Stories from a Yeshiva

 ´I don´t remember when I stopped thinking every day would be my last day´.

Gerry Albarelli answered an announcement for an English teacher opening at a school in Brooklyn and will end up teaching for around five years in a boys religious school. He does not reveal in the book explicitly the name of the yeshiva, but it is a Satmar boys´ school, which according to his descriptions - non-judgemental, and this is a greatest merit of the book - looks like a very dangerous and chaotic place. Teachers are surrounded by 3-4 graders and almost lynched; the teachers are beating the children with no regrets and administrative consequences. Only the English teachers are running as fast as they can after a short amount of time.

The boys are rarely speaking English and the teacher doesn´t speak Yiddish but they will find a way to communicate and learn together, in the good spirit of the religious learning. The teacher will create attractive classes, creating stories with the boys themselves distributed as characters. An idea which boosted the interest for the classes. ´They wanted to learn English if only to find out what they were doing in the stories´.

One of the big merit of the book is to elegantly share the stories, without any trace of patronizing. This is what is going to a Hasidic yeshiva in Brooklyn, a secret for many, especially girls.  The non-critical stance is very important, as it avoids the horrible stereotypes easily sliding into the stories about Hasidic life and education in general. But what is the point of writing stories which are biased, stealing from the reader the pleasure of making his or her own opinions about a book. 

Last but not least, Teacha! suggests to educators creative ways to build bridges during the educational process especially in a diverse cultural context. After all, the role of a teacher is to share knowledge and this may happen no matter how different his or her culture his or her culture is compared to that of the students.