Key Theme for 5757 and 5758:

"The Centenary of the first Zionist Congress
&
Fifty Years since the Establishment of the State of Israel"

Director-General Circular

Curricular Structure / V. Dilemmas and Problems

1. The following list indicates some dilemmas and problems worth studying, discussing and examining:

A. "The objective of Zionism was to demand and achieve for the Jewish people, as a people, the same national democratic right as every one of the peoples in Europe, and to have a sovereign existence in its own country, and it made this demand in the name of democracy and in its own name" (Schweid, _Israel as a Jewish-Democratic State - Historical and Theoretical Aspects_).

How does the definition of the State of Israel as a "Jewish State" fit with its definition as a "democratic state", a "state for the Jewish people", and a "state for all its citizens"?

B. What would be the significance of possibly amending or repealing the Law of Return?

C. "Eastwards or westwards?" - which way should the State face:

- should it be resolutely facing Europe,
or
- striving for integration in the East?

D. The right of Diaspora Jews to be involved in what happens in Israel.

E. The right or duty of the State of Israel to be involved in Jewish life in the Diaspora.

2. List of dilemmas and problems submitted by Prof. Yosef Gorny, director of the Institute for Zionist Research, Tel Aviv University

A. National Zionism - the dilemmas

• Zionism as a national movement - particularism versus universalism
• Jewish nationalism, between Zionism, a-Zionism, and anti-Zionism
• Religion in Zionist nationalism - Messianic vision versus the political approach
• Democracy and Zionism - pluralism versus the pursuit of national objectives

B. Zionism as a project for implementation

• Imperialist colonialism versus national settlement
• Waves of immigration to Eretz Israel - push versus pull factors
• The image of Jewish society - normalization versus socialist and religious utopias
• The Jewish-Arab national confrontation - political compromise versus the imposition of decisions by the use of force
• Zionism and Great Britain - the struggle for national liberation versus a campaign for the implementation of political promises

C. Zionism and the Jewish people

• Israeli rejection of the Diaspora versus dependence on it
• The Diaspora - opposing Zionism versus supporting it
• The World Zionist Organization and defending the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) during the Holocaust period - limitations on its strength versus mistaken considerations
• The development of Hebrew culture - revolutionary change versus historical continuity

D. Zionism and the State

• Post-Zionism and the existence or otherwise of the "Jewish people" (Clal Israel)
• Post-Zionism - historical method versus ideological assessment.

3. List of dilemmas and problems submitted by The Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute

From the outset, the Zionist movement developed out of the spectrum of views prevailing among the Jewish public at the time. Members of the movement understood that in order to ensure the movement's continued existence and to attain its goals, they had to find a mid-way approach which would garner the broadest-based support possible. Those who were unable to make any concessions and accept positions which different from their own left the movement.

The movement grappled with several key issues which have provided a constant leitmotif over the years and in the different periods up to the present time. We would suggest examining several of these issues and weighing up how to solve the disagreements - how to achieve agreement.

Four key issues on which the programs suggested above could focus are taken from key issues raised in the Zionist Congress debates:

1. The dispute over the location of the National Home: Eretz Israel or any other territory
2. The dispute over the cultural nature of the future state: secular or religious
3. The dispute over accepting or rejecting the Diaspora: should the Zionist movement require its members to immigrate to Eretz Israel?
4. The dispute over international recognition of the State: the political view versus the practical view.

These four issues are still being fiercely debated to this very day, one hundred years after the First Zionist Congress. Research into the issues should be topical and relevant to students, so that they gain a deeper understanding of the spirit of the period, its problems, and its implications for our own time.

Curricular Structure / VI. System-Wide Projects

It is hoped that the key theme for the coming two years will fire the imagination and generate additional original ideas.

Below please find a list of a number of programs and ideas which the Ministry is envisaging encouraging and implementing (but which have at this date to receive definitive approval):

A . The story of a locality:

A number of bodies, of which the foremost is the Israel Association of Community Centers, are planning activities in a large number of localities, encouraging the local inhabitants to run a project which can be implemented in a variety of ways. The project will focus on the story of a locality, and would involve the local inhabitants and its institutions.

B . Bringing sites to life/drama at specific locations:

The Ministry, in conjunction with a number of other bodies, is planning to select four or five different locations in Israel, and to recreate events from a particular period on-site by means of dramatic techniques involving visitors (like the Revivim model, for example).

C . An artistic event as the closing event of the learning process:

A proposal is taking shape for those schools interested to select a topic, study it, and present it at the end of the year as a play/musical, movie/video film, dance or song show, or any other artistic form that they choose. The subject specialists in the various arts, as well as their counterparts in the areas of literature, history, Eretz Israel studies and so on, will provide guidance and assistance to those interested in this project. Towards the end of the year, it is possible that an event will be held at which the projects will be presented. [See Announcement of Competition]

D . 50 years of settlement in the Negev:

Schools will be able to participate in a national Israeli quiz on this subject. The quiz, to be held in rounds, will culminate in a game based on routes of the Negev, following various written clues, and a final event in the Negev for all participants. [See details of competition finals ]

E . "Encounters":

The Ministry is working on a series of proposals for fostering a genuine dialogue between Jewish youth in Israel and in the Diaspora. Some of the projects involve connections using the Internet, email, video and fax, while others involve face-to-face meetings between Israelis and non-Israelis youth visiting Israel on various programs.

F . CAJE

In August 1996, on the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a meeting of CAJE (the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education), was attended by over 1,700 Jewish educators from Israel and the Diaspora. This presented an outstanding opportunity for meetings with Jewish educators from around the world - and we await the outcomes of this dialogue in terms of cooperative Jewish and Israel programming.

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