By Chanah Rose
Hayom Yom of 19 Adar I says, “Chassidim, even those of average spiritual stature, used to be thoroughly knowledgeable (baki) in the Tanach…It was their regular custom to read chapters of Tanach while putting away their tallis and tefillin. Their schedule enabled them to complete the entire Tanach in three months.”
For most of us, we would be proud to have completed the Tanach even once in our whole lives, never mind within our school career! But as this Hayom Yom points out, teaching Tanach is a priority. How can we give the gift of Bekius in Torah through the Chinuch that we give them?
We first need to understand the meaning of bekius. There are times when we learn with a focus on depth, and there are times when we focus on breadth. Bekius means to learn a large amount of content such that a person is familiar with the breadth of a given topic, including its main topics, storylines, and themes. While Bekius in the Chamisha Chumshei Torah is achieved to some extent through learning the Parshas Hashavua each week, giving a teacher the freedom to build skills for lifelong learning and focus on iyun (in-depth learning) in Chumash class, where does that leave Nach?
The holy pesukim of Tanach are the veritable language of Yiddishkeit. Every posuk is a gateway to infinite depths of meaning, and every narrative a template for what might occur in our lives and how we should react. While it is interesting that the Maskilim seized upon expertise in Tanach as almost the sole pursuit of their Torah study, and as a cultural and literary exercise (as pointed out in Tackling Life’s Tasks, Rabbi Eliyahu Touger’s explanation on the above Hayom Yom), Chassidim see Tanach as the sacred foundation for a living Yiddishkeit instead.
If we want to know how to behave, we look in Mishlei and Koheles. If we are searching for words of comfort and direction in the darkness of Galus, we look into Yeshayahu and Yirmiyahu. If we are looking to express deep emotion, hope and pain, we reach for our Tehillim. To demonstrate our longstanding connection to Eretz Yisrael – Neviim Rishonim. To illustrate the power of the Jewish women – Shiras Chana, Shiras Devora, Megilas Rus and Megilas Esther.
As Chassidim, the Sichos and Maamarim we learn and live with are rooted in Pesukim from Tanach. Our Rebbeim quoted little known Pesukim and revealed them as pathways in Avodas Hashem or mashalim for spiritual ideas. How can we gain enough of a familiarity with Tanach that these stories and Pesukim are our first language, not a foreign one?
The answer is to first of all determine our goals for teaching Tanach, and for the purposes of this discussion, let’s focus on Navi.
Is it to build skills, or to teach content? Is it to inspire Yiras Shamayim, or give over our history? As with any subject, there are many goals, but when we have to choose, what is their order of priority?
Skill building in Tanach is vital, however, as mentioned, a Chumash class is the most conducive time and place to do so. Failing to teach the complete story of Parshas Noach does not mean that our students will never know there was a Mabul. But only getting through the first three Perakim of Shoftim may mean that students will never know there was a Shimshon or Yael.
Also, a teacher needs to ask themselves, which skills can a student only learn in Navi? While Chumash skills will serve as a great springboard for accessing the rest of Tanach, which skills do we need to focus on in Navi that they can’t get anywhere else?
With these goals in mind, a teacher can plan a curriculum that prioritizes content, while honing in on text and skills in an intentional way. For example, introducing students to the Metzudos (Metzudas Dovid and Metzudas Zion) allows them to more easily unlock texts in Nach in their future life. Malbim provides a unique and contemporary perspective that can only be found in Nach. Learning key texts and familiar phrases that come up in Haftoras, Nusach Hatefilla or in Chassidus might be a framework for choosing which parts to learn inside. With these texts and skills as a foundation, the content we want to give over – the horaos, stories, and role models that comprise our Yiddishe heritage – can spring to life.
After all, the Anshei Kneses Hagedola had to make choices about which texts to include in the כ”ד ספרי תנ”ך in the first place! The Gemara relates to us how they made that choice:
“הרבה נביאים עמדו להם לישראל, כפלים כיוצאי מצרים, אלא נבואה שהוצרכה לדורות נכתבה (מגילה יד:א)”
“Many prophets arose in the Jewish people – double the amount of people that left Mitzrayim, but only the prophecies that were needed for the generations to come were written down.”
Let’s do the math. That’s 1.2 million prophets! There were whole Yeshivos teaching the fine art of Nevuah! How much wisdom, how many miracle stories, must have flowed in those times! However, which prophecies were included? Only those that were relevant to us.
