The movement towards universal Jewish education TB Baba Batra 21

Joshua ben Gamla was one of the last High Priests during the Second Temple period. King Agrippas II appointed him to that position. Joshua ben Gamla was murdered when the Second Temple was destroyed. Although the rabbis disparaged the way he became the High Priest, they were not shy to praise him for the good that he did. On today’s daf TB Baba Batra 21 we learn that Joshua ben Gamla laid the foundation for universal male education. The Gemara lays out the four stages how Jewish education expanded to include more and more students.

Stage #1 “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.

Stage 2 “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. (According to Tosefot ד"ה כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה, educating children in Jerusalem would be very beneficial because the students would see Kohanim, Levites, and Israelites involved in holy work and observing mitzvot inside and outside the Temple. All this holy work would inspire the students to study Torah harder and better)

Stage #3 “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. (Children younger than the age of 16 were old enough to travel such a long distance to the local region; consequently, they were exempt from attending school.-gg)

Stage #4 “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. With regard to the matter at hand, since this system was established for the masses, the neighbors cannot prevent a scholar from teaching Torah in the courtyard.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Universal Jewish education for boys was unique to Judaism throughout the ancient and medieval world. Only at the beginning of the 20^th century was Jewish education extended to girls in the Bais Yaakov schools.

“The Bais Yaakov movement was started by seamstress Sarah Schenirer in 1917 in Kraków, Poland.^[1] The first school building survives as apartments, and is marked with a bronze plaque.

“While boys attended cheder and Talmud Torah schools (and in some cases yeshivas), at that time, there was no formalized system of Jewish education for girls and young Jewish women.

“Schenirer saw that there was a high rate of assimilation among girls due to the vast secular influences of the non-Jewish schools that the girls were then attending. Sarah Schenirer concluded that only providing young Jewish women with a thorough, school-based Jewish education would effectively combat this phenomenon. She started a school of her own, trained other women to teach, and set up similar schools in other cities throughout Europe.

“She obtained the approval of Yisrael Meir Kagan (author of Chofetz Chaim), who issued a responsum holding that contemporary conditions required departing from traditional prohibitions on teaching women Torah and accepting the view that it was permitted. Following the Chofetz Chaim's approbation, the Bais Yaakov Movement in Poland was taken under the wing of Agudath Israel. Additionally, Schenirer sought and received approbation from Hasidic rabbis as well, most notably the Belzer Rebbe and the Gerrer Rebbe.^[2] Judith Grunfeld was persuaded to assist Schenirer. The original Bais Yaakov was a seminary of sorts, intended to train girls to themselves become teachers and spread the Bais Yaakov movement. Grunfeld would lead the seminary from 1924 to 1929.^[3]

“Girls who were taught in the Bais Yaakov movement used their education as psychological support to survive World War II and the Holocaust.^[4]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bais_Yaakov

Educating girls was one of the most important educational innovations in Jewish history. As Jewish women became more and more educated, they demanded equal opportunity in the Jewish community as its leaders. Today Jewish women are rabbis, cantors, teachers. Jewish women now lead major Jewish seminaries as well as heads of Jewish Federations and JCCs. The Jewish community has been enriched by all these women past and present.