Boys strapping on phylacteries; Jews Free School; Stepney; London; 1908. A class of boys wearing caps sit at their desks with phylacteries (a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah; which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers). The Jews Free School opened as a Talmud Torah at the Great Synagogue in 1732. Originally a charity school for fifteen poor orphan boys it grew to become the largest Jewish School in Britain. Between 1880 and 1890 one third of all Anglo-Jewish children were educated there. The school is now called the JFS Comprehensive