of the Maskilim of Minsk still upheld Jewish tradition, and their sole intention was to broaden education and include in it some Western ideas, general sciences and history.
An important event in the annals of Jewish education in Minsk was the visit of Dr. Max Lilienthal[9] in 1841. Dr. Lilienthal was brought from Germany by the Russian ministry of education in order to westernize Jewish education in the Pale of Settlement. He attempted to convince the leaders of the community and its rabbis about the need to send the Jewish youth to public schools that were especially for Jews. The rabbis and the melamdim saw these schools as an evil decree that was coming to push away the Jewish youth from their source[10]. On the occasion of Lilienthal's visit, they gathered the children for the recital of Psalms in order to annul the decree. Curses and snowballs were showered upon Lilienthal, and only a small group of Maskilim of Minsk greeted him politely and related positively to his mission. As is known, Lilienthal left his position and moved to America after he was convinced that the intentions of the government of Nikolai I was to lead the Jews to assimilation and apostasy. However, as has been noted, the first government school was opened in Minsk a few years after Lilienthal's visit, with the help of Jewish Maskilim, and despite the opposition of most members of the community. Despite this, the community joined efforts with the authorities in the opening of a Jewish orphanage in which secular studies were taught in addition to religious studies. Through this, the heads of the community apparently thought that they would fulfil their obligation regarding the decree of the “skolas” (schools).
During the days of Czar Alexander II, in 1865, Jewish students were granted permission to study in the universities of Russia. At first, there was no restriction on the number of Jewish students as long as they passed their tests. However, with the passage of time, the number of excellent Jewish students rose, arousing the ire of the Christians. During the rule of Alexander III, the percentage of Jews in gymnasiums and universities was restricted to 10% in the Pale of Settlement. A smaller percentage was allowed into educational institutions outside of the Pale. There were cases in various communities where Jewish parents paid the tuition fees of several Christians as well so that a few more Jews would be accepted under the quota. Indeed, general education and the study of free professions grew at the end of the 19th century, and many of the youth were forced to travel to Western Europe or to study in schools as “externals”. Jewish Minsk excelled particularly in this area, and the ruler of the Minsk region issued a warning that the Jewish students pose a danger to Russia, are massively overtaking the gymnasiums, and pose a dangerous revolutionary threat. He recommended the imposition of restrictions on the percentage of Jewish in the population. Indeed, within one generation of the visit of Lilienthal to Minsk, the educational situation changed to such a degree that only the involvement of the authorities stemmed the tide of the Jewish youth who were thirsty for knowledge and modern education.
Changes also took place with respect to professional education and with relation to the education of girls. The Weingrof family of bankers opened up a school for girls, where approximately one hundred girls studied Jewish and general subjects, including hand-crafts, etc. The ORT organization opened a trade school in Minsk, primarily for the sawmill and carpentry trades. More than one hundred students studied there. Graduates of this school generally immigrated to the interior of Russia or overseas. The director of the ORT school was the expert teacher Yehuda Nofech, and the general supervision was through the Rabbi "Mitaam” (government appointed rabbi) Avraham Chanales. Hebrew studies were supervised by Yehuda Kopelovitch. Nevertheless, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the vast majority of the Jewish youth in Minsk studied in cheders, the Talmud Torah and yeshivas.
The following are documents relating to the educational order in the community of Minsk, collected by Rabbi Professor Simcha Assaf of blessed memory in his book “Sources of the History of Education in Israel”, Jerusalem 1938.
{TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: From here to the end of the chapter, the vast majority of the footnotes are expansions of abbreviations in the text. I will omit those, and only include those that elucidate the text.}
From the book “Annals of the Times” by Reb Avraham Chaim Shabad, including lists from the ledgers of the “Shiva Kruim” organization of Minsk, part 2, (Minsk 5672), page 103.
