Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Teach grammar

 “When it comes to religious education of girls, we must make the regular teaching of the Hebrew language, the main focus of our efforts. As soon as the child overcomes the difficulty of reading Hebrew, and even while she is overcoming it, she should be taught the basic rules of the Hebrew language, which can easily be achieved because girls mature early. Thereafter, simple and easily understandable grammar should prepare them for the translation of simple passages from the prayers and historical texts of the Holy Scriptures, followed by practice in translation and analysis. She should then proceed to active reading of selected biblical passages in the original language. The time now spent in school and at home in memorizing ’religion” and biblical history should be used for this purpose, and it is perfectly sufficient to learn religion and biblical history from the original source, from the Holy scriptures themselves. In this way, senior students are able to read the most magnificent passages from the Prophets, Psalms, proverbs, etc. but the children are spared the agony of memorization. This agony contributes not a little to the fact that in the eyes of children, religious school is considered either as unbearable, or just a necessary evil. There is no need to experiment on whether this can succeed; it has already been done with great success.  At the school of Rabbi Hirsch in Frankfurt am Main, girls are already competing with each other in reading the Holy Scriptures in the original language.”

Rav Ezriel Hildesheimer, R. Esriel Hildesheimer on Torah Study for Women, Tradition, Summer 2022 Issue 54.3, p. 142

https://traditiononline.org/r-esriel-hildesheimer-on-torah-study-for-women/


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