The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum A Compilation of Background, Theory, Tools and Resources
by Josh Barkin, Jane Golub, and Joel Lurie Grishaver
ISBN 10: 1-934527-15-7 ISBN 13: 9781934527-15-3 Copyright © 2008 Torah Aura Productions. All rights reserved. Torah Aura has published this booklet for educators and teachers who are considering and evaluating the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum. Therefore, Torah Aura Productions gives permission to photocopy The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum for evaluation and review of the curricula within a school or other institution. In any other situation no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Torah Aura Productions • 4423 Fruitland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90058 (800) BE-Torah • (800) 238-6724 • (323) 585-7312 • fax (323) 585-0327 E-MAIL <misrad@torahaura.com> • Visit the Torah Aura website at www.torahaura.com
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Table of Contents Introduction: The Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Pre-Primers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Primers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Post-Primers and Review Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Siddur Curricula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Chapter 1: Real Siddur Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Chapter 2: The Elements in the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Hebrew and Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Elements of the Hebrew Primer Part of the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Stepping Up to the Torah Aura Prayer Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Chapter 3: Primers and Pre-Primers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Chapter 4: Teaching with Stories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Chapter 5: The Approximation of Meaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Chapter 6: A Vision of the Graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Chapter 7: T’fillah in the Synagogue School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Suggestion One: Start a School Rock ’n’ Roll Band. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Suggestion Two: Authorize Talking During Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 School Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Junior Congregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Appendix A: Prayers in the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Appendix B: Pieces of the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Appendix C: A Complete Vocabulary List for the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program . . . . . 37 Appendix D: Snapshots of Schools Using the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program. . . . . . . . . 43 Snapshots One Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Two Days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Two Days (one Hebrew and one Judaica). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Two Days (integrated Shabbat program). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Three Days (large congregation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Three Days (smallish congregation). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—
—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Introduction: The Torah Aura Hebrew/ Prayer Program In this “field guide” we will be looking Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer curricular resources. We offer a series of interlocking materials that both provide choice of texts for different needs and offer a consistent approach to the mastery of Hebrew and the development of a relationship with the Jewish liturgy. While we will talk more of these materials later, here is a quick introduction.
Pre-Primers Pre-primers are an interesting hybrid. The concept of a pre-primer was as a first-language tool that has now been adapted to second-language usages. Most publishers don’t understand the adaptation needed. When we learn that “A is for apple,” this is the beginning of learning, not an end in itself. “A” will take on additional meaning every time another word that contains an “A” is seen. In a first-language context each letter and its sound becomes the beginning of a process of decoding. In a second language, where one doesn’t encounter vocabulary, one only learns the name, sound, and perhaps the alphabet position of each letter. Torah Aura pre-primers (and primers) introduce a vocabulary of Jewish living (etrog, lulav, bimah) as oral language that connects to the acquisition of letters. This then imitates the first-language learning style in the use of letter acquisition as the foundation of decoding. That is why Bet is for bimah is so important. There is a second reality here. Only about two thirds of learners are visual learners; about a third learn better orally. The use of vocabulary allows learners to balance visual learning with an aural-oral modality. In other words, it gives more students more chances to succeed. Torah Aura offers four pre-primers. Some are designed for older learners, some for younger. Many can be stacked for two or three years of preparation for the primer. BJL: Beginnings Alef to Tav Activity Book Now I Know My Alef-Bet Journeys Through the Alef-Bet Marylin Price & Friends Present the Alphabet from Alef to Tav We will discuss the differences and the choices in a later chapter.
Introduction—
Primers The job of the primer is different. Its job is to help students put letters together with vowels to create what are technically called “blends.” Once there were only primers. Letter recognition and blending went together. Today the primer fits anywhere between the second and the fourth year that students work with Hebrew. After the primer year they are expected to “read” (or, as we prefer, “sound”) actual words. Torah Aura primers work with a few insights: (1) We review, add, and deepen the oral vocabulary to see to it that students learn to read a vocabulary they understand and thereby gain a sense of satisfaction. Also, we continue to honor oral learners. (2) After the first few lessons (when we have built up enough letters), the “decoding” takes place on real Hebrew words, primarily from the liturgy. This means that students are learning the rhythm and emphasis of Hebrew as they grow in their blending skills. (3) Torah Aura primers are fun. We work hard to make the mastery of Hebrew a fun and deepening experience. Torah Aura has four primers, one of which is specifically for adults. Tiyulim Ot La-Ba’ot Likro u’Livarekh: To Read and to Bless Lashon ha-Kodesh: A Beginning Hebrew Book for Adults We will discuss the differences among these in a later chapter.
Post-Primers and Review Books One of the lessons of the contemporary Hebrew school is that summer is our enemy (not that our students shouldn’t have one). At the beginning of the school year (every year), in many cases, there is a need to review the alef-bet and bring students back to fluency in their decoding and sounding of Hebrew. We have developed a series of review books, each designed for a different year of learning. Hebrew Reading Adventure Getting Up to Speed After the Summer Hebrew Review Book 1 Getting Up to Speed After the Summer Hebrew Review: Book 2
—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Siddur Curricula There are three different skills that involve working with Hebrew. Sounding (a.k.a. mechanical reading or decoding) is the act of forming the right sounds from written language. Reading is the act of extracting meaning from a text. Performing is the act of perfecting the performance of a specific piece of liturgy. Torah Aura’s Siddur curricula work on all three. Most Siddur curricula have one goal: getting students to adequately perform the liturgy. Torah Aura’s Siddur curricula have four goals: 1. Your students will be able to perform the basic prayers in the Siddur. By mastering these skills, your students will feel comfortable participating in the services in your synagogue. They will feel at home not only in your synagogue but also in any synagogue. They will never feel left out of the Jewish community.
S’fatai Tiftah
2. Your students will develop an understanding of the generalized meaning of these basic prayers. They will learn the overall meaning of the prayers as well as the meanings of words and phrases. They will develop sensitivity to translation and will be able to tell whether the English translation in the Siddur (prayerbook) is close to the meaning of the Hebrew or is a poetic adaptation. 3. Your students will explore the personal meaning in these prayers. They will be able to express the ways in which the stories underlying each prayer are connected to something in their own lives. As they recite or chant the words of the prayers they will be able to draw upon the stories so that the prayers come from their hearts. 4. Your students will extend their knowledge of how the Hebrew language operates. They will grow their passive vocabulary and learn elements of grammar such as prefixes, roots, and suffixes so that they will be able to extend their understanding of Hebrew. They will know enough words and analytical skills to be able to make sense of what many prayers say.
Journeys Through the Siddur
Achieving these goals will have a lifelong impact on your students. Under your guidance, your students will grow not only in mind but also in spirit. With your help they will gain knowledge, understanding, and insights so that they can begin to take the next steps in becoming active and committed Jews. Torah Aura offers three Siddur series: S’fatai Tiftah Journeys Through the Siddur Pirkei T’fillah
Pirkei T’fillah
In addition there are flash cards, posters, teacher’s guides, evaluation resources, vocabulary posters, websites, home workbooks and school workbooks, and more for each of these texts. The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—
Chapter 1: Real Siddur Teaching A Definition Let’s start with a simple definition. Real Siddur Teaching is instruction that leads to students choosing to involve themselves in communal Jewish prayer in a regular way later in their life. Simply put, our number one goal—above and beyond everything else—is that a significant number of our students grow up to become service-attending members of our congregations. Any goals that fall below that single vision should be regarded as enabling steps and not the real focus. In what we often settle for in “the real world,” we trade the development of a dynamic Jewish skill for two lesser concerns. Far too often, schools settle for either: (a) students who develop a facility for mechanically sounding Hebrew texts, or (b) students who can satisfy the entry-level requirements of bar/bat mitzvah tutors. Both of these might lead to successful one-day lifecycle experiences, but neither is likely to significantly contribute to an individual student’s Jewish self-actualization or lead to the survival of the Jewish people. Sharim is a study of the Boston’s Jewish Family Education Initiative, done between the Commission on Jewish Continuity, Boston; Bureau of Jewish Education’s Center for Educational Research and Evaluation; and the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University. It suggests two important truths. First is that bar and bat mitzvah experiences do little to deepen the Jewish commitments or practices of Jewish families. Second, the programs we build around bar/bat mitzvah experiences as an attempt to have an impact on family value and behavioral choices actually make little impact, except perhaps in the arena of increasing participation in adult education. Believing that good bar/bat mitzvah performances will lead to the development of good Jews is not wise.
