A Cheder is a traditional elementary school teaching the basics of Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 and the Hebrew language

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

.

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

Melamed

See also:Melamed Melamed, Melammed is a term which in Biblical times denoted a religious teacher or instructor in general , but which in the Talmudic period was applied especially to a teacher of children, and was almost invariably followed by the word "tinokot"...

, 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

Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...

 the day they turned three, boys typically entered cheder school around the age of 5. After learning to read Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, they would immediately begin studying the Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

, starting with the Vayikra

Vayikra

Vayikra is a Hebrew word, which is the first word of the book of Leviticus, the third book of the Torah . It means "And He called".When used as a noun, Vayikra might refer to:...

 and the five books of Moses. They would usually start learning Mishna at around 7 years of age and the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

 (Mishna, Gemara

Gemara

The Gemara is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah. After the Mishnah was published by Rabbi Judah the Prince The Gemara (also transliterated Gemora or, less commonly, Gemorra; from Aramaic גמרא gamar; literally, "[to] study" or "learning by...

, and additional commentaries) as soon they had mastered the Mishna. 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

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 or sofer

Sofer (scribe)

A Sofer, Sopher Sofer SeTaM, or Sofer ST"M is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Torah scrolls and other religious writings such as those used in Tefillin and Mezuzot.By simple definition, a sofer is a copyist, but in their religious role in Judaism they...

 had to continue their studies at the yeshivot (Talmud universities). Famous European yeshivot were located at Worms

Worms, Germany

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...

, Fürth

Fürth

The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....

 and Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, which was considered to be among the best. After many Jews had fled to eastern Europe to escape medieval pogrom

Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...

s connected with the Crusades 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

Orthodoxy

The word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...

 as well as by members of the more liberal haskala.

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, singer or even a gravedigger. It was also argued that some cheder teachers 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 Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

, criticized the system as a whole, claiming it resulted in linguistic and spacial 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

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

 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.

Today

In more secular and assimilated Jewish communities, cheders are sometimes attended outside normal school hours much like the Christian Sunday School. Here Jewish children attending non-Jewish schools can pick up some rudimentary knowledge of the Jewish religion and traditions.

In Orthodox Judaism, 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 communities in Europe and America where a core curriculum is obligatory, so even Orthodox schools tend to offer a fairly broad if superficial secular education.

In Israel, where there is no legal core-curriculum, the distinction between school and Cheder is rarely made, as most orthodox schools teach only a very rudimentary level of secular knowledge anyway.