Berghahn Books

Heroism and Israeli Youth: A Research Note

Author(s): Michael Keren and Gad Barzilai
Source: Israel Studies Bulletin, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring 1992), pp. 8-10
Published by: Berghahn Books
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41805225
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Heroism

and

Israeli

By Michael

Youth:
Keren

The Problem
Since theearlydays ofJewishsettlementin Palestine,
educatorshave been furiousoverthe behaviorofIsraeli
youth.Like othernational movements,Zionism put its
faithin thatyouth.The futureseemed to lay notwiththe
parents in the synagogues but with the childrenwho
couldbe expectedto internalizethevalues ofthenational
was investedby Zionisteducamovement.A greateffort
torsto introducetheyouthto the land ofIsrael as wellas
tothenationalheritageand pioneeringvalues associated
withit (Keren,1989).
However,every generationof young Israelis disappointeditseducators. Instead ofbecominga vanguardof
nationalism,Israeli youth in schools and universities
resembledtheircounterpartsinWesternsocieties.Especiallysince the 1960s, studyafterstudyhas shown their
adherenceto universalistand cosmopolitanvalues. For
example,in 1964 one study,observingattitudestoward
social ideals, found that ideals such as socialism that
were part of the Zionistethos were less cherishedthan
theideals ofpeace, security,economicindependenceand
democracy(Kreitlerand Kreitler,1964). Anotherstudy,
lookinginto the disseminationof values in new immigrants'schools, foundthat the value systemof the preforthe
stateera did notserveas a source ofidentification
for
that
of
new
or,
immigrants,
experimentalgroup
matter,forthe controlgroup of Israeli born (Adlerand
Adler,1965).
Politicians often referred to the youth's alleged
normlessness,especially aftersome reporterwould interviewstudents unfamiliarwiththe national hymn,or
worse,who indicatedno particularinterestin memorizingit.Such mattersattractedtheattentionoftheKnesset
timeand again, and proposals in the dozens were initiated in order to strengthennational consciousness in
educational institutions.And yet, the moreyoungsters
wereexhortedto dedicate theirlives to national ideals,
themorethevalues theyexpressed in published letters,
diaries or responses to questionnaires seemed remote
fromtheireducators'intent(See: Elon, 1985). Duringthe
forexample,eighteenyear olds on the
War ofAttrition,
banks of the Suez canal were known to be impressed
moreby the Americanmusical "Hair"than by sermons
givenby militaryeducation officers.
In spiteofa toughstand manyyoungIsraelis express
inrecentyears visa vistheArab - Israeliconflict,surveys
found surprisinglyfew nationalistic attitudes among
them. In an importantsurvey recentlypublished by
Agassi et al. (1991), studentswere foundto adhere to a
ratherliberal version of nationalism, one considering
nationalafliationa matterofchoice ratherthanofbirth.
ISRAEL STUDIES

