Consortium for the Teaching of Hebrew Language and Culture

The Hebrew Consortium is engaged in four research projects, each with a designated team and an undergraduate research assistant sponsored by Brandeis University.

1. Supporting Hebrew Educators as Lifelong Learners of Israeli Culture
   Vardit Ringvald, Yaron Peleg (Cambridge University), and eight scholars from various disciplines are analyzing survey data from Hebrew educators regarding what should be taught about Israeli culture. Findings will be included in a chapter on “Cultural Competence and Second Language Acquisition” by Vardit Ringvald. The scholarly articles will be published in a special issue of the Israeli Studies journal in 2026.
2. The Role of Hebrew Language Programs in Combating Antisemitism Among University Students
   Vardit Ringvald and Liram Koblentz-Stenzler (Reichman College, Israel) are currently collecting data at 10 higher education institutions in North America.
3. The Hebrew Teaching Profession Through the Lens of Hebrew Learners
   Vardit Ringvald and Jennifer Eddy (Queens College) are creating a survey to explore how learners of Hebrew in higher education perceive the profession of Hebrew teaching and applying for permission to conduct the study through Brandeis.
4. Perceiving Hebrew Culture from Afar
   Vardit Ringvald, Prof. Faisal Al-Asiri (King Saud University), and Rima Farah (Northeastern University) are examining how Hebrew learners at King Saud University perceive Israel through reading authentic cultural texts.
   
   Additional Research being conducted by The Hebrew Consortium
   Research about “Hebrew Education after October 7th,” conducted by Vardit Ringvald and Sharon Schoenfeld, was presented at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education’s Seminar on Contemporary Jewish Life (CJL) at Brandeis in April, will also be presented at the annual conference of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH) which will be held in June, in London, and will appear as a chapter in a book about Hebrew education after October 7th, to be published in fall, 2025.

Izzy Pludwinski's Two Are Better Than One, 2002, "The Beauty of the Hebrew Letter," Brandeis University Press.

The field of teaching second/foreign languages requires language teachers to include the study of culture in their teaching goals. This requirement creates the need to train them in tools to understand all aspects of the target culture as well as the pedagogical approaches used in their classroom. This development has presented a new challenge for teacher training programs. The goal of this working group is to unpack these challenges in the context of programs that train Hebrew educators by inviting a group of researchers and practitioners from a variety of academic disciplines to discuss the following topics:

• Current research on best practices on how to train foreign language teachers to include the teaching of culture in their curriculum;
• Development of Israeli culture;
• Israeli culture through the lens of Israeli literature, visual, and performing arts;
• Hebrew language as representation of culture;
• The role of the “other” in the development of Israeli culture;
• New trends in pedagogical approaches in teaching culture in language classrooms.

The Consortium for the Teaching of Hebrew Language and Culture offers Hebrew-proficient Brandeis students the opportunity to gain knowledge and professional experience in teaching Modern Hebrew at Jewish day schools in the Greater Boston area. Fellows both observe and participate in teaching in K-12 classrooms.

Each Hebrew Fellow is assigned a mentor who instructs on pedagogies that Fellows apply in Hebrew classes. Fellows shadow their mentors in the classroom for 10 hours and spend an additional 10 hours in the classrooms over two months supporting their mentors and students.

The Fellows submit reflections on their Hebrew fellowship to share their impressions.

The Hebrew Consortium, in collaboration with the Brandeis Hebrew Program, offers Brandeis undergraduates the opportunity to shadow a Hebrew native speaker whose expertise is related to the student's academic and professional interests. This experience can take place in the U.S., Israel, or other locations, including the student's home country. A final project, such as a research paper or a creative product (e.g., literary work, short documentary film, etc.) that reflects the student's experience is required after the duration of the fellowship. This exciting opportunity is made possible by a generous gift from the Morningstar Foundation.