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I suggest beginning with the structure of Toshba and the mesora, which
increases respect for Judaism, emuna, and a sense of historical
perspective and relative weight when the words Gemara, mishna, Midrash are
mentioned. Am excellent text for starters is the Rambam's introduction to
Yad Hachazaka. There is a Mosad Harav Kook collection of introductions of
the Rambam, with nekudos, which could be used as a more long term text.
Rambam Hilchos Sanhedrin (and Mamrim I) - selected chapters in the
beginning and end about what a Torah leader is and the moral demands on
him; the functioning of the court system, the preservation of Torah. You
may want to cover it entirely.
Asara harugei malchus- R. Akiva and R. Yehuda ben Bavaa - what were they
preserving.
Selections from masechtos Berachos and Taanis with a focus on prayer.
End of Kesuvos about Eretz Yisrael- and women.
Rabbi Emanuel Quint has been doing thorough presentations in the last
month of the OU's Torah Tidbits of Sanhedrin issues, and Choshen Mishpat's
importance to Jewish life today. He lectures and publishes on this subject
continuously.
>III. Looking for Bekiut materials
I am very pleased at this interest which is so healthy and so lacking in
many places.
There is a standard mishna yomis, and others printed on standard calendars
in Israel; roughly 524 perakim. A Novi yomis is easy to create in-house,
over 700 perakim.
In Kerem Yeshiva we had Yomis after maariv. Students had their choice of
daf Yomi, a perek of mishna, a chapter of Tanach, and for beginners there
were smaller bite-size units of halacha and the like. The principle was
that every day one advances in knowledge and it accumulates. This can be
implemented within a day school framework too.
The daf Yomi is still going almost twenty years later. The mishna group
finished Shas in a year.
Alumni sensitized to the success of this approach have founded a post high
school yeshiva in Jerusalem called Derech Etz Chayim - DEC. An sample
application is in the first year the students finished neviim rishonim and
took related tours, and the second year students will now do neviim
achronim. They finished Mesheches Kiddushin over the year learnt in depth
and a lot more in bekius. The broader exposure to material equips them
with tools for independent learning.
An addendum to an earlier comment about kids' noticing the dress of
teachers:
A very unspoiled boy just told me about this first week in dormitory high
school yeshiva in Israel. He commented, "My bekius teacher is a real
serious guy. You can see the yellow stains in the underarms of his white
shirts. I really like him."</HTML>
