HaYidion קיץ בתשע"ב • Summer 201212 teaching tanakh The Delights of Irrelevance, p. 8 / Out of Israel Comes Torah, pp. 46-54 / Hebrew Poetry Contest, pp. 36-45 Your students will make a difference by fulfilling the mitzvot of pikuach nefesh and Tikkun Olam Through awareness, education, and call to action, each step of the program provides an opportunity to address a very real and meaningful service in the community. Gift of Life ’s Mitzvah Project It all starts with the Gift of Life Mitzvah Project! Want more information? [email protected] הידיעון HaYidion • HaYidion [2] HaYidion: The RAVSAK Journal is a publication of RAVSAK: The Jewish Community Day School in this issue: Network. It is published quarterly for distribution to RAVSAK member schools, associate members, and other Jewish and general education organizations. No articles may be reproduced Approaches or distributed without express written permission of RAVSAK. All rights reserved. Subscriptions are $36/year. The Torah of Relevance: A Dinosaur Deserving Extinction • by Eric Grossman, page 8 Executive Editor: Dr. Barbara Davis Editor: Elliott Rabin, PhD Design: Adam Shaw-Vardi Philosophical Inquiry with Tanakh • by Jen Glaser, page 12 Editorial Board Ilisa Cappell, El Paso Jewish Academy, El Paso, TX Staying Abraham’s Hand: On Withholding Disturbing Biblical Texts Geoff Cohen, United Herzlia Schools, Capetown, South Africa • by Ora Horn Prouser, page 16 Rabbi Andrew Davids, Beit Rabban, New York, NY Mitch Flatow, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, Palo Alto, CA A Reform Approach to Tanakh Education Frankel Jewish Academy, West Bloomfield, MI Rabbi Eric Grossman, • by Eric Petersiel, page 20 Dr. Raquel Katzkowicz, Albert Einstein School, Quito, Ecuador Cooki Levy, Akiva School, Westmount, QC Rabbi Jack Nahmod, Abraham Joshua Heschel School, New York, NY Redesigning Tanakh Curriculum to Meet Our Students Today Rabbi Dr. Gil Perl, Margolin Hebrew Academy / Feinstone Yeshiva • by Batia Dragovetsky-Nemirovsky, page 22 of the South, Memphis, TN David Prashker, Jacobson Sinai Academy, Miami, FL Advancing 21st Century Skills Through Tanakh Boston's Community Day School, Watertown, MA Alex Sagan, JCDS, • by Sharon Freundel, page 26 Nina Wand, Beth Tfiloh Dahan, Baltimore, MD Teaching the Seventy Faces of Torah Advisory Panel • by Ziva T. Reimer, page 30 Sandee Brawarsky, Jeremy Dauber, Ari Goldman, Aron Hirt- Manheimer, Mark Joffe, Dan Lazar, Alana Newhouse, Ellen Rosenbush, Daniel Septimus, Judith Shulevitz Of Rabbis and Rebbes: Studying Torah for Meaning and Jewish Identity • by Tzvi Berkson, page 32 RAVSAK Board of Directors Arnee Winshall (Chair), Uri Benhamron, Lisa Breslau, Constructing a Love of Learning: Constructivism in a Torah Classroom Dr. Barbara Davis, Rebekah Farber, Stacey Fisher, Matt Heilicher, • by Benjamin Czeladnicki, page 34 Dr. Marc N. Kramer, Paul Levitch, Zipora Schorr, Joseph Steiner, Lesley Zafran Hebrew Poetry Contest Advertising Information pages 36-45 Please contact Marla Rottenstreich at [email protected] or by phone at 646-450-7280. Tools RAVSAK To Teach a Subversive Canon in a Digital World 120 West 97th Street, New York, NY 10025 • by Avi Warshavski, page 46 p: 212-665-1320 • f: 212-665-1321 • e: [email protected] • w: www. ravsak.org Innovative Tanakh Programs in the Land of Milk and Honey The views expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect • by Howard Deitcher, page 50 the positions of RAVSAK. Teaching Nevi’im and the State of Israel RAVSAK would like to thank our associate members: • by Jeffrey Schrager, page 52 Authentic Tanakh Assessments: a Typology • by Alex Sinclair, page 56 Interpretative Experience as the Fulcrum of Tanakh Education • by Allison Cook and Orit Kent, page 58 IsraelWay Differentiation: Road Maps to Torah Study Educational Tourism www.israelway.com • by Beth Burstein Fine, page 62 Museum Learning: Entering Torah through Pictures • by Ian Silverman and Michael Druin, page 64 Promoting Torah Literacy: Strategies from Literacy Education • by Yael Sacks, page 66 הידיעון The Quality of Life Wheel: A Tool for Reading, Understanding and Living • by M. Evan Wolkenstein, page 68 • HaYidion From the Editor, page 4 • Letters, page 5 • From the RAVSAK Chair, page 6 Good and Welfare, page 7 • Olami / Personal Essay, page 70 • Glossary, page 71 [3] From the Editor ¿ by Barbara Davis he second most wonderful thing about serving many excellent practitioners are employing HaYidion the “best practices” of contemporary edu- as an editor of (the first is working with cational theory and research in the teach- Elliott Rabin and the members of the editorial board) is the ing of Biblical text. Differentiated learn- opportunity it provides for me to engage in my own Jewish ing, authentic assessment, standards-based, project-based and active learning are all learning. In addition to the in-depth reading