Texts for Inspiration:
The Power and Purpose of Education
(6) Train a youth in the way he ought to go; He will not swerve from it even in old age.
(א) בֶּן זוֹמָא אוֹמֵר, אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם, הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים קיט) מִכָּל מְלַמְּדַי הִשְׂכַּלְתִּי כִּי עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ שִׂיחָה לִּי... אֵיזֶהוּ מְכֻבָּד, הַמְכַבֵּד אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמואל א ב) כִּי מְכַבְּדַי אֲכַבֵּד וּבֹזַי יֵקָלּוּ:
(1) Ben Zoma says: Who is the wise one? He who learns from all people, as it says, "I have acquired understanding from all my teachers" (Psalms 119:99)... Who is honored? He who honors the created beings, as it says, "For those who honor Me, I will honor; and those who despise Me will be held in little esteem" (I Samuel 2:30).
(ו) יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן פְּרַחְיָה וְנִתַּאי הָאַרְבֵּלִי קִבְּלוּ מֵהֶם. יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן פְּרַחְיָה אוֹמֵר, עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב, וּקְנֵה לְךָ חָבֵר, וֶהֱוֵי דָן אֶת כָּל הָאָדָם לְכַף זְכוּת:
(6) Yehoshua ben Perachiah and Nitai of Arbel received from them. Yehoshua ben Perachia says, "Make for yourself a mentor, acquire for yourself a friend and judge every person as meritorious."
(ד) יוֹסֵי בֶן יוֹעֶזֶר אִישׁ צְרֵדָה וְיוֹסֵי בֶן יוֹחָנָן אִישׁ יְרוּשָׁלַיִם קִבְּלוּ מֵהֶם. יוֹסֵי בֶן יוֹעֶזֶר אִישׁ צְרֵדָה אוֹמֵר, יְהִי בֵיתְךָ בֵית וַעַד לַחֲכָמִים, וֶהֱוֵי מִתְאַבֵּק בַּעֲפַר רַגְלֵיהֶם, וֶהֱוֵי שׁוֹתֶה בְצָמָא אֶת דִּבְרֵיהֶם:
(4) Yose ben Yoezer, man of Tsreida, and Yose ben Yochanan, man of Jerusalem, received from them. Yose ben Yoezer says, "May your house be a meeting house for Sages, become dirty in the dust of their feet and drink their words thirstily."
(יב) רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן שַׁמּוּעַ אוֹמֵר, יְהִי כְבוֹד תַּלְמִידְךָ חָבִיב עָלֶיךָ כְּשֶׁלְּךָ, וּכְבוֹד חֲבֵרְךָ כְּמוֹרָא רַבְּךָ, וּמוֹרָא רַבְּךָ כְּמוֹרָא שָׁמָיִם:
(12) Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua says: Let the honor of your student be dear to you as your own, and the honor of your fellow like the reverence of your teacher, and the reverence of your teacher like the reverence of Heaven.
Relationship between Students and Teachers
Students and Teachers - From: Pirke Avot: A Modern Commentary on Jewish Ethics by Leonard Kravitz & Kerry Olitzky
There is a special relationship between students and teachers evidenced in rabbinic literature. This is an intimate relationship that colors the life of both scholar and student. The student speaks proudly of "my teacher" and, when repeating what has been learned, speaks in that teacher's name--humbly acknowledging the source of the student's own knowledge. While there is a level of mutual respect between student and teacher, the student expresses a reverence for the teacher, uniquely reserved for the relationship. For example, Rabbi Elazar suggests in the Talmud (Kiddushin 33b), "Sages who do not rise in the presence of their teachers are considered wicked and will not live long and will forget the Torah that they have learned."
Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: Why are Torah matters likened to a tree, as it is stated: “It is a tree of life to them who lay hold upon it” (Proverbs 3:18)? This verse comes to tell you that just as a small piece of wood can ignite a large piece, so too, minor Torah scholars can sharpen great Torah scholars and enable them to advance in their studies. And this is what Rabbi Ḥanina said: I have learned much from my teachers and even more from my friends, but from my students I have learned more than from all of them.
