Aleph-Bet learning tablet (heder) from Eastern Europe

This didactic tablet presents the Hebrew alphabet (aleph-bet) and was used to introduce young children to reading in the heder, the traditional elementary school of Eastern Europe. Learning the letters constituted the first step of religious education, often surrounded by rituals designed to make study appealing to the child. This type of tablet combines the letters of the alphabet, elementary prayers, and sometimes edifying images or blessings. A witness to traditional Jewish pedagogy, it documents the transmission of the sacred language to new generations in the Ashkenazic world.