In that case, we, too, should prioritize relevance when teaching Navi. Of course, all of Torah has relevance – there is infinite meaning in every word! What we should focus on in Navi class specifically is that relevance. There is a time and place for building skills – even within Navi – but the priority should be always asking the question, “How is this הוצרכה לדורות? What is this story or Nevuah telling me – this class – our generation?”
In the language of the UBD framework (Understanding by Design), this is the Essential Question that every, single, Navi lesson needs to answer.
But it might answer this question differently every time. Back to UBD, it is up to the teacher to identify, “What is the Big Idea (a.k.a. Enduring Understanding) that stems from this Posuk, meforash, or narrative? If my students would only remember one thing from this class thirty years from now, what would I want it to be?”
To summarize, our goals for teaching Navi are a) the content and storyline – bekius, b) the skills that a Navi class lends itself to uniquely, because hopefully they are gaining the more fundamental skills in Chumash, and c) bringing out the horaos, which are the reason it was written down for us in the first place.
Here are some practical tools to help with the above:
- For teaching storyline and content, look at Standard 2:Content for the Zekelman Standards for Chumash. It’s really important to explicitly teach the chronological order of the events and put them in context of what they’ve learned in Chumash (what happens before) and what they learned in Yahadus and Historia class (what happens after). Family trees, maps and geography, and key terms and concepts are also important components of teaching content, which are clearly delineated there with lots of supporting resources.
- Text Connections is a fantastic way to start drawing meaning out of the text in Navi or another text based subject. There are 3 kinds of Text Connections: Text to Self, Text to Text, and Text to World. Ask the students or have them fill in a graphic organizer: Text to Self – Has a similar challenge ever happened to you, or, how would you have reacted in this situation? Text to Text – Does this remind you of a story in Chumash or Parsha, or, how does Shiras Devora compare to Shiras Chana or Shiras Miriam? Text to World – How does this story shed light on current events, or teach us about לב מלכים ושרים ביד ה’? These are all ways to springboard the process of making meaning, finding relevance, and getting to the Big Ideas.
- תפקיד קריאה is another fantastic tool to anchor learning any text. Give the students a task that they will perform before they start reading, for example: While learning these 3 Pesukim, write down any shorashim that are familiar. Make a list of Pesukim in this Perek that you recognize from Tefilla and fill in where you know them from. Look out for clues that the Yidden have done Teshuva. Count how many comforting terms the Navi uses in these Divrei Nechama. This brings the text into the learning in a more active, as opposed to passive, way.
- Flipped Classroom or Self-Paced Learning: You may want to have students come prepared with knowing the story of a Perek in Navi from the Little Medrash says, an English translation, or a summary that you’ve provided. Then, you can give them a worksheet that guides them through key Peskim with word banks, asking questions that they can answer based on their prior knowledge combined with learning inside. You can also build in differentiation this way by varying the amount of translations provided, giving options with meforshim or without, etc.
- And of course, creativity is key with bringing narratives, lessons, and meaning to life. When “fun” sits at the top of the Bloom’s Taxonomy pyramid instead of the bottom – meaning that the creative and hands on activities are built upon a foundation of strong knowledge and comprehension of the sources – it integrates the learning in a way that students will remember. Just make sure they will remember the things you want them to – the conclusion of the debate that they staged or the meaning of the Posuk that they painted, not just the fun costumes you brought in (but that, too). Navi lends itself to dynamic storytelling, plays and musicals, creating comic strips and newspapers, creative writing and more. For lots of great ideas for “Integrating Knowledge and Ideas” through creativity, see the Sample Assessment for Standard 4.9 in the Zekelman Standards.
- It’s always a bonus when teachers have ready to teach curriculum to build upon with their insight and creativity, and the Chabad Curriculum Database (Lower Elementary Navi and Upper Elementary Navi) lists several published workbooks to accompany a Navi class. If you have or know of another resource that can make a Navi teacher’s job easier, please submit it for other teachers to benefit!
Navi can be one of the most enjoyable subjects to teach, but at the same time it can be one of the most challenging. Juggling multiple goals is never easy. But if we can have our students be familiar with the sweeping narratives and towering role models in the Neviim; while internalizing their eternal relevance, life lessons and profound inspiration – and even learn some new vocabulary and Meforshim in the process, then it’s certainly worthwhile.
We may not be able to teach our students (or ourselves!) the entirety of Tanach every three months – but, by identifying our specific goals for teaching Navi, we can get much closer to raising students who are baki in our Toras Chaim.