Elements That Make a Difference Our research at Torah Aura suggests that five elements are most likely to impact a learner’s relationship to the liturgy. (1) Facility at performing or participating in the actual liturgy used in the student’s congregational life. (2) Hebrew language tools that allow students to approximate the meaning of liturgical passages. (3) Knowing the structure of the liturgy and the role each prayer plays in the process of the service. (4) Knowing the story of each prayer and understanding most liturgical moments as reenactments of high points in the spiritual history of the Jewish people. (5) A set of experiences of participation in liturgical moments that both form spiritual community and invite personal transformation.
1. Facility at performing or participating in the actual liturgy used in the student’s congregational life. These days, people who make the curricular choices for Hebrew schools tend to be caught in a tug-of-war between the needs of b’nai mitzvah trainers and that which is in the long-term interest of the Jewish people. By and large, the long-term interest of the Jewish people is losing. —The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
One false assumption on which all of this is predicated is the that fluent “mechanical” sounding of Hebrew is a high-level skill and should be the central focus of a Jewish education. Here are a few basic truths. • Other than the preparation of Torah and Haftarah portions, most Jews will never have to sight-read a Hebrew passage in their adult lives. • The liturgical lives of most Jews depend on the ability to perform somewhere between ten and twenty Hebrew prayers in synagogue, and then perhaps another twenty pieces of liturgy outside of synagogue, most of which are one-line blessings. • If we enable our students to perform core Jewish liturgy in Hebrew, we give them the ability to participate in Jewish life much more significantly than if we give them the ability to sound out new pieces of Hebrew at a reasonable rate. • Hebrew sounding is not an insignificant skill and should be part of the cycle of things we work on, but its role has been overemphasized, and the curriculum distorted to work on it excessively. • Mechanical sounding is a skill that is good for part-to-whole linear processors who are visual in their learning style. Oral learners, who can succeed at other forms of mastery, will not be as good at it. Whole-to-part learners, who work from contextual clues, will not be as good at it. About one third of students will have great difficulty at this kind of mastery just because of their learning styles, and so an over-reliance here just emphasizes failure at skills that are not central. The bottom line is this: The single most important thing a Hebrew school can do for our students’ long-term Jewish survival—and by Hebrew school, I mean the “Hebrew part” of Jewish education—is to give them the tools to actively participate in Jewish communal worship. Sounding out their Torah portion well the first time is nice, but it just doesn’t carry the same lifelong impact. In fact, sounding is not even number two on the list—meaning is.
2. Hebrew language tools that allow students to approximate the meaning of liturgical passages. In ancient times, like the 1950s when I went to a Reform Hebrew school the (now) unheard-of three times and seven-and-a-half hours a week, we used to translate prayers. We were expected to conjugate verbs, know tenses and binyanim, explain the difference between active and passive constructions, and know lots of vocabulary. We were not very good at it then—though other schools may have been more successful than mine—but today those expectations are way beyond anything a school might even unreasonably fantasize. A few years ago I had a “Eureka!” experience. I was working on the problem of teaching liturgy when I remembered an old 1950s movie, The Happy Year, staring Leo G. Carroll as the teacher, the Old Roman, and Dean Stockwell as the kid, John Humperdink “Dink” Stover. At a critical moment in the film the kid needs to pass an exam in Latin or he will flunk out of school. At that point the smartest kid in the class, “Big Man,” helps him cheat by wiggling his ears one way to indicate an adjective and another way to indicate a noun. When the teacher catches on and removes the signal-giver from the room, Dean Stockwell still aces the oral exam because The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—
in the process of rehearsing the cheat he has assimilated the language patterns. Late that night I realized that we could teach students to recognize patterns and approximate translations without their ever fully mastering the language. We now have more than ten years of experience working with that process, which we have labeled “the approximation of meaning,” and now we know that it makes a difference. Simply put, when students recognize roots that they know, lots of words in the Hebrew text become their friends rather than blank strangers. When students know a few beginning and endings of words, they get a sense of what the Hebrew means and feel a connection to the text rather than alienated by it. All Torah Aura liturgy teachers know the feeling of sitting next to their Alef or Bet students as they look at a siddur they are barely able to read and point out words that they know. That sense of accomplishment and connection is powerful. Approximation of translation works like this. We give the students the following elements:
Root: [] = “bless” Word: Et = a place holder that indicates a direct object Word: = God’s name Word: Olam = “cosmos” (world/eternity) Word: Va’ed = “and more” Word: element: ha = “the”
We then give students the text of the Barekhu:
Barekhu et Adonai ha-M’vorakh Barukh Adonai ha-M’vorakh l’Olam Va’ed. When we ask students to work out their best guess of the meaning of this passage (true “decoding”), they come up with a translation that reads something like this: Bless God the Bless. Bless God the Bless forever and more.
10—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
These are not perfect translations, but they do three things that are radical: a. teach that Hebrew can be understood. b. evolve a skill at looking for patterns in Hebrew texts. c. build Hebrew vocabulary through application and repetition (rather than memorization/short-term memory loading). Here is the deep truth: In the limited time we have, we are not going to teach most of our students to precisely understand what the Hebrew prayers say, but that does not mean that they must remain blank black boxes that have no meaning. We can give them the tools to get a sense of what the prayers mean—to “approximate” their meaning—and that can make a big difference in their ability to bond with and use the liturgy.
3. Knowing the structure of the liturgy and the role each prayer plays in the process of the service. Think of a service as being a lot like a steeplechase. In order to run a good race, you need to walk the course first. You need to plan your three steps here, turn and make a run there. You just can’t do well blind if you don’t know which way to lean at each point. The rabbis engineered the service in a careful pattern. The Reform Movement, which more radically edited the service in the adaptation of it, paid very careful attention to pattern and rhythm. In order to give our students a fair chance of making it through the service as a meaningful and significant experience, we need to walk them through the course and give them a good idea of where to step and which way to lean. This is material that has often been kept out of the North American Jewish community because teachers have never studied it. It has become part of the “because at one point it wasn’t taught, it now won’t be taught” club that impacts much of what we do. Like many elements of Jewish life, it wasn’t taught because the rhythms of the service were self-evident to those who participated regularly. Now, when these rhythms are not organic, the “Arthur Murray patterns” are useful guidelines. What this means is that you may need to allow teachers to learn (with a rabbi, an educator, or local teacher) the patterns of the Siddur in order to enable their students to be enriched by these insights. The actual curriculum is easy: (1) The anatomy of a Brakhah: The Barukh, the Shema, and the Malkhut. (2) The way that long and short Brakhot build into Brakhah chains. (3) The basic service sections and the ways they are put together: Birkhot ha-Shahar, P’sukei d’Zimra, Shema u’Virkhoteha, Amidah, The Torah Service, Hallel, and the Concluding Service. (4) The way that these elements are assembled into Shaharit, Mussaf, Minhah, and Ma’ariv. (5) Add in Kabbalat Shabbat, Birkat ha-Mazon, Havdalah, and a few other odds and ends. If any of the terms used in the paragraph above are unknown to you, demand to be taught. Ask your rabbi, your cantor, your educator, your teacher to explain and expand. Stand on one foot and ask. EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING: When asked how much more of the service there is, students respond: “Just the concluding service,” or “Just Aleinu, Kaddish, and a couple of songs,” and not “Eight more pages.” The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—11
4. Knowing the story of each prayer and understanding most liturgical moments as reenactments of high points in the spiritual history of the Jewish people. The hardest kind of material to communicate to teachers is content they never experienced as students. It is rooted in good Talmudic and Midrashic understandings, but it is still new to most of us, since it is not the way we have been taught. The rabbis believed that the Siddur was a lot like the script that an actor uses. For them, prayer was the capturing of a moment when the Jewish people had a unique experience of the Divine. When we use the Siddur (and can read it in the context of the stories of these moments) we can be just like actors using our own experiences to recreate the moments they capture. The Siddur is really an opportunity to relive the most important moments of the Jewish experience. There is a beautiful midrash in Genesis Rabbah that is told to explain the origin of the Shema and the response line that traditionally follows it (Barukh Shem K’vod Malkhuto l’Olam Va-ed). As Jacob lay dying, he expressed his concern to the twelve sons gathered around him: that they would forsake The ETERNAL, the God of the patriarchs and matriarchs, and pursue the multiple gods of idolatry. The sons answered their father (whose name had been changed to Israel after that mysterious wrestling match in Genesis) with the words we know as the Shema: “Listen, Israel, the ETERNAL is our God; the ETERNAL is the Only One.” Reassured, Jacob whispered, “Blessed be The NAME Whose Glorious Kingdom is forever and ever.” When we know this story, the Shema changes. It has the capacity to become our story. We get to become Israel’s sons. We get to become Jacob. And we get to make the Shema our story. It works like this: The Shema in the story is the words said by children to assure their parents that the future is safe in their hands. We all need to give that kind of testimony. We have both real and imaginary conversations with our parents about the things we share—about the way we try to turn the past into the future. Likewise, we all have conversations with our children—conversations real and conversations imaginary—about the way we hope that they will turn our dreams into the future. When we know the story, when we understand that part of the one-ness of the Shema involves passing the experience of God from one generation to another, our saying of the Shema becomes a different kind of work. It is no longer just a question of theology (there is only one God); it becomes an experience of growing spiritual truth. Our experience of God links generations. One critical part of entering into Jewish worship is helping our students to make the traditional liturgy into evolving personal stories. The rabbis modeled this process through the use of “origin stories.” By teaching us the first time each prayer was said, they were revealing the other contexts in which these words take on and grow meaning. We can do the same for our students. Even though it often wasn’t done for us, we can learn and teach these stories, using them to empower our students’ relationship with the Siddur.
