BY EVELYN HERWITZ
Photograph by Jim Webber

Inspired by the late-19th-century Hebraist movement and the writings of cultural Zionists such as Ahad Ha'am, Hebrew College, since its founding in 1921, has been committed to promoting the Hebrew language. Now, more than 100 years since that movement began to advance modern Hebrew as a unique and essential mode of transmitting Jewish cultural ideals and values across generations, at a time when Hebrew literacy among American Jews has declined, the College is engaged in a renewed effort to strengthen and spread mastery of Hebrew.

Can a pioneering high school curriculum save Hebrew in the Diaspora?

Rooted in the conviction that the cultural survival and renewal of the Jewish people is intrinsically connected to the ability to use Hebrew as a medium for creative thought and communication, this rejuvenated Hebraism is finding a voice through a major initiative called NETA
()—an acronym for the Hebrew phrase and the Hebrew root for "sapling." A collaboration among curriculum designers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education and The AVI CHAI Foundation, the project is developing a new, comprehensive Hebrew language curriculum for Jewish day middle and high school students across North America. An AVI CHAI initiative, NETA has been in a pilot phase for the past two years. Now based at Hebrew College, the project was awarded a nearly $1 million grant this summer from AVI CHAI to expand curriculum development with support from the Shoolman Graduate School and to reach out to target schools beyond the 13 currently participating in testing the new program.

"We have the chutzpah to say, why not make Hebrew language as important as math?" says Hilla Kobliner, Project Director for NETA.

The challenge is significant. According to Kobliner, who is the lead architect of the project's curriculum, initial evaluations of Jewish day high school students' knowledge of Hebrew—part of the pilot phase research—revealed disturbingly limited mastery, despite years of day school education. Of the 2,000 students in grades 7–12 who took a Hebrew language placement test, two-thirds placed only in the high-beginner to low-intermediate skill level. "The results confirmed our feeling that this is the eleventh hour for Hebrew in North America," says Kobliner. "If we don't do something, the language will die out."

The limited success of Hebrew language instruction in Jewish day schools can be attributed to several issues uncovered by the NETA team's research. Across the schools participating in the pilot phase, no standard curriculum or shared set of expectations existed for assessing proficiency. Many of the Hebrew language teachers felt compelled to improvise lesson plans, given the small selection of appropriate teaching materials available for this student population. In addition, most had only limited training in teaching a second language, and about half the teachers in the pilot schools were not specifically trained to teach language in a middle or high school setting. They also needed direction in developing curricula to assess levels of language acquisition and to present a structured approach to helping students advance through the program.

"We have the chutzpah to say, why not make Hebrew language as important as math?"

Jewish day high school students are a key population for the revival of Hebrew language, according to Dr. Harvey Shapiro, Dean of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education. "These students are immersed in the most intense, advanced form of Jewish education for adolescents," he says. "They and their parents have invested a tremendous amount to reach this level. We all agree that knowledge of Bible and Mishnah is essential for these students. We need to share the goal that Hebrew language proficiency is also part of the definition of an educated Jew."

To address the challenges of creating a coherent Hebrew language curriculum with clear goals and expectations that integrates classical and modern Hebrew, NETA curriculum designers have developed a series of books that will become part of a comprehensive, multi-year high school program. "Each lesson is a microcosm of real-life use of Hebrew," says Kobliner. "You discuss, read, analyze, think, create, debate, express feelings—all in Hebrew. You are called upon to doubt and analyze in a methodical and scientific way. The lessons include all possible uses of language—with an emphasis on respecting the student as a thinking creature. There is no humiliation of the student because he or she doesn't know the language yet."

A typical NETA unit includes a text, poem or story to analyze critically, a basic grammar drill, a dialogue to role-play, and words and music from a contemporary Israeli song—"all aspects of real life that a thinking, active teen would find interesting, but in Hebrew," says Kobliner.

After six years of NETA, students should be able to enjoy a short selection of Hebrew literature, converse in modern Hebrew, understand a Hebrew newspaper article, summarize an article or short lecture and express theoretical or practical thoughts in writing. Students should also be able to comprehend the different historical layers of Hebrew within any text. To realize these goals, the NETA project is focused not only on developing an appropriate curriculum but also on training master teachers who can present the materials effectively.

