Published: 25 January 2019
Last updated: 5 March 2024
IN 2014, KIM HYE-KYUNG found herself staring into an educational abyss. The mother of two lives in study-mad South Korea, a nation where parents fork over a combined $17 billion on private tutoring every year.
“I hated the idea of sending my children to private academies, where teachers cram information into young heads with no thought for nurturing creativity,” Kim Hye-kyung said.
Kim Hye-kyung was in this quandary when, by chance, she came across a book by a Korean author about what for her was a novel study method. It was chavruta, a method used by Talmud scholars in which pairs of students debate and ask one another questions based on ancient rabbinic texts.
“When I read about chavruta, I immediately felt an emotional connection,” Kim Hye-kyung said.
Most South Koreans have never met a Jew. Aside from a small Chabad house in this capital city and a few informal groups of (mostly secular) Jewish expats, South Korea’s Jewish community is virtually nonexistent.
FULL STORY Talmud-inspired learning craze sweeps South Korea (Times of Israel)
Photo: A South Korean woman and her child read Talmud-themed books at a Seoul bookstore. (Tim Alper/JTA)
