Curriculum Material

Abstract

The kibbutz is an authentic component of Zionism and Zionist ideology which contributed to the establishment and strengthening of the State of Israel in its early years. A steady decline in the status of the kibbutz in Israeli society and various crises that it underwent triggered this study which set out to locate and describe Zionist education curricula in kibbutz high schools. The study, using a qualitative framework, included two intensive case studies and a survey of 21 schools. The findings in these schools through 1990s showed no existing formal Zionist education curricula but did uncover various extra‐curricular activities which kibbutz educators attributed to the subject. The hidden agenda of these activities shows that Zionist education is considered part of the political and ideological strengthening of the kibbutz during troublesome times. The pupils, who lack general knowledge and close encounters with the ideological foundations of Zionism and Judaism, are given a mixture of scepticism, universal humanistic values and criticism of their heritage. These findings are interpreted through the concept of critical approach to curriculum theory and the idea of the semi‐legitimate in normative systems. Kibbutz educators are themselves ambivalent towards kibbutz values and at the same time struggle to preserve their unique way of life in troubled times.     

从以色列“基布兹”的建设经验谈我国新农村建设

虽然以色列基布兹是典型的犹太事物,但是其成功的经验却值得全世界人民关注与借鉴,特别是对于我们这样一个农村人口占绝大多数的国家来说,更应该深刻而透彻的研究以色列基布兹的发展模式,从理论上解析基布兹的生命力所在,在实践中学习和借鉴其成功的经验,使其成为我国新农村建设的有益参考。     

Demystifying a Black Box: A Grounded Theory of How Travel Experiences Impact the Jewish Identity Development of Jewish Emerging Adults

The positive impact on the Jewish Identity Development of Jewish Emerging Adults of both the 10 day trips to Israel popularly known as Birthright trips and the service learning trips commonly known as Alternative Spring Breaks has been well-documented. However, the mechanics of how this positive impact occurs has not been well-understood. This grounded theory study interviewed participants from both trips and found that there is an observable and ongoing cognitive processing of their trip experience by the participants that organically influences identity development. This process can be modeled and utilized to develop more effective staff training and program content for Jewish experiential education travel programs.     

Jewish education in Dublin: organizational development and conflicts

The aim of this paper is to dwell on the trends in the development of Jewish education in Dublin. The discussion is based on books written about the Jewish community and central figures in it, on interviews with people who were involved in shaping the Jewish education and with others who were familiar with it, on community magazines and documents found in the community and in the Jewish school.

The findings show that the Chief Rabbis were always the initiators and the driving force behind the founding of the Jewish educational institutions and in determining their educational policies. They were always assisted by the Education Ministry of Ireland, by the State of Israel and by members of the local community.

The Jewish elementary school in Dublin was founded in 1934 by Rabbi Herzog. At the initiative of Rabbi Jakobovitz they founded the Jewish secondary school in the early 1950s, together with an additional Jewish elementary school.

The problem of the Jewish schools was always the limited enrollment figures. Because of this, the Rabbis Cohen and Rosen unified the schools into a single educational institution where students studied from the age of three until the final year of secondary school.

The principals and teachers of secular subjects at the school were always non-Jews. In contrast, in most cases, the directors of the Jewish studies were emissaries from Israel. The teachers of Jewish subjects were residents of Dublin and rabbis who supplemented their rabbinical positions with teaching jobs. Good work relations always prevailed between the Jewish and non-Jewish staff, but the relations of the Israeli emissaries with the teachers of Jewish subjects and the rabbis were characterized by conflict.     

