Shulamith School For Girls

The mission of the Tanach Department at the Shulamith School for Girls is to foster in all of our students the motivation to become a lifelong learner through the transmission of Ahavat HaTorah (love of Torah) and the development of the vital skills necessary for independent textual learning.

This skill set includes:
• Fluent and correct reading of all Tanach texts
• Decoding and understanding the unique language and grammar used in Chumash, Navi, Rashi and other Mefarshim
• Applying mussar haskel, Halachot and middot learned from the text to both daily life and to the development of a Torah personality

Specific Curricular Goals and Skills
• Studying Tanach for both Bekiut (breadth) and Iyun (depth)
• Appreciating Torah as both the history and the code of laws of the Jewish nation
• Developing a broad Hebrew vocabulary that contributes to successful reading and understanding
• Reading and understanding the individual pesukim (verses)
• Being able to isolate and identify shorashim (roots), prefixes and suffixes that aid in language development
• Gaining an understanding of the larger context of the sugya (topic or section)
• Differentiating between P’shat (simple meaning) and Midrash (deeper, Aggadic meaning)
• Understanding how to find Rashi’s questions from the text and context
• Reading and understanding Rashi’s answers and reintegrating them into the meaning of the pasuk
• Distinguishing the differences in approach between various mefarshim (commentaries) when applicable
• Gaining familiarity with the timeline of Jewish History
• Finding a mussar haskel (message that leads to personal growth) from our learning
• Developing an appreciation of the Tanach as Hashem’s intellectual and moral gift to the Jewish people and the greater society