Contrary to a theory widely held as late as the seventeenth century, a child left in the forest to its own linguistic devices would not speak Hebrew spontaneously, not even if it were a Jewish enfant sauvage, and neither would it “remember” that Abraham journeyed from Ur to Canaan. Only the group can bequeath both language and transpersonal
memory. (Yerushalmi 1996:xxxiv)
The role of Jewish education is to reconcile such varied traits, thereby emphasizing the historically tight relationship between the religious and national components of Jewish ethnic identity. (Glickman 1981:113)
Summary
This chapter analyzes how the Hebrew language curriculum TaL AM, created within the
Montreal Jewish education community, presents the idea of Israel to Jewish day school students. Jewish Diaspora continuity with and connectedness to Israel is strengthened by the acquisition of a national language. In the TaL AM program, Modern Hebrew language acquisition, Jewish Studies, and Israel education are intertwined. This intermingling of subjects reveals how religion plays a significant role in the social construction of national identity wherein Hebrew language and Judaism are part of the socialization process that leads students to identify with the State of Israel. This chapter reveals how mainstream Montreal Jewish day schools foster an integrated Jewish identity, one in which religion, ethnicity, language, and nationalism are interwoven. The result is the transmission of a common idea of the nation despite the schools’ varying levels of religious observance.
Introduction: Teaching Hebrew Language Takes More Than Words
To understand the place of Israel within mainstream Montreal Jewish day schools, attention must be given to Hebrew language acquisition. Language not only enables us to describe the world
around us, but also prescribes the way we view the world. As language constitutes our world, it is central to national cohesion.
Language as understood by socio linguists is not simply a formal tool used to
communicate ideas or practices; it is part of the very content of the cultural beliefs and practices, which are to be communicated… the choice of language is a statement about how we see ourselves and how we choose to present ourselves and our ideas to the world. (Zissenwine 1997:60)
Words invoke historical meaning; they incorporate and normalize ideas while simultaneously reinforcing concepts (Connolly 1983). Words are never neutral; instead they hold “[...] multiple channels of meaning traveling through the length of a language formed by the breadths and depths of culture and […] its politics” (Schoolman 2008:20). If symbols are deposits of cultural meaning, even more so are whole languages.
Instruction in Hebrew is integral to Jewish cultural and religious continuity (Fishman 1999; Avni 2012). Avni writes that in mainstream (i.e., in non-ultra-Orthodox) Jewish day schools “Hebrew language is explicitly taught as a means of passing on the rituals, traditions, and beliefs of Judaism” (Avni 2012:324). Biblical Hebrew, traditionally referred to as lashon hakodesh,85 articulates a connection between holiness and language: “By relating to their language as holy, Jews transformed Hebrew into a kind of ritual object, parallel [...] to the Torah-scroll itself” (Aaron 2000:271). Yet, the function of Hebrew as a holy language, reserved for prayer, rite and ritual, underwent dramatic changes in the twentieth century. While Jews continued to relate to Hebrew through religious practices (brit milah,86 passages of the Haggadah,87 blessings recounted on the Sabbath), the advent of Modern Hebrew has been a uniting factor of contemporary Jewry in a national homeland.
85 The holy language
86 Ceremony for circumcision
The Hebrew language is changed by the time and place in which it is used (Chomsky 1957). Biblical Hebrew differs from Mishnaic (or Rabbinic) Hebrew, which is not synonymous with medieval or modern Hebrew, and while each derivation of the language holds to core principles (such as words having a mostly three-letter root), the differences are significant. Nevertheless, Hebrew in all of its forms “indexes both antiquity and modernity that have transformed it into a locus where ideologies of religion, culture, and nationalism all converge, creating in that
convergence a discursive space in which Jewishness is defined and practiced” (Avni 2012:325). While Avni’s assertion that Hebrew, in all its varieties, offers a distinctly Jewish discursive space, speaking Modern Hebrew (also known as Israeli Hebrew) reflects a national affiliation above and beyond a religious observance.
