Teaching Hebrew to Bnei Menashe in India
Merav Segal teaching in India
The Israeli-developed system of immersive language learning, known as the ulpan, is recognized around the world as perhaps the best methodology for quickly mastering a new tongue. Hebrew ulpans have given millions of new Israelis the tools they need to thrive in their new home.
But the system that has worked so well for immigrants from the U.S., Europe and the Middle East has not always proven successful with newcomers from some Asian and African nations. This includes the Bnei Menashe of India who, despite great motivation, have found learning Hebrew to be one of their greatest challenges.
Yehudit Eyal has been an ulpan teacher for more than 30 years. When a different non-Western aliyah – the immigration of nearly 15,000 Jews from Ethiopia – took place in 1991, she recognized that the immigrants were falling behind their peers from other countries when it came to learning Hebrew. As she studied the topic, she thought: what if it wasn’t the students? What if it was the system itself that was failing?
Eyal raised the issue with her ulpan’s manager, and then with more senior staff within the Ministry of Education, but found no one willing to listen. Frustrated, she took a leave of absence from her job and moved to Ethiopia using her own savings in order to get to know the unique cultural conditions immigrants from Africa faced and to crack the code of building a better ulpan for this specific population.
When she returned to Israel, she ran a small pilot program with a number of Ethiopian newcomers; her system worked. Their Hebrew improved.
In 2005, Shavei Israel was coming to a similar realization: that the Bnei Menashe whom it was helping to make aliyah needed a Hebrew language system that was more customized to their way of thinking. Shavei Israel’s director of Bnei Menashe aliyah and absorption, Rabbi Hanoch Avitzedek, began looking for ways to do this and “after a long search,” he says, he discovered Yehudit Eyal and her unique ulpan methodology. He knew right away that what she had done for the Ethiopians might work for the Bnei Menashe as well.
“I took her to India twice, to the seminars we run for Bnei Menashe Shavei Fellows,’” he continues. “She studied their language and mentality and, after a very large investment by Shavei Israel, she created a special program tailor-made for the Bnei Menashe community.”
The key to the Bnei Menashe Hebrew program was the siddur – the Hebrew prayer book. “All the Bnei Menashe are familiar with the siddur. They know how to pray and can read the words, even if they don’t always know what it means in Hebrew,” Rabbi Avitzedek explains. “So we use the siddur as the way to explain the principles of Hebrew, its grammar and pronunciation.”
The process was not quick: the research and creation of the program took nearly five years. But by 2009, Shavei Israel launched the new language system in India with “the best Shavei Fellows, whom we selected for their ability to teach Hebrew,” Rabbi Avitzedek says.
The results were dramatic. “We saw a huge improvement. Nearly all the Bnei Menashe can now read and write Hebrew; they know their alef-bet and many can carry on brief conversations,” Rabbi Avitzedek says. The same system is used when the Bnei Menashe arrive in Israel – first at the Kfar Hasidim absorption center and then during continuing Hebrew education classes in their new communities.
When the Bnei Menashe aliyah began again in 2012, Yehudit Eyal, who developed the program, was also put in charge of the ulpan at Kfar Hasidim. Her right hand woman is Dalia Netzer, who accompanied Eyal on some of her trips to India, then taught independently there, and who is now working closely with the Education Ministry in Israel and with the schools, seminaries and yeshivot where the Bnei Menashe are studying. “We’re just at the beginning of this process, but it’s working wonderfully,” Rabbi Avitzedek says. “More and more schools are reaching out to ask us for help.”
Merav Segal on previous visit to India to teach Hebrew
Now a third Israeli – Merav Segal – is heading to India to train the latest crop of Shavei Fellows, as most of the previous Bnei Menashe Hebrew teachers have made aliyah in the last few years. Segal had been working with Bnei Menashe girls independent of Shavei Israel as a school advisor in the Jerusalem area and met Rabbi Avitzedek several years ago.
“She had the same outlook,” Rabbi Avitzedek says. “She would say, the girls are very smart and talented. So why aren’t they learning Hebrew? The problem must be with the system.” At the same time, Segal “fell in love with the community and began to fight for ways to improve the students’ learning.”
Segal left for India on July 20 at Shavei Israel’s request; she will be there for three weeks. It’s not her first trip – Segal has already been to India three times already, teaching on Shavei Israel’s behalf.
Since Eyal began developing her system, there have been a few changes. Originally most of the Hebrew learning took place in large groups. But with the ongoing aliyah from India taking up much of Shavei Israel staff’s time and organizational resources, studies are being shifted from classrooms to individual family’s homes.
For example, each family will receive printed material to put inside the house. “They’ll get the alef-bet and labels for everything – mikarer (refrigerator), delet (door),” explains Rabbi Avitzedek. “We want each home to be like a classroom, so that people will study all the time. There will also be competitions between communities as well as games and quizzes.”
Segal’s window for teaching is tight: during the school year, many of the 50 young Shavei Fellows in the current group are busy with university classes and exams and can’t get away to dedicate three weeks to learning. During the rice harvest, many are needed at home to help in the fields. When the monsoon season hits, the roads become impassible.
All of the 50 Bnei Menashe Shavei Fellows who are learning Eyal’s system are well educated, speak English, and have made a commitment to stay in India for the next 2-3 years. That means they will forego the possibility of aliyah themselves for the near term, Rabbi Avitzedek explains. “Otherwise, it would be a bad investment!”
To keep costs down, the Shavei Fellows who will be studying with Segal will not be going to an expensive retreat center, but will be hosted by families in the Churachandpur area, where Shavei Israel’s main Beit Shalom center is located.
Even so, the program will cost around $12,000, including transportation costs and reimbursements to the host families for food and other expenses. Your contribution to this important program is always appreciated. You can donate at the Support page on our website.
With your help, the Bnei Menashe will know not only their alef-bet, but the difference between a mikarer and a microgal (microwave oven) long before they arrive in Israel.