Between nation and land in Zionist teaching of Jewish history, 1920–1954
2008; Routledge; Volume: 27; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13531040802284114
ISSN1744-0548
Autores Tópico(s)Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy
ResumoAbstract The article discusses the representation of Jewish history in the Zionist school system of the Yishuv and the early State of Israel (1920–1954). In the Yishuv period the history curriculum was centered on “shifting Jewish centers” in the spirit of historian Simon Dubnow, an approach that also integrated Jewish and non-Jewish history. From the 1930s, Ben Zion Dinur and the Teachers' Council of the Keren Kayemet le-Yisrael (Jewish National Fund) attempted to make the Land of Israel the central axis uniting Jewish history, a focus that downplayed non-Jewish history. Because of the opposition to this approach within the education system, this change, which Dinur regarded as essential for the integration of the new immigrants from the Muslim countries into Israeli society, was implemented only after he was appointed minister of education in the early 1950s. Keywords: national curriculumhistory teachinghistoriographyDinurLand of Israeleducation system Notes 1. 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In this context, see also an interview that Dinur gave in 1975 in which he claimed that only Jews, not Arabs, could revive the land; Dinur Dinur (Dinaburg), Ben Zion. 1975. Zekhutenu al Eretz-Yisrael. Ma'alot, 6(6): 40–5. (Our right to the Land of Israel). [Google Scholar], “Zekhutenu al Eretz-Yisra'el,” 41. 31. Dinaburg, Yisrael ba-golah, 25–26. See also, Rein, “Historiyon be-vinui umah,” 117. 32. Reshef and Dror, Ha-hinukh ha-ivri, 48; Palestine: Blue Book Mandatory Government. Palestine: Blue Book, 1936, Jerusalem: Government Printing Office, n.d.. [Google Scholar], 1936, 372. 33. Arnon Arnon, Abraham. 1957. “Al beit ha-sefer ha-klali”. In Sefer ha-yovel shel histadrut ha-morim (Jubilee book of the Teachers' Union), Edited by: Kimchi, D. and Riklies, L.A. 151–6. Tel Aviv: Merkaz histadrut ha-morim. (On the general school) [Google Scholar], “Al beit ha-sefer ha-klali,” 151–52. 34. 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For example, the authors – one of whom worked under Dinur at the Teachers' College in Jerusalem – dedicated a chapter in their account of sixteenth-century Jewish history to “the [Jewish] Settlement in the Land of Israel and Messianic Aspirations,” which described how representatives sent from the Land of Israel (shadarim) had arrived in the different Jewish communities and “told stories of wonder about the land of the forefathers, and the links between the diaspora and the community in the Land of Israel were enhanced, and immigration to the Land of Israel did not cease….” Spivak and Zuta, Divrei yemei amenu, vol. 3, no. 1, 125, 131. Yet, these cases remained limited to a specific time or location and were a far cry from Dinur's attempt to make the Land of Israel the unifying axis of Jewish history throughout the ages. 36. On the relations between the communities in the Land of Israel and in exile, see ibid., vol. 1, no. 2, 189; on the treatment of Arabs, see vol. 2, no. 1, 62. 37. 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Nonetheless, the system was far more unified than in the Mandate period. See Zameret Zameret, Zvi. 1997. Al gesher tzar: Itzuv ma'arekhet ha-hinukh bi-yemei ha-aliyah ha-hamonit, Beer Sheva: Ben Gurion University Press. (Across a narrow bridge: Shaping the education system during the mass immigration) [Google Scholar], Al gesher tzar. 55. Hendel Hendel, Michael. 1945. Toldot Yisra'el ve-toldot ha-amim be-tokhnit batei ha-sefer ha-tikhoniim. Shorashim, 2: 31–43. (The history of Israel and the history of the nations: High school curriculum). [Google Scholar], “Toldot Yisra'el ve-toldot ha-'amim,” 34. 56. Sitton, “Changes in the Representation of Jewish History,” 26. For a very clear expression of Dinur's historiography in textbooks, see, for example, Perski and Avivi Perski, Nathan and Avivi, Baruch. 1945. Toldot amenu, Tel Aviv: Yavneh. (The history of our people) [Google Scholar], Toldot amenu. However, the textbook used in the Mizrahi Stream did not adopt this approach. 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