“Hebrew is Hebrew,” says Rabbi Ariel Boxman, the education director at Temple Shalom, which over the past three years has moved to distinguish Hebrew learning from prayer learning.
We all respond to music in powerful ways. For students learning Hebrew prayer, music allows them to make a spiritual connection with the message and theme of prayers.
Watch how one fifth grade class in New Jersey connects with music related to the Yotzer Or prayer.
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As educator Batsheva Frankel writes in her forthcoming book, The Jewish Educator's Companion (Behrman House, June 2017), one of the most challenging topics to teach is t'filah.
"It isn't really about the mechanics of prayer - teaching the words or tunes. That's the easy part. More difficult is helping students find meaning in the prayers. How do students relate to the ancient language and imagery of the siddur? If they don't understand the
The complete Hebrew in Harmony - the groundbreaking series featuring dozens of today's top musicians that teaches Hebrew through music - will be released next week.
An 8th grade student recently recounted to his teacher how he didn't feel a connection to prayer, even as he "put forth positive energy" to the practice. The student said he was searching for a way to bypass "the blockade between the heart and God."
His heartfelt message offers a challenge to any educator, about how to provide students opportunities to experience both meaningful personal and communal worship experiences, while also teaching them the words, choreography, and melody.
This student's remark highlights what many educators know: that while it's important to study the keva, the mechanics of the prayer, in many ways it's even more important to guide students toward finding the kavanah, the intention that gives meaning to the prayers.
The soon-to-be-released series Making T'filah Meaningful draws on thes
Teaching t'filah (prayer) can be one of the most challenging arenas in Jewish education. There's the Hebrew itself, the melodies, the when, where, and how of praying. Finding ways to address the underlying questions - Why do we pray? What do we mean with these words? - can lead to valuable learning as students become both fluent in the prayers and personally connected to their meaning.
Making T'filah Meaningful, a new series of supplemental materials, digs into those underlying questions to understand prayer in a new way.
For example, Mi Chamocha, one of the 8-page booklets available in the series, explores the prayer as a way to help us notice the miracles in our lives and express gratitude for them.
The Behrman family has served the educational needs of the Jewish community for 100 years.
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