Education minister unveils ramped-up Jewish, Zionist studies, mandatory Bible class in schools

Under the plan, all students from first grade to twelfth grade will be required to have an hour of mandatory Bible study each week, and fourth-grade students will be required to take a standardized Bible exam, which until now had been optional.

The changes will be implemented both in regular state schools and religious state schools. Several new classes and school projects on Zionism and the State of Israel will also be introduced to the state curriculum, including a class about “Israel’s wars and rebirth.”

Elementary schools will introduce a new subject called “Heritage for Me,” beginning in second grade. The course will be based on existing curricula on heritage and personal biography, and will be mixed in with other humanities subjects, according to Haaretz.

Schools will also be required to bring students on tours of Jerusalem and Jewish heritage sites around the country, with an emphasis on sites in the West Bank.

As a result of the changes, the portion of the education budget allocated to Jewish studies will be raised from 1% to 4%, the Education Ministry said.

Kisch clarified, in response to a question from Haaretz, that “the additional funds come at the expense of other things, which will be detailed later.” “We’re changing direction because Jewish identity cannot be left anymore as a matter of local decisions or private preference,” Kisch declared at a press conference Tuesday. “This is a large change, but it is also simple: To give back to our children what should be taken for granted. This is our commitment, to today’s students and the future of the State of Israel.”

The proposal drew criticism from several nonprofit groups.

The National Parents Organization took issue with the as-yet undetailed cuts to other parts of the education budget, charging in a statement that “at a time when our children are dealing with gaps in every domain, this is an additional harm that will expand the gaps that already exist.”

The group also said the new program “harms educational autonomy,” and responding to the content of the new program, argued that “the education system should reflect Israeli diversity — not flatten it.”

Ariel Levy, director of the Council for State-Hebrew Education, representing the largest stream in the Israeli public school system, said the new program “expresses a narrow and problematic approach,” and said it hurt schools’ autonomy.

In a Facebook post, the council said it had been told that the ministry intends to allow schools to use new funds for Jewish studies only on programs operated by the ministry itself.

“We are in favor of increasing resources and attention on studies focusing on identity,” the council said in its public response, but “it requires diversity and a plurality of voices. The language of Jewish-Israeli studies must fit the character of those studying.”

The council said it is “working with a variety of organizations to stop the move,” adding “it is time to defend a deep and diverse Jewish-Israeli education that fits the spirit of our movement.”

An elementary school principal, who asked to remain anonymous, told Haaretz: “The intention to teach Judaism as a religion, and not as a culture, is so conservative in its essence, it takes the education system back a hundred years.” “The minister would do well to find more teachers, please. Not only for Bible, we’re also missing teachers for science, math, English, and [Hebrew] language,” the principal added.