Joodse traditie als permanent leren

166.

bezoek eraan. Hierover bestaan twee tradities, die van de Palestijnse en die van de Babylonische talmud:

'The Palestinian Talmud says of Simeon ben Shetah, who was president of the sanhedrin during the reign

of Alexander Jannaeus and Salome (103-76 B.C.E.)

'128 129

that he ordained "that children go to school" ' De Babylonische talmud bevat een andere en gedetailleerdere traditie:

'Rabbi Judah has told us in the name of Rab to wit: Verily the name of that man is to be blessed, Joshua ben Gamala, for but for him the Torah would have been forgotten from Israel. For at first if a child had a father, his father taught him, and if he had no father he did not learn at all ... . They then made an ordinance that teachers of children should be appointed in Jerusalem .... Even so, however, if a child had a father, the father would take him up to Jerusalem and have him taught there; and if not, he would not go up to learn there. They, therefore, ordained that teachers should be appointed in each prefecture, and that boys should enter school at the age of sixteen or seventeen. They did so; and if the teacher punished them, they used to rebel and leave the school. At length Joshua ben Gamala came and ordained that teachers of young children should be appointed in each district and each town and that children should enter school at the age of six or seven'.

Het is niet duidelijk of deze twee tradities elkaar tegenspreken of

aanvullen. Joshua ben Gamala leefde in de eerste eeuw van de ge~ 131

wone jaartelling , dus later dan Simeon ben Shetah. Behalve de hier genoemde twee tradities zijn er nog andere bronnen die erop wijzen

' . . . that in the first century not only a basic

knowledge of Jewish culture was widespread,

but also that schools existed in all towns and

132

even in the smaller settlements'.