Atar Peleg

Wednesday, a few weeks ago, Kerem students discussed the following issue in study dyads:In her letter to the Ha'aretz newspaper, Diana Olearchik, musician Alon Olearchik's wife, protested the fact that parent-teacher meetings at her daughter's school were set for December 25th, Christmas Day. The daughter argued with her teachers, saying that it was an inappropriate date to hold parents' evenings since it is a meaningful and festive occasion for a small minority of them.
This dilemma is one of many that could be presented to students as part of the discussion of the complex identity of the state of Israel as the Jewish democratic state.
For some groups living in Israel, the connection between democracy and Judaism appears at times not to be possible. Adar Cohen, who for several years has been training Kerem students in teaching civics, recently wrote "Two Together", a book published by the Israel Institute for Democracy. The book was written for teachers and deals with the connection between Judaism and democracy in the various subject matters taught in schools. It describes three different possible approaches to the connection between these two types of content – Jewish and democratic – and proposes a fourth approach that faces the inherent complexity in this connection, and that despite the understanding that there are, at times, contradictions involved between the two values, is unwilling to renounce either.
The well-designed book offers teachers "supplies" for their complex journey, practical tools that help bring the issues of Israeli identity - that are, in fact, often political - into the classroom.
On that Wednesday, November 4th - the date of the late Prime Minister Rabin's murder – some seventy students and faculty members met at the Kerem Institute to celebrate the book's launching. In her opening remarks at the event, Dr. Inbar Galili-Schachter, Director of the Kerem Institute, related to the Rabin Memorial Day and to the approach outlined by Adar:
"Today we mark 20 years to the Rabin murder. Educators on both the political left and the right face a difficult educational challenge on this day. This difficulty, in my view, is an expression of the broader challenge facing educators in their task of supporting students in the construction of their identity within Israeli society, a society with internal conflicts of such significance. How not to succumb to indoctrination and how not to ignore the vital issues within which we all live? How can teachers express their beliefs and values yet continue to deal in their educational work and not in political propaganda; how to be critical yet optimistic –since educators must remain optimistic? How to educate Jewish pupils in Israel to an affinity with their national and cultural heritage – a vital element in the construction of their identity, while simultaneously educating them to a commitment to democratic, humanistic and universal values and to corresponding behavior?"
This Wednesday was one of a series of events that will be held in Kerem this year, entitled "Educational Afternoons". The event study units will be devoted to dealing with educational issues for which time is not always available during the regular classes.
The Institute's students and faculty appreciated the fact that the book provided an opportunity for open-minded and egalitarian discussions between them, on a basis of mutual respect and not be taken for granted in the context of our turbulent reality. The book asks teachers to first clarify their personal positions on the issues and to arrive in class with consolidated opinions, in order to best allow for open discussion. It provides teachers with the tools necessary to confront social and educational issues, such as those mentioned above.
Adar will be teaching a course this year on these issues to the Kerem Institute's budding teachers, as part of their training as teachers and future educators.