[...] we find that for one very large community of Jews (soon to become the largest), the Hebrew language is one aspect of a nationalist definition of Jewishness that is often blurred with the definition of citizenship in the State of Israel. For Jews outside Israel, too, the Hebrew language is often defined in large part by being identified with Israelis, for whom it is their primary language. (Rodman 2003:5)
Even so, the relationship between language and nationality is not as straightforward as it may be in other national situations. Rodman reveals the unavoidably problematic relation to language when he writes: “I am a Jew, and Hebrew is the Jewish language, but I don’t know Hebrew” (Rodman 2003:6).
Consequently, the lack of knowledge of the Hebrew among Jews living in the Diaspora is both common and problematic in terms of education (Pomson 2002). Despite this, the Montreal Jewish day schools have proven highly adept at teaching Hebrew language to their student body. Graduates of Montreal Jewish high schools can directly enter the Hebrew University program in Jerusalem, requiring no qualifying year, a fact that differentiates Montreal graduates from most other Jewish day schools in the Diaspora (Hoffman and Gribetz 1985; Eveyln Ride, personal interview, January 24, 2013). The sociological factors that indicate why Montreal Jewish day schools have had so much success in student acquisition of the Hebrew language may be explained in part by the relation the Jewish community has with the province of Quebec. These factors include the marginalization of the Jewish community, seen as historically part of the
Anglophone minority and hence outside the dominant Quebec nationalist discourse (Tan and Lefebvre 2010); the near institutional completeness of the Montreal Jewish community (Jedwab and Rosenberg 1992); and the requirements of French language acquisition for Jewish day schools receiving subsidies from the Quebec Ministry of Education. Together, these factors may in part explain why Hebrew language acquisition has been so successful in Montreal Jewish day schools. As Rodman writes:
[…] The more the Jews in a given community see themselves as an ethnic or national minority; especially one closely allied with Israel, the greater the extent to which
importance is attributed to Hebrew language. This would help explain, for example, why the Antwerp Jewish community has a very high level of Hebrew language attainment in its premier day school, while in England and the United States, achievement is generally lower even among day school students. (Rodman 2003:8)
According to Rodman’s line of thought, the highly effective teaching of Modern Hebrew
language may partially be explained by how the Montreal Jewish community has been conceived of as a minority community marginal to the Quebec francophone majority. Among the entities dedicated to developing curricula for teaching Hebrew language is the Montreal-based initiative TaL AM.
The Curriculum
Structured and sold as a “Hebrew and Heritage Curricula for Jewish Schools,” TaL AM is a Hebrew language and Jewish Studies program for grades one through five. The curriculum covers Jewish holidays and traditions, language acquisition, Israel education and everyday life. “The curriculum includes literature that Israeli children commonly read, which assists Canadian Jewish children in their understanding of both the life and language of Israel” (Azrieli 2008: 220). It is currently used in an estimated 347 schools around the world, taught in six different continents, to approximately 30,580 Jewish day school students (Shimon 2000a). Tal Sela is the predecessor program of Tal AM. Created by the same author, Tova Shimon, Tal Sela is also a Hebrew language and Jewish studies elementary curriculum, specifically for grades two to six, based on an integrative learning approach. There are some thematic overlaps within the two
curricula. As TaL AM is more contemporary, and the curriculum taught in mainstream Montreal Jewish day schools, it is the focus of this chapter. TaL AM was initially funded in part by the Jewish Federation of Montreal, along with the Department of Multiculturalism of the Federal Government of Canada. Jewish educators throughout North America have commented that TaL AM stands out among curricula created for Hebrew language acquisition and Jewish Studies (Goodman & Katzew 2011). This is due to the fact that there are few programs that integrate Hebrew as a communicative language with classical Hebrew, wherein Jewish history, Modern Hebrew, the state of Israel, and sacred texts are all taught in Hebrew (Goodman & Katzew 2011:276). Of course it has its critics. Some claim that the curriculum is overly religious; others argue that, even if it professes to be teaching “Jewish heritage,” the expectations placed on the teacher to cover the given amount of materials are unreasonable; still other complain that the curriculum is costly (Schiff 1996; Rodman 2003). Despite these criticisms, TaL AM reflects and reinforces the most common stance on Israel taken by mainstream Montreal Jewish day schools. Tova Shimon, once Director of Curriculum Development at the Montreal Jewish Education Council (JEC), is the creator of TaL AM.88