BULLETIN-Spring

and

Gad

Research

Note

Barzilai

Theydid not associate theircitizenshipwithZionismor

Judaism,and werewillingtoacceptArabsand othernonJews as equal citizensofthe state of Israel.
How genuine are these responses? How deeplyrooted
are the non-chauvinisticattitudes expressed - quite
consistently- byIsraeliyouth?A questionnairedesigned
by ProfessorJean Laponce at the Universityof British
Columbia providesan interesting
perspectivefromwhich
to answer these questions (Laponce, 1990; Laponce,
1991). Here, we would like to reporton a preliminary
studyutilizingthatquestionnaire.
The Study
Laponce's concern with students' attitudes towards
heroes allows us to learnabout youngpeoples' nationalism froma unique angle, that of the worshipofheroes.
"Heroes", definedas mythologicalor historicalfigures
servingas a source ofemotionalor cognitiveidentification, had always played an importantrole in national
education (See: Hook, 1943). Zionist educators, forinstance, emphasized the heroismofbiblicaljudges, kings
and prophets (Keren, 1983). But how successful were
they?
Laponce's questionnairerequests a list ofheroes and
certainvaluations about them.It begins witha series of
probes intendedto create a mental fieldfreeof current
events,and therespondentsare thenasked tolistnames
ofimportantfiguresin thefieldsofpolitics,business, the
military,religion,arts and culture,science, and sport.
Aftertheyfillin the names, theyare asked fora list of
three persons, whetheror not listed by them before,
whomtheyconsiderheroes. In theHebrewtranslationof
"
thequestionnaire,thebiblical term"mishichmovamala
(head and shouldershigherthan thepeople)was used for
"hero"ratherthanthemorecommonterm"gibbor"which
is stronglybiased in favorofmilitaryheroes.The biblical
term,associated with King Saul, refersto militaryand
heroes alike. Each of the figureslisted in
non-military
that categorywas given a score fromone to seven
indicating the degree of sympathyand appreciation
attributedto that hero by the respondent.
In a pilotstudy,thequestionnairewas distributedto34
students in a senior level political science class. The
studentswere given20 minutesto fillout the questionnaires.
Our pilot study sparks the hypothesis that young,
educated Israelis may indeed be more universalisticin
their attitudes than could be expected in lightof the
geopolitical circumstances and the nationalisticcurricula devised by the ministryof education foryears.

1992

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Essays

Moreover,thespecial focusofthisstudy- penetratingthe

students'mentalworldas regardstheirheroes - raises
the possibilitythat the students' universalismhas deep
culturalroots. Here are some ofthe findingsofour pilot
whichlead us to these hypotheses.

among those heroes who weregiventhe highscores of6

or 7, only 26% were non-conformists).
In 16.7% of the
cases all threeheroeswerenon-conformists
whileonlyin
3.3% ofthecases all heroesmentionedcould be classified
as conformists.

Findings
In order to dissociate the students fromthe most
salient events occurringat the time of the study, the
questionnairebegins by asking them to list fivemajor
historicaleventsfromthe firstcenturyto the present.A
glimpseat theeventsmentionedby the studentsreveals
thatall ofthemnotedglobal eventsin additionto events
relatedto Jewishor Israeli history.Moreover,91% had
included more peaceful than combativeevents in their
list,and 73.5% had mentioned(withoutbeing directed
towardit) at least one historicalevent in the sphere of
science.

As the study was conducted among politicalscience

majors, it is not surprisingthat most heroes mentioned
had made a contribution
mainlyin thepoliticalspherebe
it Gorbachev,Ben-Gurionor Churchill.Only 13% ofthe
respondentsignoredpoliticalfigurescompletely.Political heroes had also receivedthe highestscores on the
sympathyand appreciationscale. What is surprisingis
the low numberofmilitaryfiguresamong the students'
heroes. Moreover,ofthe militaryfigures- Alexanderthe
Great, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, etc - only one (Moshe
Dayan) was an Israeli.

A circledrawn in the Laponce questionnairewas described as representingthe center of the world. The
studentswere asked to put the names of fivecountries
inside the circleand fivecountriesoutside it,representing the periphery.We utilized this device in order to
investigatethe degree to which the students place the
MiddleEast in centerstage. Only6% did.Another3% had
drawna center- peripherymap whichcould be relatedto
the Middle East conflictif big powers' involvementis
included. However,88% showed a global orientation;
thereweremainlyEuropean countriesinside the Israeli
students'circles.
The main question concerned the students' heroes.
37% had chosen all theirheroesfromtheWesternworld;
13% had chosen all theirheroesfromthethirdworldand
only 10% had chosen all theirheroes fromthe Middle
East, mainlyIsrael.The restchose theirheroesfrommore
thanone ofthesespheres.About50% oftherespondents
had chosen at least twoheroes fromoutside the Middle
East. Interestingly,
when observingonly those heroes
gradedas veryhigh(i.e., 6 or 7) on the scale ofsympathy
and appreciation,we finda slightdecrease in themention
ofWesternheroes (e.g. Lincoln,Shakespeare orThomas
Edison) but a significantincrease in the mention of
heroesfromthethirdworld(37%),such as MilanKundera,
Evita Peron or Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Finally,a note about gender.Althoughwomen constitutedabout halfofthesample,only9% oftheheroeswere

