This article investigates the genesis of a new model of religious education in the history of Jews using as an example Jews in Galicia during its autonomous period (1867–1918). The multifaceted and complex process of shaping instruction in Jewish religion in public schools against the background of sociocultural changes in Galicia in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century is presented. The description of this process was based on hitherto unknown printed sources and archive records.