Talmud Torah

Seph. /tahl moohd" taw rddah"/; Ashk. /tahl"mood toh"rddeuh, -meuhd/; Eng. /tahl"meuhd tawr"euh, tohr"euh, tal"-/, Hebrew.

1. (in Europe) a community-supported Jewish elementary school for teaching children Hebrew, Bible, and the fundamentals of Judaism.

2. (in the U.S.) a Jewish religious school for children, holding classes at the end of the secular school day.

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Religious study of the Torah in search of the God who makes himself known in that work.

It focuses on learning God's message for contemporary times through inquiry into the books of Hebrew scripture or those that record the original oral Torah of Sinai, the Mishna, Midrash, and Talmuds. Talmud Torah is also the name given to an elementary school under Jewish auspices that places special emphasis on religious education.

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▪ Judaism

      (Hebrew: Study of the Torah), since late medieval and early modern times, an elementary school under Jewish auspices that places special emphasis on religious education. Some Talmud Torahs concentrate on Talmudic studies as a preparation for entrance into a yeshiva (school of higher rabbinic learning), but others have broadened their curricula to provide a more general education in an atmosphere that is still predominantly religious.

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