What the Jews have to say
By Limor Livnat

(July 6) - The reintroduction of basic Jewish studies in the 
high-school curriculum has irked some of Israel's "enlightened" 
figures. I cannot think of any other country where teaching 
children about their history and identity is considered an 
act of bigotry and religious coercion. 

Even in France's highly secularist educational system, children 
are taught the basics of Christian history and faith for a 
simple reason: you cannot understand the writings of Rabelais, 
Racine or Pascal without some basic knowledge of the Bible. 
In secular France, learning the Bible is considered a prerequisite 
for general knowledge. In Israel, it is an act of religious 
coercion. 

The Israeli Left often uses Rousseau as its spiritual reference. 
But Rousseau was a fierce advocate of teaching patriotic values 
in order to ensure continuity of the nation: "Do we wish the 
common people to be virtuous? Then let us begin by making them 
love their country!" 

How will our children love their country without learning about 
the treasure of Jewish wisdom, culture and tradition? And where 
are they to learn about this treasure? In the poems of Mahmoud 
Darwish? 

The teaching of basic Jewish history and religion in the Israeli 
educational system is one of the requirements of the State 
Education Law of 1953, which calls for teachers to inculcate 
"the values of Jewish culture," "love of motherland," and "loyalty 
to the Jewish people." David Ben-Gurion saw in the State 
Education Law and the Law of Return "the highest laws of the 
State of Israel... which point the direction in which our state 
wishes and must go if it is to exist and fulfill its historic 
purpose." 

To teach does not mean to coerce. Not to teach our heritage is 
a form of theft; it is to deprive our youth of their ability and 
of their right to choose. Not to teach our heritage would be to 
rob our children of their very being. 

Possessing A heritage is the only advantage of man over the other 
creatures of the world. Heritage is knowledge and heritage is 
values. The Israeli student must know both the how and the why 
of Israel's establishment and how it affects his life. The 
Israeli student also should be taught those unique values that 
express the specific nature of his people and the special 
contribution that it makes to the grand mosaic of man's essence. 

The "historic purpose" of the State of Israel is to ensure the 
physical and spiritual renaissance of the Jewish people. Rousseau 
saw in Jewish statehood a prerequisite for the propagation of 
Jewish culture and knowledge: "I never understood the reason 
why Jews don't have a free state with schools and universities 
for them to speak and debate freely. For only then shall we know 
what exactly they have to say." 

Now that Jews have a free state with schools and universities, 
it seems that the world is still waiting to find out what the 
Jews have to say. 

Or is it? In fact, the world is told by some Israeli historians 
that the State of Israel was born in sin. It is told by a few 
Israeli artists that Jews are foreign to the Middle East. It is 
told by some Israeli writers about the Arabs' authentic attachment 
to Palestine. It is told by a number of Israeli screenwriters and 
dramatists that Zionism is a medusa, Judaism is a threat to 
freedom, and the IDF a barbarian predator. If this is what the 
Jews have to say, Rousseau might have asked, why do they need 
a state? 

A people that produced the Bible and the Talmud has a lot more 
to say to the world. Between Pessah and Shavuot, Jews traditionally 
study the Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot) on Shabbat. 
In Chapter One of the Ethics, Rabbi Hillel asks: "If I am not for 
myself, who will be for me? And if I am for myself, what am I? 
And if not now, when?" 

Now that Jews have their state, schools and universities, they 
should be for themselves and for the world, here and now. 

(The writer is minister of education.)