With the 8 million people living in Israel, 6 million of those are Israeli Jews - meaning they make up around 74% of the Israeli population. According to the most recent population statistics, within that 74% percent, 80% of those Israeli Jews are actually religious - some more than others. But all in all, there is a significant amount of Israeli Jews that are NOT religious, but would still be considered “Jewish” due to their culture and their nation. So no, not all Israeli Jews are religious, and a majority of these secular Jews do not want their public schooling to infiltrate their children’s minds with the promotion of Judaism being more important than the basic educational content such as science, math, or history.
According to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Education website, there are four different kinds of groups in the Israeli education system: state schools - mainly for learning the basics of math, science, art, language, and physical education. Jewish studies are also included but it is mainly focused on the culture and history rather than on religious observances or beliefs, state religious schools - which also focus on the regular education curriculum, but emphasize religious studies and include prayers in their daily school agenda, private schools - which run differently depending on location and staff and parents, and lastly, Arab and Druze schools, which focus on the Arab/Druze religion and culture rather than the Jewish culture. Therefore, depending on how religious the family is or what they would want their kid to focus on, parents can take their kids to different schools. The problem arises when secular parents began to notice the material inserted into textbooks and workbooks of the state schools - schools that should be focusing on the basic subjects, rather than on religion.
As seen in the Haaretz article, 'Jews' Advantages to non-Jews': Religious Indoctrination Seeping Into Israeli Textbooks , many parents have noticed the increase of religious inculcation spewing into children’s textbooks without any explanation, forcing young children to believe what is given to them, which could cause conflict when growing up in a secular household. According to the article, the Leaders of the Secular Forum believe that it was not at all random. One even quotes, “This is not a random occurrence but a systematic and ideological move. The aim is to reshape the mindset of secular pupils by presenting an Orthodox Jewish view of the world in texts, exercise, illustrations and seemingly innocuous sentences interspersed in the textbooks.”
I believe the issue stems from the person in charge of allowing these books and religious curriculum to be used in schools - the Israeli Education Minister, Naftali Bennett.
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| Naftali Bennett, Israeli Education Minister |
Many also feel that the problem is not that Judaism and religious customs are being inserted into the teachings, but that it is inserted where they are most irrelevant and unnecessary. Along with that, parents are angry for the use of language used to inform the children about holidays, prayers, traditions, etc. One parent stated that, on the subject of Shabbat, it is clearly expressed that ALL Jewish women in the families are required to light the candles on Friday night, where there are many Jewish mothers who consider themselves to be Jewish but do not light the candles as they are not religious and do not practice these customs. When schools are teaching children that this is the right and only way to do things, it could get messy when the child goes home and sees what their parents do as “bad” when they do not follow the rules being taught in school. According to Rosenthal in "The Non-Orthodox" chapter, it states "Officially, Israel is a secular state with no state religion." (235) The Proclamation of Independence states that Israel guarantee "Freedom of Religion". Although these statements are definitely included in what could be known as their "constitution" (although there is no official constitution) many people still believe that Israel is a Jewish land. Rosenthal considers it a "secular land and a Holy land". (223) So why would so many people be angry at the Ministry of Education for allowing Jewish doctrines to pervade the school's curriculum?
In a 2014 editorial piece featured in Haaretz, Stop Injecting Religion Into Our Secular Schools, it is seen that majority of the secular community is angry with the religious organizations that meddle in the secular schools, while private and religious state schools get protected and sometimes even extra funding. Many commenters on Haaretz's webpages agree with the Leaders of the Secular Forum, believing that it is all a trick to create a bigger divide between religious and nonreligious citizens in Israel. Many commented that the biggest goal should be to teach kids the elementary basics such as math, science, art, etc. and leave religion as a choice that should be up to the family.
While Bennett does put an emphasis on mathematic studies and has focused his current flagship programs as minister to increase the number of high-school students taking the highest-level math exam to 18,000, he has still made Jewish studies a priority over other regularly taught school criteria. He is specifically interested in increasing the studies specifically in the secular schooling system. It would seem like Bennett and his party are continuously focusing on transitioning Israel into a theocracy rather than a democracy beginning with children in the school system. The study focused on the Haaretz article was the first time it had been done by a liberal-secular perspective, therefore, the first time secular parents were able to find flaws in their children's schoolbooks.