A. Wednesday, of the Torah portion of Lech Lecha, 10th of Marcheshvan, 5564, with the agreement of the leaders of the community, every householder should donate to the benefit of the Talmud Torah on an annual basis: wealthy householders 20 Polish groszy a year; middle class, 10 Polish groszy a year; lower class 6 Polish groszy a year, and those who cannot afford this should give no less than 3 Polish groszy a year. Even the guest teachers who teach in our community are obligated to give a percentage of their salary to Talmud Torah – that is 3%. They are obligated to pay all that is owing for that semester in the middle of the semester. This matter has already been decreed in all of the synagogues. We, the employees and trustees of the community come as witnesses to this, and we sign…
B. The leaders of the Chevra Kadisha (burial society) agree to give a special room from their new poorhouse for the purposes of the Talmud Torah, so that a melamed can teach students there. The leaders of the “Shiva Kruim” Chevra Kadisha are required to give 40 Polish zloty to the treasury of the Chevra Kadisha for this purpose on an annual basis, as well as for the provision of firewood for the aforementioned room… 15 Elul 5562, in the community of Minsk.
Regulations of the Talmud Torah Organization of Minsk. These regulations are interesting from many perspectives. They inform us not only about the educational situation, but also on the communal protocols and way of life during that time. My friend Reb M. Rabinovitch gave me the copy of them. He transcribed them in the year 5663 (1903). The Talmud Torah organization of Minsk was in existence for many years prior to this. In any case, we find mention of hit in the year 5531 (1771). However, it was reconstituted, and from time to time, there were changes in its regulations.
Mordechai the son of Reb Gedalia of holy blessed memoryThese fine words that were written in the aforementioned text, that it is time to act for G-d to further strengthen their words that were spoken with justice; however the value of each of the householders of our city is not equivalent, but is only so with respect to the obligation of each person to give to charity in accordance with the generosity of his heart according to the blessing that G-d has bestowed upon him. With the entire force of a court deed, we affix our signatures on this day here in this community.
Gershon the son of Reb Eliezer (?) {Translator's note, the question mark is in the text itself, presumably indicating uncertainty about the name in the original document.}
Yeshayahu the son of Reb Moshe Ginzberg
Mordechai the son of Yosef Shmuel
Moshe son of Reb Mordechai Madik (?) of blessed memory
Moshe Leib the son of Rabbi Moshe Halevi of blessed memory
Moshe the son of Reb Yehoshua Heshel of blessed memory
Yisrael the son of Reb Tzvi Shmuel
Shneur Zalman Katz
David the son of Reb Moshe Rappaport
Yaakov the son of Reb Shmuel Leib
b) The children of the poor and the orphans who come from outside of the city will not be taken under the charge of the organization, since the poor of ones own city take precedence, and those from outside should not come to displace those from inside. However, when the organization has sufficient funds to care for them all, they should not abandon those either, and they should be accepted by the leaders, trustees and appointees of the organization. Nevertheless, natives of the city will take precedence in all matters.
c) The trustees and the supervisors must make every possible effort, as a father does with his own son, to appoint appropriate melamdim, proper, fitting and experienced educators. They will test and examine them, and those who are deemed appropriate will be hired for this holy work. The supervisors are also responsible for finding appropriate premises for the school. The monies for the salaries of the melamdim and the rent for the premises will be provided by the appointees of the organization. They will also ensure the provision of firewood for heating the residences of the melamdim, as is customary. They will provide candles for light so that they can study. The supervisors will also make efforts to purchase sufficient books for the Talmud Torah, to be purchased from the coffers of the organization.
d) The trustees and overseers will test the students on each Sabbath. One student will be sent on each Sabbath to those who are fit for this task. The supervisors will draw lots from amongst the students, and those who are chosen from the lot will be written upon a note to the shamash who will inform the melamed who will be going for a test that Sabbath. The melamed must send them to the home of the person who is designated for this. This process will proceed by rotation until all the students have had a turn. After each student has had a turn, the rotation will recommence through a new lottery.
e) The supervisors must go to the school at least once a week to know what is taking place, and to ensure that the students and teachers are properly supervised, so that everything will work in accordance with the set order, with perfect trustworthiness, and without any dishonesty. They will also ensure that the books are not willfully destroyed, and will inform the organization of any lacks in books, heating, and other such needs. If they see anything not proper, they must inform the monthly trustee, who will take council on the matter in a meeting of the appointees.
f) Each member of the organization must pay weekly dues of 3 Polish groszy a week. It is best to discharge this obligation weekly, but at the minimum, it must be paid each month.