5. A set of experiences of participation in liturgical moments that both form spiritual community and invite personal transformation. It is a Thursday morning service in Tzofim, the camping division at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute. Rabbi Larry Mahrer is leading services. Between prayers he asks one of the counselors 12—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
to go and take a look. The counselor runs out of the outdoor sanctuary, runs to the flagpole, returns, and says, “Sorry, Rabbi, it’s not at the flagpole.” The congregation sings the next prayer, and then the rabbi sends another counselor, who comes back and says, “I’m sorry, Rabbi, it is not at the fire circle.” In the course of the service four or five counselors make the journey. When it comes time to read Torah, the rabbi begins to read and translate Deuteronomy 30.12: “The Torah is not in heaven, that you should say: ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?” He then explains, “The Torah is not in the kitchen, not at the flagpole, not at the fire circle—where the Torah needs to be is in each of your hearts.” It was more than thirty years ago that I was one of the counselors who sat in the service, but not one who ran out to report where the Torah was not. Thirty years, and I still remember the moment vividly. It was a little piece of dramaturgy that made the Torah reading and the abstraction of the Torah being in our hands concrete. The fifth-grade day-school class (I wish I remembered where) goes into the art room and finds a huge pile of pipes, wires, wood, and, of course, duct tape. The assignment is to trace one member of their group, cut out a cardboard form, and then build the insides of a person. What emerges are a series of very interesting abstract sculptures. These engineering activities are artistic solutions that are lots of fun. The sculptures are taken back to the classroom. They are mounted on the walls, and then presentations are made. The teacher has students open their Siddurim to the following passage: “Blessed is The One who has formed people in wisdom and created in them many orifices and many cavities. It is fully known before the throne of Your glory that if one of them should be [improperly] opened or one of them closed it would be impossible for a person to stand before You.” In order to get to the “spirit” of worship, a collection of unique experiences is often really useful. There needs to be a series of moments built into the worship learning process that gets past the mind and into the soul. Unless we help students to connect the words and their hearts, those circuits may never be connected. But this is only the Kavanah (spirit) side of a duality that also needs to include Keva (fixed patterns). The final part of what schools have to do is involve students in regular services that are compelling. This means not boring, but also not reduced to only cheerleading motions and shouting. We need to have some serious conversations about the worship patterns that engage children of different ages and to show the children that prayer can be a useful part of their lives. We need to think about school services and junior congregations, family worship and even our congregational worship patterns, and evolve them into moments of growth. The bottom line is this: Important pieces of prayer learning need to happen in the classroom. There are things to know, things to understand, and things to get good at. But at the same time, to grow students with a long-term relationship with the Siddur, there are things that need to take place in the sanctuary, in the art room, on the dance floor, and in the forest. Our conversations about teaching liturgy also need to include these experiences.
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—13
Chapter 2: The Elements in the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program Hebrew and Prayer The non–day-school part of the North American Jewish educational system has created a language known as “Siddur Hebrew.” This means that because of limited time, the focus of Hebrew school is not on Hebrew as a spoken language, but rather tightly centered on the Siddur in general and precisely on those skills that will enable a quality bar/bat mitzvah experience. Torah Aura has tried to influence this trend through the creation of Hebrew language materials titled Daber Ivrit; but in understanding the realities that schools face, we have developed a “Siddur Hebrew Plus” program that lets schools meet the basic needs for which they are being held accountable, while enriching students with elements that have a much greater impact on Jewish identification and future synagogue involvement. Our Hebrew prayer program (1) insures much greater mastery of mechanical reading of Hebrew texts and (2) facilitates the performance of Siddur passages and serves a greater diversity of students because of a commitment to multiple modality learning. In addition, in a way that no other Siddur program does, we (3) involve students in growing skills that lead to a basic comprehension of the Hebrew, (4) give them a chance to develop personal kavanot (spiritual relationships) with the liturgy, (5) offer print and internet opportunities to involve parents in their child’s learning and increase the weekly contact hours, and (6) help students to understand the structure and flow of the liturgy.
Elements of the Hebrew Primer Part of the Program We actualize the Hebrew part of our objectives through elements in the Hebrew primers, through our “post-primers” and Getting Up to Speed books, and through continuing sounding activities in each of the Prayer texts.
Letter Introduction Pages Each Hebrew letter is introduced with its own page. That page includes the name, image, and three to five key words for each letter. The key word vocabulary is built on the “vocabulary of Jewish living” found in our elementary curricular and preprimer materials. This is a spiral aspect of our program where words learned in the basic celebration of Jewish life (Torah, Bimah, Shofar) are revisited as we introduce Hebrew letters and then become reading vocabulary as our letter and blending knowledge grows. At the bottom of each page in lighter print is a complete Hebrew Alef-Bet with vowels. As each letter is mastered, the type is darkened. This lets students measure their progress and have a sense of the order of the letters. 14—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Sounding Practice Once the new letter or vowel elements are introduced, putting them in context is the next piece of the work. This is moving from letter recognition into blending. Unlike many other Hebrew workbooks, the Torah Aura program does not base its instruction on isolated nonsense syllables. Except for a few early lessons when there are not yet sufficient letters, all of the Hebrew the students will encounter will be in the form of meaningful words, phrases, and sentences. You will notice that each piece of sounding practice comes with (1) an arrow that indicates directionality, and (2) light-colored lines that divide the space between lines. Both are designed to train visual discrimination in a new direction (right to left). We have also filled the books with races, games, and puzzles, because we want the process to be fun.
Cultural Elements
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Each of our primers contains cultural elements that enrich the learning process. In Ot la-Ba’ot we teach the story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda (via his dog) and directly connect Hebrew to the land of Israel. In Tiyulim we have sidebars that provide a very basic tour of the Land of Israel. While nothing is directly said, the message is clear: There is a connection between us, our learning of Hebrew, and the land of Israel.
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• practice sound identification and distinction,
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Use this page to
• learn who Avi really is, • assign homework, • review and end the lesson.
Ask students to share their Hebrew SOME OF THESE THINGS DON’T names with the class. Ask if anyone BELONG The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—15 This exercise requires that students read all the words and identify the sounds that are dissimilar. That means they must read the whole row aloud and then identify the words that don’t fit.
knows what their family’s last name was before they came to America. Why do they think their names were changed? Is it for the same reason that Avi changed his name?
Stepping Up to the Torah Aura Prayer Program When you first look at the various Torah Aura prayer resources you will notice that they are not quite like other Siddur (prayerbook) texts you may have used. That is because we are interested in both the mastery (performance) and meaning (personal connection) of the prayers. We have built our Hebrew/Siddur materials to be very much like other Siddur resources, but with some wonderful new elements.
Prayer Introductions Each chapter begins with an introduction to the prayer(s) being studied. These introductions set the prayer in the service, discuss the central theme(s) of the prayer, and expand the understanding of the theme through the use (directly or indirectly) of commentaries.
Prayer Text These are presented in both Hebrew and English. The Hebrew is divided into lines based on phrases, and the English translation uses ALL CAPITAL LETTERS on some words to emphasize their importance or structural elements. The lines are numbered to make the prayer easy to discuss and divided by light-colored lines to aid visual discrimination. There is a yellow highlight behind the lines in the prayer that will be studied in depth. The page is designed to (a) allow teachers to introduce the prayer and its key elements, (b) practice sounding out the text and turn it into a solid performance through returning to the prayer, and (c) (in S’fatai Tiftah but not Journeys) provide additional commentaries on the prayer’s sources and meaning at the foot of the page. As you proceed through the chapter you will find prompts to return to this page and review it again and again to build proficiency.
