Following Rabbi Moshe Yeres' posting, I would like to take advantage of this platform to describe another approach to teaching Gemara. Although I am not a Rav in Israel, nor am I an educator or Talmid Chacham, I humbly submit my opinion as a layman with a serious interest in this dialog.

Further, because I personally believe that the discussion about how and whether to teach Gemara is so important, I have invested the equivalent of close to 50 man-years to develop a computer-based method to study Gemara and in making it accessible to all. To that end, I have hired a team of a dozen Rabbis, educators, teachers, computer programmers, and experts in computer graphics and user interfaces, who have been working for four years on a project to make my dream come alive.

The project is known as Gemara Berura. It is a not-for-profit venture designed to help students of Talmud to better understand and hence develop a greater interest, and hopefully even a love, for learning Gemara.

In the following discussion, I will explain where the ideas for this project originated and how they resolve some of the problems discussed on these pages. I will also present some initial anecdotal findings from schools and students who are already using this program.

Where did the ideas come from?
Professionally, I am a Management Consultant. In this capacity, I work with Senior Managers from many of the world's largest companies. I perform analyses of the company's business, helping the managers to develop new strategies, organization structures and business processes. To achieve these objectives, and to garner management commitment to the future vision, we have found that it is imperative to get the managers to take direct responsibility for the analysis and design.

Discovery Workshops
We created participative discovery workshops that encourage the managers from all of the differing departments to have a participative dialog, whose goal is improved processes and increased benefits. By having the managers take an active part in the process, the design that they create becomes their vision, and they will own it.

But how do you get them involved? How do you get them to really critique what they do today? To see across the entire organization? To derive a broader view that everyone can agree with? To develop a thorough understanding of what everyone is saying?

The answer is to create interactive workshops where the participants speak out, where they are forced to think and where they must take an active role, and not just sit back in a frontal lecture, and be told all the answers. They must arrive at the conclusions through hard work on their own, and not by dictate from the experts:

Academic research has demonstrated that people tend to remember only 20% of what they hear in a frontal lecture. They retain 40% of what they learn via reinforcing audio-visual techniques, such as an overhead projector, or video clip. The really good news is that they will learn and incorporate 80% of what they personally discover on their own.

Lesson 1: get the participants actively involved.

The interactive workshops insure that the participants are really listened to; that everyone has a right to speak out, and that everyone, at all levels of management is heard as an equal. Rank loses its importance when everyone is creating a better way of working together. While the Senior Manager may have more authority when he speaks, he wants to hear what everyone else is thinking so that the best ideas can be brought forward.

We have used these techniques in business discussions, and have used them equally effectively with senior officers in several branches of Tsahal.

Lesson 2: make the discussion democratic. This will get everyone to fully participate.

How do we insure that they really understand? Really participate?

In my consulting business, we have created a set of tools, which makes understanding easier. The tools add structure to the dialog, so that the discussion that takes place is easier to follow. The result is that the participants thoroughly understand what we are analyzing, and who end up thinking creatively about new methods to solve the old problems.

The techniques and tools that we use are color-coded cards, which are attached to giant wall charts, enabling everyone in the workshop to literally see the discussion on the walls as it happens, in real-time. The colors, their placement on the wall, and the links between the cards, makes the display a highly visual way of achieving understanding, of getting the people involved and enthusiastic about their future ways of working.

The highly visual tools help to reinforce learning and memory, as both sides of the brain are activated concurrently, both the logical side and the emotional side, ensuring that the participants fully internalize the learnings.

Lesson 3: Use colors, visualization and graphics to insure full user understanding and retention.

The results, in my world of Management Consulting, are far greater acceptance of my consulting recommendations than if I were to simply provide a report. Further, the implementation of these recommendations is based on verbalization of the Users wants and needs. We get them extremely involved, so that they will own and fight for their ideas.

Would we not dream of having the same involvement and enthusiasm in our children when they learn Gemara? Would we not want them to defend an Amora's opinion as if it were their own? Would we not want them to be open-minded enough to hear both sides of the argument, so that they truly understand the dialectics of the Gemara and the Meforshim that follow through the ages?

