The Knesset saluted 100 years of religious-Zionist education yesterday in a ceremonious session of the Knesset Education Committee, chaired by MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party). The session, with the participation of leading religious-Zionist educators, dealt with the question of whether the Religious Zionist movement should act as a separate educational entity, or attempt to influence public education throughout the country. Orlev said that the Mizrachi movement has always stood for integration with the broader Zionist enterprise, and that it must check itself to ensure that it continues this way. Rabbi Eitan Eismann, head of the Tzviyah Girls High School Network, said, \"Tzviyah was established as a separate network from the rest of the public-religious education system, in order to answer the need of a sector that wanted increased Torah education. There is a desire for more specialized Torah study, sometimes at the expense of general education. On the other hand, the secular public is beginning to turn to the Torah public with requests to help them establish educational frameworks.\"
In a larger ceremony held in the Knesset Auditorium, in which 500 people participated, Orlev reviewed the 100-year history of Religious Zionism, from the times of founder Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines until today. He bestowed certificates of recognition to several leading educators on the various rungs of the ladder of Religious Zionist education. The recipients were:
* Shmuel Orbach of the Netzach Yisrael elementary school;
* Rabbi Avraham Tzuckerman and Rabbanit Rachel Neriah, key figures in the founding of the yeshiva high school movement;
* Chana Melamed of Emunah Women and its worldwide educational movement;
* Sandra Sokal, American President of Amit, an organization that runs a network of religious-scientific-technological schools;
* Rabbi Eli Sadan, founder of the first pre-military yeshiva academy;
* Kiryat Shmonah\'s Chief Rabbi Tzephaniah Drori and Shulamit Leiman, on behalf of the thousands of girls who have performed a year or more of national service;
* Rabbi Avraham Rivlin of Yeshivat Kerem B\'Yavneh, on behalf of the hesder yeshiva enterprise combining army service and Torah studies;
* Dr. Avraham Zelkin of the Lifshitz Teachers Training Institute;
* and Prof. Shlomo Ekshtein of Bar Ilan University.
In a larger ceremony held in the Knesset Auditorium, in which 500 people participated, Orlev reviewed the 100-year history of Religious Zionism, from the times of founder Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines until today. He bestowed certificates of recognition to several leading educators on the various rungs of the ladder of Religious Zionist education. The recipients were:
* Shmuel Orbach of the Netzach Yisrael elementary school;
* Rabbi Avraham Tzuckerman and Rabbanit Rachel Neriah, key figures in the founding of the yeshiva high school movement;
* Chana Melamed of Emunah Women and its worldwide educational movement;
* Sandra Sokal, American President of Amit, an organization that runs a network of religious-scientific-technological schools;
* Rabbi Eli Sadan, founder of the first pre-military yeshiva academy;
* Kiryat Shmonah\'s Chief Rabbi Tzephaniah Drori and Shulamit Leiman, on behalf of the thousands of girls who have performed a year or more of national service;
* Rabbi Avraham Rivlin of Yeshivat Kerem B\'Yavneh, on behalf of the hesder yeshiva enterprise combining army service and Torah studies;
* Dr. Avraham Zelkin of the Lifshitz Teachers Training Institute;
* and Prof. Shlomo Ekshtein of Bar Ilan University.