To Study and To Teach: The Methodology of Nechama Leibowitz

Nechama Leibowitz zt”l requested to be identified on her metzevah (tombstone) only as “morah” — teacher. As one of the great contemporary teachers of Tanach, she was a role model to the many who attended her classes, studied her weekly gilyonot (study-sheets) and read her books. While she never identified as a “feminist,” her influence on Jewish women of all ages has been immense. Shmuel Peerless, one of her many students who knew her simply as “Nechama,” skillfully presents her method of teaching and pedagogic techniques with detailed examples from her lectures and published works. As a teacher, her goal was to inspire a love of Torah learning and observance of mitzvot, but there was nothing of the “feelgood” approach to texts in her teaching. Always aiming at making the text come alive, she modeled rigor in her method of independent and active learning. She introduced her students to a broad range of commentators and taught them how to use the commentaries to answer questions and resolve textual difficulties. Nechama gave her students a competence in literary analysis that could be applied to any form of literature in any language, but most significantly opened up the richness and complexities of Torah to them all. This wellorganized book will help to preserve the legacy of Nechama’s teaching and provide teachers and students with the essential skills she aimed to provide in her classroom.