Increasingly, I see children who have been taught Hebrew letters and vowels phonetically. This method of teaching deviates from our Mesorah — the traditional method of “kometz aleph oh” — and is acquired from non-Jewish sources. Deviating from traditional methods has resulted in a proliferation of Hebrew reading problems throughout our educational system. Parents frequently come to me because their child mixes up similar-sounding letters or vowels. If a student identifies the letters phonetically, it may appear that the student is reading fluently. However, when a student is simply sounding out letters, not properly distinguishing between homophonic letters, he will fail to see shorashim and hence fail to build a solid vocabulary bank. This lack of word recognition will hamper all future reading and translation, including reading Rashi.
Unfortunately, aleph-beis is seen as “easy”, so institutions do not wish to invest heavy resources into teaching it. They frequently opt for the less expensive route of hiring girls just out of seminary or young rebbeim with little or no teaching experience. I know a kriah expert who applied for a position in a school as a kriah rebbe. The principal told him that he was too highly qualified for the job and that they preferred a more affordable seminary girl. If our Torah institutions really know the true “costs” of improperly laying down these crucial foundational skills they would invest much more highly in kriah.
Secondly, we must be diligent to ensure Hebrew is taught with a consistent pronunciation. If a chassidishe rebbe teaches in a litvishe yeshiva, care has to be taken to pronounce the letters and vowels using a litvische pronunciation at all times. I have seen students and adults use multiple pronunciations in one sentence. It might sound cute in your five-year-old, but such confusion can have a devastating impact down the road on comprehension and translation.
I would also recommend not moving onto the next stage in learning until the students are truly ready. Covering more ground for the sake of the rebbe or yeshiva “looking good” is truly counter-productive since so many students will be left behind and the long-term consequences for these students may be disastrous.
At higher levels, more emphasis must be placed on skills: translation, grammar, and comprehension. Rebbeim and teachers should themselves have clarity on the subject, or seek help. It is vital to give over the material in a way that students can understand. At the same time, by ensuring students have all the requisite skills to analyze new texts, they will be able to learn independently and go on to teach others. When high-level learners are “getting away with” lack of skills, their learning is on a shaky foundation and the next generation will topple.
When students “get it”, learning is geshmack. There will be little need for prizes or incentives. If we let our kids taste true success in learning, they will keep coming back for more. We have a delicious banquet of goodies on offer, let’s make sure no one is going hungry.
A summary of why we have issues with the alef beis today and how to address it.
1. Teachers need to spend enough time with students practicing the letters and vowels. As the famous Yiddish song goes, “Nocha mol und noch a mol” – again and again. They go through them quickly and some of the children do pick them up but a large percentage requires more practice.
2. Phonics enables a reader to quickly learn how to read Hebrew but falls down when it comes to understanding the text. Many sets of letters have the same sound, and understanding Hebrew requires the totally accurate identification of every letter in a word. Unlike English, you cannot just guess the meaning of a word you have read.
3. Gedolim such as The Chazon Ish and Rabbi Dessler discouraged teaching regular frum children to use phonics. Recently, at a meeting in Yerushalayim which included members of the B’datz and other Gedolim, they reiterated that this modern “new” method is completely ossur.
Phonics first came out in the 1930’s with the Orton-Gillingham method, and people then tried to adapt it for teaching Hebrew and the Gedolim reacted against it, explaining that teaching by the Mesorah implants Yiras Shomayim into the children.
Anyone can teach Alef Beis. One just needs to open a Reishis Daas and teach it, but ONLY according to our Mesorah. Period. This is As Simple as Kometz Alef “Oh”. Any other approach used is against our Mesorah and dangerous. Therefore a rebbe or morah teaching the alef beis has a tremendous responsibility to follow the Mesorah and not to deviate one iota from it . Our children’s future is at stake.
The following areas are evaluated at Shaar Hatalmud before any remedial work begins.
Foundation Skills Crucial to Torah Learning
• Identification of letters
• Recognition of vowels
• Determining reading style; whole word reading or
syllable reading
• Translation skill accuracy
• Dikduk efficiency
• Comprehension ability
• Textual skills in Chumash/Rashi and Gemara level
Areas that impact learning
• Level of visual perception
• Convergence deficiencies
• Accurate eye tracking ability
• Accommodation ( refocusing )
• Imaging ( geo-rotation )
• Multi-tasking ability
• Determining learning style / conceptual or detail
focused learner
• ADD /ADHD behavior
• Dyslexia
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Rabbi Abenson is the founder and director of ShaarHatalmud, a unique yeshivah-based online program, which incorporates learning all Kodesh subjects, from Kriah all the way up to learning Gemara, Rishonim and Shulchan Oruch. He also conducts evaluations, remediation and training, and consults with school principals to improve students’ underdeveloped skills.
Rabbi Dovid Abenson can be contacted at:
Tel. 15147393629
Cell/Whatsapp 15149935300
Email: [email protected]
Website: ShaarHatalmud.com