Jewish Education and Society in the High Middle Ages

by Ephraim Kanarfogel

Near Fine / Fine, 1st edition /1st printing, orange cloth with black font on spine. 213 pps includes index. 2 pages of the preface have several yellow highlighted lines...other than that this copy appears AS NEW without any other writing or marks Dust wrapper also appears as new, without any defects and is now mylar protected."... Jewry withstood a variety of physical, political, and religious attacks in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to produce an impressive corpus of Talmudic and halakhic compositions, known collectively as Tosafot, that revolutionized the study of rabbinic literature...Topics Structure of elementary education in Ashkenaz; attitudes toward childhood and the educational process; economics of higher education; the relationship between the academy and the community; the intellectual milieu of the Tosafist academies; teachings of the German pietists."

Genres: History, Medieval

214 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1991

About the author

Ephraim (Fred) Kanarfogel is a professor and dean at Yeshiva University and one of the foremost experts in the fields of medieval Jewish history and rabbinic literature, as well as an ordained rabbi and Torah scholar.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short book offers a good insight into education in medieval Ashkenaz, concerning, given the sources, only boys and men. This book is very informative, has a clear structure and is easy to read.
What's more though: It's simply good historiography. In every passage Kanarfogel makes perfectly clear which sources he is referring to and illuminates his way of thinking. He does not simply contest other peoples' opinions but shows the reader why some earlier assumptions about Jewish education in medieval Ashkenaz might be wrong or, at least, very optimistic. He also tries to clarify how earlier historians came to their conclusions. This leads to the book being very accessible, even to the layperson on medieval Ashkenaz.

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book seeks to ascertain how Jews (especially children) were educated in the Ashkenazic world of northern France and Germany in the Middle Ages. The book concludes that there was no public or community-run elementary system; instead, a motivated parent would hire a tutor for his children. (It is unclear to what extent children with poorer or less motivated parents were educated). This conclusion is based on rabbinic responsa, which mention tutors but generally do not mention community schools.

Similarly, public support for scholarship was weaker in Ashkenaz than in Spain, for reasons that are not quite clear. The author speculates that (1) the Jewish community in Ashkenaz was more focused on producing a few outstanding scholars than on raising the educational level of nonscholars and/or (2) there may have been more Talmudic scholarship in Ashkenaz, thus making subsidies less necessary.

The last essay discusses the German pietists, a movement that sought to correct some of the perceived defects in Ashkenazic education. While the general trend was to focus on Talmud, pietists wanted more focus on biblical study, and on educating the less accomplished student.