Hands up those of you who were taught your times tables by rote, reciting them over and over again in a dismal sing-song chorus at the prompting of a teacher who pointed them out on a chalked-up blackboard. I certainly was, and to this day I can instantly tell you that seven eights are 56 and eight eights are 64, though I am not sure whether those classroom exercises helped or hindered my subsequent less than average grasp of mathematics.

The human brain soaks up information in two different ways. One is broadly based and calls for an emotional awareness of the wider context, including how other people think. The other is more narrow (learning the times tables is an example) and requires the person to focus on a specific task. Repetition of old facts imprints new information on the memory, to be indexed for future reference.

Turning now to repetition as a way of instilling religious belief in children, I can remember Cheder teachers compelling........

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