(4) Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Texts for Study and Conversation:
Reform Jewish Values and Public Education
סיפא אתאן לתינוקות של בית רבן ומתקנת יהושע בן גמלא ואילך דאמר רב יהודה אמר רב ברם זכור אותו האיש לטוב ויהושע בן גמלא שמו שאלמלא הוא נשתכח תורה מישראל שבתחלה מי שיש לו אב מלמדו תורה מי שאין לו אב לא היה למד תורה מאי דרוש (דברים יא, יט) ולמדתם אותם ולמדתם אתם התקינו שיהו מושיבין מלמדי תינוקות בירושלים מאי דרוש (ישעיהו ב, ג) כי מציון תצא תורה ועדיין מי שיש לו אב היה מעלו ומלמדו מי שאין לו אב לא היה עולה ולמד התקינו שיהו מושיבין בכל פלך ופלך ומכניסין אותן כבן ט"ז כבן י"ז ומי שהיה רבו כועס עליו מבעיט בו ויצא עד שבא יהושע בן גמלא ותיקן שיהו מושיבין מלמדי תינוקות בכל מדינה ומדינה ובכל עיר ועיר ומכניסין אותן כבן שש כבן שבע
In the latter clause we arrive at the case of schoolchildren who come to learn Torah in his house, and this ruling applies from the time of the ordinance of Yehoshua ben Gamla and onward. What was this ordinance? As Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Truly, that man is remembered for the good, and his name is Yehoshua ben Gamla. If not for him the Torah would have been forgotten from the Jewish people. Initially, whoever had a father would have his father teach him Torah, and whoever did not have a father would not learn Torah at all. The Gemara explains: What verse did they interpret homiletically that allowed them to conduct themselves in this manner? They interpreted the verse that states: “And you shall teach them [otam] to your sons” (Deuteronomy 11:19), to mean: And you yourselves [atem] shall teach, i.e., you fathers shall teach your sons. When the Sages saw that not everyone was capable of teaching their children and Torah study was declining, they instituted an ordinance that teachers of children should be established in Jerusalem. The Gemara explains: What verse did they interpret homiletically that enabled them to do this? They interpreted the verse: “For Torah emerges from Zion” (Isaiah 2:3). But still, whoever had a father, his father ascended with him to Jerusalem and had him taught, but whoever did not have a father, he did not ascend and learn. Therefore, the Sages instituted an ordinance that teachers of children should be established in one city in each and every region [pelekh]. And they brought the students in at the age of sixteen and at the age of seventeen. But as the students were old and had not yet had any formal education, a student whose teacher grew angry at him would rebel against him and leave. It was impossible to hold the youths there against their will. This state of affairs continued until Yehoshua ben Gamla came and instituted an ordinance that teachers of children should be established in each and every province and in each and every town, and they would bring the children in to learn at the age of six and at the age of seven.
אמר רבא מתקנת יהושע בן גמלא ואילך לא ממטינן ינוקא ממתא למתא אבל מבי כנישתא לבי כנישתא ממטינן ואי מפסק נהרא לא ממטינן ואי איכא תיתורא ממטינן ואי איכא גמלא לא ממטינן ואמר רבא סך מקרי דרדקי עשרין וחמשה ינוקי ואי איכא חמשין מותבינן תרי ואי איכא ארבעין מוקמינן ריש דוכנא ומסייעין ליה ממתא
Rava says: From the time of the ordinance of Yehoshua ben Gamla, that schoolteachers must be established in each town, and onward, one does not bring a child from one town to another. Rather, each child is educated where he resides. But one does bring them from one synagogue where they learn to another synagogue. And if a river separates the areas one does not bring the children across, lest they fall into the river. And if there is a bridge spanning the river one may bring them across the river. But if there is only a narrow bridge [gamla] one does not bring them. And Rava said: The maximum number of students for one teacher of children is twenty-five children. And if there are fifty children in a single place, one establishes two teachers, so that each one teaches twenty-five students. And if there are forty children, one establishes an assistant, and the teacher receives help from the residents of the town to pay the salary of the assistant.
