2: Excerpt, "Elementary Introduction to the Scriptures, for the use of Hebrew Children" by Simha C. Peixotto, 1840.

2: Excerpt, "Elementary Introduction to the Scriptures, for the use of Hebrew Children" by Simha C. Peixotto, 1840.

Simha C. Peixotto, one of the founding educators at the Philadelphia Hebrew Sunday School, wrote her Elementary Introduction to the Scriptures for the Use of Hebrew Children in 1840 to serve as a textbook for the Sunday school in which she taught. This catechism drew heavily upon Protestant Sunday School texts and instructional models.

Suggested Activity: Invite your students to act out a classroom scene. One student should serve as teacher, standing in the front of the classroom. He or she should read the questions in the excerpt, and the students should respond in unison. Then, ask students to report back on the experience. What did they learn? How would such instruction support Jewish identity formation or religious knowledge? What might be the shortcomings of this style of teaching?

Source: Simha C. Peixotto, Elementary Introduction to the Scriptures for the Use of Hebrew Children. (Philadelphia: Parry & McMillan, 1840), 157.