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Education in Przedborz
Jews living in Poland created their own educational system, based mainly on religious pedagogical methods. From the 16th century, Jewish boys were required to be sent to school; girls were exempt. Education began at age four. Primary education, addressed to boys from ages four to eight, included learning Hebrew, reading the Torah and an introduction to basic math. Older children, from eight to thirteen years of age, continued their education studying, among other things, the Talmud and commentaries. There were Talmudic schools in all Jewish communities, which were supported by community members. Larger cities opened their own yeshivas. This educational model continued until the beginning of the 19th century, when reform of the state educational system was initiated, which was intended to include all social groups.
In the first years of the 19th century, educational efforts in the Kingdom of Poland were aimed at developing basic education. Schools were being set up in cities, towns and villages. Local communities were supposed to support these schools through educational societies comprised of 200 members. From this time, children were required to attend school. School commissions were also created and were in charge of raising funds to pay teachers and maintain buildings. The Jewish population also joined these societies and was from that point on required to pay school dues. Jews paid their dues, yet continued to send their children to traditional cheders. With the creation of a system of elementary education, Jews were urged to send their children to these new schools so they could at least learn Polish. These schools, which were often supervised by a Christian priest, operated on a program of teaching Catholic customs and principles. This was the main reason that Jews decided not to send their children to these schools. This led to a series of conflicts and attempts by the state educational authorities to close the cheders. During the first half on the 19th century, an understanding was finally reached on the question of general Jewish education, according to which Jews were required to send their children to elementary schools. Jewish children did not, however, attend classes with other children. They used either separate rooms or, when those were not available, classrooms used by Christian children after they finished their lessons. Attending classes on Saturday was a separate problem, as that was when Jewish children observed the Sabbath. Most Jewish parents continued not to send their children to state elementary schools, and only a meager number of Jewish children attended state elementary schools. For instance, in Opoczno during the 1820s Jewish students accounted for barely twenty percent of the total student population. Przedbórz stood out as an exception in the Kingdom of Poland. Catholic and Jewish children equally attended elementary schools, so, too, did the children of Belgian workers employed at the local Lang factory.
In 1851, the czarist authorities issued an order that freed those who did not wish to have state elementary schools in their area from the burden of paying school dues. At that time, a change in attitude toward elementary schools occurred within the Jewish population. Not only did Jews not cease to pay school dues, they started to more readily send their children to state schools. An 1861 recommendation of the Government Commission of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment, which was headed by Count Aleksander Wielkopolski, led to the development of the state educational system. Craftsman and Sunday schools for young people began to develop in Przedbórz in the first half of the 19th century and functioned as continuing trade education. A master was required to send his apprentices to such a school, which also benefited him by freeing him of his obligations as a master. Jews did not belong to Christian guilds, though they nonetheless gladly attended craftsmen schools.
After Poland regained its independence, all children living on Polish soil, regardless of nationality or religious affiliation, were required to attend school from the age of seven until the age of fourteen; this also applied to the elementary school education of Jewish children. These new regulations expressly respected religious law, including, for example, the celebration of the Sabbath and Jewish religious holidays. The curricula of religious schools (e.g. cheders and Talmud-Torah) were also regulated, forcing them to teach the Polish language, as well as lay subjects in line with what was required of state schools. Where Jewish children attended elementary school with children of other faiths, they could not be required to write, draw or engage in any manual labor on Saturdays. In practice, however, it was more common for Jewish children to attend one large Jewish state elementary school, especially where there were larger Jewish populations. In these schools, the Sabbath and other religious holidays were respected. Additionally, two hours a week were devoted to religious instruction.
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A separate issue was the lack of state schools for Jewish children that offered classes taught in Yiddish and Hebrew. This situation directly influenced the development of private schools. Political parties filled this gap, initiating, building and running a variety of school and educational institutions. Around nineteen percent of the Jewish students attending primary schools in Poland took advantage of private education during the interwar period.
Opening private Jewish schools did not narrow access to this kind of education. These kinds of schools were often the fruits of charitable societies and social and political organizations, the goal of which was to educated children in accordance with the guiding principles of the group that founded it. Aside from religious schools underwritten by Orthodox and other religious organizations, other schools attempted to instill Zionist notions, or socialist-Bund ideas, or general Jewish ideas, while others aimed to instill lay or patriotic ideas. There were, of course, also schools for non-Jewish children that Jews could attend.
The most popular schools for Polish Jews were Jewish parochial schools, such as cheders, Talmud-Torahs, yeshivas and girls’ schools (Bejs Jakovs). They were created by Orthodox organizations like Chorew, as well as by Jewish community councils. The education of the young generation focused on religion and tradition, and on older recognized forms of learning. This kind of religious education, which forewent lay subjects, endured in Polish towns until the late 1930s. Learning in these schools adhered to old methods, and students normally had to fulfill lay subject requirements in state elementary schools.
The choice of educational program in effect determined the language of instruction. In Zionist schools, classes were taught in Hebrew. These kinds of educational institutions were often opened by the Hebrew cultural organization Tarbut, which was linked to Zionist parties. Tarbut opened preschools, elementary schools, high schools, professional schools; it also ran evening classes for working adults and young people. Thirty-seven percent of children attending private elementary schools, and fourteen percent of those attending high school, went to Tarbut run schools. Tarbut wanted to raise and educate the young generation of Jews within Hebrew culture, respecting both national traditions and legacies. Classes in these schools were taught in Hebrew. In contrast, the socialist Bund schools chose Yiddish as the language of instruction. By doing so, they stressed the importance of both national identity and the need of building a new Jewish society in Poland—and not in Palestine. The choice of Yiddish as the language of instruction was intended to highlight the identity of Yiddish culture in Jewish towns in Poland. It was the language spoken on Jewish streets, the language of lay literature, theater and film. Jewish children beginning their education most often did not know any language other than Yiddish. Schools opened by Jewish socialists (Bund) attached great importance to raising the young generation in the socialist spirit, as it were, and emphasized the values of respect for work, independence and the cooperative movement. Bund schools were linked with proletarian circles and were most likely created in large cities in which there were strong and well-organized groups of Jewish workers. CISZO (The Central Yiddish School Organization [Centrale Jidysze Szu³ Organizacje]), founded in 1921, built many such schools, though the schools themselves existed much earlier. Educational institutions opened by CISZO, including preschools, elementary schools, high schools, professional schools, and shelters for poor children, taught a lay socialist program that broke with the Jewish religious tradition.
The Orthodox social and political movement Mizrachi opened private schools with religious and nationalist programs. Classes were conducted both in Hebrew and in Polish. Subjects taught in the Hebrew included Jewish subjects (e.g. the Talmud) while lay topics were taught in Polish. In general, the focus was on Hebrew culture and religion, which were understood as a single unified field. In 1927, Mizrachi created its own educational organization—Jawne, which unified existing schools and opened new preschools, elementary schools, high schools, rabbinical seminaries and yeshivas.
A general Jewish educational program was developed in 1928 by Szul-Kult. The language of instruction was Yiddish, but there was also much emphasis placed on learning Hebrew and Jewish history. Another important element of their program was to instill a blend Zionism, nationalism and religiosity.
Private Jewish middle schools with lay educational programs taught in Polish were also open to non-Jews, though they did include Hebrew language classes, as well as subjects in Jewish history and the Bible. Young Jews also attend private German and Polish schools.
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