<HTML>I think Dr. Eliach's proposal is wonderful. I've also thought a great
deal about something along these lines (I briefly mentioned in an earlier
posting that I'm working on "Guides to Reading" various books of Tanakh).
The idea, by the way, isn't new: I recall finding an old popular Tanakh
journal in the YU library years ago, which had a schedule exactly like Dr.
Eliach describes - namely to read two perakim a day and finish Nakh in two
years. It obviously never caught on, though. (I wonder why not?) In any
case here are a bunch of ideas related to the topic:
I think Rabbi Grumet is right that this wouldn't be a "school" project.
And yet it can be very useful in schools in ways that Daf Yomi cannot be.
As far as classes on different levels: he is absolutely right that this
would be wonderful. But unlike Daf Yomi, a Tanakh program needn't be
*dependent* on such classes because Tanakh is *Mikra* and by definition it
is meant to be *read*. Even private reading of Tanakh for content alone
has value in a way that simply "reading" a daf gemara cannot. Not only
this, but the virtually limitless published materials on Tanakh (including
"virtual" Internet materials!) make it possible for anyone to enrich his
reading on a variety of levels, even if no classes are available. Of
course, if something like this could inspire teachers to give daily Tanakh
classes to the public - all the better!
By the way, we should never be embarrassed to admit that there is wisdom
among the nations. Various Christian groups have been doing this sort of
thing for many years with great success. They publish schedules for
annual Bible reading cycles, and even publish special Bibles with all
kinds of study aids to help make reading easier and more productive. They
have classes, too. If they can do it, then we *should* do it, because
there is no good reason for literate Christians to consistently know more
Bible religious Jews!
On Torah: Dr. Eliach is of course right that such a program should be
limited to Nakh, because we already have an annual schedule for reading
the Torah, namely Parashat ha-Shavua. But I would add that our top
priority should be encouraging people to read shenayim mikra ve-ehad
targum (or perush) even before a Nakh program. [BTW, even though Torah
doesn't need a schedule for an annual cycle, I've done "guides to reading"
even for the Humashim, because even the divisions of the weekly Parashiyot
(and certainly the aliyot) can be confusing when they don't reflect the
natural division of the book. Often, that simply isn't their purpose.]
How to Divide the Material: I suggest a very different approach to this
than the two perakim per day for two years that Dr. Eliach suggested. We
need not enslave ourselves to the chapter divisions. Koren publishers did
a mitzva many years ago by relegating chapter and verse numbers to the
margins as nothing more than technical aids for citations. Dividing the
books in ways that make better sense is a crucial part of helping people
read and understand them.
In the "Guides" I'm preparing I try to show the structure of each book
clearly, in its entirety, and divide it into (a) coherent titled units
(instead of relying on the chapter divisions), and (b) daily reading
sections that are fairly even in length and more or less consistent with
the natural division of the material.
In terms of quantity it is reasonable and possible to divide the larger
books of Tanakh into 29 reading units each, corresponding to the days in a
Hebrew month. Each unit is then roughly 50 verses on average, which take
up to about 20 minutes to read. If we give one month each to
Joshua/Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jer., Ez., Trei Asar,
Mishlei/Kohelet, Iyyov, Chronicles, then that is already 10 months, and
there are several ways to go about dividing up the remaining smaller
books.
(I don't think the Aramaic in Daniel & Ezra is a problem. Those who need
to can simply read a translation, with the hope that they'll learn
biblical Aramaic later in life. :-) But every Jew should at least know
the story line in Daniel, even those who think the deeper meanings are
only relevant to Hakhmei Sod.)
The "special case" in my suggestion is Tehillim, which has several
possibilities of its own, but this post is too long already.
Bottom line, this would mean finishing Nakh once every year, the daily
quantity is reasonable, and careful attention to where the daily material
is divided makes the sefarim better understood. Furthermore, doing it by
"Book of the Month" makes it flexible: You can have a common annual
schedule, but a person who, for instance, wants to learn Yirmiyahu during
Hodesh Av can still do it without dropping the program. This can also
help students review specific sefarim that they study in school.
Regardless of which system, a cycle for reading Nakh is a good idea.
Seth (Avi) Kadish
Amit Karmiel Torah & Science High School</HTML>
