Education Minister Gidon Saar obtained permission this week for students to visit sites in historic Jerusalem. Several of the sites were previously off-limits due to safety concerns, but the relevant security officials have given Saar the go-ahead.
Among the sites that students will now be able to visit are Har HaZeitim (Mount of Olives), Emek HaMelachim (Kings' Valley), and the walls of the Old City.
The addition of several new historic sites to the list of areas students may visit will make it easier for schools to fulfill Saar's directive involving school trips to Jerusalem. Saar has determined that every student in the public schools should visit Jerusalem at least three times during his or her school career.
Saar has created several initiatives aimed at strengthening students' ties to Jewish history and Jewish values. One such recent program involves weekly classes on Jewish ethics for eighth-grade students, based on the Talmudic text from the Tractate of Nezikin, Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot). This work is traditionally read on the Sabbaths from Passover through the summer, one chapter each Sabbath afternoon.
Saar has also added Judaism to the curriculum taught to public school students in grades 4-9, has required schools to note the Hebrew year, and has included traditional songs from Middle eastern Jewry of the middle ages to the music curriculum.