Jesus Was a Teenage Rebel And This is How I Know

– #1 – Bet Sefer –

The First school was called Bet Sefer which means house of the book – you went seven days a week for 5 years (in the mornings only) and learned to read and memorized Torah (that’s our Old Testament – except for Song of Songs and David and Bethsheba…) No Questions Allowed!

– #2 – Bet Talmud –

The Second school was called Bet Talmud which means house of learning – at this point you went morning and evening, 7 days a week for another 5 years. And here you memorized all the previous interpretations of Torah (which is a collection of writings called the Talmud). Still you couldn’t discuss anything or ask questions. You would be about half way through this school when you had your bar mitzvah (turning 13). This was where almost everyone stopped – memorize the Torah and the Talmud, and then if you didn’t really have any new ideas or interpretations of Torah you would quit school and continue to learn a trade from your father.

– #3 – Bet Midrash –

The Third school was called Bet Midrash which was reserved for the really gifted. It was at this point that you could finally discuss and argue and interpret.  Can you imagine that after 10 years of memorizing without speaking, some may speak with some passion when they are finally able to?

So the normal pattern for raising your kids in first century Palestine was to send them to school when they were between 5-7. Then have a bar or bat mitzvah the Saturday before their 13th birthday. (Which welcomed them as adults into Jewish society). Then teach the boys a trade at their father’s side and the girls all of the home skills of cooking and sewing and child-rearing.  And then get them married off by age 18. Now this is important: in Jewish culture – if you were not married by age 20 at the latest, not only were your parents and family upset, but God Himself was very angry with you!