When I observe how Gemara is taught today in the schools, I am astonished. There is no real difference between how it is taught today and when I was a boy. In fact, there is probably no real difference going back for hundreds of years. The same educational techniques and principles have been in place - forever.

If they were working, that would be fine. But they have not been effective! And this is what this discussion is all about. The statistics have been cited in these discussions, and they're appalling. In no other area of study would we accept these findings. Yet in Gemara study, we shrug our shoulders and assume that nothing can be done!

Today's student is not willing to sit through long-winded frontal presentations about tedious discussions that are obscure and do not seem to be applicable to their daily lives. The alienation caused by wasting time on an obscure topic has many negative implications. I will not go into those, as I believe they are obvious to anyone reading this far. They are important enough, however, for me to have invested so much time and effort to try to improve the situation, while adhering to the traditional learning methods that I learned as a student at Yeshiva University.

I therefore, have decided to apply the lessons described above to Talmud instruction:

Applying Lesson 1: Personal involvement.
At Gemara Berura we have developed a software tool that works throughout the Shas, which is built on these principles of getting the student involved, by ensuring that they thoroughly understand the text. Further, the tool graphically displays the student's understanding.

Applying Lesson 2: Make the discussion democratic.
In the schools that are already using Gemara Berura, we have found that the tool supports the Mechanech by clarifying the ABC's of the Sugiya, so that he may establish a more meaningful dialog with his students. For example, he may open the discussion by asking students to present their analyses, and to explain why they analyzed the text the way they did. Several students present their analyses, which are different interpretations of the same text. Often, the differing interpretations may be right, as Elu VaElu Divrei Elokim Chaim. One may be using the logic of Rashi, and the other of Tosafot. This approach gives the students the opportunity to discover on their own, to think creatively, and to gain reinforcement when they find out that they have asked a question that was asked by the Rishonim. As has been noted by Rabbi Yeres, the dialog of the Gemara is a truly democratic vehicle from which we can learn a great deal, particularly in our Israeli society, which is not very open to hearing the other.

Applying Lesson 3: Visual presentation
We are all familiar with the difficulty of keeping track of the Sugiya. Color-coding the text and automatically generating flowcharts dramatically displays the logic of the Sugiya. This helps the student analyze the Sugiya, and enhances his ability to review and remember it in the future.

Clarifying the Methodology of the Gemara
The Gemara is based on a different way of thinking, and on a different type of analysis method than anything else these young students have ever encountered. Too often, students are taught Sugiyot, but they are not explicitly taught methodology. Students are not shown that there is a clear method of analyzing a segment of the Gemara. They are not taught how to map and make sense of the logical structure of the discussion in the Gemara. They don't learn how to apply the method from one Sugiya to the next. If a student does not see a pattern in the arguments, if he does not see how to apply the techniques that he learned in Sugiya A to Sugiya B, the latter Sugiya will be as obscure and take as long to learn as did the first. Today, the student feels that, at best, he learns yet another obscure argument about an artificial case, which does not seem applicable to today's world. Worse, because the methodology is unclear, and the arguments appear to be nit picking, the students often lose interest. This reflects the dialog that has been taking place over the past few weeks on these pages.

By understanding the methodology, the student will be able to apply the technique over and over, throughout the Shas. When he learns Gemara, he will feel that he has accomplished something significant, that he understands, and is a willing partner for learning about the implications of the Sugiya, something we often don't get to today, because we're too busy trying to understand how to wade through the basic text, trying to get past the ABCs.

Lesson 4: Make the methodology visible and clear to all.

Applying Lesson 4: Clear Methodology
A Talmud training tool must make the methodology very clear, so that when students learn one Sugiya, they can see that they have learned the techniques of how to learn, not only the contents of this isolated Sugiya.

Therefore, our team of Talmidei Chachamim has clarified the methodology of the give-and-take of the Gemara. We have defined an analysis technique that is applicable throughout the Shas. We defined a 3-step analysis process by which any Sugiya can be learned and described in a structured method.

By learning in this way, the student becomes aware of how easy it is to decompose the confusing dialog in the Gemara to a simple set of questions and answers and supporting materials, leading to a logical conclusion.

