Where do we draw the line between teaching Hebrew language and teaching content IN the Hebrew language?
For many legacy Jewish day schools, there is a long, proud history of teaching Judaic Studies in Hebrew – Ivrit B’Ivrit. Jewish schools aspire for students to gain fluency in Hebrew, but not at the expense of core subjects such as science, math, and history, which are taught in English or the home language of the country. And so, as a way of increasing exposure to Hebrew language the subjects that have traditionally been taught B’Ivrit have been in Judaic Studies. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer schools can still claim to teach Ivrit B’Ivrit.
Over the decades, it has been observed that fewer and fewer teachers are entering the profession who are capable of teaching both high level Judaic Studies AND Ivrit. This erosion has been slow but steady. Gap year yeshivas and midrashas have de-emphasized Hebrew as the spoken language of instruction, and Hebrew language requirements have been cut or scaled back at schools of higher education. On the flip side, Limudei Kodesh in Israeli secular public schools has lost its luster, so younger, native Hebrew-speaking teachers often lack the deep content knowledge to teach Judaic Studies. As a result, over time, it has become the norm that in Judaic Studies classes, the texts studied are in Hebrew (and Aramaic) but the teachers’ lessons and interactive conversations are conducted in English.
What would it look like to explore this conundrum with Hebrew teachers and Jewish Studies teachers together? How can day schools support their Judaic Studies faculty so that more instruction can be delivered in Hebrew, to students from a wide range of Hebrew language backgrounds? Recently Hebrew at the Center, in collaboration with the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in New Jersey, explored ways of bridging the gap and moving the language of instruction in middle school Judaic Studies classes back to Hebrew.
On September 25, 2024, Hebrew at the Center offered an experimental joint workshop for the Hebrew and Jewish Studies teachers at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy called “Making Sacred Texts Accessible to All Learners – B’Ivrit.” Led by Dr. Esty Gross, Chief of Staff and Director of Education at Hebrew at the Center, and designed in collaboration with Mrs. Debbie Finkelstein, Kushner’s Dean of Faculty and Instruction, this workshop was offered via Zoom for all Hebrew AND Jewish Studies teachers at Kushner Academy. The workshop was also opened for teachers in grades 5-8 from other yeshivot and day schools. The text selected by Kushner was from Sefer Shemot, Parashat Mishpatim, 12:1-12, some of the most challenging verses that Judaic studies teachers and students grapple with.
Dr. Gross led the workshop in Hebrew and shared extensive, written lesson plans and supplemental materials, also in Hebrew. While most of Kushner’s Jewish Studies teachers were perfectly comfortable listening to and following the lesson in Hebrew, a few struggled to quickly read through the materials in Hebrew in the limited time allotted. Members of the Hebrew department jumped in to help their colleagues from the Judaic Studies department. According to Debbie, “this workshop was wonderful. Dr. Gross was so exquisitely prepared and built this workshop around a text our teachers and students struggle with. She opened the door for more cross-department collaboration in the future, and the teachers are now much more motivated to co-plan.”
When asked what Kushner’s Hebrew language teachers got out of this legal, TaNaCH-based workshop, Debbie responded, “The Hebrew teachers saw themselves as an important resource, and this was very validating. As a faculty, we felt like we were speaking the same language, and this time, that language was Hebrew.”
Hebrew at the Center thanks the Judaic and Hebrew Studies faculty from the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy for being our thought partners on this project. We welcome future collaborations with Yeshivot and day schools as we advocate for Hebrew as a more prominent and intentional feature of Jewish life.
