בס"ד
Hi there!
You’ve probably never heard of me and that is fine, והצנע לכת עם אלקיך. So no worries, there is no competition or grand marketing plans. Just me, offering you my work so that it can play a part in your tremendous chinuch provision.
Working as a teacher and in senior positions for decades in a small underfunded school, and with other frum schools, I have often had to make my own material to accommodate expected learning standards whilst not being able to use standard choil resources for kashrus reasons.
The uniqueness of these schemes is that teachers are spoon fed with very detailed step by step instructions and answer sheets.
To date, I have not seen anything similar to the resources presented here although I know people are working on it and I have shown these resources to many who expressed great interest. However, as of now, these have been sitting with me for ages, used by a limited number of students. There is no point in keeping them until they become obsolete and I want people to benefit from my ‘labours of love’, so I do hope you find this useful.
You can download the original documents to edit to your specifications or convert to pdf’s. You can alter these to US or UK spelling if required and change any part or replace text to better fit your school’s hashkofah. To make it easier, they can be made into amazon print books at cost price to give them a better feel and help with printing challenges.
Please note that the files are large and cannot be viewed properly unless downloaded. If someone wants to sponsor professional reformatting, I’m sure it can be condensed. But, remember, it is a whole year’s worth of spoon fed curriculum so it’s bound to be large.
I have many more schemes and bits of work but not all are off-the-shelf ready to go. I’ll try to put on what I can, when I can.
If you feel that I have helped you, then I am honoured to have done so. If you are in a position to make a donation then that would be welcome. I have spent tens of thousands of my own money over the years and thousands of unpaid hours.
Hatzlocho Rabbah in your incredibly vital work of CHINUCH - THE FRONTLINE OF OUR FUTURE.
איש יהודי
Frequently Asked Questions
Q Why don’t you sell your things?
Despite the investment I have run out of the funds and unpaid time to go the last mile to ready these for print.
Q Who wrote these curricula?
Yours truly together with experienced non-Jewish teachers. This results in work that is Torah-true and of high professional standard in national norms.
Q Can you modify things according to our requirements?
Sure, you can do this yourself for free. Please share back any updates so we can pass the benefits to others. If you want my support then contact me.
Q Has this been vetted by a rov and/or daas torah?
Yes, every step of the way. A range of Rabonim and mechanchim were consulted including Yeshivish, Chassidish and Modern Orthodox.
Q What is your background and are you open to doing more work?
I like to fit in with all groups in our kehilla and genuinely understand the different perspectives. Being unassertive, I have worked well, embedded in Satmar, Yeshivish/Kollel Litvish, Lubavitch and others.
My background in chinuch includes years of experience in almost all fields of chinuch and associated leadership roles, ranging from teaching kriah, chumash, gemora, to l’havdil maths, sports, science to all ages of 5-16. Special needs and inclusion. School policies. Kodesh and chol curricular development. Government inspections. Health and safety. Child protection etc. etc.
I am open to more work.
Q How did you choose your texts?
I tried to find texts that had a high standard of English, were not known best sellers and that were of high interest. So I spent a long time in libraries, speaking to people and exploring different options. I showed a selection of books to critical non-Jewish teachers, who confirmed them to be of sufficient standard.
The books I have chosen are classics in many senses and would be well read by anyone. For example Faith and Courage is a typical 19th century era classic with language that will captivate whilst challenging the student.
Flight to Seven Swan Bay sounds like a positive Jewish version of the ghastly Lord of the Flies.
Flight to Seven Swan Bay has adults and children and teaches many important aspects of survival, relationships and the natural environment. (An even closer representation of a Jewish, children only Lord of the Flies, is the Lost Children of Tarshish. I could not use this excellent book as it is geared for a younger audience.)
Note: Flight to Seven Swan Bay is out of print so I have taken the liberty of retyping it and making it available at cost price on Amazon print. If anyone is aware of it being reprinted, please let me know and I’ll take mine off the market.
Go My Son is an absolute classic and real treasure and treat of adventure and knowledge. It is absolutely amazing to accompany the yeshiva bochur protagonist as he travels and works the length and breadth of Russia. From serving in the Polish army to surviving in the desert, lumberjacking at great peril and driving a tractor whilst living with a host non Jewish family. The sheer pace of drama and scale of adventure would keep anyone riveted. The amount of historical and geographical information is remarkable. In fact, not only do I have a whole English curriculum based on this book, I also have a Geography and History curriculum, although the latter are not ready for print.