Imagine a Jewish day school that identifies Torah as a core value they seek to inculcate in their students as both a body of knowledge and a lens through which to see life. In such a school, it would be reasonable to expect to see the word “Torah” in the mission statements of the schools, represented in word and image in important locations around the building, and referenced at key gatherings of the community. One would never imagine that Torah would only be referenced in the Jewish studies courses or modeled solely by the Jewish studies faculty. For Torah to be a lived value, students would need to encounter it throughout the day and throughout the building, informing how they treat one another and how they help build a living Jewish community in school in ways that then spill over into their broader lives.

Yet, while Hebrew is a core value for many Jewish day schools, too many silo it in the faculty and classrooms of the Hebrew department. Hebrew, a connector to Israel, a key to Jewish literacy, a language shared across time and the globe, is being put on the shoulders of too narrow a slice of the school community. For Hebrew to be both a value and valued by both learners and adults alike, we need to think about how the language of the Jewish people—and all it enables—is experienced and advanced as a school-wide responsibility.

Thankfully, there are already some schools that are demonstrating innovative ways to allow Hebrew to flourish throughout the building and finding ways to integrate Hebrew as an organic component of daily life at school. By expanding the exposure of Hebrew to their students, these schools are both adding additional contact time that advances Hebrew language learning and demonstrating to their students that Hebrew is not just an academic topic but a core part of Jewish life, culture, and community.

Avira and Linguistic Landscape

Language is a critical builder of culture, and more intentionality can ensure that your school’s avira (environment) is Hebraically rich. One of the easiest ways to support Hebrew outside of the language department is through bringing a higher level of intentionality to what would be called linguistic landscape—what people see and hear as they make their way through the school building. While many schools use Hebrew in their signage of specific rooms or on plaques, is Hebrew also used on what is referred to as wayfaring signage, the signs used to provide direction and guidance? Such usage moves the Hebrew on the wall from being primarily a collection of nouns to reinforcing Hebrew as a useful living language of the school community. When adding Hebrew to signage, what fonts are selected—those that reinforce Hebrew as a sacred language or more contemporary type that connects to signage one finds in Israel—and what decisions are made regarding nikud/punctuation?

Some schools have also used dedicated bulletin boards that highlight Hebrew and have developed a “language policy” for teachers that ensures evidence of Hebrew learning is visible on the walls both inside and outside Hebrew classrooms. Other schools look for opportunities to add Hebrew to the walls of history class, literature class, science class, and any other subject where Hebrew can be represented. Schools can select posters or video images for hallway displays that emphasize Hebrew as a normative language throughout the school. Even school swag, social media, the website, and other digital platforms can be leveraged to put Hebrew in front of current students, their extended families, and prospective parents working to understand a school’s values.

The presence of aural Hebrew contributes to the avira and soundscape of a school. I know of schools that have deliberately selected Hebrew music to be played while someone calling in is placed on hold. At the beginning and ending of the day and in between class times, the sounds of Hebrew music can be played to reinforce Hebrew learning and to bring in a dimension of joy and fun to the equation. Student, faculty, and leadership presentations at school gatherings can be an easy place to continually increase the use of Hebrew as a means of atmosphere building as well as communication.

Co-Curricular and Extra-Curricular Opportunities

Strong second language acquisition emerges from a combination of the pedagogic skills of the teachers, the motivation of the students, and the contact hours of exposure to the language. When I was working as a Head of School, I knew adding additional time for Hebrew might be perceived by some as a zero-sum game. I decided on a different strategy, selecting fluent Hebrew speakers to take on the role of music director, art specialist, and physical education teachers. Without needing to engage in too much negotiation, we were suddenly able to add more than two and a half hours of exposure to spoken Hebrew to our week, prioritizing Hebrew learning and linking it to activities most students found to be low pressure and fun. While not every community can find people with these special skills, Hebrew language abilities, and experience with children, think about what types of local resources do exist in your community that can be brought into specific classes or programs.

Other schools decide to create Hebrew or Israel clubs or to take on programs that highlight and celebrate Hebrew achievement, contributing to student motivation and expanding the footprint within the weekly schedule where Hebrew is present and engaging. For those schools that include trips to Israel as core components of their program, consider ways in which Hebrew is both a part of the pre-trip experience and then brought into the trip itself where the immersive nature of the experience creates additional time for Hebrew in an environment where Hebrew is all around.

Shinshinim, Shelihim, and Locals

Many schools bring Israelis into their program through the shinshinim, benot sheirut, or morim shelihim programs. While some of these individuals become important parts of the Hebrew language department, others may be more focused on Israel engagement and may lean into using English to build bridges. It is highly recommended that a school develop an approach for how to encourage these individuals to leverage their Hebrew outside of their formal instruction and to make certain this approach is a part of the discussion during candidate selection and subsequent orientation. While these individuals will organically speak to one another in Hebrew within the building, think of ways you can encourage them to speak to students in the hallways in Hebrew, including with the non-Israel-based staff (more below).

In North America, as well as in many other regions around the globe, our communities have been enriched by hundreds of thousands of Israelis living abroad who can also bring Hebrew into our schools as a living language. They, along with graduates of Jewish day schools from our own communities or those communities that have always had penchant for strong Hebrew language learning, are additional resources that can and should be leveraged to bring Hebrew alive in your school.

Leveraging Everyone’s Hebrew

When we look at key principles of second language acquisition, traditionalists emphasize that students learn the most when their instructors speak to them exclusively in the target language. However, the language goals of a Jewish day school for foreign languages such as French or Spanish are profoundly different than the goals for Hebrew language. My own children learned French or Latin in their day schools, but their teachers, school leaders, and parents did not hope that one day they might aspire to move to Paris, or organize their life according to the worldview of Moliere, or to perhaps lead prayer services in Latin. However, we did want them to be Zionists, use Hebrew as a Jewish lens through which to see the world, and feel confident as shelihei tzibur.

Without necessarily having a formal policy, many schools have a culture where the native or near-native Hebrew speakers speak to one another in Hebrew and do this as well with children in the school who are from Israel or growing up in a Hebrew-speaking home. My own doctoral research indicated that non-native Hebrew teachers bring to their students a powerful dimension of role modeling to their learners, demonstrating that one can make the journey from novice to expert without having been born into a Hebrew speaking home or country. I would encourage schools to develop a practice where the individuals who have Hebrew skills—whether advanced or more intermediate—use Hebrew in the hallways to also demonstrate this language is of value to them, and by extension, a value of the school. While students may hear an incorrect preposition from time to time, the upside will be the affirmation that we are all on a journey, it is alright to make mistakes along the learning journey, and that our community cares about Hebrew.

These are only some of the strategies that are at play in schools that are expanding their vision as to who is responsible for Hebrew language in their community. A good language program is supported by a language ideology or philosophy as to how language is envisioned in the school, a solid language policy that lays out the tactics as to how this approach is implemented, and a set of principles that turn policy into practice. We find ourselves once again in a historical moment of transition as we recalibrate how we will ensure the next generation feels connected to global Jewry and Israel, moving towards Jewish literacy, and anchored in a sense of identity and pride. Jewish day schools are engines that will help ensure success and we must all play a role in making Hebrew a central component of this effort. Hazak, hazak, ve’nit’hazek!