HI. From Simon hkn-Shbtacii (c. b.c. 75) to
THE END OF THK JEWI.SH STATE (A.D. 70).— Just
as the synagogue was the novel feature of the preceding period from the educational point of view, so is the elementary school the feature of this third period. Such, at least, is the tradition preserved in the so-called Talmud of Jerusalem. In a pas.sa"e comintmorating the merits of the famous scribe and leader of the Phari.see.s, Simon ben-Shetach (or Shatach),* brother of ([iieen Alex- andra, we read that three additions were made by him to the statute-book, so to say, the second of which runs thus —
-i!:d.-t n-a'j i-^Sin nipu-ri.T rn'e* ' that the children shall attend the elementary school ' (Tnlm. .ler. Kethuboth, viii. 11, p. 326; see the whole passage in Derenbourg, op. cit. p. 108). The words quoted, it will be seen, are not altogether free from am- biguity. They may also be interpreted to mean that attendance on schools already existing was henceforth to bo compulsory. In view of wluit was said above regarding tne spread of Greek ideas in pre-MacciUja!an days, it is dilHcult to believe that schools preparatory to the more ad- vanced instruction in the scribal college (.see below) were not to be found — at least in .lerusaleni. One can hardly escape the conviction that the erection of the Greek gymnasium at Jerusalem (1 Mac 1", cf. 2 Mac 4'"'-) was not the lirst step, but the last, in the assimilation of Jewish and Greek eilucation. Be this as it may, there is no good reason for rejecting the tradition reganling Simon ben-Shetach's eilorts on behalf of popular educa- tion. All that we know regarding the predomi- nant inlluenco of the scribes in the reign of Alex- andra (B.C. 78-69) prepares us for more aggressive measures for the extension of their priMeijiles among the people. According to unanimous tra- dition, the elementary school (icr.T n'S ' house of the book,' see below) was always in intimate con- nexion with the .synagogue. Either the synagogue jiroper — in this period to be found in every com- si<lerable village in the land — Wius used for this [mrpose (Liiw, Div Lcben.s-n/tcr in jiid. Literatur, u. 287, where the rcH". are to licrarhnth, \Tn, Titnvitli, 2:iA, Kiddn.ihin, .SOn), or a room in the same builil- ing. The school might also be held in the teacher's house (Hamburger).
liy all writers on Jewi.sh education it is stated
* See .Sohiirer. II.I P. index ; Dcrenbourc, l\>tmi mr riiixtoirt df la PaUntiiie. pp. tWV-lU, and Ihu Jei^iah hiiilorians Orut^ llerzfeld, el<;.
650
EDUCATION
EDUCATION
that the gynagoKue officer (njjsn jin) — the minister (i>in)p^rTjs) of Lk 4" — was the teacher of the syna"OOTie school. This uniform tradition seema founded on a precept regarding Sabbatli observ- ance in the Mishna treatise of that name, where, even on the sacred day, 'the [iri (^azzan) is allowed to look on where the children are reading, but he may not read himself {Shahbath, i. 3). Now it will be observed that the proper title of the synagogue official, as given above, is not found here — a fact hitherto overlooked. For [in is a word of general application, meaning ' overseer,' ' in- spector,' or the like, and its exact significance has to be decided by the context (see the Lexx. of Buxtorf, Levy, and Jastrow). In the passage quoted the context requires us to render 'over- seer' or 'master (of the school).' This rendering is supported by a passage in the treatise Sota (ix. 15), wnere R. Eliezer says : ' Since the destruction of the temple the sage (k-cdh) has become like the scribe (k'tsd), and the scribe like the Hazzan (N:>n), and the ^azzan like the uneducated man.' Here we have evidently the hierarchy of the teaching profession, and it may fairly be assumed that they all belong to the ranks of those who, in the NT, are kno\vn as po/ioSiSdaKaXoi, ' doctors of the law ' (Lk S'"), i.e. the scribes. Now this passage of St. Luke (cf. Mt 9*) is of the utmost importance, as showing that these doctors or teachers were to be found in 'every village (kw/";) of Galilee and Judaea.' It is absurd to suppose — even granting the hyperbolic nature of the evangelist s state- ment— that the higher colleges, where alone the scribes are usually supposed to have taught, were to be found in such numbers througliout the country. But there would, at this time, be an elementary school wherever there was a sj'nagogue. We conclude, therefore, that teachers of all grades were members of tlie powerful guild of the scribes (o! ypafjLtiaTeU, cf. ypaixijanarfi^, 'a schoolmaster'). In the Aramaic of the period trite no doubt already meant ' teacher ' in general, since we find ni2d tvi = ' school' (see the Lexx., and cf. Targum on 1 Ch 25*, where ' the teacher as the scholar ' is rendered KToVn av KiDD). It follows, therefore, that the Hazzdn or master, who conducted the elementary school, was an official of a higher social grade than the ' Hazzan of the synagogue,' who had to perform such menial offices as the wliippiug of criminals (Makkoth, iu. 12).
The most usual form of address to a teacher was Rabbi ('ST ' my master,' lit. ' my great one '), but it ' does not seem to have been used as a title [e.g. Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Akiba, etc.] till after the time of Christ ' (Schiirer). In the N'T our Lord is addressed by His disciples as jiafi^el [Im^^ovuel), xupie, StSi(TKa\(, and — in Lk only — as ^irio-rdra.