Holocaust education in Jewish schools in Israel: Goals, dilemmas, challenges

Research has shown the Holocaust to be the primary component of Jewish identity (Farago in Yahadut Zmanenu 5:259–285, 1989; Gross in Influence of the trip to Poland within the framework of the Ministry of Education on the working through of the Holocaust. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, 2000; Herman in Jewish identity: A socio-psychological perspective, Sage, Beverly Hills, 1977; Levy et al. in Beliefs, observations and social interaction among Israeli Jews. Louis Guttman Israel Institute of Applied Social Research (Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1993; Ofer in Jews in Israel: Contemporary social and cultural patterns. Brandeis University Press, Hanover and London, pp. 394–417, 2004a) and to contribute significantly to Jewish Israelis’ sense of belonging to the Jewish people. Though the Holocaust is a central event in Jewish history, Holocaust education is mandatory in the state education system in Israel, and some research has investigated the impact of this education, the field has not been conceptualized systematically (Blatman in Bishvilei haZikaron 7:15–16, 1995; Feldman in Bishvilei haZikaron 7:8–11, 1995; Ofer in Jewish Educ 10:87–108, 2004b; Schatzker in Int J Polit Educ 5(1): 75–82, 1982). This article attempts to organize the existing knowledge on the subject through a meta-analysis of the foundations and basic premises of Holocaust education in Israel, using the most important literature in the area. It first suggests a conceptual framework, organizing by period the changing attitudes toward the Holocaust in general and Holocaust education in particular. It then describes Holocaust education over the years, and finally analyzes the goals of Holocaust education, along with its major dilemmas and challenges.     

Teacher‐college students’ opinions in Israel and on the West Bank of ‘what science‐education is supposed to be’

A three‐way comparison of teacher‐college entrants’ and graduating students’ views in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) and their counterparts on the West Bank was undertaken in order to diagnose subjects’ image of science and of science teaching. The questionnaire used permitted the gathering of subjects’ normative views as well as the application of these views in actual classroom science‐lesson planning. It was found that college entrants’ views of the Jewish subjects differed sharply from those of both Arab samples in all areas tested. While there was no difference between Israeli Arabs and their counterparts on the West Bank on matters concerning in‐school and in‐classroom affairs, the Israeli Arab subjects’ views about science and science‐teaching were midway between those of the Jewish subjects and the West Bank subjects. As to the graduating subjects’ normative opinions, no significant difference was found between Jewish and Arab Israeli subjects, with both these samples differing significantly from their West Bank counterparts. An identical situation for both the entrants and the graduating students pertained to actual lesson‐planning. The findings were interpreted to mean that:

• Arab science education in Israeli schools is at present in a transition period, tending to move away from traditional and towards ‘Western’ approaches.

• Three years of college education had been instrumental in eliminating the previously existing discrepancies between prospective science teachers in the Jewish and Arab sectors of Israel, and to widen the gulf between Israeli Arabs’ and West Bankers’ normative stances as to ‘what science teaching is supposed to be’.

     

Bagels,schnitzel and McDonald's—‘fuzzy frontiers’ of Jewish identity in an English Jewish secondary school

Using data gathered during a case study of the ‘culture’ of a Jewish secondary school, this article explores the indeterminate boundaries of Jewish identity. By examining the mechanisms that control what and who comes into the school, and what is approved and disapproved of in the school, a picture emerges of what and who is counted as ‘Jewish’. There is detailed consideration of the admissions policy, the rules about kosher food, the explicitly religious symbols in use, the importance of Israel and the contested issue of McDonald's. Sometimes the boundaries are very clear‐cut, but in some cases there is ambiguity and disagreement that make the frontiers of English Jewish student identity decidedly fuzzy.     

Converting to belong: immigration,education and nationalisation among young ‘Russian’ immigrant women

The paper examines religious conversion to Judaism among young ‘Russian’ immigrant girls in Israel. Looking into the process of conversion in religious boarding schools for girls only (Ulpana) and in the broader context of the Israeli nation‐state, we examine the strategies the educators contrive in inculcating religiosity among the girls, how they legitimise and facilitate their self‐transformation, and mobilise them to desire a religious subjectivity. At the same time, we study the experiences of the Russian girls in the Ulpana, and the meanings they assign to their conversion as depicted in the personal stories they narrated to us. The paper reveals how the Ulpana operates as a major nationalisation agent that cultivates a path for the girls to belong to the national religious camp, thus assuring their affiliation to Israeli‐Jewish society at large.     