Root Pages Root pages obviously work on roots. They do so by (a) showing the root working in different words, (b) providing sounding practice that demands that students recognize the root in the context of real Siddur words, and (c) building further understanding of the use of roots, having students complete words by adding a missing letter. Our goals here are that (a) the root makes it into active vocabulary, (b) students grow the ability to recognize the root (and others) in the context of the Siddur passage they are studying, and (c) they passively gain an understanding of the workings of the Hebrew language.
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Approximation of Meaning Pages One of the central original elements in our Siddur program is a page that let students “sort of translate” pieces of the Siddur using the vocabulary and structural insights they have accumulated. We are not expecting precise translations, because they do not have enough knowledge of the workings of Hebrew. Our goal is that students approximate the meaning of passages using a resource vocabulary and their knowledge of roots, prefixes, and suffixes, and thereby develop a closer connection to the text. We facilitate moving the black box of meaning of the Siddur into a decodable text with escalating understanding.
Story Pages Another unique element of our Siddur program is the stories that go with each prayer. These stories let students discuss the kavanah, the inner working of the prayer with our hearts and minds. These stories let teachers go beyond talking about the theme of a prayer (like “this is a prayer about peace”). Rather, they ask, “What kind of inner work can I do to lead to greater peace in my life?” Stories allow us to access the inner voice need to give the prayer meaning.
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Chapter 3: Primers and Pre-Primers Primers Once upon a time explaining a primer was easy. One just said, “It is the book that students use during the first year they go to Hebrew school more than once a week.” That is now a problematic statement. Hebrew school is now supplemental school, congregational school, religion school or religious school. And time has changed the number of days a week thing into a whole different range of possibilities. A primer is a book that uses whatever knowledge a student has of individual letters, their names, and their sounds, and transforms them into the skill of blending vowel and letter combinations and then sounding out words. In simple language, this is the book that teaches “mechanical reading,” “sounding,” or “decoding.” Primers have the simple goals of: • Knowing the name of each Hebrew letter and vowel. • Knowing the sound of each Hebrew letter and vowel. • Being able to blend letter and vowel combinations. • Having a sense of the syllabification of Hebrew words. • Being able to sound out Hebrew words. • Being able to perform a basic Hebrew vocabulary as whole words. Torah Aura adds two more goals because of our understanding of second-language acquisition research: • Making a connection between the Jewish vocabulary acquired through studying holidays and celebrations and the Hebrew words students form. • Building an aural-oral vocabulary of Hebrew words that will move mechanical decoding into sounding or even whole-word sight recognition. Torah Aura offers three primers. There are differences among them that have to do with the settings in which they will be used. One is for the three-day-a-week school or settings that make a commitment to significant Hebrew time. One is for the one or two-day-a-week setting and other places where timing is a problem. And one is for adult learners, who have different needs. They all share a number of characteristics. • They use the same order of letter introduction, based on research into second-language acquisition. It is better to space out look-alike letters, and our materials do that. • They teach sound-alike combinations in close proximity. Research shows that this is best. We teach both (tzerei) and (segol) in the same lesson (we follow Israeli pronunciation). (Sin) is taught apart from (Shin) but close to (Samekh). • They build sounding exercises (after the first few lessons) out of real Hebrew words and not nonsense syllables. We emphasize practice on vocabulary that is familiar. The use of real words makes it easy for teachers to model the correct accent and emphasis in Hebrew pronunciation.
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Beyond the textbook, the Primer part of our Hebrew/Prayer curriculum comes with a number of important resources.
Teacher’s Guide Our teacher’s guides follow the student text page-bypage, breaking down the education goals of each page and activity, discussing the process for implementing the activity, and giving guidelines for evaluation. In addition, correct answers to every question and activity and expected “close answers” are shared.
Home Workbook Here is the family education involvement piece. For each class lesson there is a two-sided page (in a perforated workbook) that (a) allows students to share with their parents what they have learned in class, (b) allows parents to learn over their childres’s shoulders and grow familiar with the same material, and (c) gives students a chance to practice and review the material learned in class. A website supplements the material by providing correct pronunciation, answers, and support. Teachers are able to monitor progress of the home element through daily collection of the perforated pages.
Classroom Workbook This is an additional drill book for the classroom. It reviews and reinforces that which has been learned, with a particular emphasis on the growth of sounding skills. Many of the exercises are designed to be F•U•N!
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Flash Cards This is the first of a series of interactive tools for the teacher. These have individual words on them and can be used for sounding drills and for all kinds of classroom games.
La
Alef-Bet Letter Flash Cards
Ot la-Ba’ot: A Better Hebrew Primer, © Torah Aura Productions. ISBN #1-891662-04-X
Lesson 1A
These are exactly what they sound like—flash cards with letters and vowels. These are useful for introducing, reviewing, and drilling letters. They are a resource for creating both games and reading exercises.
Ot la-Ba’ot: A Better Hebrew Primer, © Torah Aura Productions. ISBN #1-891662-04-X
Lesson 2A
Vocabulary Poster Set These 5” x 8” full-color vocabulary posters are the heart of the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer materials. They begin in our Pre-primers and continue all the way through our Siddur curricula. They are also connected to Daber Ivrit, our modern Hebrew language resource. They begin a process of students learning to think in Hebrew rather than translating. Each vocabulary card uses an icon to represent a Hebrew word or root. These same icons are used consistently in our books, beginning with the pre-primers and working through all of the Siddur materials. When a student can see a hand with a pointer in front of it and think Yad, we have done our job. The more we build vocabulary, the more accessible the Siddur becomes.
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Torah Aura offers a choice of four primers in our Hebrew Prayer program. Each serves a different audience.
Ot la-Ba’ot
is our foundational primer that effectively uses all the elements mentioned above—a careful letter learning progression, the use of real words for Hebrew sounding drills, the use of key-letter Hebrew vocabulary, multiple-modality learning, etc.—and adds to them Daber Ivrit units of modern Hebrew and the cultural narrative of the creation of the modern Hebrew language by telling the story of Mahir, Eliezer Ben Yehudah’s dog. This is the perfect book for the three-daya-week school or a school that is committed to devoting a lot of time to deep-root Hebrew foundations.
Tiyulim is a responsible shortening of Ol la-Ba’ot. Some of the bells and whistles (such as those used in Daber Ivrit) were removed, leaving a solid platform for the rest of the Torah Aura Hebrew Prayer curriculum. The same letter order, use of real Hebrew words, and many of the same activities are to be found here, but in a framework that can be completed easily in a two-day-a-week or even a once-a-week school. In place of the story of Mahir, the cultural element is a brief tour of Israel. We still make the connection between Hebrew and Israel, but in a less intense manner.
Lashon ha-Kodesh is the third primer built on this same platform. This time the material is organized and enhanced for adult learning. More responsibility is handed over to the learner, and a great emphasis is placed on language structure, but the overall time commitment is even shorter.
Likro u’Livarekh is an accelerated primer that is followed by application of sounding skills to the study of one-line prayers. Likro u’Livarekh is the perfect book for schools that have spent several years in pre-primers or that choose to devote a second year to primers. It is a very quick journey through sounding out Hebrew words followed by study of the core liturgy we all want our children to know.
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Pre-Primers The pre-primer is an interesting animal. It serves a lot of different purposes. Some schools start them in kindergarten or first grade and use one a year until they begin the primer. Often these schools are not as concerned about letter recognition as they are with conveying the message that Hebrew is part of Jewish learning. Other schools will use two years (or so) of preprimers because they want short-term memory to make it into long-term memory. It is their way of fighting the summer gap and really preparing for a primer. Most schools do one year of a pre-primer as a preparation and as a rehearsal for the primer. Classically pre-primers have two goals: (a) the recognition and ability to name each letter, and (b) the ability to know and reproduce the sound made by each letter. Usually vowels are not involved. Blending consonants and vowels waits for the primer. Our experience with secondlanguage acquisition has led us to add a third goal, (c) the building of a Jewish and Hebrew vocabulary that will enable reading success. Torah Aura offers the following pre-primers.
BJL (Building Jewish Life) Alef to Tav Activity Book is your resource for kindergarten or first grade. It is a coloring book that stresses one key word for each letter and offers letter discrimination activities.
