Roy Weintraub | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (original) (raw)
Articles by Roy Weintraub
Theory & Research in Social Education , 2024
The Nakba, which means “the catastrophe” in Arabic, is the most controversial historical topic in... more The Nakba, which means “the catastrophe” in Arabic, is the most controversial historical topic in Israeli history education. Despite the Nakba’s significance to the history of Israel and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, until the last decade it has traditionally been excluded from Israeli public discourse and school curriculum. This article analyzes the different types of ethical judgments about the Nakba included in authorized curricula, teaching resources, and national exams currently used in the Israeli Jewish public education systems. Our data analysis reveals that the Nakba is explicitly mentioned in 40% of teaching materials used in Israeli Jewish schools, and the teaching materials include six types of implied ethical judgments. We developed a typology of three ethical justifications commonly utilized in the teaching materials: denial; acknowledging suffering, limited responsibility; and complex engagement. While some of the teaching materials promote critical engagement with the Nakba, others continue to deny its existence or minimize the negative consequences experienced by Palestinians. This research highlights how political beliefs influence the ethical judgments made in teaching materials and the importance of teaching about ethical judgments for helping students critically engage with and understand difficult histories.
Journal of Curriculum Studies , 2023
Applying Arthur Chapman's conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ) Holocau... more Applying Arthur Chapman's conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ) Holocaust education and the way it has changed over the years. Beyond RZ's increasing influence within Israeli society, this examination provides a unique example of faith-based Holocaust education that adheres to rationalism while teaching God's power over history. The diachronic textual analysis reveals dramatic changes in RZ Holocaust education over the past eight decades. Similar to faith-based education around the world, RZ focused initially on a deontological lesson highlighting the duty of the religious person under any circumstances. Following the 67 War, a distinct consequentialist-theological lesson was added, clarifying the obligation of the Jewish people to respond to the process of redemption embodied in the Zionist movement. As for the present day, the study profiles a new post-secular ontological lesson about the atrocities that people are capable of perpetrating in a godless world. This lesson is intertwined into a novel meta-narrative, one based not on modern ideologies but on the Bibal and the vision of the Prophets. The conclusions of this article help to create analytical categories for exploring faith-based Holocaust education around the world-a topic that has emerged in recent decades as one of great importance.
Pedagogy, Culture & Society , 2021
This article examines the key category defining multiculturalism in Israeli history education: th... more This article examines the key category defining multiculturalism in Israeli history education: the representation of North African and Middle Eastern Jewry, aka Mizrahim. Applying Nordgren’s and Johansson’s conceptualisation, the article explores the changes in this subject from the establishment of Israel to the present day.
The diachronic textual analysis shows that social and educational transformations along with developments in the historical discipline have led to a significant change in the representation of Mizrahim. These changes, the conceptual framework reveals, were manifested not solely in adding content but reflected a profound acknowledgement of multicultural approaches. Nevertheless it became clear that the changes are limited, as constructing the Eurocentric Zionist historical consciousness remains the primary goal of the education process. Similar to controversies around the world, the limited nature of the changes–despite the sincere efforts involved–is the result of the rigid national framework that continues to shape Israel’s history education.
Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2020
Modern historical research challenges religious education by undermining the arguments in favour ... more Modern historical research challenges religious education by undermining the arguments in favour of the existence of a supreme power who is responsible for patterns of reality. This article explores how the new generation of history textbooks of Religious Zionism, one of Israel’s ideologically most influential populations, cope with this dilemma. Two international models of faith-based history teaching that we characterize the ‘national-religious’ and the ‘divine’, analyse the novelty and singularity of these textbooks.
The analysis reveals that the new Religious-Zionist textbooks surmount the gap between faith in divine responsibility for human events and professional research and analysis of these events by creating a hybrid learning process that has two parallel interpretive dimensions. The first presents a historical process that remains formally true to the principles of reason and the discipline, although segueing to tendentious content at sensitive junctions. The second explores a metahistorical dimension in which these principles are bracketed with and subjugated to a theological, metaphysical, interpretation of history.
The findings concerning both the two international models and the unique historiosophical stance of the Religious-Zionist textbooks provide fertile soil for future research on faith-based history teaching in a variety of theological, political, and social contexts and circumstances.
