Authoritative or authoritarian voices in traditional dyadic learning in Jewish institutions

Baruch Schwarz*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Yeshivas are the institutions of traditional learning in Jewish education. One of the most common practices in Yeshivas is the Chavruta learning - the dyadic learning of Talmudic texts by students with equal status. Talmudic texts are sources that contain highly critical written discussions among Sages (in which agreements are often not reached) and interpretations of these discussions. The discussions are very often about legal issues and have implications on the ways observant Jews should behave in their daily life. Learning in Yeshivas has been targeted in the past to elite adolescents and young students until the fifties of the 20th century. It has become a common practice among young believers of the general population of the orthodox Jewry since then. Rabbis in Yeshivas encourage autonomous Chavruta learning and the co-elaboration of interpretations stemming from dialectical processes through dyadic interactions. Yet control over the overt behaviors is strict. In this complex situation, Chavruta discussions blend dialogic, authoritative and authoritarian voices, and the frontier between monologic and dialogic discourse is difficult to draw. Authority is challenged as well as reinforced by the enactment of this practice. I will review nascent research on Yeshiva learning that shows that although the frames of Yeshiva learning in general are based on coercion, they leave considerable freedom for interpretation in Chavruta-dyadic learning. We also show that Yeshiva students are driven by an immersing motivation of the sense of the worthy which leaves to them autonomy in their learning. Relevance of these observations to liberal education is discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationActivities of Thinking in Social Spaces
PublisherNova Science Publishers, Inc.
Pages131-148
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9781631177743
ISBN (Print)9781631177637
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2014

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

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