Newly appointed as one of the Roshei HaYeshiva in the Mir, Yerushalyim, Rabbi Yaakov Shmulevitz Shlita made headlines recently when he gave his first Shiur Klali in the main bais hamedrash in Ivrit. He explained the reason why his shiur would be in Ivrit was, simply, he felt more comfortable teaching in Ivrit, his mother tongue, as opposed to Yiddish.
I have previously addressed the significance of being taught in ones mother-tongue, (as has been advocated by Gedolim in the past). The above approach by Rabbi Shumulevitz Shlita is actually not new. Already In the 1970s, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Steinman Shlita changed teaching his shiur from Yiddish to Ivrit once he realized that talmidim were struggling to understand his shiur in Yiddish.
Over the years, hebrew speaking parents have pondered why their child does not fully grasp shiur, even though their child is a fluent Ivrit speaker. To understand why, one must refer back to Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who designed a unified spoken language for all Jewry who were making Aliyah in the early 20th century. Unfortunately the modern Hebrew he devised was based on a watery version of Lashon HaKodesh and in doing so, changed translations and grammatical rules. Therefore, an Israeli talmid may be proficient in Ivrit, but he still requires background knowledge of Lashon HaKodesh to decipher text. As a linguist explained to me, Ivrit is to Lashon HaKodesh, as English is to old English.
Whether teaching in English, French, Spanish or Yiddish, teaching in one’s mother tongue is crucial for the development of the student to fully comprehend Torah and Yiddishkeit. May this approach continue throughout our Yeshivas, helping our budding talmidim develop their full potential and reach great heights in limud haTorah.
Rabbi Dovid Abenson is the founder and director, author and lecturer for Shaar Hatalmud.com, a unique yeshiva based online program, featuring evaluations and remediation, working with students to upgrade skills in Hebrew reading, Chumash/Rashi and Gemara studies, consulting school principals world – wide to improve their ability to help students who possess under-developed skills. Also available for in house training for schools and yeshivos. He can be reached at [email protected] 1-877-HATALMUD(1-877-428 2568)
I sincerely believe that if Mageidey Shiurim would deliver their Shiurim in English (the mother language) it would make a very big difference as to how the Students understand it. In fact, the Yeshiva which I attend has a number of Shiurim, of which the Maggid Shiur of the first Shiur speaks in Engish. However, the Maggid Shiur of the next one- up Speaks in Yiddish and the turnout diminishes as the Zman continues – in light of R Abenson’s article this is hardly a surprise!!