Tefilla in schools is a challenging experience for many educators and students alike. It’s a reality that we all face. I would like to break down some of the challenges and give suggestions for creative responses that we, as educators, can implement to help enhance the Tefilla experience for our students.
Recently, I reached out to Jewish educators through various social media portals, inquiring as to what the greatest challenges they experience with student engagement in Tefilla. The top two answers from 20 educators were the following:
1) The language was difficult.
2) Tefilla is a boring experience for students.
Breaking down the challenges
Language: There is a difference between the spoken Hebrew language and Biblical Hebrew language. Any teacher who teaches Tanach knows this well. From a purely linguistic perspective, Tefilla is a collection of pesukim from the Tanach, with tailor-made prayers and blessings inserted as segues. That is a very high level of Hebrew and the words used are difficult to understand even for native Israeli Hebrew speakers, not to mention students in the Diaspora. How can we expect our students to be immersed in the Tefilla experience when they have little to no understanding of the words they are saying, let alone the meaning behind them?
It’s Boring: Is Tefilla really boring? For many, the answer is a resounding “yes†(even for some adults). What’s the claim behind this bold and somewhat obvious statement? In my opinion, the Tefilla model that most students engage in has a lot of “dead timeâ€. In other words, saying the Tefillot quietly to themselves forces them to be quiet. How many times have we seen educators walk around the room and tell students to be quiet during davening? This has always been confusing to me, since Tefilla is Avoda Shebalev, the work of the heart, yet the main function of Tefilla is saying the words of the berachot and pesukim in the Siddur.
Students who are bored and unengaged, generally turn to acting out. One of the key rules of student engagement is creating an autonomous learning environment, making it meaningful and creating an active learning environment. Being quiet during Tefilla fosters just the opposite.
Creative Solutions - Principles of Tefilla Enagagement
Here are two basic elements that create a positive student engagement model for Tefilla:
1) Interactive: Out loud!
2) Less is more: Gradual system of Tefilla engagement
If Tefilla is going to be an important part of the students’ day, then it must be relevant. Tefilla will only be relevant if the student actually engages in Tefilla. Chazal teach us that Tefilla is “Avoda Shebalevâ€, or the work of the heart. However, Tefilla on a mechanical level is “Avoda Shebapehâ€, or the work of the mouth. The mechanics of Tefilla are words, songs, expression, phrases, verses from the Tanach and personal or national requests. In order to engage our young generation in the art of Tefilla, we must first relate to the basic mechanics involved – get them to say it out loud!
The first element is something that has historically worked, but for many social, historical, and cultural reasons we have moved away from a system that works: Saying the Tefillot out loud! The best illustration for why this works is to close your eyes and picture your favorite Tefilla experience. For many people it was the inspirational Friday night Tefilla at the Kotel, in a Carlebach minyan, at their camp. For others it was singing their favourite tune at the top of their lungs with the community. The key - it was said out loud.
Ask any Sephardi young adult what Tefilla they remember in their synagogue growing up. Whether they are currently observant, traditional or not, they will most likely recall the tunes and chants. There is a beautiful Sephardi tradition when all of the young children go up to the Sefer Torah, put their hands on it and say out loud “ימלוך ה’ ×œ×¢×•×œ× ×לוקיך ציון לדור ודור הללוי-ה†and the crowd responds. The first time I experienced this tradition, I thought to myself – "Why can’t all Tefilla look like this?" Why do we insist on singing Hallel out loud, but when it comes to Ashrei, Halleluyas, or even the Shema we insist on the students saying it to themselves quietly? Is that really going to help them learn the Tefillot more effectively? Creating an active platform for student engagement helps combat the element of “dead time†that many schools have for Tefilla.
Read it out loud! Individual reading as part of Tefilla
I am not suggesting that Tefilla should be said out loud together as a group, necessarily. I believe there is a strong merit in handing out individual reading passages to students as part of the flow of Tefilla, while the others say the same Tefilla to themselves. This is not a system I developed, it’s the classic Sephardi system of Tefillot in nearly any Sephardi shul. The language barrier can be huge, but once a student becomes accustomed to saying the words out loud and hearing his or her peers doing the same, eventually the Tefilla becomes more of a second nature and less foreign.
The second element is the clear and logical Talmudic concept of “One who holds too much holds nothing at allâ€. It’s the Talmudic version of “Don’t bite off more than you can chewâ€. One of the Achilles' heels of all educators is over-zealousness, or trying to take on too much. Good educators know what load the students can take and how to set realistic yet challenging expectations. It’s one of the fine arts of tru education, and Tefilla is no exception to that rule. How much Tefilla is “too muchâ€? What is the “Tefilla ceiling†for students? Should a grade 7 student necessarily have to say significantly more than a grade 4 student in order to have a more meaningful Tefilla? “Less is More†in essence is about creating a gradual system of Tefilla engagement.
