Education Minister Limor Livnat announced yesterday that next year\'s curriculum would include three new courses on Jewish tradition and Zionism. Livnat said today that these issues are matters of consensus in Israeli society, \"except for the extreme margins, such as [opposition leader Meretz MK] Yossi Sarid... Actually, I don\'t understand Sarid, because on the one hand he says he is against the program, and on the other hand he says he first started it…\"
At a press conference held yesterday to explain the need for the new programs, Livnat said, \"Every student has an elementary right to know his people\'s tradition and values. It is inconceivable that a pupil should not know the words to the national anthem, or know nothing about tefillin, or not have a prayer book, or not know what are the Four Species [taken on the holiday of Sukkot]... Today, more than ever, tradition and Jewish Zionist values are particularly important. Specifically during this age of the global village, we must strengthen our national foundations... I view the educational system as the internal security of the State of Israel, and we will not be able to continue to exist here as a people and as a state if our students do not receive Jewish, Zionist, and humanistic values, alongside their technological and general studies.\"
One course will feature classes in Jewish culture, holidays, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the weekly Torah portion, Israeli symbols, and important figures in Zionism. It will begin in the junior high school grades, with the intention of instituting it in grades K-12 in the future. In addition, a course entitled \"Love of Homeland\" will be given in elementary school classes, while 10th-graders will study \"Eretz Yisrael and Archaeology,\" with an emphasis on Jerusalem.
At a press conference held yesterday to explain the need for the new programs, Livnat said, \"Every student has an elementary right to know his people\'s tradition and values. It is inconceivable that a pupil should not know the words to the national anthem, or know nothing about tefillin, or not have a prayer book, or not know what are the Four Species [taken on the holiday of Sukkot]... Today, more than ever, tradition and Jewish Zionist values are particularly important. Specifically during this age of the global village, we must strengthen our national foundations... I view the educational system as the internal security of the State of Israel, and we will not be able to continue to exist here as a people and as a state if our students do not receive Jewish, Zionist, and humanistic values, alongside their technological and general studies.\"
One course will feature classes in Jewish culture, holidays, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the weekly Torah portion, Israeli symbols, and important figures in Zionism. It will begin in the junior high school grades, with the intention of instituting it in grades K-12 in the future. In addition, a course entitled \"Love of Homeland\" will be given in elementary school classes, while 10th-graders will study \"Eretz Yisrael and Archaeology,\" with an emphasis on Jerusalem.