When we examine our history, we learn that communal prayer developed to take the place of sacrifice after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. An examination of the resulting siddur or prayerbook shows that it contains within it the essence of Jewish belief, practice, calendar, ideas—in fact, all that enables Judaism to be a portable religion. It is, therefore, a vital foundation of Jewish life. And educators who shape Jewish learning in inclusive community day schools that celebrate the diversity of Jewish life face the question of how to approach tefillah in a way that reflects their respect for the range of families present in their schools. As with other areas of study, in relation to tefillah, we then consider three questions: What do we want students to learn? What do we want students to value? And, as a result of what they have learned and come to value, what do we want students to do?
These questions form the basis of conversations that take place with Jewish Studies faculty who have the profound responsibility to carry out the vision and to realize the goals. Absent the teachers’ deep understanding of their task, tefillah experiences throughout the grades will not reflect the school’s vision.
An interesting factor that inevitably has an impact on this process is that members of the Jewish Studies faculty represent a diverse Jewish community with a variety of backgrounds. This can be viewed as a challenge or as an opportunity because few teachers can imagine Judaism without the divisions with which they grew up, whether Sephardi or Ashkenazi, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, or Orthodox, American, Israeli, or another nationality. Rather than ignore these divisions, it can be valuable to capitalize on the framework the teachers bring to the table. A meaningful starting point for the teachers’ understanding of the dynamics of an inclusive Jewish community can be the comparative experiences they had with tefillah in their own lives. This might take the form of an exploration of different melodies they know for particular tefillot, descriptions of synagogues they grew up in, or a story about a moment they remember from a holiday celebration. By drawing teachers into the subject of tefillah in this fashion, what some teachers initially saw as a difficult teaching responsibility can become a source of pride and delight. They are then ready to work with the curriculum and to share tefillah experiences with their students.
Beginning in kindergarten, students in our school learn a core of tefillot—matbe‘a shel tefillah—said routinely in daily and Shabbat services. Each year new tefillot are added to the first core tefillot, until the students have a solid foundation in the siddur. Teachers offer divrei tefillah to explore the structure of the siddur and ideas that are developmentally accessible. In upper grades, students are asked to prepare divrei tefillah or to respond to open-ended questions about tefillot. Nigunim are introduced to create a bridge from the classroom—”chol”—part of the day to the tefillah—”kodesh”—part of the day.
Initially students learn tefillot orally, and then as they become readers, flip charts are added. Third grade students use a siddur developed by the Minneapolis Jewish Day School, a RAVSAK school, which they continue to use in fourth grade. Fifth graders are introduced to Siddur Sim Shalom, chosen since the majority of families are affiliated with a Conservative congregation. Fifth graders also have a shabbaton in which they create a full Shabbat experience for themselves, from Kabbalat Shabbat through Havdalah. In sixth grade, students encounter a different siddur each term—Artscroll, Gates of Prayer, Sim Shalom—and explore their similarities and differences. This practice prepares them to go to each other’s bnai mitzvah in Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative synagogues. Different tunes are introduced through the years, so students become familiar with Sephardic and Ashkenazic traditions. And in the eighth grade before students visit Israel on their class tiyyul, they become familiar with the Rinat Yisrael siddur and the Koren Shabbat siddur. Throughout the grades, students lead class tefillah services which are egalitarian. And, as for G-d . . . G-d is found in the divrei tefillah and flows in and out of tefillah study and conversation.
So, to answer the three questions: What do we want students to learn? We want students to learn to participate in and lead tefillah services and to understand the ideas embedded in the siddur. What do we want students to value? We want students to value praying as members of a community, and to recognize that there are a variety of different Jewish communities where they may find a home. What do we want students to do? We hope that students will find joy and meaning in tefillah as they move into their independent Jewish lives. ♦
Tzivia Garfinkel is the head of Jewish Studies at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School in Chicago.
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