Methods Of Scripture Memorization Yesteryear The Early On Jews – Mnemonics

All of this intense mental activity inward straight contest alongside a cognitive mightiness to abstract; mayhap leaving these ancient people deficient inward or maybe fifty-fifty without whatsoever mightiness to abstract (scary!!!):

The Jews used mnemonic devices, or retentivity aids to assist them memorize Scripture.
With such a need on memory, in that place were ingenious retentivity devices together with aids invented to assist inward the memorization of the Torah together with oral law. One such assist was involving the whole trunk inward learning – it was thought that movement, or swaying, was a mechanical assist to memorizing. 

In the Palestinian Talmud, in that place are 2 stories that assist students holler upward the Aleph-Bet together with comprise moral didactics into learning the Hebrew consonant, “The cast of the letters, wherever possible, is used equally a mnemonic device to assist the children retain the appearance together with gild of the letters equally good equally to remind them of the moral message.” This technique volition reappear inward Medieval retentivity treatises which they called ‘visual alphabets’. 

One method utilized past times teachers was a arrangement of chanting or intonation to assist the students holler upward their verses called ‘Pisuk Ta’amim’, “The root of this arrangement is reported to acquire dorsum to real early on times together with its cognition was transmitted orally…The work of melody…served a twofold role – it appealed to the esthetic sense, making for a greater appreciation of the Bible together with it impressed to a greater extent than effectively the content upon the retentivity of the learner together with listener. 

The Rabbis besides attempted to arouse involvement inward the dependent area together with favored having students acquire together with study texts that they were interested inward – an involvement inward whatsoever dependent area helps retentivity retention equally volition hold upward discussed nether heading VII of this essay. 

 “People were advised that inward studying the Torah they should choose those topics that had a especial involvement for them, ‘that their optic desired.’  

It is pregnant that the optic is mentioned, for the Jews believed, equally did Aristotle, that retentivity resided inward the heart. 

 Such an thought was itself taken from Scripture. To reiterate Morris, comments, “‘Remembering’ or ‘recalling’, is inward the Bible oftentimes synonymous alongside ‘coming upward to’ or ‘putting into’ the heart. And conversely, to ‘forget’ or ‘be forgotten’ is equivalent to ‘departing’ or ‘removing’ from the heart.”

This "heart" thesis is rejected today equally the retentivity is viewed equally beingness inward the encephalon inward the head...

In whatsoever case, a lot of elbow grease hither inward developing techniques to hit rote memorization mayhap at the expense of the person's mightiness of abstraction...