Item Description:

Torah study is not just our greatest mitzvah; it is the key to our survival as a people. Education is therefore a constant in our history, though educational methods varied dramatically from generation to generation. Rabbi Wein leads us through the centuries, from the times of the Talmud to our modern day. By showing all the effort and sacrifice that has gone into preserving the Jewish tradition, this series proves that we can never take our day schools for granted.

Individual lectures:

Ancient Times- Schools as we know them did not exist in Talmudic times, but the Talmud itself is a testament of how Jewish scholarship reigned supreme. Rabbi Wein describes not only the awesome achievements of our Rabbis, but the education of little children in that spiritually-charged age. With the details that make history more human, Rabbi Wein will spark your imagination to picture life and learning during and immediately after the Bais Ha Mikdash.

Medieval Times - Between the Crusades, pogroms, and the Spanish Inquisition, the Middle Ages are among the bloodiest eras in Jewish history, but Torah education persevered in spite of it all. Rabbi Wein depicts education on both sides of the Diaspora – amongst the Sephardim and the Ashkenazim – showing the distinct methods that produced the Torah giants whose work has transcended time.

Modern Times - Just as the Industrial Revolution thrust the world into the modern era, Jewish education in the early 19th century faced revolutions of its own. The first was the rise of the yeshiva movement with the birth of Volozhin, and an even greater departure came a few decades later – with the Bais Yaakov movement’s education of girls. Rabbi Wein depicts both movements and the challenges they faced, and then brings us to our current times to round out this series with the familiar feeling of home.