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.