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A Cheder (alternatively, Cheider, in Hebrew חדר, meaning "room") is a traditional elementary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language.

A medieval cheder in Germany

Cheders were widely spread in Europe before the end of the 18th century. Lessons took place at the teacher's house, who was paid for by the Jewish community or by a group of parents. Normally, only boys would attend classes — girls were educated by their mothers in their homes. Boys of different ages were taught in a single group.

Boys entered cheder school at the age of about 5 years. After learning the Hebrew alphabet and how to read Hebrew (the common language of northern European Jews since the Middle Ages had been Yiddish), they began studying the Torah, starting with the Vayikra and the Talmud (Mishna, Gemara, and additional commentaries). Reading out loudly to each other and learning by heart were the main techniques of learning. At the age of 13 or 14, the end of a boy's education at the cheder would be marked by his bar mitzvah.

Those who wanted to go on to become a rabbi or sofer had to continue their studies at the yeshivot (Talmud universities). Famous European yeshivoth were located at Worms, Fürth and Prague, which was considered to be among the best. After many Jews had fled to eastern Europe to escape medieval pogroms connected with the Crusades of that time, the intellectual centre of European Judaism moved with them and remained there for centuries.

Towards the end of the 18th century, the cheder system became a target of critique by members of Jewish orthodoxy as well as by members of the more liberal haskala.

Orthodox critics argued that teachers were not sufficiently qualified. At that time, cheder teachers were paid so badly that at least those living in small villages would often be butchers, singers or even gravediggers to earn their living so working as a teacher was often only an avocation to them. Often, cheder teachers would let pupils advance to the next level of learning too early because advanced pupils had to pay more money for lessons.

An English cheder dressed up for Purim.

Haskala critics, committed to the ideals of the Enlightment, criticized the system as a whole, claiming it resulted in linguistic and spacial isolation and therefore preventing integration and emancipation of Jews. They proposed additional lessons in the language of the country and a more secular and vocational education. These ideas were put into practice since the end of the 18th century by German Jews, who founded Reform schools or Freischulen ("free schools"). This and the introduction of compulsory educating eventually led to the dissolution of the cheder system, at least in Germanophone countries, although it continued to exist in eastern europe as long as until the Holocaust.

In Western countries, cheders are sometimes attended outside normal school hours while others particularly by Orthodox Judaism operate as full-time schools. In Israel, they operate as full-time schools.

• Melamed