Marijampolė Jewish Gymnasium

During the time of First Independent Republic of Lithuania the new modern Jewish educational system was developing. Alongside with traditional religious schools – cheder and yeshiva, where the children from religious families were learning, modern schools became more and more appealing. Tarbut, educational network concentrating on Zionism, traditional Jewish culture, and secular

education was founded in 1917, in Moscow and after WWI educational model integrating the Hebrew language spread in the countries of Eastern Europe (Poland, Latvia, Romania, etc).

Lithuania became the most important modern Hebrew language centre in Europe, there was a wide network of educational institutions with all the stages from kindergartens to gymnasiums and teacher training seminaries. The Hebrew language gymnasiums were the centrepiece of Tarbut ( Hebr. culture) educational network and Marijampolė Jewish gymnasium was among them. It was the first such gymnasium in Lithuania and a great example to other gymnasiums of this network. It was opened in February 18, 1919. Similar gymnasiums were opened in Virbalis and Vilkaviškis the same year. In 1920 such gymnasium was opened in Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania.

447 boys and girls took entrance examinations to Marijampolė Jewish gymnasium in 1919 but only 362 were enrolled. It is worth mentioning that this new Hebrew language school was attractive not only to Marijampolė Jewish families – around 40 percent of the children were from other Lithuanian communities and some of them from Poland, too. However, the premises of the gymnasium (now Kęstučio St. 49)  were not suitable as the corridors were not heated and  it had a small yard. Thus, with the aim to improve the students‘ life, the gymnasium was moved to more suitable premises in the same street ( Kęstučio St. 6) in 1919. The syllabus of Marijampolė Jewish gymnasium, as well as in other gymnasiums of Tarbut network, was focused on state-integrated programme and the ideology of Zionism. As the result, Lithuanian was also taught at the gymnasium.  Tarbut network gymnasiums had high requirements to teachers, often they were the graduates from European universities, a part of them were trained to work with children in the teacher training seminary,  founded by the network.

The Jewish families from Marijampolė following the traditions of Zionism or seeking better education for their children could educate their children in Tarbut gymnasiums from an early age at primary schools (opened in 1922), although it is likely that there also was a Tarbut kindergarden in Marijampolė, however, the most famous and widely-known is Marijampolė Jewish gymnasium.

Tarbut (Hebr. culture) – educational society, concentrating on Hebrew teaching, traditional Jewish culture and secular education which developed its  network in the interwar countries of Eastern Europe .

Cheder – a private first stage religious school for boys from the age of 3 (soon after they could take care of their own hygene). It‘s a religious school teaching Hebrew and religious texts. The students graduated from schools in their teenage years and more gifted or wealthy students could continue their studies in yeshiva.

Yeshiva – high standard school of religious studies for youngsters and men.

Zionism – explained in later texts