![Research paper thumbnail of History Education in State-Religious Schools during the Past Decade [Hebrew]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/63349321/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Iyunim, 2020
History education is a cultural phenomenon that reflects complex knowledge-power relations and em... more History education is a cultural phenomenon that reflects complex knowledge-power relations and embodies a wide range of ideological, political, educational and ethical issues. This article explores the teaching of history in State-Religious Education (SRE) and examines its unique characteristics, as compared to inter alia State Education. Focusing on the past decade and against the backdrop of the “history wars” of the 2000s, the changes that have occurred in the Religious Zionist sector and its increasing influence in Israeli society are described. Drawing on diverse sources, the article discusses the various factors that have shaped the development of history education in SRE.
Apart from elements common to both SRE and State Education, the article examines three categories in which faith-based principles have shaped history education in SRE: redemptionism; attitudes towards religion and observant Jews; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The study reveals major disagreements within SRE on how to teach key historical episodes. A broad consensus, however, can be discerned regarding the status of territories gained in the Six-Day War, as an integral part of the Greater Land of Israel. The study concludes that, as Israel enters its eighth decade, history education in SRE presents a unique and proud historical narrative, and perhaps even multiple narratives.
Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society, 2019
In recent decades, the impact of postmodern approaches to history teaching has triggered an exten... more In recent decades, the impact of postmodern approaches to history teaching has triggered an extensive worldwide debate that accommodates diverse and contrasting voices. This article examines how the education system of Religious Zionism, one of the most important ideological movements in Israel, copes with this issue. This inquiry, which is based on Peter Seixas’s conceptualization, analyzes the system’s history curriculum, its latest textbooks, and an array of lesson plans. The analysis reveals a complex method of coping with postmodernism, including the adoption of clearly postmodern attitudes at the declarative level and the neutralization of their influence in practice.
Chapters in refereed books by Roy Weintraub
Enhancing Values of Dignity, Democracy, and Diversity in Higher Education, 2022
Alongside lockdowns and waves of infections, in the spring and summer months of 2020, there was a... more Alongside lockdowns and waves of infections, in the spring and summer months of 2020, there was a global wave of damaging, toppling, and vandalizing statues and monuments, accompanied by monuments' removal from public spheres and the renaming of public sites. This wave evolved alongside the racial unrest in the United States. At first, the protesters focused on attacking Confederate monuments. However, the attacks soon expanded to defacing figures representing systematic racism, discrimination and brutality. From Christopher Columbus to George Washington, activists not only vandalized and beheaded the figures, but also toppled them or threw them into the water (Mervosh et al., 2020; NBC Chicago, 2020). The phenomenon, which gained a central stage in social networks and the global media, quickly spread throughout Europe, targeting figures who embodied its colonial and racial past. In response to these actions, on 27 June 2020, President Trump tweeted that he had just signed "a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues" that aimed to combat the recent "Criminal Violence." He threatened that "these lawless acts against our Great Country" would lead to "Long prison terms" (Trump, 2020). The tweet, which came against the backdrop of the peak of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the raging COVID-19 pandemic, drew hundreds of thousands of responses, ranging from sweeping support to harsh criticism. Six months later, on December 23 rd 2020, the president vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. Already a defiant lame duck president, Trump stated his fierce objection to section 370 of the bill. This section required the formation of a "commission on the naming of items of the Department of Defense that commemorate the
Book reviews by Roy Weintraub
Journal of Israeli History, 2024
Ph.D. Dissertation by Roy Weintraub
![Research paper thumbnail of The Development of History Education in Israel’s State-Religious Education System, 1932–2010 [Hebrew]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/91306887/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](התפתחות הוראת ההיסטוריה בחינוך הממלכתי-דתי, 2010-1932
M.A. Thesis by Roy Weintraub
M.A. Thesis, 2016
Upheavals in Revolutionary History: History Education in the "Kibbutz Artzi" 1931-1972 [Hebrew]
Papers by Roy Weintraub
Journal of Curriculum Studies, Oct 22, 2023
Applying Arthur Chapman's conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ)... more Applying Arthur Chapman's conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ) Holocaust education and the way it has changed over the years. Beyond RZ's increasing influence within Israeli society, this examination provides a unique example of faith-based Holocaust education that adheres to rationalism while teaching God's power over history. The diachronic textual analysis reveals dramatic changes in RZ Holocaust education over the past eight decades. Similar to faith-based education around the world, RZ focused initially on a deontological lesson highlighting the duty of the religious person under any circumstances. Following the 67 War, a distinct consequentialist-theological lesson was added, clarifying the obligation of the Jewish people to respond to the process of redemption embodied in the Zionist movement. As for the present day, the study profiles a new post-secular ontological lesson about the atrocities that people are capable of perpetrating in a godless world. This lesson is intertwined into a novel meta-narrative, one based not on modern ideologies but on the Bibal and the vision of the Prophets. The conclusions of this article help to create analytical categories for exploring faith-based Holocaust education around the world-a topic that has emerged in recent decades as one of great importance.
