Talmud Torah schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of parochial primary school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew, the Scriptures (especially the Pentateuch), and the Talmud (and Halakhah). This was meant to prepare them for Yeshiva or, particularly in the movement's modern form, for Jewish education at a high school level.