The Lookstein Center is grateful for the thoughtful responses that were sent in reply to my question about Israel education; those supplying specific information about programming, those addressing the Israel education issue, and those addressing the larger issue of prioritization of time, content and programming in schools. (I am sure the Melton research is an important contribution but I will need a lot more time than I have had until now to study it). Permit me to clarify a few points.
First of all, it seems I was not sufficiently clear; perhaps my anecdotes led one to think that I was specifically advocating advocacy, but I was intending to advocate education, particularly education that includes understanding of the issues from different perspectives. I chose those introductory anecdotes simply because I experienced them that week. I also believe that in each case, more than anything else, those anecdotes reflected a fundamental misunderstanding or ignorance of the issues.
It would be marvelous, as one writer comments, if Jewish students knew the basic facts about Jewish claims to Israel, about the history of Zionism and about the Arab-Israel conflict. But it seems that most do not, even those coming from some of the finest Jewish high schools (certainly there are exceptions). Of course, educators must be honest and thorough and encourage critical thinking in all subjects, particularly Israel education. It would be wonderful if that were the case. To accomplish this will require significant discussion and learning among educators and a great deal of professional development.
I believe that Israel education should begin with an awareness that Israel is a central part of one's communal and personal Jewish identity and therefore should be an important part of a Jewish high school educational program. Could anyone who is honest with tradition and honest with sources truthfully argue that Israel is not a central component of Judaism? That in itself should make it a central component of a Jewish school program. The details of the program, each school needs to work out for itself, with the recognition of age, time and content appropriateness and prioritization.
More than thirty years ago, in the summer of 1979 Gerald Blidstein speaking about the dismal rate of Aliyah from America wrote:"
it is much more likely that we are witness to a skewering of Jewish spirituality itself. If this is the case, the all-but-effective elimination of Israel from the personal agenda of today 's American Jew is a symptom of destructive forces cutting away at our people 's roots. Israel, today, is the single most significant issue facing the Jew. The response to this opportunity is perhaps more crucial to the Jews of New York and Los Angeles than it is to the Jews of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv." Let us forget about Aliyah for now, that is not the topic of this discussion; but thirty years later, his words terrifyingly resonate regarding the importance Israel has altogether today in the identity of Jews, the education of Jews, the political views and stands of Jews in America and Europe. What responsibility then do Jewish schools have in addressing this frightening reality?
A comment regarding the broader issue of addressing the challenge of which content and which approaches can be part of a school program. When I was a high school principal, I strongly believed, and do so more strongly today, that high school students should be exposed to as broad a range as possible of topics and approaches while they are within the walls of a Jewish high school. That includes serious and systematic Israel education, it includes traditional Bible study but also engagement with the idea of a Deuteronomist and a Priestly Code et al, it includes a strong grounding in tradition, philosophical issues and Jewish history. It depends on what a school decides is important. What they deem important will be allotted time in the schedule and will be addressed through the formal, informal and hidden curriculum. What is important will permeate the culture and climate of the school. As I have written previously elsewhere, when we assign select content in any course or program we are indicating what is most important and creating in a student's mind the perception that this is what is most important to know. That is always to some extent going to be misleading. Because whatever we select cannot paint the entire richness of the subject or the issue we are trying to cover. This is so in any course and regarding any issue. I believe it should be of particular significance to our selection of content to be studied in Jewish Studies and Israel education. To borrow from Bell Hooks, certainly writing in a completely different context, "what is true is that we make choices, that we choose voices to hear and voices to silence."
No high school student will leave high school a talmid hakham, or an expert in Tanakh , whether learned traditionally or as literature or using the critical method, but they should be introduced at the appropriate time to all of this, with experiences that concretize the learning. Is there any more effective way to bring about commitment to Zionism or to tradition or to the centrality of textual study, or to Jewish communal life than through education and experience? Is it not true that the ultimate success of a Jewish high school is for its students to be determined to continue what they just started there?
Stuart Zweiter
Director, The Lookstein Center