TaL AM’s mission statement describes its commitment to the enhancement of Jewish identity through the development of a love for the Jewish people, a love of Torah, and love of the land of Israel. The State of Israel is a focal point of the curriculum, and is described as “the land we came from and returned to”; one of the TaL AM goals is “recognizing the centrality of Israel in our lives” (Shimon 2000b). In this program, Judaic Studies, Israel education, everyday life, and Hebrew language are intrinsically linked. Equally, Modern Hebrew- the national language of Israel, is taught in connection Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. Shimon’s personal understanding of the significance of the Hebrew language in connecting Jews to their homeland is clear. In her own words, Shimon writes,
88 Born in Romania, Shimon moved to Israel as a child, and then later immigrated to Montreal. She holds a B.A. in Geography and History from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, an M.A. in Judaic Studies from Sir George Williams University in Montreal, as well as an M.A. in Curriculum Development from Concordia University. She taught Hebrew and Jewish History at a Jewish high school in Montreal between 1972 and 1974, and from 1975 to 1983 worked at an elementary Jewish day school in Montreal teaching Hebrew in grades five and six (Covenant Foundation 2011). In 1979, she received the J. I. Segal Award and the Jack Zipper Award for Jewish Education; in 1989 she was awarded the Safra Authors Award for the advancement of Jewish Education; and in 1992 she was the recipient of the Covenant Foundation award for ongoing Jewish curriculum development, including the TaL AM program.
Today I function well in several languages but the only language that I am at home with, the only language in which I sense a real bond between my soul and my mind and a congruency among my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs is Hebrew. (Covenant Foundation 2011)
This connection between soul and home speaks to the relational bonds that the TaL AM curriculum seeks to engender in Jewish students living throughout the Jewish Diaspora.
TaL AM: An Overview
With over two hundred and fifty curricular items, including teaching manuals, student readers and workbooks, guided books, library books, classroom posters, flashcards, CDs, DVDs, project books and games, the TaL AM curriculum is immense. TaL AM has English- and Hebrew- language teacher instruction manuals, and the organization offers extensive training for teachers, including training institutes, workshops, school visits, and ongoing support through webinars. This Jewish Studies and Hebrew language curriculum is categorized into various learning tracks, which change depending on the grade. For example, grade one has four learning tracks: track Shalom, which includes daily life; track Shabbat Shalom, which covers the weekly celebration of Shabbat and introduces students to the Parashat Hashavuah (the weekly Torah portion); track Chag Sameach, which focuses on the High Holidays, as well as Yom Ha’Atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim; and Ariot Kore Vekotev, which is dedicated to the development of Hebrew language acquisition, including reading, writing and verbal communication. Grades two and three have three learning tracks: Shana Yehudit, which covers the Jewish year and includes everyday life, all the Jewish holidays and Shabbat; track Torah, which focuses on the study of the Torah; and Tefilah and Parashat Hashavuah, including the weekly Torah portion, prayers, and blessings. Grades four and five are organized into five learning tracks: Shana Yehudit - the Jewish year, which includes Jewish holidays and Shabbat; track Torah; Tefilah and Parashat Hashavuah; Navi - the study of the prophets; and Torah SheBealPe, the study of oral law (Talmud). Each of these thematic tracks integrates Jewish literature, Jewish values, prayers and blessings, and Judaic laws and customs (Shimon 2010b:9).
Each learning track further divides the content into various subheadings (units). For example, in grade one the Chag Sameach track includes six units: Shana Tova, Hannukah Sameach, Tu B’Shvat, Purim Sameach, Pesach ad Shavuot, and Israel Sheli. In sum, the subject material for each grade is divided into a set number of tracks (3, 4, or 5), and each track is composed of a given number of units. Teacher manuals and evaluation tools, student workbooks, interactive posters, audio CD’s, supplementary readers, library books, flashcards, games, etc. are available for most units. The curriculum is comprehensive and thorough, and each grade is supplied with materials that cover the entire school year.
Throughout all five years of the curriculum students are introduced to the characters of the “virtual classroom” appearing in the workbooks, library books, and student readers. These illustrated characters are students learning in a virtual Diaspora Hebrew language classroom, and they age as the real students’ age. Thus, the student characters - Sharona, David, Hillel, etc. -who appear as six years old in grade one, become seven years old in grade two and eight years old in grade three. These same virtual students become well-known characters that “accompany” the real students throughout their day school experience.
