Education of Jews in Latvia before 1918
The beginnings of secular education in the territory of Latvia. Jewish secular general education emerged as a result of the Jewish Enlightenment movement (Haskalah), which arose in Western Europe in the mid-eighteenth century. As early as 1824–1826, a private Jewish school was operating in Jelgava. In Riga, two private boys’ schools were functioning in 1835. In one, under the direction of Ya. Shay, 16 children from well-to-do families studied; in the other, under the headmaster A. Fridman, 27 pupils from poor families were educated. Instruction was conducted in ancient Hebrew (Ivrit). Owing to financial difficulties, these schools existed only briefly.
A school in Riga under the leadership of M. Lilienthal, a Haskalah figure and educator invited from Germany, opened in mid-January 1840. It had only 37 pupils. In 1858, the Jewish community of Riga purchased a three-storey stone building at 141 Romanov Street (Lāčplēša Street) for the school. As stipulated in the statutes, for almost a quarter of a century the institution was headed by foreign (German) Jews holding doctoral degrees. The first director of local origin appeared only in 1864: the educator and poet V. Kaplan. From that time, the school began to admit children not only from Riga.
Jewish schools were established not only in the capital. In 1850, in Mitau (Jelgava), R. Wunderbar opened a girls’ school in which instruction was conducted in Russian. In the same year, a state Jewish school was opened in Jēkabpils. In 1865, in Rēzekne, the teacher L. Pozin opened a private school, and by 1899 the town already had two private schools and a Talmud-Torah. In 1879–1886, a Jewish school operated in Grobiņa, teaching Talmud, languages, mathematics, and physical education. At the end of the nineteenth century, there were two Jewish boys’ schools in Aizpute. There, secular subjects and Hebrew were also taught at the Talmud-Torah. In 1901, a private boys’ school was operating in Valdemārpils, and so on.
The education of girls in Riga began only in 1877, when, at the insistence of V. Kaplan, they began to be admitted to the school he headed. In 1878, domestic science circles were opened for girls from poor families, where they were taught literacy, sewing, and cookery.
After the death of V. Kaplan in 1887, ?. Arensberg became director of the Jewish school. By that time, the school had about 500 pupils taught by 10 teachers.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of Jewish educational institutions had increased. Thus, there were nine schools in Vidzeme. In a number of localities with Jewish populations, children attended schools maintained by the communities and cheders. In the latter, in addition to religious subjects, Yiddish, Russian, and arithmetic were taught. In 1916, 57 secular educational institutions and 15 cheders were operating in Vidzeme Governorate. In the 1910/1911 academic year, 10 educational institutions were operating in Latgale, in Daugavpils (with its district), Rēzekne (with its district), and Ludza. At the beginning of 1918, in Riga and Vidzeme there were 612 pupils in Jewish schools (10.6% of all pupils), and 73 Jews in secondary schools (6.4%).
Jewish youth also aspired to higher education. Many of them (200 people — 25% of all students) studied at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, where until 1885 there was no quota limiting Jewish enrolment.
There were also Jews in Latvia who sought to adapt to life through assimilation. With their support, the German gymnasium Berzen Commercial School was built in Riga. As a sign of gratitude, the façade of the building was decorated with six-pointed stars.
Jewish youth also studied in Russian schools and in educational institutions with other languages of instruction.
A major role in the dissemination of Haskalah ideas and in the development of Jewish culture and education in Latvia was played by the establishment in 1898, on the initiative of Professor P. Mintz and L. Shalit, of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge “Mefitsei Haskalah”. In particular, this organisation was at the origins of the Jewish vocational school in Riga, founded in the early 1900s.