This paper argues that, notwithstanding a few major exceptions, the modern commitment to studying educational thinking and practice in premodern Jewish societies has not been particularly intense, despite widespread agreement as to the importance of education in premodern Jewish life. Some suggestions for this lacuna are discussed in this article. In particular, it is urged that a major part of
... [Show full abstract] the problem lies in the definition of Jewish education and that—were definitions of Jewish education altered—a much wider swath of research would be seen to involve important aspects of the premodern Jewish educational enterprise.