Rabbi Yosef Caro in his Shulchan Aruch teaches us that “It is better to say less with more kavanah than say more with less kavanah†(He wrote this in the context of Tachanun, but the concept rings true across the board). That is a concept even for adults who are regular Tefilla attendees. How much more so is this concept relevant for teaching our children the art of Tefilla? Less is more.
The focus of any positive Tefilla student engagement model is always focusing on one goal: Students will view Tefilla as an important part of their everyday activities, the key word being: IMPORTANT. Once that is established, all of your methods, whether they succeed or fail initially, will eventually come to fruition. If a student, camper, or teen views something as important, they will focus and give it their best effort. If not, then all the bells and whistles you incorporate will fall on deaf ears. How do we create the equation between Tefilla and Important? By offering a model that students can follow. Success breeds success. A student who walks into Tefilla saying: “I can do thisâ€, “It’s not that bad†will be open to your ideas, songs, concepts of talking to G-d and any other challenging notion. Positive student engagement in Tefilla is the key and it’s more important for us educators to focus on what not to do rather than what to include. Less is more.
Creative Response to Language
The two principles above will help create a more positive environment for Tefilla, but still don’t tackle the challenge regarding language and truly understanding the Tefilla. There are many organizations and individual educators who have developed high quality material in Biur Tefilla, the explanation of Tefilla. I would like to suggest an approach that is not curriculum based. Daily study: Make a point of tackling a word, a concept or an entire paragraph for 1 - 2 minutes after every Tefilla session. Make this a staple of your Tefilla model. It sounds simple, and, in fact, it is.
The key component is continuing to make Tefilla an active, out loud experience, as mentioned above. There is a great teaching from Chazal that one who repeats Torah study 100 times is not at the same level as one who repeats Torah study 101 times. My Rabbi, Rav Tzion Tawil, currently Rabbi of the Netzarim Community in the town of Ariel, Israel, asked the obvious question - what benefit does one have from repeating the portion studies on the 101st time? Is there any intellectual depth one can achieve going over the passage again? His answer is one that sticks with me even today, 15 years later - the benefit of repeating the passage again is internalizing the message. It’s not an exercise in memorization, it’s an exercise in making the message of that passage integrated in one’s psyche and neshama. Similarly, a student who repeats the Tefillot day in, day out, in an engaging method will make the Tefillot an integral part of their daily routine and, eventually, their psyche. The barrier will naturally dissipate.
On a pedagogical level, once the students read out loud, and there is a consistent and positive feedback from the teacher reading of the words, the language gap will become less of an issue. Here is a testimonial from one of my students in Toronto who went through the Tefilla system for two years:
When Rabbi Tal first made changes in davening I wasn’t happy about it, I preferred davening in the Beit Midrash with the rest of grade 6-8. Before the changes I had no connection with my tefilot, to me it was just saying words that I didn't understand what they meant. However, after a few weeks of the new program I started to notice a difference. I started understanding what I was saying, and that helped me connect with my tefilot. Even once I started connected with my tefilot I continued doing the program with Rabbi Tal and my davening kept on improving, and by the end of the year I was often chazan.
Teaching Values Through Tefilla
Another discussion I would like to use this opportunity to open is how to teach values through Tefilla. I believe that Tefilla is more than a ritual act which we are demanded to complete on a daily basis. Tefilla is an opportunity to explore deeper levels of the human consciousness. I would like to introduce two angles on how to develop Tefilla into a pedagogical tool for teaching values.
One example is learning the value of listening. We are surrounded by constant noise in today's digital age. The art of listening, spending quiet moments with ourselves, is slowly becoming a lost art. One of the values of Tefilla, especially in Chazarat Hashatz, is putting oneself in a place of listening and responding. The concept of listening to a Blessing, and then responding "Amen" requires a tremendous effort on part of each student (And adults too, to be frank). It is a skill that does not come naturally to many children, and needs to be reintroduced as a basic mode of communication and self-development.
Another example is the value of community. For one, the Blessings in Tefilla are, for the most part, written in plural. The individual constantly reminds themselves of their connection with the collective as part and parcel of the Tefilla experience. The saying of "Amen" to a Blessing, as mentioned before, isn't just an exercise in listening, rather a statement that the students belong to a community. Once these values are discussed and put into practice, the language barrier and psychological barrier to Tefilla will start to erode, and Tefilla can become meaningful, relevant and inspiring. Isn't that what we want for the next generation of the Jewish people?
The concepts I presented are simple on the face of things, yet not easily integrated into the current model of Tefilla in many schools. My challenge to all Jewish educators who are reading this article is - are we ready to creatively restructure the framework of Tefilla in our schools to create a more positive environment? As the famous saying goes - “If you don’t succeed, don’t try harder - try different!â€
Resources:
[
www.ou.org]
[
www.edutopia.org]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2016 04:04PM by mlb.
