The designation Freies Jüdisches Lehrhaus (Free Jewish House of Study) was used by Franz Rosenzweig ([The] Star of Redemption) to label his conception of a Jewish adult education center. The expression alludes to the bet ha-midrash, the (usually affiliated with a synagogue) Lehrhaus (house of study), in which learners gather to study Midrashim – interpretative commentaries on the Torah, the doctrine revealed by God. For Rosenzweig, Lernen was not synonymous with study in the sense of academic secular knowledge; it was rather a communion, a religious act th…