Mature Zionism: Education and the Scholarly Study of Israel

Abstract

A new approach to Israel education has emerged to counteract what has been a tendency to romanticize Israel by avoiding criticism; it presumes that Israel engagement has much to offer a meaningful Jewish identity, but only when encountered critically, taking into account Israel’s many complexities. However, prevailing scholarly trends may not provide a clear stance on which to base critique and academic criticism may raise hard questions about the very idea of a Jewish and democratic state. This article addresses these concerns by offering a conceptual framework for scholarly study of Israel called “Mature Zionism” in which to ground a critical engagement with Israel that is genuinely educational.

Notes

¹ Why, it might be asked, the suggestion that the new Israel education promotes a “Zionist” rather than simply a “Jewish” point of view? This approach, after all, seeks to position Israel within the search for a meaningful Jewish identity. The identity in question, however, emphasizes an attachment to the Jewish people. This emphasis is best captured by the Zionist terminology, it seems to me, which encompasses cultural and political aspects of Jewish affiliation that may or may not be religious.

² Delegitimization of Israel that is grounded in critical social theory, therefore, often presupposes that Jewish sovereignty is unjust in the nature of the case, since it allocates power to a particular national culture, not to the egalitarian masses (Alexander, 2012).

³ By the same token, to deny the rights to self-definition and self-determination, as in the campaign to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel (BDS), is a violation of basic freedoms that are the inheritance of every human being.

⁴ The Palestinian catastrophe can be interpreted in a variety of ways. The most exclusionary versions, such as those grounded in postcolonial theory or radical political Islam, lie outside the bounds of ethical discourse because they call for Israel’s destruction. More inclusive postmodern accounts suggest that the establishment of the state was accompanied by a cultural tragedy for the Palestinian people, without denying the legitimacy of the Zionist narrative (see Gur-Ze’ev, 2008).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hanan A. Alexander

Hanan A. Alexander is Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Haifa where he serves as Dean of Students and heads the International School and the Center for Jewish Education. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. E-mail: [email protected]