If the student of Talmud has this capability in hand, and can face Sugiyot throughout the Shas with a basic approach to how to learn the Gemara, he will have a far greater comfort level with the Gemara. He will no longer experience the endless frustration associated with the topic. This is a portent for better attitude towards Gemara in the school system.

Kedushat Hazman
To compound the student's frustration, the frontal lessons are repeated endlessly until the slowest students in the class can repeat what they have heard too many times! We teach the same Sugiya over and over until everyone can recite it. We target the lowest common denominator. Of course this will bore the brightest students and frustrate the others.

Further, when we allow Chavruta sessions, the students do not have a specific challenging target that they must achieve, so this becomes another waste of time. This is true for sessions during the day, and even more so for night seder, which the students must attend when they would rather be playing basketball, or studying for an exam. The whole ethic of kedushat hazman and of kedushat haTalmud is effectively destroyed with this approach.

Lesson 5: Let the students study at their own pace.

Applying Lesson 5: Each student learns at his own pace
By providing a computerized tool, Gemara Berura allows the student to work at his own pace. He can learn ahead of the class or more slowly, based on his capabilities. He does not have to wait for the rest of his classmates. His Mechanech can guide small groups to study at differing paces, because they have the tool to work with. This approach is well known in all spheres of education. Somehow its application in the world of chavruta, where it fits so naturally, has been lost.

To enable the students to participate directly in the analysis, it is important to provide them with an interactive tool that can be used by individual students, so that they can prepare homework as well as classroom lab analyses, always guided and monitored by the Mechanech.

Dealing with Arguments in Aramaic Over 500 Years Old

How do you even begin to understand the dialog when it is written in Aramaic? How do you figure out what is going on, when you have no idea who's who?

Learning With Gemara Berura
With all of the lessons above in mind, the Gemara Berura team of Rabbis, pedagogical experts and experienced educators designed a methodology and tool.

The Gemara Berura Reference Tools
To begin, the student needs a good familiarity with the basics, such as Aramaic, and who's who in the Gemara. So we built these tools into our program. We built a dictionary; short biographies of the Sages and over 600 keywords that we determined could help to determine where to segment the text.

Dictionary: Gemara Berura includes the Melamed Aramaic-Hebrew dictionary. Further, we have added additional functionality, so that the computerized version of the dictionary knows to find the root of the word, eliminating the prefixes.

Biographies: When looking through an argument in the Gemara, one cannot help being impressed by the openness and willingness to argue with one another. But who are these people? Are they indeed contemporaries? Often not, often they are several hundred years apart. The biographies give a short sketch of who lived when, and who his contemporaries were.

Keywords: Now that we know a bit about who the Sage was, we need to know where to break up the textual dialog. The Gemara's unpunctuated streams of consciousness, hyperlinked discussions, are difficult to follow. We must structure the dialog, into questions and answers. To that end, Gemara Berura developed a custom dictionary with some 800 terms, which provides examples of where specific phrases are used throughout Shas, with translations of the phrase, and recommendations regarding how this segment should be categorized.

Gemara Berura Analysis Tools
Now that the basic support tools have been addressed, we can proceed to actually learn some Gemara. This section will describe the methodology that drives Gemara Berura. The methodology is the same that has always been used by Talmidei Chachamim.

The software enables the student to work very easily with a three-step procedure to analyze any text:
1. Divide the text into paragraphs (aided by the keywords, biographies and full dictionary).
2. Classify each paragraph into one of the 10 classifications available according to the function of the paragraph within the Sugiya (question, answer, conclusion, etc.)
3. Connect each paragraph to the paragraph to which it refers.

This simple process is universally applicable to all dialog (not Aggadata) in the Shas. Suddenly, the student does not have to ask himself, where do I begin? He has a simple technique, which will allow him to ask harder questions, such as, why is the Gemara asking this question? How can I relate this to my world?

The student performs these three stages on his own. This forces him to truly understand the text, not just to be able to summarize a high-level overview of the dialog. He must know where a specific segment begins and where the prior segment ended. He is allowed to make mistakes, just as we expect him to do in mathematics. He'll learn from those mistakes. Further, there is no room for "b'erech" understanding the Sugiya.

