With 750 student articles and projects having been submitted to mark the commemoration of pre-State heroes, Education Minister Gideon Saar is basking in the project’s success. He duly noted that most prize-winners in the contest were of the national-religious sector.
This week, the Knesset, Education Ministry and other bodies are commemorating the lives and memories of the 13 Olei HaGardom – lit., the Hanged in the Gallows – who were executed by the pre-State British Mandatory regime. The 13 were killed between 1938 and 1947, though two of them blew themselves up just moments before they were to be hanged.
Minister Saar spoke to Arutz-7’s Shimon Cohen on his way to the prize-awarding ceremony, and acknowledged that there had been some criticism of the choice of topic. “But it came only from the fringes,” he said.
Some 600 student submitted written compositions – articles, stories, interviews and poems – on the chosen topic of the Olei HaGardom, and another 150 drew paintings or submitted sculptures and the like.
The three top prizes were shared by six winners, in addition to four honorary mentions, netting each of the ten between 500 and 1,500 shekels. Among the winners were students from Ohr Torah Stone (Ramot, Jerusalem), Ulpanat Shaalvim, ORT Yad Leibovitch (Netanya), Yitzchak Rabin Junior High (Mazkeret Batya), Ashdod, Ro’i Klein Junior High (Raanana), Kiryat Arba Yeshiva High School, Ulpanat Lehavah (Kedumim), Modiin and Carmiel.
Minister Saar, who awarded the prizes, told Cohen that the widespread participation in the contest “shows something about our youth. We tend to criticize them, but here we see that when they are presented with something with content, they answer the call.”
Acknowledging the high proportion of religious-Zionist prize-winners, Saar said, “The same is true at the memorial ceremonies for Lechi leader Yair Stern; most of the participants are from the kippah (yarmulke) wearing public… Strengthening students’ awareness of our legacy is required more in the public [not-religious] school system, and that’s what we are doing here. We have to also make sure that the messages are instilled.”
Classes were held in the framework of the special Education Ministry program on the topics of seminal events in the history of the establishment of the State of Israel, and discussions of values such as freedom, sacrifice, sense of mission and love of the Land.