11 Comments
User's avatar
Alan Mairson's avatar

My failure to (really) learn Hebrew takes a backseat to the failure of never being told the following -- something I stumbled upon in a book when I was 30+ years old:

In the land of Israel, “the Jews begin to live morally — as the Japanese have done literally — in a house of paper: the Bible....

Here, probably long before the Greeks, they achieved the intellectual feat of composing a connected narrative of history — their own and that of the world — enmeshed in the five books of Moses. Here, a national identity was defined, perhaps for the first time, by articulating a philosophy of history.

And here, the idea of progress was first broached. In its time it was an absolutely sensational idea. Thucydides still thought it was worth writing the history of the Peloponnesian war because its events inevitably would be repeated. The scribes and prophets of Jerusalem challenged the prevailing notion that history necessarily moved in circles, repeating itself again and again. They invented utopia, the possibility of a better world. They enunciated hope on a grand scale. They postulated the possibility of a linear progression toward a better, more worthwhile life.” (from Jerusalem: City of Mirrors, by Amos Elon)

If someone had explained this to me clearly when I was a teenager, I would have been far more enthusiastic about my Jewish education, faith, and practice.

Expand full comment
Brad Goverman's avatar

Bingo. You captured precisely both my experience and my feelings on what i considered "after school torture". I did learn to read Hebrew, and I do recall some pretty funny stories and early crushes from the small group of my fellow prisoners, so there were other redeeming benefits.

Expand full comment
Jill's avatar

Oh, the funny stories are there, we all have them. Not to mention getting invited to like 20 Bar/Bat Mitzvahs in middle school.

Expand full comment
Joan Randall's avatar

I discovered Judaism via a European Political Theory course at UTAustin (back in the early seventies) which focused on the new status of Jews in Europe since Napoleon opened the ghettoes. We read many of the essays in the original Zionist Ideas anthology. So I went over to the Hillel and asked to learn more. A year later this Catholic-educated girl converted. The first thing I did afterwards was enroll in a Hebrew language course which was taught by an Israeli and as an ulpan class. I took the second semester too, or most of it. My house is filled with Jewish books - but in English. Unfortunately! Every once in a while I put one one of my Hebrew language cds so I keep something alive. Otherwise it’s siddur Hebrew. Am Israel chai! I’m proud to be a Jew! I hope your Duolingo is a good thing. Maybe I’ll look at too. Hugs!

Expand full comment
Stuart lipkowitz's avatar

Hey Jill,

Of course, we share much the same experience . Like you, I also have been using online apps to learn modern Hebrew. I tried do, but its speaking function didn’t function. I have been using Mango, and it is quite excellent. You might want to try it.

Best,

Simcha

Expand full comment
Jill's avatar

Cool, I haven’t heard of Mango. Thanks for letting me know.

Expand full comment
Stuart lipkowitz's avatar

Try it. It concentrates on conversation.

Expand full comment
Shlomo Levin's avatar

The federation system has actually commissioned studies about what childhood Jewish education correlates with involvement in the Jewish community is an adult (afternoon/Sunday Hebrew school, Jewish day school, Jewish summer camp, etc.) If I remember correctly, they actually found a negative correlation for the Hebrew schools. This means that kids who were subjected to Hebrew schools actually were less likely to be involved in the Jewish community as adults than kids who were raised with no attempt at Jewish education at all! While there may be some models of Hebrew school that have positive benefits (one very creative school in Bergen County NJ comes to my mind), in general how synagogues can persist business as usual with Sunday schools in the face of statistical evidence like that is beyond me. As an aside, I do speak Hebrew but now I’m struggling to learn Spanish. As we get older it’s hard. . .

Expand full comment
Jill's avatar

There are so many aspects of the synagogue business model that must change if they’re to survive in the future. The Hebrew school example is just one significant one, but another is the way they do yearly membership fees in exchange for assigned seats during the High Holidays. I’ve attended High Holiday services during which the sanctuary wasn’t even filled at 50% capacity. And the length of the services is another conversation entirely. Unfortunately I find that most often the clergy just blame the community (“they would rather spend their money on NFL tickets than synagogue membership!”) than acknowledge the realities that are

staring them in the face.

Expand full comment
Arrr Bee's avatar

In Israel in my ancient school year we studied English from 4th grade and another elective language from 5th grade. I chose Arabic but we were uselessly taught a literary Arabic dialect, useful for reading road signs and nothing more (should have been the local spoken dialect). I still can do little with Arabic, regardless of taking it again as my university language requirement (my high school transcripts for what would be AP Arabic weren’t accepted).

The Jewish community should focus on conversational Hebrew, not reading the Torah. The latter is easier once you get the first.

Expand full comment
Jill's avatar

I totally agree with your final statement! The way Hebrew is taught in the diaspora (if at all) is completely backwards!

Expand full comment