This article originally appeared in Tradition Volume 19 #4, 1981. Reprinted here with permission. If being Mayor of New York is the second toughest job in America, teaching Talmud runs a close third. Besides having to present subtle and complex material to students...
The Four Children
The Seder provides a model for intergenerational storytelling. In this selection from "The Family Participation Haggadah: A Different Night", Noam Zion shares artistic interpretations of the Four Children described by the midrash. The matching teacher's guide explores...
The Meeting of Eliyahu and Elisha: A Study in Prophetic Ethics
The haftarah for Shabbat Hagadol (the Sabbath before Passover) is Malachi 3:4-24, the last words in the Prophets. The very last verses read, “(22) Remember the Torah of Moshe (Moses), My servant, which I commanded him at Horeb upon all Israel, laws and statutes. (23)...
Methodology of Teaching Tanakh
What does a teacher do after reaching the radical conclusion that one can't just walk into class, read pasuk after pasuk, perush after perush, and consider one's job well done?! This article originally appeared in Ten Da'at, vol. 2, 2, 1987, pp. 13-15. Appears...
Teaching Hebrew as a Second/Foreign Language
This time last year I sat at my desk thinking about what is wrong with the teaching of Hebrew as a second/foreign language. The fruit of those thoughts was an article I posted on the Mifgashim site. It drew many comments from teachers, parents and administrators. I...
Teaching About Israel
This article originally appeared in Tradition Volume 19 #3 Fall 1981 . Reprinted here with permission. Teaching about Israel today is not merely teaching another subject like history or geography, nor is it a unit in "indoctrinating" students in Zionism. Today, when...
Reducing Grades as a Means of Imposing Discipline
This article originally appeared in Ten Da'at, vol. 4, 1, 1989. Appears here with permission. Educators universally recognize the professional obligation to maintain the integrity of a student's transcript; however, ensuring that a student's grades are neither higher...
Policy on Mandated Reporting
Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools and Yeshiva High Schools All teachers and administrators are legally mandated reporters. Each school is responsible to have its staff trained: To understand the basic definitions of child abuse To recognize signs and symptoms...
Conduct Policy and Behavioral Standards
Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools and Yeshiva High Schools __________ is committed to providing a safe and appropriate environment for all students, staff and employees. Parents entrust their children to our school. All students are taught to respect and...
The Halakhic Issue of Rejecting and Dismissing Students
This article originally appeared in Ten Da'at 1,2 (1987). Appears here with permission. The community involved with Jewish education, the chinuch community, is beset by a variety of problems, all of them challenging, and most of them defying simple solutions. I would...