How much is too much?

Posted to JEDLAB -- 4/20/2026
There have been quite a few posts recently looking for resources or advice that support the teaching of Hebrew decoding in synagogue settings. A central goal still seems to be fluent and accurate decoding of any Hebrew print on a page. But really, when in worship, if all one can do is decode, one cannot stay at synagogue speed. The "pray-er" has to have moved the learning into memory to be able to comfortably participate in and/or lead a service, read/chant from the Torah, etc. Even so, we often hear students sheepishly say, "well, I memorized it in the end." Really, that's not a bad thing.

While not yet the norm, the lived experiences of quite a few Onward Hebrew (OnwardHebrew.org) educational programs has shown that it is possible to introduce decoding a year out from B'Mitzvah with students successfully learning the service IF taught in a one-on-one learning situation AND a sound-to-print approach is taken (ideally, participating in regular t'fillah in years prior and learning to decode/read Hebrew using S2P strategies). More so, the reality in many/most synagogue programs is that no matter where a student enters their B'Mitzvah tutoring process, the tutors work magic. {"Thank you for your service" if you're one of those tutors reading this.]

Channeling my love of Hebrew, my professional focus on Hebrew learning in synagogue settings and my decades-long experience as a Jewish educator, I truly believe that we are spending WAY too much time teaching Hebrew decoding. In today's world, we have so many other important and compelling Jewish learning priorities that get pushed aside because of the time we feel we need to teach Hebrew decoding. Note that I'm not saying we shouldn't teach decoding, but I am suggesting we can teach it in less time by creating more reasonable goals, in a different learning structure.​

We're a quarter of the way into the 21st century ... isn't it time to finally move our curricular goals away from the 1990s? I'd love to know your thoughts. Feel free to add the conversation in the comments and/or write to me - [email protected]
​
Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz,
Director, OnwardHebrew

PS - This article offers more detail on the decoding conundrum and potential solutions - https://tinyurl.com/smashing-idols

---