women, ofwhich only two were Israeli women (actress
Hanna Robina and primeministerGolda Meir).
Conclusions
Itis impossible,ofcourse,todrawfar-reaching
conclusions fromour pilot study. However, the fascinating
findingsin thispoliticalscience class indicatethepotential usefulness ofthe Laponce questionnairefora better
understandingofIsraeli politicalculture.This questionnaireallowsan in depthinvestigation
ofstudents'mental
fieldwhileneutralizingtheeffectofcurrentaffairs.Thus,
itsapplicationtoa largerand morerepresentative
sample
ofIsraeli students,accountingmoresoundlyforethnic,
religiousand genderdifferences,
may tellus a greatdeal
about theirattitudestowardnationalism.

The propoundersofIsraeli nationalismin its extreme

form often dismiss universalist attitudes, especially
amongst the youth, as the outgrowthof cheap and
artificial
imitationofcosmopolitantrends(See, Oz, 1983).
A study looking into the attitudes of young, educated
people in termsofwhat seem to be theirgenuineheroes,
may allow us to dismiss that claim. If the hypothesis
stemmingfromour preliminary
and
studyis confirmed,
a large numberofyoungIsraelis is foundto consideras
their heroes universalistnon-conformistsratherthan
nationalmilitarists,thismayimplythatTheodoreHerzl's
The students'heroes are all but unrelatedto Israeli or
universalistversionofJewishnationalismhad a greater
Jewish history.In 53% of the cases none of the three impacton Israelipoliticalculturethaneverbelieved.And
heroes mentionedwere related to Israel or Judaism; in
althoughthe Laponce questionnairehas been designed
87% ofthe cases at least one hero had been "imported" toinvestigatemainlytheattitudesof
students,
university
fromothercultures.
itwould be interestingto adapt it forthe investigationof
less educated youth,forit is our hunch that traditional
Who are the students'heroes? A littleoverhalfofthe
Jewishskepticismtowardsnationaland militaryheroes
has taken strongerhold in Israeli politicalculturethan
respondents(53.4%) had mentionedat least one hero
-e.g. Gandhi,
whocouldbe classifiedas a non-conformist
has the worshipofsuch heroes.
MartinLutherKing or Picasso. (Interestingly,
however,
9

ISRAEL STUDIES

BULLETIN-Spring

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1992

Notes
Adler,Lea and Haim
(1965) Educationfor Values in Schools for Immigrant
Childrenin Israel Jerusalem: School of Education, HebrewUniversity.(In Hebrew).
AndassiYossef
(1991) Who is an Israeli? Rehovot:Kivunim. (In Hebrew).
Elon, Amos
TheIsraelis: Foundersand Sons. London:Penguin.
Hook,Sidney
: A Study in Limationand
(1945) The Hero in History
Possibility.AtlanticHighlands: HumanitiesPress.
Keren,Michael
: Power, Knowl( 1983) Ben-Gurionand theIntellectuals

Israeli

Kreitler,Hans and Shulamit

(1964) The Attitudesof Israeli Youth Toward Social
Ideals". Megamot13. August: 174 - 183. (In Hebrew).
Laponce,Jean A
to a Geogra(1990) The Heroes'Trade:A Contribution
phyofCulture".SocialScienceInformation29.
pp.279 -295.
(1991) "PoliticsBetween the Positiveand the Negative".Social Science Information
30. pp. 257 - 267.
Oz, Amos
(1983) In the Land of Israel. New York: Harcourt,
Brace, Jovanovich.

