[MUSIC] When we discuss what are some of the challenges in teaching classical Jewish texts, we encounter the following. First, Biblical Hebrew. Biblical Hebrew is a challenge. Biblical Hebrew is not modern Hebrew. And then we have to ask ourselves, well, if we're not going to teach in the original Hebrew, then what kind of translations are we going to use? This is not an easy decision to take, and obviously, has clear implications for the study. Two, the historical or the social context. How do we allow our students to understand and appreciate the historical context in which these biblical stories took place? What do they have to know in order to appreciate the historical elements that are going on here, the social context? Something that if I refer to in the modern age in terms of what Holt is talking about, if he's taking modern values and the modern context, then we have to understand the context in which the Bible was written. We cannot ignore that because it's so radically different from the child's world today. Hermeneutics, hermeneutics is the whole art of making meaning of the text. What types of hermeneutic approaches do we take in terms our own understanding as readers? And then what types of hermeneutic approaches do we adopt in terms of making it meaningful for the student? Hermeneutics plays a key role in terms of our understanding of what the text means. What type of lens are we going to use as we as adults understand this, and then as we move along the process of making this meaningful and engaging for our students? For close reading, when we are studying biblical texts, we are using a type of skill that is not so common in other areas of the child's study and in other parts of the child's world. Because what we are oftentimes inviting the child to do is really take a very close reading of the words to really focus on the multiple understandings of the words, rather than just skim or scan, which they may do in certain texts. In the biblical text, oftentimes, we are encouraging them to take a close reading. And close reading includes a very specific amount of concentration. It demands a certain type of mind thought. And it demands a certain type of readiness on the part of the student to really engage in this type of activity. Relevance versus authenticity. Professor Michael discusses this at length. That whenever we teach a text, a classical text, there's always an inherent tension between, on the one hand, we want this text to be relevant for our students. We want it to really help them relate to it in a meaningful way. At the same time, we want it to be authentic in some way to the original text. Now, there's, as I said, a built-in tension. How do we manage that? Sometimes we may overemphasize the relevance at the expense of the authenticity. We have to know what we're doing. And the relevance versus authenticity arises very, very often in studying Jewish texts. Values, why am I teaching these texts? If I'm teaching these texts in order to provide the student with some type of new ideas about values, then I have to think, well, what types of values? And in the biblical story, obviously, we have many examples, and we'll get to see this in greater depth in the coming sessions, where values which don't really coincide with what we think are proper values for today. So how do we make sense of that? How do we present these characters in ways that, on the one hand, show in a very honest an candid way what the values they are being exemplified by these characters? But on the other hand, at the same time, how do we wrestle with the tensions involved in these values and how some of these biblical characters really overstep the boundaries of these kind of values? And finally, as I mentioned, we're going to look at theological issues. And I believe that this whole element of theological issues in teaching Bible is a critical component that oftentimes gets missed when we study Bible. And at the end of the day, how can we teach Bible to anyone without engaging in theology? And whatever response we take, or whatever type of stance we take, whatever type of approach we take in dealing with theological issues, that's one thing. However, we cannot avoid, we don't want to avoid or neglect the theological issues. Because, ultimately, these have so much power, and these play such an important role in studying Bible today and for our children as well.