New Britain herald., 1919-06-30

of the Hebrews, namely Abraham. The greatest teacher of the nation
 was their brilliant leader Moses our Teacher" The founder of prophc ct- cal schools was Samuel tho Seer" The priests in the temple were teach orS. During the exile of E;a bNlon, the Hebrews became very ncgIectful of the education of their youth. The law was not observed. the "holE tonguc' was to, a great extent for
 :-Ottcn, and there was even much am&l-aInatiOn with heather nations, "thCir children. naturally spoke half in the speech of AShdod, and could not speak in the JCWs' language" With the return Of the Jews to their own country, Ezra the priest, the rc&torCr of the law, a5 he is called
 opened golden page in their in tcllcctual history. He gathered around him those who were skilled in the law, and with their assistance trained a number of public teachers. Rabbi simon bon -ShCtaCh introduced Su- pcrior schools into every large town of the holy land and ordained that every child from the age of sixteen should visit them. The high priest Joshua ben Gamla founded public schools for children six and seven years Of age in all cities Of Palestine One teacher was employed for every twenty-five children. The schools, that bore the namC ".\SchcOlS," were supported by the public revenues. It vas forbidden to live in a city where there WaH no school Children werc@ not allowed to go to school from one city to another. schools had to be established by the community of every city and village. Schools must neither be established in the most dcn&cly crowded parts of tho town, nor near a river which had to he crossed by an insecure bridge, so as not to cndangCr tho health and lives of the children. Tho proper school age was six years. It was a compulsory cd ucational system. The ~n1INbcr of schools now increased and noNrishcd throuehout the length and brcaAth of the land tho Ta mud states That tnerc were 400 elementary schools in Be thar, each having 100 teachers with 100 children each, and there were 1000 pupils in tho house of Rabbon Gamalicl who were instructed in the Torah and in the Greek.
 Care in Books.
 Great care was taken that the books from which instruction was impartcd should be correctly Written, and that the lessons taught should be in harmony with the capac and ;nClinations of the children, practical, fcw at q time, but wcichty. The par Cnts, mother and father. never ceased to watch that their children should be in the class ut the proper time We arc told in the Talmud that Ra bb hal-ltun@ never partOOk of his breakfast till he had taken his son to school. It was also the duty of the father to let his son learn a trade. tand to teach him swimmnc) and he who failed to do so was said to he virtually teaching his son to steal. k. GamalicI declares "Lcarninc unHccompanicd by trade ends in nothing and leads 10 sin" Rabbi Judah ben 1lai, who was called "the Wisc," the first orator" and who had q trade. used 10 say, 'Lahor honors the laborcr." R. Is- moCl tho great astronomer. was a nocdlc-maller. R. Jose ben C'hai- aphta was tanner. F. Jochanan was shoemaker. I;. Simon was a weaver and R. Joseph a carpenter.
 "Thc teacher, according to Maim- onidos, sat at the head and inc pupils surrounded him, as thc crown the head, so that everyone could see the teachers and hear his words. The teacher did not sit on a chair while the pupils sat on the ground but all either sat on chairs or on the ground" No unmarried person could teach. and no pcdant could teach The pupil was obliged to respect and honor the teacher more than his own father and to entertain for him 2 warmer at- tachr1 ent and 60 was the teacher tc love and respect his pupil. The teach CT was, Foth by word and example,