The Jewish
obsession with education is well known. Although it is true that when a child
graduates from college, it gives the parents tremendous joy and thereby fulfills one of
the "Big Ten" -- "Honor your father and mother" -- there's a deeper
reason for Jewish hyper-achievement in education. The drive to learn is deeply ingrained
within us.
From our very beginnings as a
people, we have understood that we have a special responsibility in the world, which
empowers us to achieve. To gain knowledge and really take responsibility, a Jew has to be
literate.
The Jewish Concept of Education
The tremendous emphasis that Judaism places on education is
powerfully stated by Maimonides:
"Appoint
teachers for children in every country, province and city. In any city that does not have
a school excommunicate the people of the city until they get teachers for the children. If
they don't, destroy that city because the
world exists only because of the breath of children studying."MISHNA TORAH,
"The Laws of Learning Torah" 2:1 in Quote 22
That's an incredible statement. Destroy the cities if they don't get teachers for the
children? Can you imagine if the gentile world had such a law 1,000 years ago in Europe?
Interestingly, no Jewish city was ever destroyed in Jewish history because there was never
a place lacking schools, even when we lived in the Diaspora. The French medieval monk,
Peter Abelard (1079-1142), wrote about Jewish education:
"A Jew, however
poor, even if he had ten sons, would put them all to letters, not for gain as the
Christians do, but for understanding of G-d’s law. And not only his sons but his
daughters."
Peter Abelard, 1079-1142. Commentary on
Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. ch.6; c.
ELLIS ISLAND
What a different attitude we had towards education than the rest of the world. This commitment
to literacy is consistent throughout Jewish history. In 1910, the U.S. Immigration Commission carried out a study on literacy
among new immigrants to America. They discovered that the rate of literacy among the new
Jewish arrivals from Eastern Europe was 74%, significantly higher than the 60% overall
figure in the U.S. 74% may sound high by non-Jewish standards, but keep in mind that these
Jews, our great-grandparents, were coming from one of the poorest and most oppressed Jewish communities in the world! In
better circumstances, the rate would probably have approached 100%.
Of course, once we were allowed free access to education, we really took off. Although
Jews in the U.S. constitute less than 2.5% of the population, they comprise about 25% of
both the student body and faculty of the Ivy League schools.
In both theory and practice, Jews have always valued education and made
it a top community priority.
The Jewish
obsession with education is well known. Although it is true that when a child
graduates from college, it gives the parents tremendous joy and thereby fulfills one of
the "Big Ten" -- "Honor your father and mother" -- there's a deeper
reason for Jewish hyper-achievement in education. The drive to learn is deeply ingrained
within us. 
beginnings as a
people, we have understood that we have a special responsibility in the world, which
empowers us to achieve. To gain knowledge and really take responsibility, a Jew has to be
literate.
"Appoint
teachers for children in every country, province and city. In any city that does not have
a school excommunicate the people of the city until they get teachers for the children. If
they don't, destroy that city because the
world exists only because of the breath of children studying."MISHNA TORAH,
"The Laws of Learning Torah" 2:1 in Quote 22
"A Jew, however
poor, even if he had ten sons, would put them all to letters, not for gain as the
Christians do, but for understanding of G-d’s law. And not only his sons but his
daughters." 
attitude we had towards education than the rest of the world. This commitment
to literacy is consistent throughout Jewish history. 
In 1910, the U.S. Immigration Commission carried out a study on literacy
among new immigrants to America. They discovered that the rate of literacy among the new
Jewish arrivals from Eastern Europe was 74%, significantly higher than the 60% overall
figure in the U.S. 74% may sound high by non-Jewish standards, but keep in mind that these
Jews, our great-grandparents, were coming from one of the 
poorest and most oppressed Jewish communities in the world! In
better circumstances, the rate would probably have approached 100%.