Now I Know My Alef Bet is the next step. Here we teach three core vocabulary words, letter tracing, letter discrimination, and a big letter to color. This is perfect for first or second grade.
Journeys Through the Alef Bet allows us to progress another step. We continue the core vocabulary, introduce letters, blend single-letter vowel combinations, discriminate between letters, and try our hand at recognizing Hebrew letters in the real world (especially in Israel). Consider this a secondand third-grade book.
Marilyn Price & Friends Present the Alphabet from Alef to Tav is our most advanced pre-primer. This time we introduce letters and vowels, discriminate between letters, work on vocabulary, and work on single syllables that often involve two letters and a vowel. Here you have an entire progression of pre-primers to chose from and work through (based on the number of years you want to spend in preparation). 22â&#x20AC;&#x201D;The Educatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Chapter 4: Teaching with Stories To use our Siddur books you need to find a way of being comfortable with a few new techniques. Then it will be easy to step up from what you have been using to this book. Teaching with Stories: Our materials are loaded with stories (in English) from the Talmud, the Midrash, and folk literature. These stories are all designed to provide a path by which each student can build a personal meaning for each prayer. Stories are really good at doing that because they both relate and create real-life experience. Working with stories is fairly easy. In this case we can recommend a simple four-part process. a. Convey the story. This can be done in any of a number of ways. (a) You can tell the story. (b) You can read the story. (c) Students can read the story silently, alone or in small groups of two or three. Our single recommendation is that you do not call on students to read the story out loud. That process can be both slow and tedious. However, Erica Dorf, one of the master teachers who helped us develop this curriculum, regularly reads a story to her class, pausing for the whole class to read key lines or words in the story. b. Allow the students to interpret the story. This involves first asking a couple of questions to make sure that students heard or “got” the story. For example, you might ask, “What problem did the Baal Shem have?” “How did Potiphar solve his problem?” etc. These lead up to the question we really care about. The core questions are “What do you think this story teaches?” “What lessons can you learn from this story?” When you ask the core questions, you need to make two things clear. First, you are not looking for a single right answer. Second, there are a number of answers you can learn from a given story. This allows you to listen to a number of different student opinions.
Know that it is a good technique to respond to every answer by restating it in your own words to show that you were listening and to clarify the idea for the class. It is good to ask the student a question or two—or make a comment or two— about the answer. This could be “You know that one of the prayers says exactly The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—23
what you said, that ‘God creates new things every day.’” Or “You said that a minyan can do things a single person cannot do. What about a minyan makes a difference?” c. Share your own opinion or clarification. I tell lots of stories every week. I invite lots of groups to share their own meanings. One of the lessons I have learned is that the meaning I want, the meaning I think is obvious, almost never comes out. People always hear their own things in stories, often wonderful things that I have not noticed. The previous step of this process is your opportunity to enjoy your students’ creativity. This step belongs to you. Having heard all of the other opinions, you now have your opportunity to share or to explain. Here is where you can say “Here is something else to learn from this story…” Here is where you can push the story into meaning that relates to the lesson without denying any of the meanings your class has found. d. Give students practice in “pointing their hearts”. The last question we ask about almost every story is “How can knowing this story help you know where to point your heart when you say the given prayer?” This is a hard question for your students because it is different than questions they have been asked in other places. It is a new kind of thinking. Do not model answers to this question (once you have given them time to answer). You will be surprised to see that after two or three stories they will get the process and often even anticipate the question.
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Chapter 5: The Approximation of Meaning Introducing Vocabulary One of the secrets of this curriculum is that we are trying to build a large passive vocabulary. A passive vocabulary is one that students can recognize, not necessarily one that students can use. In other words, we want them to know that [] means “holy,” not to know that the Hebrew word for “holy” is . Passive is much easier than active. We will be using a limited number of words many times, trying to make as many of them familiar as possible. This is not the same as regularly drilling and testing for vocabulary mastery. The bottom line is this: The more words that “stick,” the more meaning Hebrew prayers will have. The more words that have meaning, the stronger connection there will be with the Siddur. Each unit uses a limited number of words. The translation sections include major words, roots, and language elements (prefixes and suffixes, etc.) that will be used in the course of the unit. The more frequently these are used and reviewed, the deeper they will sink in.
The best way of introducing (and drilling) vocabulary is with 5½” by 8½” posters. A set of these is available from Torah Aura Productions. There is one set for each book. Schools using Pirke T’fillah will need to assemble and then divide a complete set of cards according to the prayers they are choosing to teach. You are also free to make your own. Each of these cards has an icon—the graphic image that prompts the word—on one side and the Hebrew on the other. Both sides can be used playfully in class for introduction and review. It is good to introduce new words and review key words at the beginning of each lesson.
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—25
Maintaining an Active Vocabulary There are two distinct skills we care about. One is knowing the meaning of individual words. This is seeing the picture of a king and knowing that Hebrew word is , and seeing the Hebrew word and knowing that it means “a king.” The second skill is recognizing the root in context. The prayer reads:
When students can suddenly see , , , , in the sentence and get the sense that “King Forever Adonai God of/in Tzion,” that is a huge deal. The prayer has now made sense. While the teacher can straighten out the words and perhaps teach a little bit of the grammar for which students are ready, the prayer has meaning (even if it is an approximate meaning). We move toward these two skills with two teaching techniques: a. Regular review and drill (with mini-posters and exercises) of the core vocabulary that is indicated as significant. b. “On location” vocabulary work. This is done by pointing out words, roots, and forms that have been learned in random reading exercises, in services, and in other contexts. The purpose here is to move from exercises into real Siddur (and text) situations.
Approximating Translations There are two goals in S’fatai Tiftah, Journeys Through the Siddur and Pirkei T’fillah that you will not find in other Siddur curricula—or at least they are not taught intentionally in other texts. We feel that these goals are critical if we are going to enable our students to make meaning of the prayers they recite. These goals are: a. To be able to match the English translation to the Hebrew. It is a wonderful moment when you are sitting in services with your class and one of your students suddenly comes to you and says, “This English translation doesn’t seem to come from the Hebrew. How come?” b. To get a sense of the general idea of a passage. In a world where we do not have enough time to teach Hebrew grammar, to carefully build understandings of tense, form, etc., our students are not going to master enough Hebrew to do accurate translations, but we can help them to get the general idea of a passage. However, the skill of “sort of knowing the gist” builds a sense of connection to Hebrew prayers that pure sounding skills don’t.
There is a whole series of exercises in the book that calls for approximation of translation. The exercises each have a bar with key vocabulary and a box with other word elements. The directions ask students to state “my best guess at the meaning of this
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prayer”. The job for students is to utilize the given information, take their experience, and put these pieces together to express a sense of the prayer. This is exactly what we hope students will do when they sit in services. Here is one set of strategies to use for these exercises. • Let students work in small groups (two or three) to make their best guesses at a translation. Make sure that everyone knows that this is guessing and that perfection is not expected. • Have the class share various translations. You may even want to write them on the board. • Extend the learning by first showing the things that the class (or individuals) got right. Then go over the pieces that were hard or unclear or even done incorrectly. Be sure to use the elements the students have contributed to build a relatively accurate translation. The key here is that everyone knows that the students are using the knowledge they have in order to come close to a reasonable translation and that they are not failing to get a translation right. Indeed, every translation is only an approximation of the original language, and there is rarely only one official right way. Think of a child wrestling with a parent. The child will not win. But the child can do well, and both of them can have fun.
The Bottom Line Our purpose here is not to empower students to accurately translate large portions of the Siddur. We want them to gain a sense of connection to the Hebrew text—to begin to develop a sense of what the prayers mean on a phrase-by-phrase basis. Working with roots, applying word parts, struggling to wrestle the Hebrew into a sense of English meaning makes that connection and helps to deeply root the vocabulary and the process. We work with one or two verses—never the whole prayer. We don’t expect teachers to test mastery on their quizzes and exams. Rather, we are practicing a harder skill in order to achieve a working memory of vocabulary and very basic grammar.
