February 2026: Kriah: Theory, Methodology, Intervention

There is perhaps nothing in the Jewish day school curriculum that is more critical for students or more fundamental to what it means to be a Jewish day school than kriah, the skill of reading Hebrew. […]

Mrs. Nechamy Segal I don’t think there’s a topic in Jewish education that stirs as much emotion as kriah. Parents and educators ask: Why do so many children struggle to learn to read? Why, even after […]

Rabbi Shalom Kamenetsky Based on an address delivered at the Principals’ Think Tank in the summer of 2021.  Leadership presents many challenges, but perhaps the biggest is being able to guide a group of people who […]

Rabbi Jordan Blitstein MS. Ed.  Much of the focus of kriah instruction is on the early years, as children learn to identify the letters and the sounds they represent. When young readers advance from decoding sounds […]

Mrs. Chana Luchins When parents send their children to yeshiva or Jewish day school, they may take it for granted that their children will graduate being able to read Hebrew. However, we are not immune to […]

Mrs. Rivka Dear Children are expected to learn to read at a young age, and when that doesn’t happen, they often lag behind their classmates, perhaps forever, receiving support and accommodations that never really allow them […]

Dr. Jon Miztmacher I remember the summer it seemed that everyone was either listening to a podcast or reading an article about “The Science of Reading”.  As the head of a medium-sized Jewish day school, I was […]

Rabbi Adi Roland Walking into class on the first day of school is always an exciting experience.  A new cohort of students and a fresh set of minds to impact, stretch, and mold—what could be better? […]

Mrs. Chani Karp Today, yeshivas and Hebrew schools across the globe face a difficult kriah situation. We see students who aced kriah in kindergarten and early elementary grades who then regress, sometimes barely able to read […]

Mrs. Tzippy Warshaw Walking through the early childhood wing of the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, one is greeted by the excited voices of our youngest learners deeply immersed in their kriah lessons. Children confidently use terms […]

Mrs. Rivka Varnai While the students at our Ivrit b’Ivrit school have consistently demonstrated strong conversational Hebrew and comprehension skills, we recognized that their accuracy in Hebrew reading (kriah) was lagging, as evidenced by both informal […]

Rabbi Levi Solomon, Rabbi Moshe Tropper, Mrs. Ariella Rosenblatt, Mrs. Aphrodite Bakaleynik Every Jewish educator knows the satisfaction of hearing a child decode Hebrew words for the first time. The rhythmic sounds of kamatz-alef=“uh” echo through classrooms across […]

Rabbi Sharir Yablonsky In yeshiva life, kriah isn’t just another skill on the checklist. It is the entry point to tefillah, to learning Torah with clarity, and to taking an active role in family and life […]

Rabbi Avichai Pepper Success for any student in most subjects includes the critical ability to read. In the younger grades, kriah is its own subject, and teachers invest significant time helping students improve their reading skills. […]

Mrs. Fraidel Shollar “Are we there yet?” As any parent embarking on a road trip with young children can attest, these are some of the most dreaded words from the back seat. But from the child’s […]

Rabbi Yoni Gold Many schools are identifying kriah as an area for growth. Reading remains a foundational part of chinuch, making finding a solution a major concern. There are many options that schools can implement. A school might […]

Mrs. Chana Wallach The discussion in so many schools about kriah tends to focus on technical details and methods, but an integral part of our success as teachers of לשון הקדש is often overlooked. The educators’ psychological awareness […]

Rabbi Nachman Goldenberg Kriah is arguably one of the most essential Judaic skills. The foundation of anything Jewish is kriah. From everyday tefillah to genuine Torah learning, without a strong foundational knowledge of the Hebrew language, […]