Learning by Heart: Grace Aguilar’s Ideal Jewish Education

Abstract

Anglo-Jewish theologian Grace Aguilar (1816-47) is known for her affinity for Christianity and her universalist approach to the Bible, leading scholars to assert that her works elide doctrinal differences between Judaism and Christianity. But in response to the formation of missionary groups that sought to convert Jews to Christianity, Aguilar produced several educational tracts, The Spirit of Judaism (1842), The Perez Family (1843), The Women of Israel (1845), and The Jewish Faith (1846). Conversion societies targeted Jewish women and children, those Jews who were most likely to be unschooled in religious texts and traditions, and so Aguilar also reached out to women as the most receptive to her message. Because the commandment of Torah study is incumbent on men only, formal orthodox Jewish educational frameworks for girls were a rarity as late as the early twentieth century. Aguilar saw this gap in education as an opportunity to create new leadership roles for women and new educational experiences for girls. In her nonfiction prose, she argues that the cornerstone of Jewish education should be the Bible, rather than the Talmud or other rabbinical texts, as is customary, because the Bible is Judaism’s most universally accessible book. As a result, Aguilar’s work on the Bible helped to launch women’s leadership in vernacular, Bible-centered, and faith-centered public education for Jewish youth. This article argues that she adopted a Christian vernacular in an effort to distinguish Judaism from Christianity, and it shows how each of Aguilar’s educational tracts communicates the importance of education to Jewish continuity.