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Chapter 6: A Vision of the Graduate Graduates of the Torah Aura Hebrew and Prayer Program: • Can perform the core liturgy of the Jewish people. • Can sound out any Hebrew text. • Can identify about sixty Hebrew roots in their context in words. They should know the core meaning of a majority of these roots. • Can sort out and decode the meaning of most Hebrew prefixes and suffixes. • Can recognize many words and prayers in the context of actual pieces of liturgy. • Can approximate the translation of most key lines of core liturgy we can study. • Can describe the structure and order of Jewish services. • Can participate with facility in worship services. • Are prepared to begin their bar/bat mitzvah training. These are the concrete outcomes, but in the long run we are really hoping that the following kinds of things take place: • They opt to study Hebrew in high school or college. • They visit and then later study in Israel. • They find prayer meaningful and find or create settings in which they can fulfill their desire for worship. • Both their families of origin and their families of creation participate in ongoing worship experiences. • The cycle of the Jewish year and the Jewish life cycle become import milestones in their lives. • They see Jewish values and Jewish concepts as resources for their own theology and for their own ethical decision making. Here is the point. While we are using the liturgy as a focus for learning, our real goals are much bigger than mastery of the Shabbat Kiddush. The Shabbat Kiddush is good, but Shabbat is better. A relationship with the Kaddish Yatom that lets it be an effective tool for expressing and working through grief is important. Knowing the stories of the Kiddushah has to be added to the important list—especially if rising on tiptoes during Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh is an act of coming closer to God. Knowing that the root [] means “holy” is important, but developing a sense of holiness, real holiness, is the goal.
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Chapter 7: T’fillah in the Synagogue School One can learn to perform prayers in the classroom. That is why God invented gold stars. One can learn about prayers, discuss prayers, think about prayers, and do prayer art projects in the classroom. But one learns to pray in services. And the truth of truths is that one also gets good and fluent at performing prayers through the regular performance of those prayers in an ongoing setting. Simply put, if you are teaching the Siddur, you need a setting where t’fillah is taking place. Most schools solve the school t’fillah problem one of two ways. Schools in Reform synagogues usually have school services about once a week. Schools in Conservative congregations usually have Junior Congregation. Each of these has its own opportunities and challenges. In this chapter we will look at both. Before we break down into a look at both of these settings, let’s get some basic principles down. The biggest thing in American Jewish life right now is the Synagogue Renewal Moment. STAR, ECE, Synaplex, Synagogues 2 and 3000, and lots of other organizations have been actively saving the Jewish people by reimagining and revitalizing the synagogue. Adults essentially participate in synagogue life four different ways: worship, lifelong learning, social action, and leadership. One of the jobs of the synagogue school (and, for that matter, the day school) is to socialize students into synagogue life so that they will not only join but become active in their adult lives. It therefore makes sense that we need to renew synagogue school life along the lines that are being pursued in synagogue life. Therefore, we will look at what we can actualize in these four areas.
Suggestion One: Start a School Rock ’n’ Roll Band Friday Night Live, Rockin’ Shabbat and a bunch of other musical innovations are the hottest things in synagogue worship. We match all this energy with “Mrs. Kaufman’s fourth grade will now lead the V’Ahavta.” It’s time we make our school services (and junior congregations) as exciting as regular services are. So here is a simple, revolutionary, and not all that difficult suggestion: start a school rock ’n’ roll band and train them to play the liturgy behind the service. This will improve things nine ways. You ready? (a) Better school services, (b) school Ruah, (c) a chance for Jason from the seventh grade who never sits still to star as the lead guitarist, (d) great school PR, (e) the beginning of the creation of a bunch of new music specialists, (f) spillover into your congregation’s adult services (imagine what happens on fifth grade Shabbat), (g) great backup for the Hebrew teachers who are dealing with liturgy, (h) increased connection to the liturgy and to worship, and (i) a ready-made backup band for when Craig Taubman visits your congregation. Remember, this is not hard. You’ve got a drummer, a keyboard player, a couple of guitarists, etc. in your school already. You want a horn section? Just find it. Likewise, somewhere in your adult population is an aging garage band guru who would love to put this together. The sheet music all exists. It is just a question of your designing your “Hebrew School of Rock” The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—29
poster and looking around. You are a school administrator or rabbi, a teacher, a whatever; you already know how to do this. A-one, a- two, a-three!
Suggestion Two: Authorize Talking During Services If you go to an Orthodox synagogue or a traditional Conservative minyan, you will learn that there is a time for talking and a time for praying. In the traditional Jewish universe, study and prayer are interrelated activities. At most school services the most frequently said word is “Shush.” We spend much of our effort as adults trying to stop students from talking rather than looking for opportunities for students to talk productively. Here are some examples. • Here is a midrash on this week’s Torah portion. Read it with a neighbor and discuss the questions at the bottom. • The Mi Khamokha is about the miracle at the Red Sea. Talk with a neighbor about whether or not you believe in miracles. Explain what you think. • Birkhot ha-Shahar is a wake-up ritual. Tell each other about the way you wake up every morning. • The next prayer says that “God loves you.” Talk with a neighbor about this question. Where do you feel God’s love? I’m not suggesting that one give up praying. I am not, God forbid, saying that we stop three sixth graders from leading the Ashrei. What I am saying is that for three to five minutes out of fifteen or twenty minutes for a school service, or perhaps two three-minute slots out of an hour or hour and a half Junior Congregation, we invite kids to talk to each other. This does two things. It builds community and friendships, both of which are needed for a school to be effective. And it gives us a chance to explore the kavanah (inner meaning) of prayers in a personal way. This is a win-win.
School Services School services are sprints. You have fifteen, twenty, perhaps thirty minutes to get in, get quiet, get through the service, and (one hopes) leave a positive impression. Part of the reason you have them is to practice the liturgy and demonstrate students’ mastery when they take a turn leading a prayer. The good thing is that the services are really short, and there isn’t a lot of time for students to get bored. The bad news is that they are really short, and it will be hard to fit everything in. Here are a few suggestions. • Make this an all-Hebrew service. Let students who can barely sound out a few letters begin to hear the liturgy as they grow into it. If at all possible, avoid using Siddurim with transliteration. Transliteration is a great tool for outreach to people who are uncomfortable with Hebrew, but in school services we want our students to struggle with and master Hebrew. • Echo the liturgy used in the congregation. You can vary melodies (they can, too), but we want to socialize students into congregational life. 30—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
• Keep the service moving. Even if you want to allow students from a given class to lead a given prayer, don’t lose a lot of time going from prayer to prayer. (You might as well officially invite conversation between prayers!) • While you want to make the service a routine that students can master, each day needs something new. While part of the purpose is to make the performance of the liturgy mechanical, you also need a newness to keep it fresh. Worry about each service’s new element. • While the dignity of worship must be preserved, services need to be fun, comfortable, positive experiences. Going into the sanctuary will never be as good as praying at camp, but your job is to make it come close.
Junior Congregation Junior Congregation was once a two-headed animal. First it was considered a place to put children while their parents were busy with adult services. Second, it was a training and learning process by which students in Conservative congregations mastered the lengthy and complicated regimen of Shabbat morning services. The world has changed. Some Reform congregations are experimenting with Junior Congregations. Some Conservative congregations have done away with them. Others run a whole enterprise of different Junior Congregations for different-aged students. Still others run them as family enterprises where a parent or two comes with each student. Traditionally Junior Congregations were weekly; now they sometimes meet less frequently. Junior Congregations can be limited to a few kids who are the children of active congregational members who regularly go to services. Junior Congregations can be huge endeavors with organizational charts and an entire corps of leaders. Today it is hard to talk about Junior Congregation as being one thing, except that we know that they meet on Shabbat mornings, involve kids, and are devoted to the mastery of the liturgy. Here are a few suggestions. • Think about staffing Junior Congregation with about one staff person to every eight students. This will give you control and enable you to create a quality experience. Parents count in this ratio. It also gives you a chance to alternate between small groups and large groups. Think about Birkot ha-Shahar in groups of eight to ten. • Appoint as many service leaders in advance as possible. This will keep you from having to ask and ask. It will also give you time to interact with students in a different way. • Think about doing a Torah reading in which students master and perform one verse each. A Junior Congregation need not be halakhic anyway. • Encourage (at least once in a while) parents’ participation in the Junior Congregation. Once they are there, honor the participation by designing moments in which parent and child (or parent and a group of children) talk together. Parents should not be left as observers but made active participants.
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—31
• Even though you have a longer time to fill, you should keep the service moving. It is a service, not a class; so while we want this to be a learner’s minyan, it should not devolve into questions that only one or two participants are willing to answer. • Make leading a prayer cool. Make a big deal out of the first time each participant is able to lead a given prayer. • Create a congregation. While this is a hard dynamic to describe, there should be a growing bond among participants. More than anything else, while practice and growing knowledge are goals of these experiences, they should also contain moments of worship. This is an art—an art that anyone who leads children’s services needs to develop.
