Imagine if Judaic Studies classes became a place where students could grow their critical literacy and literary skills using sound pedagogy while simultaneously deepening their Jewish identity by learning valuable social-emotional skills through the lens of Jewish values.

Amira Soleimani and Laura Pasek of Hillel Day School in Detroit have developed the Tanach Sadna approach, which balances Jewish values, literacy skills, and academic rigor. They blend best practices from reading pedagogy with a Jewish values-based approach to social-emotional learning, embedded in the context of our shared biblical narrative.