Theory & Research in Social Education , 2024
The Nakba, which means “the catastrophe” in Arabic, is the most controversial historical topic in... more The Nakba, which means “the catastrophe” in Arabic, is the most controversial historical topic in Israeli history education. Despite the Nakba’s significance to the history of Israel and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, until the last decade it has traditionally been excluded from Israeli public discourse and school curriculum. This article analyzes the different types of ethical judgments about the Nakba included in authorized curricula, teaching resources, and national exams currently used in the Israeli Jewish public education systems. Our data analysis reveals that the Nakba is explicitly mentioned in 40% of teaching materials used in Israeli Jewish schools, and the teaching materials include six types of implied ethical judgments. We developed a typology of three ethical justifications commonly utilized in the teaching materials: denial; acknowledging suffering, limited responsibility; and complex engagement. While some of the teaching materials promote critical engagement with the Nakba, others continue to deny its existence or minimize the negative consequences experienced by Palestinians. This research highlights how political beliefs influence the ethical judgments made in teaching materials and the importance of teaching about ethical judgments for helping students critically engage with and understand difficult histories.
Journal of Curriculum Studies , 2023
Applying Arthur Chapman's conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ) Holocau... more Applying Arthur Chapman's conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ) Holocaust education and the way it has changed over the years. Beyond RZ's increasing influence within Israeli society, this examination provides a unique example of faith-based Holocaust education that adheres to rationalism while teaching God's power over history. The diachronic textual analysis reveals dramatic changes in RZ Holocaust education over the past eight decades. Similar to faith-based education around the world, RZ focused initially on a deontological lesson highlighting the duty of the religious person under any circumstances. Following the 67 War, a distinct consequentialist-theological lesson was added, clarifying the obligation of the Jewish people to respond to the process of redemption embodied in the Zionist movement. As for the present day, the study profiles a new post-secular ontological lesson about the atrocities that people are capable of perpetrating in a godless world. This lesson is intertwined into a novel meta-narrative, one based not on modern ideologies but on the Bibal and the vision of the Prophets. The conclusions of this article help to create analytical categories for exploring faith-based Holocaust education around the world-a topic that has emerged in recent decades as one of great importance.
Pedagogy, Culture & Society , 2021
This article examines the key category defining multiculturalism in Israeli history education: th... more This article examines the key category defining multiculturalism in Israeli history education: the representation of North African and Middle Eastern Jewry, aka Mizrahim. Applying Nordgren’s and Johansson’s conceptualisation, the article explores the changes in this subject from the establishment of Israel to the present day.
The diachronic textual analysis shows that social and educational transformations along with developments in the historical discipline have led to a significant change in the representation of Mizrahim. These changes, the conceptual framework reveals, were manifested not solely in adding content but reflected a profound acknowledgement of multicultural approaches. Nevertheless it became clear that the changes are limited, as constructing the Eurocentric Zionist historical consciousness remains the primary goal of the education process. Similar to controversies around the world, the limited nature of the changes–despite the sincere efforts involved–is the result of the rigid national framework that continues to shape Israel’s history education.
Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2020
Modern historical research challenges religious education by undermining the arguments in favour ... more Modern historical research challenges religious education by undermining the arguments in favour of the existence of a supreme power who is responsible for patterns of reality. This article explores how the new generation of history textbooks of Religious Zionism, one of Israel’s ideologically most influential populations, cope with this dilemma. Two international models of faith-based history teaching that we characterize the ‘national-religious’ and the ‘divine’, analyse the novelty and singularity of these textbooks.
The analysis reveals that the new Religious-Zionist textbooks surmount the gap between faith in divine responsibility for human events and professional research and analysis of these events by creating a hybrid learning process that has two parallel interpretive dimensions. The first presents a historical process that remains formally true to the principles of reason and the discipline, although segueing to tendentious content at sensitive junctions. The second explores a metahistorical dimension in which these principles are bracketed with and subjugated to a theological, metaphysical, interpretation of history.
The findings concerning both the two international models and the unique historiosophical stance of the Religious-Zionist textbooks provide fertile soil for future research on faith-based history teaching in a variety of theological, political, and social contexts and circumstances.