32—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Appendix A: Prayers in the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program The following chart lists every prayer and blessing that is included in the Torah Aura Hebrew and Prayer Program and indicates where to find each one. (For example, if you’re planning to teach about Ahavah Rabbah, by examining the chart you’ll notice that it can be found in S’fatai Tiftah Volume 1 and Journeys Through the Siddur: Shabbat Morning, as well as in a Pirkei T’fillah packet.) Journeys shabbat morning
Journeys Erev shabbat
Pirkei T’fillah
Journeys Journeys shabbat at Torah & home Concluding
S’fatai Tiftah Volume 3
S’fatai Tiftah Volume 2
S’fatai Tiftah Volume 1
prayer
Beginning the Torah Service
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—33
Pirkei T’fillah
Journeys Journeys shabbat at Torah & home Concluding
Journeys shabbat morning
Journeys Erev shabbat
S’fatai Tiftah Volume 3
S’fatai Tiftah Volume 2
S’fatai Tiftah Volume 1
prayer
The Ark is Opened
Taking the Torah Out of the Ark
The Torah Blessings
Haftarah Blessings
Returning the Torah to the Ark
/
/
What is a ?
Over Food
34—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Appendix B: Pieces of the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program The Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program is a complete curricular set that includes numerous pieces. The chart below shows all the pieces of the program and all the add-ons and accessories that are available (teacher’s guides, flash cards, vocabulary posters, home workbooks, classroom workbooks, etc.). Use this chart to decide which pieces of the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program are right for your school.
Preprimers and Primers Textbook Print
Script
Home Workbook
Class Workbook
Script
Teacher’s Guide
Flash Vocabulary Cards Posters
Script
BJL Alef to Tav Activity Book
Now I Know My Alef-Bet
Marilyn Price & Friends Present…
Journeys Through the Alef-Bet
Ot la-Ba’ot
Tiyulim
L’Shon ha-Kodesh
Likro U’Livarekh
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—35
Prayer Curricula Textbook
Home Workbook
Class Workbook
Teacher’s Guide
Flash Cards
Vocabulary Posters
S’fatai Tiftah 1
S’fatai Tiftah 2
S’fatai Tiftah 3
Journeys Erev Shabbat
Journeys Yom Shabbat
Journeys Torah & Concluding Service
Journeys Shabbat at Home
Pirkei T’fillah
36—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Appendix C: A Complete Vocabulary List for the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program Here is a complete list of all the vocabulary words and Hebrew roots introduced in each piece of the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program.
Vocabulary
BJL Beginnings -
Vocabulary
Now I Know My -
Journeys Through the - Marilyn Price & Friends
BJL Beginnings -
Vocabulary
Now I Know My -
Journeys Through the - Marilyn Price & Friends
BJL Beginnings -
Vocabulary
Now I Know My -
Journeys Through the - Marilyn Price & Friends
BJL Beginnings -
Now I Know My -
Marilyn Price & Friends
Journeys Through the -
Preprimer Vocabulary
�
/
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—37
Likro U’Livarekh L’shon ha-Kodesh Tiyulim Ot la-Ba’ot
Vocabulary
Likro U’Livarekh L’shon ha-Kodesh Tiyulim Ot la-Ba’ot
Vocabulary Roots
Likro U’Livarekh L’shon ha-Kodesh Tiyulim Ot la-Ba’ot
Likro U’Livarekh L’shon ha-Kodesh Tiyulim Ot la-Ba’ot
Primer Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
[]
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[]
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[]
38—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Vocabulary
Likro U’Livarekh L’shon ha-Kodesh Tiyulim Ot la-Ba’ot
Likro U’Livarekh L’shon ha-Kodesh Tiyulim Ot la-Ba’ot
Likro U’Livarekh L’shon ha-Kodesh Tiyulim Ot la-Ba’ot
Likro U’Livarekh L’shon ha-Kodesh Tiyulim Ot la-Ba’ot
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
�
Vocabulary
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—39
Vocabulary
S’fatai Tiftah 3 S’fatai Tiftah 2 S’fatai Tiftah 1
Pirkei T’fillah Journeys Shabbat @ Home Journeys Torah + Journeys Yom Shabbat Journeys Erev Shabbat
S’fatai Tiftah 3 S’fatai Tiftah 2 S’fatai Tiftah 1
Vocabulary
S’fatai Tiftah 3 S’fatai Tiftah 2 S’fatai Tiftah 1
Journeys Shabbat @ Home Journeys Torah + Journeys Yom Shabbat Journeys Erev Shabbat
Pirkei T’fillah Journeys Shabbat @ Home Journeys Torah + Journeys Yom Shabbat Journeys Erev Shabbat
Pirkei T’fillah
Siddur Vocabulary
Vocabulary
40—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
/
/
S’fatai Tiftah 3 S’fatai Tiftah 2 S’fatai Tiftah 1
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Pirkei T’fillah Journeys Shabbat @ Home Journeys Torah + Journeys Yom Shabbat Journeys Erev Shabbat
S’fatai Tiftah 3 S’fatai Tiftah 2 S’fatai Tiftah 1
Pirkei T’fillah Journeys Shabbat @ Home Journeys Torah + Journeys Yom Shabbat Journeys Erev Shabbat
S’fatai Tiftah 3 S’fatai Tiftah 2 S’fatai Tiftah 1
Journeys Shabbat @ Home Journeys Torah + Journeys Yom Shabbat Journeys Erev Shabbat
Pirkei T’fillah
Vocabulary
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—41
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
S’fatai Tiftah 3 S’fatai Tiftah 2 S’fatai Tiftah 1
Pirkei T’fillah Journeys Shabbat @ Home Journeys Torah + Journeys Yom Shabbat Journeys Erev Shabbat
[]
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Vocabulary
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Vocabulary
S’fatai Tiftah 3 S’fatai Tiftah 2 S’fatai Tiftah 1
Pirkei T’fillah Journeys Shabbat @ Home Journeys Torah + Journeys Yom Shabbat Journeys Erev Shabbat
Siddur Roots
[] []
[]
[]
42—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
[]
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Appendix D: Snapshots of Schools Using the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program Snapshots Here are a number of “snapshots” of congregational schools that use the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer program. Each snapshot describes a specific setting and describes how the educator/principal has chosen to organize the curriculum. These snapshots are descriptions of real schools (though names have been changed). Your school will almost certainly differ from those described below. We know that every school is different. We’re offering you these glimpses into schools to provide a number of models and to illustrate how the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer program is designed to be custom-fit into different environments. Do you have a totally different model? Send your own “snapshot” to josh@torahaura.com, and we’ll include it in the next edition of this book.
One Day (Hebrew and Judaica)
Grade 3: Tiyulim
Grade 4: Pirkei T’fillah
Grade 5: Pirkei T’fillah
Grade 6: Pirkei T’fillah
Grade 7: Pirkei T’fillah
Joanie is a new educator of a large congregation in the Northeast. The synagogue school runs one day a week. There are twenty-six sessions of class for the year and each day is divided between Hebrew and Judaica. Joanie was not quite sure what she should choose to use in her new school. After an extensive evaluation of material, she decided to try Tiyulim and Pirkei T’fillah. She told us, “Tiyulim fit into our class schedule perfectly. The twenty-four lessons of the text and home workbook really sold me. And our third class is doing very well. They love the Israel component and are in process of planning a virtual trip to Israel with photographs and letters from their Israeli email pals.” Joanie chose Pirkei T’fillah for grades 4–7. It allowed her to be flexible about timing. “I wasn’t sure how much would be covered in a year, so I designated sections of the prayer service to different classes and whatever was covered would get covered. And so far, so good.” Her fourth grade class is studying Shabbat brakhot. As a wrap up to the year, the students and their families gathered for Shabbat dinner. It was so successful that they have decided to celebrate Shabbat once a month as a group. Her sixth grade class is working on the Torah service. One of the six grade classes is experimenting with the Pirkei T’fillah lessons as individual self-paced lessons. With a little help from Torah Aura, they created a master achievement chart for each lesson, as well as answer guides and podcasts of the cantor singing the prayers. The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—43
Two Days Grade 3:
Tiyulim
Grade 4:
Likro U’Livarekh
Grade 5:
Journeys Through the Siddur: Erev Shabbat
Grade 6:
Journeys Through the Siddur: Torah Service
Grade 7:
Journeys Through the Siddur: Shabbat Morning
Robert is the cantor and principal in a small congregation in the South. The school runs two days a week, running Hebrew and Judaica on both Sunday and Wednesday. There are forty-eight sessions of Hebrew for the year. Robert changed the school curriculum this year. He chose to use both Tiyulim and Likro U’Livarekh. Last year the third grade didn’t get through their book successfully. This year his third graders are moving nicely through Tiyulim, and his fourth grade is reviewing the Alef Bet with Likro U’Livarekh and will move on to basic brakhot in early March. Robert said, “I didn’t want to make my students do two years of primer. Unfortunately, my fourth graders weren’t ready for prayer material. I could have made them all get tutors, but I didn’t really think that was such a good choice. I think this is the best decision I’ve made in a long time.” Next year Robert will reshuffle the textbooks and move Journeys Through the Siddur: Erev Shabbat into fourth grade. The response to the Journeys Through the Siddur material has been better than expected. In daily services students have been praying with more kavanah. “Everyone wants to lead services, and frankly, they are becoming more prayer fluent. Last week my most difficult sixth grader gave a drash on the K’dushah that was awesome.”
