Jewish Philanthropy, Zionist Culture, and the Civilizing Mission of Hebrew Education

Erratum

Introduction

“When I came to Petach Tikva, I had hoped to see healthy children . . . but sadly, what I found were thin, scrawny children, some of them suffering from eye diseases . . . . I suggested to the parents that they pay special attention to their children’s diet, which should consist of a healthful, rational combination of foods.”¹ This is a passage from the diary of David Haion, who was appointed principal of the Petach Tikva elementary school in 1905.² His shock at the condition of the children and the nature of the solution that was put into effect reflect an approach that saw the school as an institution which, in addition to its other functions, was meant to be concerned with the health and physical well-being of its students. This approach was typical of the educational systems in Western and Central Europe, and it influenced the schools of Ottoman Palestine.

David Haion was a graduate of the teachers’ seminary run by the Alliance network. This philanthropic body, in the name of ethnic solidarity, set out to translate the civilizing mission of the nineteenth century into educational messages addressed to the Jewish communities of the Mediterranean Basin, including Ottoman Palestine. Similar to the schools in the other moshavot (colonies), the one in Petach Tikva was funded by philanthropic organizations, first by Baron Rothschild and later on by the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA), which like Alliance, saw its support as an expression of Jewish solidarity. Both Rothschild’s administration and the JCA wanted to make the cultural codes of Jewish emancipation and self-sufficiency attractive to the farmers of Petach Tikva and the other moshavot. These organizations, which saw themselves as spreading the message of nineteenth-century modernity, also aspired to become the emissaries of its civilizing mission in the remote Ottoman province of Palestine in the years preceding World War I. The school headed by Haion was influenced by the message of modernization, but this was not its only agenda. While striving to achieve this goal, the school was also involved in creating the Hebrew (Zionist) culture of Eretz Israel.

Aside from the school in Petach Tikva, other educational institutions operated in the moshavot of the First Aliyah, which were also supported by Baron Rothschild, and later on by the JCA. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between Jewish philanthropy in Ottoman Palestine—philanthropy based on the principle of “kol Yisrael arevim ze laze” (all Jews are responsible for one another), and the Zionist process of building the nation, specifically by means of the education system. The decision to focus on schools is based on the assumption that education is a type of lens through which historic processes that take place in a certain society at a given time may be examined. Herbert Kliebard argues that curriculum is produced by various groups in a society at a particular moment in time and includes values, beliefs, and knowledge. The knowledge selected for inclusion in the curriculum is the outcome of negotiations between various circles in that society. Thus, examining the knowledge being imparted during a specific era allows us to expand the angle of vision from which we analyze cultural and political processes.³

Among the priorities espoused by Baron Rothschild’s administrators, the importance of education was not championed uniformly, although it was always a matter of concern. This can be seen, for example, in the decision—made by the head administrator, Eliyahu Scheid (1883–99)—to set up educational facilities even before the farmers settled on the land allotted to them, as in the case of the moshavah, Zichron Yaakov: “At the same time, I arranged a classroom for the families living in the city so that their children would not be running around in the streets until construction of the moshavah was completed.”⁴ This illustrates the adoption of the norm of mass education, that is, that as part of their civil rights, all children are entitled to a minimum level of education and a minimum number of years of schooling...