Last Tuesday, the “Meet the Israeli Author” class at MTA had its final meeting with its author and mentor Chana Bat Shahar. This one-of-a-kind Hebrew Language elective gives students the opportunity to participate in monthly virtual workshops with the renowned, award-winning author, during which the students get to know her, learn about her methods and receive pointers on developing their Hebrew language creative writing skills. In between their meetings with Mrs. Bat Shahar, students worked with their teacher Ms. Liora Haibi, who supervises and prepares them for their monthly sessions.

The final class with Chana Bat Shahar was a discussion of what the class had learned from the sessions that were preparing them to write their Hebrew short stories that will soon be published in a journal entitled “Meet the Israeli Author.” The class discussed “What did you learn from the story itself?” Many answers were thrown around about how details bring out characters or how to use language to create pace and tone. The general consensus was the recognition that a story is different on paper than it is when one tells it aloud, in the sense that one must always demonstrate in writing the actions and emotions of characters, but not necessarily convey them verbally.

The students eagerly await seeing their stories in print, and are thankful for the rigorous and meaningful course. They are also thrilled to have their journal accepted into the periodicals department and the archives of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.

By David Schmidt