ABSTRACT
The Roman defeats of the Jews had a socially leveling effect. The rabbis, the intellectual aristocracy in Jewish society, were mostly themselves working-class poor. In their alliance with common workers, the rabbis obliterated class in educational matters. They aimed to make education at every level possible with a minimum of resources. The rabbis valued work and had uncommon sympathy with common workers. The Midrash treats God as the prototype not just of the teacher but also of the worker. Man should follow God, working six days and resting on the seventh. As God took pride in his work, so also man. The favorable view of labor was crucial in the growth of organized education: for even in an impoverished society poor youngsters faced with a life of manual labor would be able to study. Those with intellect were automatically among the elite, whom the wealthy were often eager to support (and in many cases bring into their families through marriage): this set a social pattern which survived to modern times.