(א) מוֹשִׁיבִין מְלַמְּדֵי תִּינוֹקוֹת בְּכָל מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה וּבְכָל פֶּלֶךְ וּפֶלֶךְ וּבְכָל עִיר וָעִיר. וְכָל עִיר שֶׁאֵין בָּהּ תִּינוֹקוֹת שֶׁל בֵּית רַבָּן מַחְרִימִין אֶת אַנְשֵׁי הֵעִיר עַד שֶׁמּוֹשִׁיבִין מְלַמְּדֵי תִּינוֹקוֹת. וְאִם לֹא הוֹשִׁיבוּ מַחְרִימִין אֶת הָעִיר. שֶׁאֵין הָעוֹלָם מִתְקַיֵּם אֶלָּא בְּהֶבֶל פִּיהֶם שֶׁל תִּינוֹקוֹת שֶׁל בֵּית רַבָּן:
(1) It is mandatory to appoint school teachers for small children in each and every state, in each and every province, and in each and every city. Any city wherein there are no children flocking to a master's house, the inhabitants thereof should be excommunicated until they do appoint teachers for the school children, if they then make no such appointment an excommunication should be pronounced against the city itself; for the world cannot endure save only by the fervent recitation of school children in the house of their master.
Union for Reform Judaism Resolution: Public Education (2001)
Background
Historically, the public schools have been the ladder that American Jews, and so many others, used to climb from poverty to affluence in American life. Today, Jews remain deeply devoted to the public school system; for many North American Jews, public education is the most hallowed of civic virtues. The public schools take the poor and the handicapped, the abused and the foster children, the Christian and the Muslim, the Roman Catholic and the Jew. They do more of God's work in a day than most institutions do in a lifetime.
One of the most serious threats to our system of public education comes from those who support vouchers for use in private and parochial schools. Supporters claim that their goal is to help the poor and improve public education by creating competition. But this is disingenuous. It does not help public schools to take their funding and put it elsewhere. It does not help the inner cities to create a program that will mostly benefit the middle class and the wealthy. The people who engineer voucher proposals-including some within the Jewish community-are almost always those with no interest in maintaining the public schools and whose real aim is to secure funding for their own schools.
Voucher proponents within the Jewish community argue that Jews have nothing to fear from a more flexible definition of the First Amendment. But what makes America the freest and most stable society in which we Jews have ever lived is a Constitution that is our shelter and sanctuary. It is no accident that the period of dramatic flourishing of North American Jewry was marked by great strides in church-state separation.
Next year the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of school vouchers, and there is an even chance that it will approve them in some form. If that happens, many more voucher proposals will be presented to state legislatures throughout the country.
Our support for public education and our opposition to vouchers should never obscure our enthusiastic support for Jewish days schools. They are vital to Jewish religious life, will produce many of our leaders, and are entitled to a fair share of community resources. But we must not ask the government to do for our community what our community is unwilling to do for itself.
THEREFORE, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations resolves to:
- Assist our congregations in supporting a great bastion of true democracy, our public schools;
- Work on the local, state, and national levels to ensure that public education receives the resources it needs and that all students receive the most comprehensive and effective educational program to which they are entitled;
- Reaffirm and give priority to our opposition to school vouchers and proclaim our intention to fight them in the courts and, if necessary, in the legislatures;
- Recommit ourselves to defending the First Amendment's separation of church and state, a cornerstone of our security and freedom; and
- State that this resolution does not alter our enthusiastic support for privately funded Jewish day schools, commending PARDeS and the eighteen Reform Jewish day schools established by the congregations of our Movement, and working to double that number in the decade ahead.
Additional resources on Judaism and Education:
- URJ Resolution on School Discipline and Public Education Equity
- Jewish Virtual Library: History of Jews and Education
Source sheet contributors include: Rabbi Josh Fixler, Rabbi Marina Yergin, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, and Alexandra Horn
(א) נבנה למקננו פה. חסים היו על ממונם יותר מבניהם ובנותיהם שהקדימו מקניהם לטפם. אמר להם לא כן עשו העיקר עיקר והטפל טפל בנו לכם תחלה ערים לטפכם ואחר כך גדרות לצאנכם (תנחומא ז):
(1) נבנה למקננו פה WE WILL BUILD [SHEEP FOLDS] FOR OUR CATTLE HERE — They paid more regard to their property than to their sons and daughters, because they mentioned their cattle before their children. Moses said to them, “Not so! Make the ikar the ikar, and what is secondary (tafel), secondary. First build cities for your little ones and afterwards enclosures for your flocks” (cf. v. 24) (Midrash Tanchuma, Matot 7).