Case

Study

in

Holocaust:
the

By Aviad
Two recentlypublished novels by young Israeli authors,DoritPeleg'sUna and OmerBartov'sBorderPatrol
(bothby HakibbutzHameuchad, 1988) are the starting
pointofthefollowing
enquiry.Bothcontainlargesections
of
a holocaust Jew, and referonly
the
life
concerning
obliquelyto contemporaryIsraeli society;however,they
will be shown to present curious parallels which may
illuminatemajor processes in Israeli culture's complex
relationto the holocaust, and in particularto the image
of the holocaust Jew. These processes will be further
exploredin conjunctionwith the social constructionof
theholocaustJew's imageunder thestereotypeof"lamb
to theslaughter",vis-a-vistheoppositeconstructionofa
in Israel. I will also
militaristiccollectiveself-identity
discuss howthese twonovelscan be seen as a departure
frompreviousdepictionsofthe holocaust Jew in Israeli
literature.I shall conclude by discussing links between
this developmentand thirdgenerationIsraeli attitudes
towardthe holocaust Jew.
Several reasons exist forselecting these two novels.
corpus of
Theyare thelatestadditionto thefast-growing
"Israeliholocaust literature."Althoughbelongingto differentliterarygenres(Una is a psychological,stream-ofconsciousness. Border Patrol a thriller),both share a
Jewis
parallelnarrativein whicha youngcontemporary
to
the
it
back
drawn
holocaust,
witnessing
mysteriously
anew throughthe eyes of a Jewish person who lived
under Nazi occupation duringWorld War II. The two
authorsshare a highsocio-economicbackground. Both
are Ashkenazi intellectualsworkingin the academy.
Neitherare childrenofholocaust survivors.Theirsocial
even brieflyillustratedas it is, is thus close to
identity,
beingan ideal Sabra (native-born).One ofthem(Bartov)
ISRAEL STUDIES

(1989) The Pen and the Sword: Israeli Intellectuals

and theMakingof theNation-State.Boulder: Westview.

the

Rewriting
An

edge and Charisma.DeKalb: NorthernIllinoisUniversity

Press.

BULLETIN-Spring

E.

Sociology
Raz

of

the

Novel

is a male, the othera female,and theirholocaustJewis

respectivelymale/female.The differencein sex also
presentsitselfin thewriting,but onlyservesto highlight
the parallels I discuss.
Letme now turnto a brieftextualcomparison,starting
withsomewhatsketchydescriptionsofthe plots,which
willthen lead to a moredetailed analysis oftwospecific
episodes. Bartov's narratorand protagonistis a young
Israeli scholar who comes to Germanyin order to do
research concerningsome unknowndetails of the Nazi
regime.Duringhis workin thearchiveshe comes across
a reportwrittenbyan S.S. officer,
commanderofa special
unit("Einsatzkommando")whose functionis to exterminate Jews in conquered areas. The youngresearcheris
consumed by vivid halucinations, which culminatein
and
observingan imaginaryfightbetweentheNazi officer
a Jewishwoodcutter.Peleg'snarratorand protagonist,
in
contrast,is a littlegirl living in a village under Nazi
occupation, watchingeverynight,togetherwithall the
villagers,how her motherfightswitha beautifulPolish
woman. This littlegirlis in factdreamtof by the "real"
protagonist,a grown-upJewishwoman livingin contemporaryNew-York.Both the Jewishwoman in New-York
and theIsraelischolar in Germanyare "dreamingabout"
the holocaust, re-constructingthe "scene ofthe crime,"
and witnessingitthroughthe eyes ofa holocaustJew,to
whomtheyfindthemselvesstrangelyattracted.However,
the reconstruction,
to whichwe now turn,is carriednot
withrespectto pure historicalfact,but accordingto the
desires ofthe literaryimagination.
Focusingon thecharacteroftheholocaustJewthatthe
authors have chosen to reconstruct,I would now like to

1992

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10