g) Each eve of Rosh Chodesh, members of our organization will make the rounds to the houses of the city. This will be done with the permission of the communal leaders. Who is to go will be determined by lot, and will work by rotation. At the end of the cycle, the next round will be determined by a new lottery. The person whose turn comes up by lot must go without any excuses or postponements – unless he is on a journey or some other extenuating circumstance arises, for G-d forgives extenuating circumstances. The shamash is responsible for informing those people and bringing them the charity box with which to make the rounds. If the person will not go after being informed, he is required to give 50 Polish groszy to the organization, and another person is chosen by lot, whose obligations are like the former.
h) At the conclusion of each semester, the trustees and overseers are responsible for ensuring with full force that the specified amounts are collected form the guest teachers, in accordance with the aforementioned terms, as well as the 10 Polish groszy that is owing from each householder in accordance with the agreement with the communal leaders.
i) When G-d graces any of us members of the organization, and we merit to bring our young child to study a new subject, his father should give 18 Polish groszy coins to the coffers of the organization. That is, when he begins to study the form of the letters the father should 18 Polish groszy, and again when he begins to study the Siddur, Bible, and Gemara. Whenever he progresses to a new level, the father should donate accordingly. The poor should not give less, but whoever can add in accordance to his wealth will be blessed, and will be enlightened in the pure Torah of G-d that restores the soul.
j) Any income and expenditure of the organization should be conducted through a trustworthy person who abstains from wrongdoing. That trusted person should not grant loans from the coffers of the Talmud Torah under any circumstances, even for a double pledge. He is also not authorized to give any money from the coffers that are under his care to any person, with the exception of the trusted person that follows him, and through the authority of a note that is signed and sealed by the trustees. The aforementioned trustees are required to give an accounting to the charity and the secretary on a quarterly basis of all income and expenditures. He is permitted to spend a half ruble for this purpose.
From the letter of Rabbi Yosef the head of the rabbinical court of Krynki, one of the expert students of the Gaon Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin. The letter was written in the year 5625 (1865) – in order to encourage the hearts to rebuild the Yeshiva of Volozhin which was burnt down in the great fire that broke out that year. However, it paints a clear picture of the spiritual state of the Jews of Lithuania at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The letter was published in the book of the Annals of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin by Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shmukler (Vilna 5670 – 1910), pages 33-34.
… I see it as my obligation to tell the truth to those who need to know… For I am 78 years old today, and at the time when our holy rabbi founded the Yeshiva, I was a lad of 15 or 16 years old. Blessed be G-d, I was a lad who was educated in the ways of the world, and I understood that before the House of G-d was founded by the angel of G-d our holy rabbi, the world was desolate, literally formless and void, for the world did not know the word yeshiva, what a yeshiva is about, and what is done in one. The concept of teaching Torah in public was also not known, for the world was desolate from Torah. Furthermore, holy books and Talmudic volumes were not found in the world at all except for rare Jews and wealthy people. Even the Beis Midrashes of the towns did not have a complete set of Talmuds, for it was not needed for people did not occupy themselves with it. When our holy rabbi founded the Yeshiva, they requested many Gemaras. They had to send to the large towns to gather Gemaras for the yeshiva students. When the rabbi and Gaon of Slavita saw that volumes of Talmud were required in the world, he printed several hundred large and small sets of Talmud. Since they were precious in the world, they were spread throughout the world. In the first year that the the House of G-d existed in Volozhin, I saw that many merchants included Volozhin on their route so that they could find out about the Yeshiva and what went on there. When they saw that several dozen of Torah scholars sit and study there all day and night with great diligence, they were very astonished and surprised, for they had never seen such and never imagined such. Many merchants remained there for several days and did not want to travel on from there.
After some years, one of the students of the holy rabbi traveled to Minsk. This was the pious Rabbi Mordechai Minsker, may his merit protect us. He taught there with great exactitude. The sons of the wealthy woman Bluma joined him. He enlightened her children and they enlightened her, and they founded a beautiful kloiz. She supported all those who studied at the table, and covered all of the expenses of the kloiz, all from her pocket. This kloiz was the first such kloiz in the world, for there was no other Yeshiva in the world… Once I asked our holy rabbi for permission to study a lesson with the students every day, as in a Yeshiva, and he answered as follows: From the Yeshivas of Minsk I have pleasure and satisfaction more than my yeshiva, for in my Yeshiva, I am greatly concerned about the details that are needed for the Yeshiva, whereas from the Yeshivas of Minsk I have no concerns at all, and everything is mine!
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