One hour a day was devoted to penmanship and a sorry smattering
of Russian, the cost of tuition and writing-materials being paid by
a "modern" philanthropist

I was admitted to that seminary at the age of thirteen. As my home
was in the city, I neither slept in the classroom nor "ate days."
The lectures lasted only two hours a day, but then there was plenty
to do, studying them and reviewing previous work. This I did in
an old house of prayer where many other boys and men of all ages
pursued similar occupations. It was known as the Preacher's
Synagogue, and was famed for the large number of noted scholars
who had passed their young days reading Talmud in it.

The Talmud is a voluminous work of about twenty ponderous
tomes. To read these books, to drink deep of their sacred wisdom,
is accounted one of the greatest "good deeds" in the life of a Jew.
It is, however, as much a source of intellectual interest as an act of
piety. If it be true that our people represent a high percentage of
mental vigor, the distinction is probably due, in some measure, to
the extremely important part which Talmud studies have played in
the spiritual life of the race

A Talmudic education was until recent years practically the only
kind of education a Jewish boy of old-fashioned parents received.
I spent seven years at it, not counting the several years of Talmud
which I had had at the various cheders

What is the Talmud? The bulk of it is taken up with debates of
ancient rabbis. It is primarily concerned with questions of