In Biblical times, could ordinary Jews read and write?
There's not much detail in the sources about instruction in reading
and writing in Biblical times. It's possible that in the average
home, instruction was oral. But an interesting piece of evidence
for widespread literacy is the story in Judges 8:14, where Gideon
captured a young man who was able to write out a list of the names
of the 77 leaders of his town. Some further material can be found
in the early sections of the article EDUCATION (Jewish) in the
Encyclopedia Judaica.
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