Hebrew School

An educational program established in Kirtland, Ohio, in January 1836 for the study of the Hebrew language. On 4 January 1836, JS organized the school and served as its temporary instructor for three weeks. A committee composed of JS, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, and Oliver Cowdery oversaw the administration of the school. Classes were usually held in the westernmost room in the third, or attic, story of the House of the Lord in Kirtland. On 26 January 1836, Joshua Seixas, a noted Hebrew scholar, began instructing students at the school; by 4 February, he was teaching four classes to accommodate the number of interested students. Class members used textbooks and other study materials, including a publication the school had printed using excerpts from Seixas’s own grammar book. Classes apparently ended on 29 March, though Seixas may have conducted an additional term of the Hebrew School in Kirtland in summer 1836.