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Permalink Reply by Abe Katz on January 6, 2012 at 12:01am

Sara-I cannot comment as a teacher but I can comment as an observer. I can also provide the perspective of someone who attended Maimonides School in Brookline, MA at a time when Rabbi Isaiah Wohlgemuth, z’l, taught Beurei Hatefila to students from grades 7 through grades 12 for one hour each week. I can also share with you what I have learned from writing a weekly e-mail newsletter on the origin of the words and structure of the Siddur for the last eight years (www.beureihatefila.com).

I can summarize the goal of a course in Tefila in one sentence: to cause the students to pay attention to what they are saying and what they are observing during the course of the prayer service. Every issue that I have dealt with in my study of the Siddur has been based on a question. Since I have written over 400 newsletters that means I asked at least 400 questions.

I would like to suggest that a teacher who wishes to teach a course in Tefila has to begin his preparation by asking himself and then his students some of those questions. The students will not think of those questions on their own. Perhaps the more the students hear questions about the wording and structure of the Siddur, the more the students will begin asking questions of their own.

I can start you all with my 102 questions on Tefilas Shacharis that I have uploaded.

Attachments:

• Test On The Daily Tefilas Shacharis.pdf, 70 KB