The Collective Memory of a Civil War as Reflected in Edutainment and its Impact on Israeli Youth: A Critical Reading of Consensual Myths

Abstract

Following the political assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in 1998 Israel's national theater Habimah produced the play “Civil War.” The play addressed the religious/hawkish-secular/dovish rift in Israel through a critical reading of events from Jewish history and raises the potential of civil war and political violence in Israel over Israeli-Palestinian peace. An empirical study of 107 Israeli students from the 11th grade who viewed the play presents the potential of “Civil War” to influence students and lead them to a critical reading of consensual myths of the Jewish historical/cultural texts and current events.

Notes

¹Rabbis issued some of the harshest rulings possible in Jewish law that define Jews who betray their people to the gentiles and lead to Jewish deaths as traitors punishable by death. Since the Land of Israel is holy, handing it to the Palestinians as part of a peace process is betrayal of the Jewish people.

²Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test.

³Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test.

⁴Stuart-Maxwell test of Overall Marginal Homogeneity.

⁵Except for among students who defined themselves as “other” where there was a similar but not significant tendency and among those who defined themselves as traditional, where the trend was mixed.

⁶Stuart-Maxwell test of Overall Marginal Homogeneity.

⁷Except for among traditional students, where a similar but not significant trend was noted.

⁸Stuart-Maxwell test of Overall Marginal Homogeneity.

⁹Except for among students who defined themselves as “other,” where a similar but not significant trend was noted, and among traditional students where a mixed trend was noted.

¹⁰Except for among students who tend politically to the left and the moderate left, where a similar but not significant trend was noted.

¹¹Stuart-Maxwell test of Overall Marginal Homogeneity.

¹²Except for among students as defined themselves as “other,” where a similar but not significant trend was noted, and among traditional students where a mixed trend was noted.

¹³Except for among students who defined themselves as “left,” where a similar but not significant trend was noted.

¹⁴Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test.