We visited the kindergarten, where the children were in the midst of reciting the Shema. The little girls wore traditional headscarves, like those worn by married women, and the boys donned miniature tallitot, just like their fathers. In the elementary school, children were studying the Torah—the Five Books of Moses—and translating it from Hebrew into Arabic, using the 10th-century translation of Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, known as the Tafsir.
At the boys’ high school, students were engaged in Talmud study, following the unique Djerban tradition. They first explored the Talmudic texts without commentaries, developing and articulating their own understanding of the ideas, which they then presented and debated with their teacher. Only after this process would they consult the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafot. They also devoted time each day to the study of responsa literature, gaining practical knowledge of Jewish law and developing familiarity with traditional rabbinic questions and answers. Although the girls' school was on vacation during our visit, we toured their beautiful new building. The interior—with its posters and decorations—reminded me of the Bais Yaakov girls’ high school in Passaic, where I live, except that the primary languages were Arabic and French.