To that end, this past summer dozens of veteran Hebrew language teachers from NETA pilot schools across the country convened at Hebrew College for two week-long seminars on teaching the new curriculum. "These are educators whose eyes light up when they talk about their subject," says Shapiro. "They love the language—speaking it, talking about it, teaching it."

Feedback on the curriculum has been enthusiastic. Teachers welcome the materials and have offered valuable suggestions on how to refine lesson plans. At the same time, says Kobliner, the real work—convincing the Jewish day high school community that Hebrew language instruction must be as rigorous as math or science—has just begun. "Raising the standards and expectations of Hebrew language instruction comes at a price," she says. "Hebrew is no longer an easy 'A.' It has to be taken seriously by teachers, students, parents and principals."

Making that case, convincing the nearly 150 Jewish day middle and high schools across North America that Hebrew language is essential to Jewish identity and continuity, is the next goal of NETA. "We want students to understand that they are entering a rich world that is their own culture—discovering lands and oceans that they never knew about," says Kobliner. "We hope that NETA will be so attractive and challenging that the students will never stop to think, 'Why Hebrew?' Instead, they will be too engaged even to ask the question."

NETA Pilot at Prozdor

Of the 13 Jewish middle and high schools participating in NETA's pilot phase, two are supplementary high schools—and the larger of the two is Hebrew College's Prozdor. According to Shai Nathanson, Director of Hebrew Language Programs and Ulpan, and an early proponent of the NETA concept, the number of Prozdor students taking Hebrew has nearly doubled since the program was introduced last year. All are using the NETA curriculum, grouped according to placement test results. "It's an intelligent program, an engaging program," says Nathanson. "We've definitely raised expectations for Hebrew language proficiency. And Hebrew enrollment at Prozdor is growing."

"We've definitely raised expectations for Hebrew language proficiency. And Hebrew enrollment at Prozdor is growing."

The institution of the NETA curriculum marks a renewed emphasis on Hebrew language instruction at Prozdor—with a clear understanding of what it takes to engage Jewish American teens in Hebrew language study. "When I was a student in the Prozdor in the '50s," says Marjorie Tarmy Berkowitz, Director of Secondary School Education and Prozdor, "we kept Hebrew in a treasure chest—it was fragile after the loss of so many Jews in the Holocaust, and Israel was so new; the language needed to be cherished and protected. But we kept it under lock and key. Access was restricted." Hebrew was the only language spoken at the Prozdor; entrance requirements were demanding, classes were small and only those who could master the language graduated.

For Berkowitz, raising the bar for Hebrew language proficiency at today's Prozdor is her top priority. Her goal is to increase Hebrew language enrollments by providing quality instruction that entices highly motivated students to take Hebrew. Given the positive response to NETA, the strategy seems to be working. "NETA brings a systematic approach to Hebrew language instruction," says Berkowitz. "For the first time, students can see their progress. And the teachers are energized—they have a wonderful curriculum to draw on, intensive training and a support system."

Most students in the six-hour Prozdor track, and some in the four-hour track, take two hours of Hebrew language each week; a three-hour course is also available for students preparing for the SAT2 in Hebrew. Prozdor provides a testing ground for a modified version of the NETA day school curriculum; day high school students are expected to complete five lesson books each year, whereas the supplementary schools' annual goal is three lesson books. "As more students are motivated to study Hebrew, it raises the level of accomplishment in each Prozdor class," says Berkowitz.

In addition to the other supplemental Jewish high school involved in the pilot project—the High School of Jewish Studies-AJE in San Diego—the pilot schools include the San Diego Jewish Academy and the Torah High Schools of San Diego; Shalhevet High School and Milken Community High School, both in Los Angeles; David Posnack Hebrew Day School, Plantation, Fla.; Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School/Ben Lipson Hillel Community High School, North Miami Beach, Fla.; Akiba Hebrew Academy, Merion Station, Penn.; Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Rockville, Md.; Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union, West Orange, N.J.; Maimonides School, Brookline, Mass.; and the Yeshivat Or Chaim and Ulpanat Orot, Toronto, Canada.