Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London
In the revival of spoken Hebrew (from the 1880s to the outset of World War I) the language became the bearer and initiator of a radically new vision of the national future. From the outset of this process the question of Hebrew education played a particular role. Throughout Europe, Jewish education was influenced by the new focus on Hebrew which had been shaped by the ‘Hebrew’ pioneers in Ottoman-Palestine—sometimes integrating some of its ideals and sometimes actively rejecting them. Writers and philosophers took a keen interest and very often an active part in the development of the new educational system.
The question “What should we learn?”—as it was asked in the first decade of the twentieth century in different Jewish communities—will be therefore at the centre of our discussion. Only one of the many variations of this question was: “What does a Jewish / Hebrew writer need to know?” (among the writers discussed will be Y. H. Brenner, M. Y. Berdyczewsky, Ahad Ha-am, Joseph Klausner and Saul Tchernichowsky). We will try to uncover the discrepancy between intellectual concepts and educational practice, and between ideological struggles and often very pragmatic solutions.
The workshop will present some case studies on biographical and historical sources of some of the most influential expressions of the Hebrew education. For example, it will cover the introduction of Hebrew as a “natural language” in Palestinian Hebrew settlements, the fierce objection to Hebrew as a national language in competing concepts, and the short-lived idea of the “Hebrew European”. The question of girl’s schooling in this period of reformation will be given particular attention.
The day’s workshop will begin with an introduction given by Prof Menachem Brinker (Hebrew University) and by researchers of the UCL. The afternoon will be dedicated to the discussion of some key texts for Jewish education in the early twentieth century in Hebrew and English (which will be sent to all participants in advance). The workshop will be concluded by a visit to the Jewish East End.