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I am looking for creative ideas for a halacha curriculum in an Israeli
high school. This year I am teaching Hilchot Shabbat to 10th graders. I
have tried in the past to give them chevruta using basic sources like the
Gemara (kept to a minimum), Rambam, and Shulchan Aruch with Mishna Brura.
I vary my questions using some technical ones and some thought questions
using the sources provided. Then in shiur I organize the material for
them and discuss some additional practical ramifications revolving around
the particular topic.
This method enables the student to gain some familiarity with the texts
mentioned above, i.e. a historical perspective of the books and how to use
them. It also enables them to learn some basic halachot yet still get a
broader, more in depth perspective of the topic (which I find to be
biggest challenges of a halacha curriculum). The thought question and the
follow up in shiur (in which I try to delve a little deeper) make it more
interesting to the students from an intellectual perspective.
I still find that there is a tremendous lack of interest in learning
halacha and that even though there are Gemara sources and thought
questions, the students still don't have the interest in it that they have
in a Gemara shiur. The texts are much easier to decipher and therefore it
becomes less of a challenge. However, if I were to give them more
difficult sources and delve into each topic more in depth, we would cover
no ground (given that we have a double period once a week). I am
therefore looking for some way to make class more exciting and interesting
to the students. The additional problem related specifically to hilchot
Shabbat is that much of the material is detailed issurim, many of them
that the students will find to be tedious and uninteresting.
Michelle Farber
Pelech High School for Girls
Jerusalem Israel</HTML>
