From the Associate Director

I welcome you to the spring 2026 issue of Gleanings, a publication of the William Davidson School. The issue, focusing on Hebrew and how it is being taught to our educators and learners, comes out in a meaningful time, Israel’s 78th year of independence.

One of the great achievements of the founding of the state was the revival of Hebrew and making it into a live, spoken language. At my family home in Israel, only Hebrew was spoken. As with many European immigrants, my second aliyah grandparents were fluent in many European languages, yet they would not allow any language other than Hebrew to be spoken in the house. They strongly believed in the power of the Hebrew language as the unifying force in a land of immigrants.

Teaching Hebrew as a second language is a sacred act. As educators, we aspire to achieve so much. Hebrew is the spoken language of Israelis, the language of modern Israeli literature, the language of the sacred texts, and the language that connects us to our tradition and religious rituals. Indeed, educators often introduce Hebrew not as a foreign language, but as a sacred language.

In this issue we are presenting five educators who consider the teaching of Hebrew as their life mission. Four of the five are graduates of the Davidson School. Elliott Rabin from Prizmah is a good friend of Davidson and has served as a mentor to many of our students. He has a special passion for the Hebrew language.

Dr. Andew Ergas has a profound attachment to the Hebrew language and is the executive director of Hebrew at the Center. Dr. Adi Raz, an Israeli, is the co-director of the Center for Teaching Hebrew at Middlebury where she teaches educators how to teach the language in schools, and she also directs the Hebrew language program at the University of Michigan.

Merav Tal Timen, an Israeli, is a graduate of the MA program and is the chair of the Hebrew department at Ma’ayanot school. Elana Goldberg is an American with a passion for mastering Hebrew and teaching in it.

Each one of the interviewees has a certain outlook on the language and their connection to Hebrew. Each one has left a mark on the development of teaching tools and creating excitement around teaching and learning Hebrew.

Especially in this difficult time, amid the trauma of war and personal losses, we need all the inspiration we can get. Reading about excellent educational practices helps us believe in the resilience of the human spirit, in the power of education, and in our best hope for the next generation of learners. We hope you will find this issue interesting and helpful in your own life and practice.

We send our thoughts to the people of Israel and around the world who lost their dear ones and to the families of all who have suffered. We pray for peace and safety to the land of Israel and well-being to all who dwell there.

Ofra Arieli Backenroth

William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education