Consortium for the Teaching of Hebrew Language and Culture

The Consortium for the Teaching of Hebrew Language and Culture at Brandeis University and the Hebrew Olympiad at Tel Aviv University are pleased to announce the second year of their collaboration. Together, they aim to expand Olympiad activities worldwide and strengthen the connection between Israel and the global Jewish community through the shared language of Hebrew.

The Hebrew Olympiad, now an international competition, invites middle school, high school, and, new this year, university students to demonstrate their Hebrew proficiency. In Phase A of this year’s competition, The Hebrew Consortium broadened its reach to nearly 1,000 participants, marking the first time the Olympiad has been opened to universities across the globe. Winners will receive certificates, prizes, and scholarship opportunities that further support their academic growth and their commitment to Hebrew.

The Hebrew Consortium at Brandeis remains deeply committed to transforming Hebrew teaching and learning worldwide. Through a unified philosophy of language acquisition, systematized pedagogy, and the implementation of best practices, the Consortium works to significantly increase the number of proficient Hebrew speakers around the world. The Hebrew Language Olympiad plays a vital role in deepening learners’ linguistic knowledge and enhancing their functional abilities in Hebrew. By engaging with a wide variety of language-based challenges, participants build higher-order analytical skills, expand their vocabulary, and strengthen their ability to use the language in meaningful contexts. The Olympiad also serves as an important source of motivation. Its competitive yet supportive structure encourages learners to set goals, dedicate effort, and take pride in their achievements.

As a global initiative, the Olympiad brings together Hebrew learners from diverse regions and backgrounds. It creates a shared space in which students, educators, and communities can connect, celebrate the Hebrew language, and cultivate a sense of belonging within an international Hebrew-learning community.

In recent years, interest in the Olympiad has grown significantly among learners, educators, and parents. This trend reflects the competition’s expanding impact and underscores its value as an enriching and inspiring educational experience for Hebrew learners worldwide.

Bringing Hebrew into public schools is about more than just language, it is about building cultural understanding, connection, and opportunity. By offering high-quality Hebrew education to students from all backgrounds, this initiative helps strengthen ties to Israeli culture and Jewish heritage, supports multilingual learning, and prepares students for a global society. Creating a strong network of trained teachers and accessible programs ensures that Hebrew language education can grow and thrive in communities across the country.

A central component of the initiative is the creation of a comprehensive, standards-based Hebrew language curriculum designed for middle and high school students in public schools. This curriculum addresses both content and pedagogy, ensuring high-quality instruction while supporting the professional growth of Hebrew language educators through ongoing development and training. The initiative seeks to elevate the field and build teaching capacity across a growing network of Hebrew language programs.

This initiative is a collaboration with Hebrew Public.

A collaboration for the advancement of Hebrew teaching and learning in the Greater Boston area, and to serve as a model for other regions in the U.S.

The primary goals of the collaboration are:

• Advocate for the importance of Modern Hebrew as a venue to shape the learners' Jewish identity and their connection to Israel, a message to be shared in the schools and in the community at large.

• Identify the best way to professionalize the teachers using the academic resources at Brandeis University to create professional development opportunities as well as a variety of degree programs. Collaboration members are also invited to use The Consortium for the Teaching of Hebrew Language and Culture, hosted by Brandeis, as a resource to advance their Hebrew agenda.

Additional goals include the development of better understanding of how to connect Jewish studies to Modern Hebrew and how to approach the teaching of Hebrew to students with special needs. A further goal is for the collaboration to work together to create a pool of quality teachers to serve in their schools.

The collaboration plans to meet as a group four times a year and on an ad hoc basis as special events and projects warrant.