of the work that incorporated in original approaches to this appears in each issue, I have the chance to do some research timeless subject. But perhaps an overarching in order to write an introduction that measures up Dr. Barbara Davis is the in some degree to the scholarship and experiences secretary of RAVSAK, executive editor of HaYidion and head of embedded in our contributors’ pieces. school at the Syracuse Hebrew Day School in Dewitt, New York. Barbara can be reached at In the case of this quarter’s issue, the task was compounded by the serious- [email protected]. ness of the theme. In Shabbat 127a, we read: “These are the things for which a person enjoys the dividends in this world while the principal remains for the person to enjoy in the world to come. They are: honoring parents, loving deeds of kindness, and making peace between one person and another, but the framework for this Shavuot quarterly can be study of the Torah is equal to them all.” The task of teaching and studying Tanakh is found in the “advice to the teacher” by Da- weighty, for so much is riding on it. It is far more than a subject, like science or math. vid Hartman which appears in the Shalom Proverbs 3:18 tells us that “the Torah is a tree of life to those who cling to it. All who Hartman Institute’s “Tanakh Teaching.” I uphold it are happy.” Its importance in our faith is prodigious. In Pirkei Avot (1:15), believe that all of us in Jewish education will we are told that Shammai taught, “Make the study of Torah your primary pursuit.” fi nd that these words resonate with us: But in today’s world, in today’s classrooms, in today’s day schools, the task of study- If it is not meaningful to you, don’t teach it. ing the Bible, much less teaching the Bible, is fraught with new challenges, not the Jewish teaching is not communicating mere least of which was foreseen by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotz who told parents, knowledge or technique but sharing your reli- “If you truly wish your children to study Torah, study it yourself in their presence. gious passion, your moral integrity, your per- They will follow your example. Otherwise, they will not themselves study Torah but sonal search with your students. Share your will simply instruct their children to do so.” Most of us deal quite regularly with stu- integrity, your yearnings, and your doubts dents whose parents are not studying Torah, Nevi’im or Ketuvim in their presence, and let your student meet you in the class- and thus the job of the teacher of Tanakh becomes not only that of the pedagogue room. but also that of the parent in leading by example. Fortunately, as you will see when you read through this issue, there are many incredibly dedicated, talented and creative I hope you will fi nd that this HaYidion of- teachers confronting and meeting the challenges of teaching Tanakh today. fers you inspiring ways to make those class- room meetings deeply meaningful on many One of the most signifi cant features of the articles in this issue is the fact that so levels. ¿ Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ravsak | Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ravsak RAVSAK strengthens and sustains the Jewish life, leadership and learning of community day schools, ensuring a vibrant Jewish future. .Please support RAVSAK הידיעון HaYidion • HaYidion Online: www.ravsak.org | By mail: RAVSAK, 120 West 97th Street, New York, NY 10025 [4] Letters New in this issue resented here is a sample of the re- Psponses to Michael Berger’s article On this page you’ll fi nd a new section, In the fall issue we’re starting an ad- “Developing a Theory of Jewish Good and Welfare, where schools can vice column called Dear Cooki, au- Day School Leadership” on pages 24-26 share news with the fi eld. Check out thored by Cooki Levy, longtime head of the spring issue. The article generated some of the great things going on at of school at the Akiva School in Mon- a robust discussion with many contribu- Jewish day schools! Our thanks go to treal. Send questions school-related tors; to see all of the responses, go to Dorothy Thursby, an art teacher at the to [email protected], with Dear ravsak.org/hayidion/avichai. Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Cooki in the subject line. Questions Palo Alto, for the beautiful image ac- may be submitted either with your Susie Tanchel, Watertown, MA companying this issue’s Olami column name or anonymously. All stakehold- on page 71. ers are welcome to submit. Berger’s vision not only has the poten- tial to guide us in our own work, but it also offers us the opportunity to clarify Nora Anderson, Greenwich, CT Jill Kessler, Phoenix, AZ our own vision. I would suggest adding a more explicit statement of the need for I would like to suggest an additional I wish I would have had some of this in- a clear vision of teaching and learning.