Last month we talked about the beginning of Sunday School in England in the late 1700s. Let's step back in time and look at some elements of spiritual education that preceded Robert Raikes's and others' efforts. Among the early Jews—as is the case among practicing Jews today—knowledge of God's law as essential to happiness.
"Get yourself a teacher and a friend to study with ... Make your study of Torah a fixed habit ... Do not say 'When I have leisure I will study'; perhaps you will have no leisure ... If you have learned much Torah, do not claim credit for yourself; it is the purpose for which you were created. ..." David J. Goldberg and John D. Rayner, The Jewish People: Their History and Their Religion (New York: Viking, 1987), pp. 316-317 . This advice to Jewish youth is given in "Ethics of the Fathers," writings collected from 300 B.C. to A.D. 200. In Jewish society the religious Law was the law. There was nothing theoretical about its importance to daily life.
From 350 B.C. to A.D. 70, even in humble households, children received some religious instruction. This took place at home, in the local synagogue, and in the Temple. Feasts and festivals (such as Passover, Tabernacles, Succoth, and Purim) were part of the rhythm of family life and were a natural source of learning. Until the child was weaned, his or her education was primarily the mother's work. After age five, and sometimes earlier, boys were taken under their father's wing; girls remained at home to learn domestic skills, including those that would prepare them for raising and educating their own children. Although some upper-class women were educated, literacy was not generally considered important for females.
