that the pupils are properly taught. (2) No melamed may teach the Pentateuch except with the translation "Be'er Mosheh" (Judæo-German transl. by Moses b. Issachar, Prague, 1605), "which is in our vernacular"; for the advanced pupils he shall use no other than the Rashi commentary. (3) A melamed in the primary class shall teach not more than twenty-five pupils and shall have two assistants. (4) One melamed shall not compete with another during the term of his engagement, and shall not seek to obtain a pupil in charge of another teacher, even at the expiration of the term, unless the father or the guardian of the pupil desires to make a change. (5) The members of the Ḥebra Talmud Torah shall hire a competent and God-fearing melamed, with an assistant, for poor and orphaned boys at the bet ha-midrash. (6) The melamed and assistant shall teach pupils the Hebrew alphabet (with the vowels), the Siddur, the Pentateuch (with the "Be'er Mosheh" translation), the Rashi commentary, the order of the prayers, etiquette, and good behavior—every boy according to his grade and intelligence; also reading and writing in the vernacular. The more advanced shall be taught Hebrew grammar and arithmetic; those of the highest grade shall study Talmud with Rashi and Tosafot. (7) Boys near the age of thirteen shall learn the regulations regarding tefillin. (8) At the age of fourteen a boy who is incapable of learning Talmud shall be taught a trade or become a servant in a household. Curriculum The Sephardim are said to have conducted their Talmud Torah schools more methodically than the Ashkenazim, particularly in Europe. The one in Amsterdam was highly praised by Shabbethai Horowitz ("Wawe ha-'Ammudim," p. 9b, appended to "Shelah", Amsterdam, 1698). Shabbethai Bass, in the introduction to his "Sifte Yeshanim" (p. 8a, ib. 1680), describes this Talmud Torah and wishes it might serve as a model for other schools: In Jewish communities around the world Germany The Talmud Torah at Nikolsburg, Moravia, from 1724 to 1744, gave poor boys an education equal to that which was offered their more fortunate companions. The studies consisted of Siddur, Chumash (Pentateuch), and Talmud (Moritz Güdemann, Quellenschriften zur Gesch. des Unterrichts und der Erziehung bei den Deutschen Juden, p. 275). The schools in eastern Europe retained the ancient type and methods of the Ashkenazic schools up to the middle of the nineteenth century, when a movement for