Iyunim, 2020
History education is a cultural phenomenon that reflects complex knowledge-power relations and em... more History education is a cultural phenomenon that reflects complex knowledge-power relations and embodies a wide range of ideological, political, educational and ethical issues. This article explores the teaching of history in State-Religious Education (SRE) and examines its unique characteristics, as compared to inter alia State Education. Focusing on the past decade and against the backdrop of the “history wars” of the 2000s, the changes that have occurred in the Religious Zionist sector and its increasing influence in Israeli society are described. Drawing on diverse sources, the article discusses the various factors that have shaped the development of history education in SRE.
Apart from elements common to both SRE and State Education, the article examines three categories in which faith-based principles have shaped history education in SRE: redemptionism; attitudes towards religion and observant Jews; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The study reveals major disagreements within SRE on how to teach key historical episodes. A broad consensus, however, can be discerned regarding the status of territories gained in the Six-Day War, as an integral part of the Greater Land of Israel. The study concludes that, as Israel enters its eighth decade, history education in SRE presents a unique and proud historical narrative, and perhaps even multiple narratives.
Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society, 2019
In recent decades, the impact of postmodern approaches to history teaching has triggered an exten... more In recent decades, the impact of postmodern approaches to history teaching has triggered an extensive worldwide debate that accommodates diverse and contrasting voices. This article examines how the education system of Religious Zionism, one of the most important ideological movements in Israel, copes with this issue. This inquiry, which is based on Peter Seixas’s conceptualization, analyzes the system’s history curriculum, its latest textbooks, and an array of lesson plans. The analysis reveals a complex method of coping with postmodernism, including the adoption of clearly postmodern attitudes at the declarative level and the neutralization of their influence in practice.
Enhancing Values of Dignity, Democracy, and Diversity in Higher Education, 2022
Alongside lockdowns and waves of infections, in the spring and summer months of 2020, there was a... more Alongside lockdowns and waves of infections, in the spring and summer months of 2020, there was a global wave of damaging, toppling, and vandalizing statues and monuments, accompanied by monuments' removal from public spheres and the renaming of public sites. This wave evolved alongside the racial unrest in the United States. At first, the protesters focused on attacking Confederate monuments. However, the attacks soon expanded to defacing figures representing systematic racism, discrimination and brutality. From Christopher Columbus to George Washington, activists not only vandalized and beheaded the figures, but also toppled them or threw them into the water (Mervosh et al., 2020; NBC Chicago, 2020). The phenomenon, which gained a central stage in social networks and the global media, quickly spread throughout Europe, targeting figures who embodied its colonial and racial past. In response to these actions, on 27 June 2020, President Trump tweeted that he had just signed "a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues" that aimed to combat the recent "Criminal Violence." He threatened that "these lawless acts against our Great Country" would lead to "Long prison terms" (Trump, 2020). The tweet, which came against the backdrop of the peak of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the raging COVID-19 pandemic, drew hundreds of thousands of responses, ranging from sweeping support to harsh criticism. Six months later, on December 23 rd 2020, the president vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. Already a defiant lame duck president, Trump stated his fierce objection to section 370 of the bill. This section required the formation of a "commission on the naming of items of the Department of Defense that commemorate the
M.A. Thesis, 2016
Upheavals in Revolutionary History: History Education in the "Kibbutz Artzi" 1931-1972 [Hebrew]
Journal of Curriculum Studies, Oct 22, 2023
Applying Arthur Chapman's conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ)... more Applying Arthur Chapman's conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ) Holocaust education and the way it has changed over the years. Beyond RZ's increasing influence within Israeli society, this examination provides a unique example of faith-based Holocaust education that adheres to rationalism while teaching God's power over history. The diachronic textual analysis reveals dramatic changes in RZ Holocaust education over the past eight decades. Similar to faith-based education around the world, RZ focused initially on a deontological lesson highlighting the duty of the religious person under any circumstances. Following the 67 War, a distinct consequentialist-theological lesson was added, clarifying the obligation of the Jewish people to respond to the process of redemption embodied in the Zionist movement. As for the present day, the study profiles a new post-secular ontological lesson about the atrocities that people are capable of perpetrating in a godless world. This lesson is intertwined into a novel meta-narrative, one based not on modern ideologies but on the Bibal and the vision of the Prophets. The conclusions of this article help to create analytical categories for exploring faith-based Holocaust education around the world-a topic that has emerged in recent decades as one of great importance.