The Education Ministry has decided to reconsider implementing the Lev Leviev Foundation's Zman Masa (Journey Time) curriculum for the upcoming school year, on two conditions - chopping out most Orthodox Jewish faith-based references and making sure that only teachers within the state system are allowed to teach it.

Last year the program was taught by 160 adjunct teachers, all Orthodox Jews who actively practice the concepts taught in the curriculum. This year an Education Ministry official told Haaretz, "The program will be taught exclusively by teachers from the state school system," although Zman Masa program director Shai Rinsky commented that it has been difficult to find secular teachers who are able to do so.

The program, which was designed to bolster Jewish identity, would have large pieces rewritten, such as those subjects that refer to Jewish ritual hand-washing, how to tell the difference between kosher and non-kosher animals and information on the Holy Temple and its ritual vessels. References to the Leviev Foundation -- which created and funded the program -- will be deleted from title pages.