Education for national identity: Arab schools principals and teachers dilemmas and coping strategies

Abstract

This article discusses strategies used by Arab principals and teachers in Israel to cope with dilemmas involved in education for national identity stemming from conflict between two national narratives. While the Israeli Ministry of Education expects the Arab education system to educate students according to the Jewish State’s values, Palestinian Arab society expects its schools to educate its children according to Palestinian Arab national-cultural values. A qualitative research employed a semi-structured interview to elicit views on this issue from 7 principals and 14 teachers in the Arab education system in Israel. The findings indicate a conflictual reality. Interviewees expressed fear, humiliation and affront when required to obey Ministry of Education instructions in contradiction to attitudes prevalent in their society. They therefore developed coping strategies to foster students’ national identity without disrupting the necessary balance; primarily the construction of a covert learning program through manipulations in the official overt learning program. This study contributes to our understanding of minority education in a reality of conflict between the state and its national minority.     

World culture and social justice in a divided society: evaluations of Israeli Jewish and Arab teachers and students

ABSTRACT

Using the Israeli case, our study delves into teachers’ and students’ notions of social justice, exploring how they are shaped by both world culture trends and local conditions. We first identify social justice notions in the world culture perspective and Israeli society. Then, we empirically examine how these notions are understood by educational agents – teachers and students – across sectors that mirror Israeli society’s major divide: Jewish and Arab-Palestinian. Findings suggest that educational agents and ethnonational affiliation play a major role in recreating national heritages and the different ways in which they understand social justice their lives.     

Integration without assimilation? Ethno‐nationalism in Israel and universal laïcité in France

The adoption of multiculturalism and multiethnic views of society seems to be a convergent tendency among Western democracies where population flows are becoming increasingly heterogeneous. However, the established citizenship models and migrant groups' experiences have different impacts on the multicultural discourse in each country. This ‘integration without assimilation’ thesis has been examined comparing two countries – Israel and France – that differ largely in their definition of nationhood. Despite large demographic changes in both countries, the evolution of conceptions of citizenship in France and in Israel reflects a reaffirmation of existing models – the particularist Israeli ethno‐nationalism and the universalist French republicanism and laïcité – and the continuity of their assimilationist and homogenizing tendencies towards a Jewish uniform identity in the former and towards a uniform secular (or catho‐laique) identity in the latter.     

Abstracts

Abstract

This article attempts to present education for work in the kibbutz, with regard to the most up to date international literature in the field. The first part explains how the ideals of the Jewish tradition, of Socialist Zionism and progressive education made education for work so central in the kibbutz. In the second part, the unique philosophical and practical approach to self‐realisation in society and in study in the kibbutz is described. In the final part, the success of the kibbutz is evaluated on the basis of the attitudes of kibbutz parents, children and educators.     

Introduction to the Hebrew Edition of Visions of Jewish Education—Medabrim Chazon (Talking Vision) 1

The following is a translation of the introduction to Medabrim Chazon (Jerusalem: Keter, 2006), the Hebrew translation of Visions of Jewish Education, edited by Seymour Fox, Israel Scheffler, and Daniel Marom (Cambridge, 2003).(See the Journal, volume 71, number 1, Levisohn and responses in volume 71, number 2.) Visions of Jewish Education is an effort by leading scholars to improve the quality of Jewish education through attention to its purposes and aims. We, the editors of Medabrim Chazon wrote this introduction for Israeli readers, who encounter in Medabrim Chazon not just a translation of Visions of Jewish Education, but the world of North American Jewish education. While Visions of Jewish Education assumes familiarity with this framework, it is likely to be foreign to the Israeli audience. Indeed, in order to convey some of the problems in translating Visions of Jewish Education for Israeli readers, we have decided to present a literal rendering of the introduction here. North American readers may be surprised to notice, for example, the need to explain the role of synagogues in Jewish education.

This special introduction to the Hebrew translation may also be valuable for North American readers of Visions of Jewish Education. First, it may be illuminating to see how issues of Jewish educational vision unfold in Israel; the introduction brings to light questions of language, identity, and institutional structure that are unique to Jewish education in Israel. At the same time, while Jewish education plays itself out differently in various parts of the Jewish world, the issue of vision is fundamental in each context, and we hope to identify some shared concerns across Jewish communities. Having identified these concerns, we hope it will be possible for the book's audiences from around the world to engage in a conversation. Finally, we believe that we can benefit from looking at our own communities from the vantage point of how we are perceived by different communities within the Jewish world. This can not only enhance the awareness of our very diverse Jewish world but also foster exchange within it.     

