Too many ‘modernists’ make the assumption that because BOOKS were in short supply back in the day, that READING was also.
It was mentioned that Jesus wrote in the sand.
WHY? if none could read?
Many Jewish men knew how to read, if only the Torah, because they would have had to do so in order to go through the rituals of becoming a man in the religion.
Books were in short supply, so they were carefully stored and shared.
Each “house of study” (synagogue) had its own copies of the holy writings. Adult believers would go there to ask for a copy of the stored scrolls to study and discuss.