One Analysis, Multiple Views

Using a computer provides another significant benefit. The software has been developed with a database, so that all the steps performed above, segment, characterize and connect, as well as the assignment of attributes defining the paragraph type, are retained in the database. This allows the computer to present the student's thinking back to him in multiple views.

• Color-coded, linked text: this is the basic view, which the student has built directly onto the unformatted text.
• Icons are automatically displayed alongside the color-coded, linked text. The icons become visual reminders of what is going on in each paragraph of text.
• Flow charts are generated automatically, forming a visual top-down summary of the dialog while eliminating the need to try to remember it in long Aramaic textual passages. The flowchart comes as a free benefit to the student, who would otherwise want to build it manually.

Benefits
These colored text and the flowchart pages can be printed, and stored in the student's binder. Over the course of the school year, he will build up a complete summary of his learnings. A quick scan of the flow charts can provide a rapid reminder, summarizing what he has learned.

Comments Box: Other tools in Gemara Berura allow the student to record free text comments. He may use this dialog box to explain exactly why he segmented the text as he did, for example. Alternatively, he may add in Rishonim comments, respond to teacher's questions, or address what are the deeper, philosophical implications of this learning?

Actualia Box: A second free text box can be attached to each segment, reminding the student to think about how to apply what he has learned to today, enabling him to make the text seem more relevant.

To love the Gemara: The student who is able to learn at his own pace, with a methodology that is clear to him, is much more likely to enjoy what he has accomplished. He will understand better, will learn more, and will ultimately be able to apply this way of analyzing and thinking to other areas of his life.

Based on the lessons that I have learned, first-hand, from my Management Consulting experience, I am certain that the tools included in the Gemara Berura program can help overcome many of the problems described above.

Last year we tested the ideas and the tool in ten schools in Israel. The results were very gratifying. The children loved learning with the tool. This year, over 35 schools are working with Gemara Berura in Israel, and ten more have now signed up in the US. The students worked at their own pace, using all the tools provided. Having the dictionaries, keywords and biographies already built-in, means that they really get used and they become integrated in the student's approach to analysis. Adding the visualization tools such as the flowcharts helps the students to recall the entire dialog without having to try to remember lots of Aramaic verbiage, which does not stick readily.

Reactions from the field

Weaker students: At one school the principal asked specifically for the response from the weaker students. He was delighted by their enthusiastic response to learning Gemara. Its fun, they proclaimed! And their Rav told us that he felt that they understood much better. It was a first.

The best student: At another, the Rav explained that even his best student, who had previously received 90% and better on his tests, proved to not know exactly where to segment the text. The boy, who was the best student in the class, had a good grasp of the major issues, but could not really explain all of the detailed steps. The new tool helped the teacher see what the student knew, and where he needed some more help.

Helping the teacher: Other teachers have used the tool to help them see where they have not communicated the meaning of a segment correctly, resulting in confusion by some of the students, as many handed in flowcharts that were incorrect.

Chavruta: The time spent in the schools computer lab is used productively to argue about how to segment and characterize the text. The students argue about specific topics in the Gemara, as they build the formatted text pages. Instead of sitting in the classroom talking about computers, they are sitting in from of the computer, talking about the Gemara.

It is our firm belief that using advanced teaching tools can help the teachers improve HOW Gemara is learned. We believe that by making the Gemara methodology clear, accessible and interactive, we can help achieve these goals. The challenge to the Mechanchim is to learn the new methods of working with state of the art tools, supported by updated educational skills to make sure that they utilize their time better, that they make the lessons interesting. We believe that our approach can help.

Endorsements: We have worked with practicing educators and Rabbanim to build a method and tool that will support their current educational objectives and techniques. Gemara Berura has been endorsed by the following Rabbis:
Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, Yisrael Meir Lau, Shlomo Aviner, Yosef Carmel, Moshe Erenreich, Moshe Bleicher, Eitan Eismann, Mordecai Elon, Shimon Adler and Shimon Levi (Ministry of Education).