MERCAZ Newsletter - Summer 2001

"Ivrit Masortit" - A New Curriculum For "Heritage Hebrew"

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Two years in the making, MERCAZ USA is proud to announce the publication of the first stage of its new educational Hebrew language program, "Ivrit Masortit - A Curriculum for Heritage Hebrew."A joint production with Women's League for Conservative Judaism, "Ivrit Masortit" seeks to provide American Jewry with the opportunity, as described by MERCAZ Vice President Rabbi Alan Silverstein, "to learn original Hebrew terms for Jewish value concepts."

According to MERCAZ Executive Director Rabbi Robert Golub, the background for the new MERCAZ educational program was a "maaseh she'haya": During one of the sessions that took place at the 1998 CJF [now UJC] General Assembly that was held in Jerusalem, an American Jewish leader purportedly asked an Israeli counterpart: "Is there a Hebrew equivalent for the phrase 'tikkun olam'?!"

"What we understand from this tale," noted Evelyn Seelig, MERCAZ President, "is that the term 'tikkun olam' has become so well entrenched in our American Jewish vocabulary that it is no longer necessary to translate it or to use an English equivalent ("social justice") in our daily speech. The goal of 'Ivrit Masortit' is to expand this familiarity with Jewish value concepts." As Rabbi Silverstein notes in the booklet's Foreword, "While the highest level of commitment to Ivrit is to learn to speak conversational Hebrew and to read fluently Hebrew texts . . . a literate American Zionist ought [at least] to be able to comprehend and employ 'heritage Hebrew' expressions such as pikuach nefesh (preserving of a life), hatzalat nefashot (rescuing people in distress), kibbutz galuyot (the ingathering of Jews into Israel) and so forth.'

The "Ivrit Masortit" curriculum is based on a series of lesson plans, each one dedicated to a single Hebrew root. Intended as warm-up activities lasting no more than 15 minutes, the lessons, written by Ms. Edya S. Arzt, Education Director of Women's League for Conservative Judaism, are geared for synagogue group meetings, such as for the Board of Directors, Sisterhood, Youth Committee, USY, etc. All the lessons have the same format: an initial analysis of the value concept under discussion, an exploration of related words and phrases derived from the same Hebrew root ("vocabulary and values") and then an opportunity for participants to create sentences in which to use the words and phrases presented in the lesson ("practice").

As Ms. Arzt writes in the Introduction: "We Jews are a people of words . . . Language -the way in which words are used -is the key to understanding an individual, a group, a nation, or a people. And it is the key to understanding Judaism." The first stage of "Ivrit Masortit" includes the first ten lessons and is available in two forms: as a combined Leader's and Reader's Guide or as a Reader's Guide alone. The second set of lessons is planned for Spring 2002. For more information about how to order "Ivrit Masortit-Part One", contact the MERCAZ USA office.