Category: Hebrew Language Instruction (Fall 2005)

I recently had the opportunity to meet – in person – one of the virtual acquaintances that I have made while moderating Lookjed. This particular individual was visiting Israel from Finland because it was Shavua HaSefer – “book week” in Israel – and she knew that she could buy Hebrew books at a discount. “Ever since my father, who was a Lutheran pastor, would read me Tanakh in Hebrew, I loved the language,” Kristina said. Now retired from teaching, she spends her time translating contemporary Hebrew literature into Finnish. Her devotion to the language stands in contrast with my experiences with Jewish students in the classroom, many of whom appeared stymied by the confusing cast of characters that march across the page from right-to-left.

At first I was reluctant to devote an entire issue of Jewish Educational Leadership to Hebrew language instruction. It appeared to me that the topic was too narrow, that it would only interest a small number of Hebrew teachers. The arguments made in Marty Lockshin’s article and in Scott Goldberg’s research – that competency in Hebrew affects our students’ ability to participate as functioning, productive, learned members of the Jewish community – convinced me that my initial hesitation was out of place. Robin Schwartz’ article, whose focus is on research that examines foreign language learning difficulties, convinced me that something can and should be done to support Hebrew language throughout the curriculum.

Aside from those opening articles, this issue includes a range of items that deal with basic questions that surround Hebrew as it is presented in our schools – is it a foreign language, a second language, or a heritage language? Should the emphasis be on biblical Hebrew, or on the language of the modern State of Israel? Will it best be taught through immersion or formal grammar study? What role does it play in nurturing a sense of Jewish Identity? The authors – academics and classroom professionals, basing themselves on formal research and their own experience - offer answers that impact on the ways and means that are used in teaching Hebrew today. Included are a series of presentations by some of the leading curriculum developers of Hebrew language materials who discuss the foundations and methods of their programs.

The Jewish Educational Leadership features’ section begins with “Getting the Discussion Started”, including an excerpt from Herman Wouk’s This is my God, accompanied by a conversation with Rabbi David Eliach, who championed the Ivrit b’Ivrit method for many years as the dean of the Yeshivah of Flatbush high school. This is followed by statements from a number of schools describing the goals of their own Hebrew language programs. Finally in this section, we find a review of classroom materials and hear educational insights from Rivka Tiktiner, a 16th century ethical writer.

The growth of Jewish Educational Leadership, along with the Lookstein Center's commitment to providing online resources, has propelled us to weave together this print journal with a web-edition. You will be able to access expanded versions of some of the print articles on the website, as well as a number of “web-exclusives” that will only be available on-line. Links to those articles, together with abstracts, appear here in the print journal. We also will be moving our correspondence section on-line, to facilitate a real dialogue about the issues presented in the journal. As always, your feedback is welcome.

In closing, I would like to share with you a description of Ruth Puttermesser’s discovery of the intricacies and meaning of dikduk, as depicted by Cynthia Ozick in The Puttermesser Papers, a collection of Ozick’s short stories about her literary creation -

In bed she studies Hebrew grammar. The permutations of the triple-lettered root elated her: how was it possible that a whole language, hence a whole literature, a civilization even, should rest on the pure presence of three letters of the alphabet? The Hebrew verb, a stunning mechanism: three letters, whichever fated three, could command all possibility simply by a change in their pronunciation, or the addition of a wing-letter fore and aft. Every conceivable utterance blossomed from this trinity. It seemed to her not so much a language for expression as a code for the world’s design, indissoluble, predetermined, translucent.

I doubt that many of our students will find a code for the world’s design imbedded in their study of Hebrew language in our schools. I pray, however, that their desire to understand, read, and speak Hebrew should at least reach the level of my friend from Finland.

Shalom
shalom@lookstein.org