The virtual students act as guides to the real students, leading them through the weekly Torah readings, asking questions about the history of certain holidays, and discovering links between Judaism, Israel, Hebrew language and home life. Brand new students are occasionally introduced into the virtual classroom, as are fresh concepts and ideas. For example, in grade two Yehuda, who has emigrated from Israel with his family, joins the virtual class; in grade four Keren, who is in a wheelchair, is introduced to the virtual classroom in order to facilitate a discussion of special needs. The virtual classrooms depicted in student workbooks, library books, readers, and DVDs within each track are supplemented by audio-visuals for the classroom itself.
The audio-visuals are entirely in Hebrew and offer a visual recap of the lessons and learning content that students will encounter through the various learning tracks. Illustrated learning tools reflect key concepts and vocabulary and supply continuity between the ancient land of Israel and the modern State of Israel. This link is seen most explicitly in the two posters depicting the map of modern Israel and the map of ancient Israel, and the Jewish timeline. This timeline illustration is focal to the TaL AM teaching toolkit, as it appears in various teaching units, including the holidays of Pesach, the unit on Israel, and the teaching of the Torah. The use of the timeline poster throughout various learning tracks reflects the type of spiralled learning, repetition, and reinforcement that is central to the TaL AM curriculum. Posters like the timeline equally reiterate the connection between the past and the present, the ancient State of Israel and modern Israel, and Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew.
The learning of Modern Hebrew vocabulary prepares students to identify key words in the Torah portions, which are written in Biblical Hebrew. Most particularly, the teaching of the weekly Torah portion, the weekly celebration of Shabbat in the classroom, and the celebration of Jewish holidays reinforce the value and centrality of Jewish time as based on the Jewish religious festival calendar. The posters, which illustrate the days, weeks, and months of the year; the vocabulary for weather; or prayers and blessings for Shabbat, not only reinforce words, concepts, and ideas being learned, they simultaneously normalize Hebrew language use and emphasize the centrality of Jewish time in the school. This socialization process, which emphasizes Hebrew language acquisition and initiates children into the traditions of Judaism, creates an integrated Jewish identity and eventually leads students to identify with the State of Israel.
As noted previously, the curriculum, developed for grades one through five,89 is organized around thematic content and symbols, such as the map and timeline, which are introduced in grade one and reappear throughout various tracks and units within that grade and in subsequent grades. For example, the symbols of the state (the Israeli flag, the menorah with olive branches, the anthem, and the map of Israel), which are interwoven throughout the Israel units of grades one through five, also appear in the tracks dedicated to the weekly Torah portion, and the teaching of Jewish holidays. This type of integrated learning, termed “spiralled learning”
(Shimon 2010a), is based on a communicative approach of repetition and integration for second- or third-language learning. Moreover, the curriculum integrates the heritage and communication functions of the Hebrew language by simultaneously teaching Biblical and Modern Hebrew. The differences that appear between Biblical and Modern Hebrew are linked through the workbook tables, which relate the two forms of language. As noted in the teacher manual for grade two on learning Torah: “It is important to note that we do not use the Torah to teach Hebrew vocabulary or grammar; rather, we teach the vocabulary and language skills necessary to learn Torah” (Shimon 2010b: 49). This speaks directly to the centrality of the role of religion in the formation of Jewish identity within the day school environment. The following chart, reproduced from the TaL AM website, represents the method through which the curriculum integrates Hebrew language acquisition with Jewish studies (TaL AM 2000c).
89 While the TaL AM website indicates that the curriculum is geared to students in grades 1 through 6, the curriculum and training program is only available for grades 1 through 5.
Figure 1: TaL AM Pedagogy (talam.org)
The following curriculum analysis will concentrate on how the idea of the nation, as the redemption of the Jewish people, is expressed in the study and celebration of Israel within the TaL AM curriculum. Particular focus will be placed on the use of recurring symbols within the TaL AM units on Israel: prayers, the map, the state emblem, the festival calendar, and the flag.
Each of these symbols derives from the ethnosymbolism of the pre-modern ethnie as interpreted by the classical Zionist idea of the nation. A brief overview of the TaL AM curriculum content, and the objectives for each grade, will be followed by an analysis of the workbooks and select