44—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Two Days (one Hebrew and one Judaica)
Grade 3: Likro U’Livarekh
Grade 4: Pirkei T’fillah
Grade 5: Pirkei T’fillah
Grade 6: Pirkei T’fillah
Grade 7: Journeys Through the Haggadah
Aaron is the educator of a mid-size school in the Midwest. The synagogue school runs two days a week, running Hebrew on Wednesday afternoon (two hours) and Judaica on Sunday (two and a half hours). There are thirty sessions of Hebrew for the year. Now in his third year as the educator, Aaron has been using Torah Aura materials for the past two years. Trying to find a way to keep his students engaged, he brought his third grade class Likro U’Livarekh. And they love it! The ten units that teach decoding skills offer his teacher, Emily, all kinds of flexibility. Some days the class is really focused, and they can get through an entire unit (about three or four consonants or vowels). Many days are not so good. They can work on one or two new elements and take some time to play some reinforcement games or work on a special project. The feedback from Emily is really positive. The students are looking forward to finishing the decoding lessons in March and beginning to get into the brakhot part of the book. Aaron chose to use Pirkei T’fillah in grades 4–6. Several years ago the school board adopted a structure of prayers and brakhot assigned to each class. Aaron easily assembled a curriculum for each grade using Pirkei T’fillah. He was able to work with each teacher to organize the lessons for the class. The sixth grade, for example, is studying the Amidah, Torah and Haftarah blessings, Havdalah and Ashrei. Jon, the teacher, loves the way the material is presented and particularly likes the stories for each prayer. He has his students write their own stories to explain the prayers. He also loved the Prayer Assessments. They were an easy way to keep track of student progress. The seventh grade year allows students to work on their bar/bar mitzvah material. Aaron wanted to make sure that students didn’t get lost, so this year he added Journeys Through the Haggadah as an eightweek course. Already the feedback is great. Rachel, a very vocal seventh grader, expressed the sentiment of the class. “I’ve never really studied anything more that the four questions. This is cool stuff.”
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—45
Two Days (integrated Shabbat program) Grade 2: Tiyulim Grade 3: Journeys through the Siddur: Shabbat at Home Grade 4: Journeys Through the Siddur: Erev Shabbat Grade 5: Journeys Through the Siddur: Shabbat Morning Grade 6: Journeys Through the Siddur: Torah Service Grade 7: Shema Is For Real Ora is the principal of a large temple in the East. The school runs two days a week, running Hebrew and Judaica on both Monday and Shabbat. There are fifty-six sessions of Hebrew for the year. Ora has been using Torah Aura materials for the past seven years and adopted the Journeys series at its release in 2004. Ora fell in love with Tiyulim as soon as she saw it. She particularly likes the order in which the letters are introduced and the quick visits to Israel. Her second-grade teacher, Irit, loves teaching the modern vocabulary. The students use the textbook, the classroom workbook, and the home workbook. Irit keeps a homework chart and gives students stars for returned homework. Ora reports that parents are thrilled. After helping their children visit the website and do the homework, four of the parents have signed up for the adult Hebrew class. Students move into the Journeys Through the Siddur material in third grade. “It has the right amount of material in the right proportion,” she told us, “and given the focus of the four books, it’s easy to insert into the school. Students learn prayers in the context of the service.” Adam, who teaches fourth grade (and the Shabbat morning service), finds that there is a perfect amount of drill, especially in the class workbook. “There are many review activities my students can do in pairs. It frees me to work individually with students who need extra help.” In the seventh-grade year students review the entire service with Shema Is For Real. “It gives them a chance to see the service in yet another way. We are hoping that by the end of seventh grade students can walk into any service anywhere and participate.”
46—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum
Three Days (Large Congregation) Grade 3: Ot la-Ba’ot Grade 4: S’fatai Tiftah 1 Grade 5: S’fatai Tiftah 2 Grade 6: S’fatai Tiftah 3 Grade 7: Shema Is For Real Elizabeth is the director of education in a large congregation in the Northwest. She runs one of a few schools that meet three days a week, running sixty-six sessions during the year. Elizabeth brought Ot la-Ba’ot and S’fatai Tiftah to the curriculum six years ago when she came to the synagogue. Elizabeth confessed that she considered changing to another curriculum with more bells and whistles. However, when she matched it up to Ot la-Ba’ot and S’fatai Tiftah, she couldn’t justify the change. Ilana, who teaches third grade, just adores Ot la-Ba’ot. More importantly, her students are gobbling up the material. Ilana’s room has a giant locker in which she keeps all her stuffed Hebrew letters, vocabulary photographs, and review games. “Ot is the best. There is tons of decoding and discrimination material. My kids really respond to the material, and they are beginning to decode like pros. The homework material helps a lot. I have been using the homework with Jimmy, who was falling behind.” Ilana tells us that her kids like the story of Eliezer Ben Yehudah. Imagine moving to a new country and speaking a language nobody else speaks! In grades 4–6 students study from S’fatai Titah. Nate, who teaches fourth grade, said, “This stuff is great. I love that my students are trying to create understandable translations of very complex prayers.” He has his students work in hevruta to come up with a translation and then write it on the board. “Everyone’s work is right up there for everyone else to see. We work together to massage the translations from bad to better English. I take care not to single out individuals. This is group work, and no one person feels picked on.” After each unit is completed, Amy, one of the sixth-grade teachers, uses the Assessment tests. “I do a review session the Sunday before I do the assessment. It takes two days to get through all my students for the reading part of the test, but I think it’s worth it. By the time we get to the assessment, my students really know their stuff.”
The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum—47
Three Days (smallish congregation) Grade 3: Ot la-Ba’ot Grade 4: S’fatai Tiftah 1 Grade 5: S’fatai Tiftah 2 Grade 6: S’fatai Tiftah 3 Grade 7: Shema Is For Real Elli is the educator of a smallish congregation in the Southwest. Her school meets two days a week, running fifty-two sessions during the year. Elli has been using Ot la-Ba’ot and S’fatai Tiftah since they were released, but she has been using Torah Aura prayer materials for almost twenty years. For Elli it was a no-brainer. “I could have chosen to use ‘easier’ material. Despite time crunches, I believe that this is the best there is. And you have to use the best.” Third-grade teacher Shana helped field-test the Ot la-Ba’ot material before the renewed version was released in 2000 and has been teaching it ever since. She has developed her own routine for class, including as much spoken Hebrew as possible. “I can’t think of a better way to teach Hebrew decoding. The material is based on an ‘A’ and ‘B’ lesson for each unit. ‘A’ lessons introduce a new element or two. ‘B’ lessons review the material learned so far. The order of the lessons is fabulous. By the end of the second week my students could decode ‘Shabbat Shalom.’” Students move on to S’fatai Tiftah in grades 4–6. Hank, who teaches fifth grade, is impressed with the way the material teaches Hebrew roots. “I’ve been learning along with my students. I can’t believe I never understood that root words help you understand the meaning of prayers.” Hank has created a series of colorful root charts that hang on the wall. When they are drilling prayers and a root word comes up, they have to get up and run over to the correct root. “Well,” he told us, “it keeps them focused and moving.” Andrea’s sixth-grade students are part of a special program designed for students with learning difficulties. “I told Elli that I didn’t think my kids could handle this material. But boy, was I wrong.” It’s a small group of six students. They are working together and relying on one another to get through the material. “Last week they led Shaharit services on Sunday morning. Everybody cheered.”
48—The Educator’s Field Guide to the Torah Aura Productions Hebrew/Prayer Curriculum