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A ''cheder'' ( he, חדר, lit. "room";
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
pronunciation ''kheyder'') is a traditional
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
teaching the basics of
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...
and the
Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserve ...
.


History

''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th century. Lessons took place in the house of the teacher, known as a '' melamed'', whose wages were paid by the Jewish community or a group of parents. Normally, only boys would attend classes—girls were educated by their mothers in their homes. Where money was scarce and the community could not afford to maintain many teachers, boys of all ages would be taught in a single group. Although traditionally boys start learning the
Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewi ...
the day they turned three, boys typically entered ''cheder'' school around the age of 5. After learning to read Hebrew, they would immediately begin studying the
Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
, starting with the
Book of Leviticus The book of Leviticus (, from grc, Λευιτικόν, ; he, וַיִּקְרָא, , "And He called") is the third book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and of the Old Testament, also known as the Third Book of Moses. Scholars generally agree ...
. They would usually start learning the
Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...
at around seven years of age and the
Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
(Mishnah,
Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemo(r)re; from Aramaic , from the Semitic root ג-מ-ר ''gamar'', to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah ...
, and additional commentaries) as soon they had mastered the Mishnah. Reading out loud to each other and rote learning were the main techniques used to teach these complicated studies. At the age of 13 or 14, the end of a boy's education at the cheder would be marked by his bar mitzvah. Those who wanted to go on to become a
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...
or
sofer A sofer, sopher, sofer SeTaM, or sofer ST"M ( he, סופר סת״ם, "scribe"; plural of is , ; female: ) is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh (holy scrolls), tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot (ST"M, , is an abbreviation of t ...
had to continue their studies at an
yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy a ...
, or Talmudic university. Famous European ''yeshivot'' were located at
Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...
,
Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division ('' Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the ...
and
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, which was considered to be among the best. After many Jews had fled to eastern Europe to escape medieval
pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...
s connected with the
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
of that time, the intellectual centre of European Judaism moved with them and remained there for centuries. Towards the end of the 18th century, the cheder system became a target of critique by members of Jewish orthodoxy as well as by supporters of the more liberal '' Haskala'' (Jewish Enlightenment). Orthodox critics argued that teachers were not sufficiently qualified. At that time, cheder teachers were paid so badly that many would have to supplement their incomes with menial tasks. It was fairly commonplace for a melamed to be a
butcher A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...
, singer or even a gravedigger. It was also argued that some melameds would let pupils advance to the next level of learning too early because advanced pupils had to pay more money for their lessons. Critics committed to the ideals of the Haskala criticized the system as a whole, claiming it resulted in linguistic and spatial isolation for its students and therefore impeded the integration and emancipation of the Jews. They proposed additional lessons in the local language and a more secular vocational education. These ideas were put into practice at the end of the 18th century by German Jews who founded Reform schools or ''Freischulen'' ("free schools"). This and the introduction of compulsory education eventually led to the dissolution of the ''cheder'' system, at least in Germanophone countries, although it continued to exist in Eastern Europe until as recently as
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...
.


Today

In more Modern Orthodox Jewish communities, sometimes where the family are not necessarily strict about their Jewish observance, ''chadarim'' (plural of cheder) are sometimes attended outside normal school hours. There, Jewish children attending non-Jewish schools can pick up some rudimentary knowledge of the Jewish religion and traditions, learn how to read Hebrew and understand some basic Hebrew vocabulary. In these communities, regular attendance at cheder is often a prerequisite for boys being allowed to read a portion from the Torah for their bar-mitzva, and for girls to participate in a bat-mitzva ceremony that these communities might arrange for them. Conservative and Reform Jewish communities, which are generally secular and assimilated, might have a similar program, but are more relaxed with regards to what they teach. In more insular Orthodox Jewish communities, ''cheder'' is a term used to mean a private primary day school where the emphasis is placed on religious study and a secondary emphasis is placed on secular knowledge which is also taught. These are increasingly popular within
Haredi Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
communities in Europe and America where a core curriculum is obligatory, so even Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) schools tend to offer a fairly broad if superficial secular education. In
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, where there is no legal core-curriculum, the distinction between school and ''cheder'' is rarely made, as most Haredi schools teach only a very rudimentary level of secular knowledge.


See also

*
Talmud Torah Talmud Torah ( he, תלמוד תורה, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary edu ...
{{Authority control Jewish schools Hebrew words and phrases