Infant Attachment and Maternal Sensitivity in the Arab Minority in Israel

This study is the first to examine infant–mother attachment in the Arab culture. Eighty‐five Arab 1‐year‐old infants from Israel were observed in the strange situation, and maternal sensitivity was assessed from home observations. Supporting attachment theory's normativity hypothesis, no differences were found between the Arab‐Israeli attachment distribution and Jewish‐Israeli, Western, and non‐Western distributions when examined at the two‐way secure versus insecure level, although a few differences emerged when examined at the four‐way ABCD level. Supporting the sensitivity hypothesis, mothers of secure infants were more sensitive than those of insecure infants but only in the case of Christian (and not Muslim) mothers. The findings provide support to attachment theory's generalizability but raise questions regarding the assessment of maternal sensitivity cross‐culturally.     

Are We Tolerant Enough to Read Each Other's Culture? Evidence From Three Different Social Contexts

This study investigated the effect of cultural background of second‐language (L2) readers in different social contexts: Israeli Arabs, a minority learning Hebrew in Israel; Israeli Jews learning Arabic as L3; and Arab immigrants in Canada learning English as L2. Participants had to read related and unrelated cultural stories in their L1 and L2/L3. Results revealed that Arab students in the multicultural Canadian context better understood the unrelated cultural stories, while in both Israeli social contexts Arab and Jewish students found it difficult to read unrelated cultural stories. Comprehension results are discussed in light of the role of multiculturalism and ‘melting pot’ policies in shaping minority students’ social orientations.     

The Crisis in Jewish Education

What will the Jewish supplementary school be in the 1990's? A more definitive question might be what will it supplement? In the beginning “supplementary” schools brought Jewish knowled[ggrave]e to the student who was already experiencing living Judaism in the home. In the 1960's, heyday of Jewish afternoon schools, the school supplemented secular knowledge and secular living with Jewish knowledge and some Jewish life experience as the home contributed less and less.     

The Challenge of Professional Development in Jewish Studies: Why the Conventional Wisdom May Not Be Enough

ABSTRACT

This article examines the ways that Jewish studies teachers think about their teaching. It analyzes data from a three month teacher study group in which teachers read educational research articles as a framework for reflecting on their own teaching. The data suggest that Jewish studies teachers take one of two approaches in talking about their teaching: Half the teachers focused on the process of teaching, the specific modalities and teaching moves they employed, while the other half focused on the goals of teaching, the specific outcomes they wanted to see in their students. We also found that those teachers who were more focused on outcomes (rather than process) saw personal identity as an essential ingredient in effective Jewish education. This article raises questions about the efficacy of transferring professional development models from general education to Jewish education, without special attention to the specific cultural context of Jewish studies.     

Socio-cultural differences between Jewish and Arab teachers’ attitudes toward career education in Israel

Teachers’ attitudes towards career education play a crucial role in the successful implementation of relevant career related programs in school curriculum. In the current study, attitudes towards career education are investigated among 202 Israeli Arabs and 136 Israeli Jewish teachers. Results demonstrated similarity in the general pattern of ranking of importance of career education goals, but significant differences emerged in relation to a number of issues (e.g. self-knowledge, familiarity with range of occupation, experience with choice making). Differences are discussed as a reflection of diverse world-views, a disparity between majority and minority status and a difference in social structure.     

Applying Montessori Principles in China: The Impact of Being a Situational Minority in a Particularistic Jewish Heritage School

ABSTRACT

The aim of the research is to investigate a Montessori pedagogic approach, enabling a Jewish school to be part of the Chinese international-school system, while fostering Jewish identity. We conducted semistructured interviews with principals (2), teachers (8), parents (12), and students (10) and recorded class observations (8) over two visits. The analysis employed a grounded theory approach using a constant comparative method. The main result was that Montessori principles enabled the school to foster a strong particularistic Jewish identity for this situational minority while also developing a broad understanding of the host (Chinese) culture.