THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
WZO Leaders Plan World Education Change
By BARBIE
ZELIZER-MEYOUHAS
JERUSALEM (JTA) — "I
don't believe in educational
revolutions. There's no need
to alter our methods. Some-
times, it takes a while for
them to bear fruit, but they
eventually do," says Dr.
Eliyahu Tavin, the new
chairman of the World
Zionist Organization's Edu-
cation Department, who
completed a three-week
tour of the U.S. and Mexico.
The 57-year-old Herut
loyalist is one of the new
men on the Zionist Execu-
tive. Born in the Ukraine,
he immigrated to Palestine
as a child, later serving as a
member of the Irgun com-
mand here and setting up
the Irgun network in the
Diaspora.
In later years, he served
as a representative to the
Vaad Hapoel Hatzioni, as a
member of the WZO's fi-
nance committee, and, most
recently, as the active
Herut representative on the
Broadcasting Authority's
Board of Governors for the
past six years, where he
supervised the Authority's
overseas broadcasting net-
work.
The zeal and vigor with
which Tavin's name- be-
came associated in Israel
during his years at the
Broadcasting Authority
— he often publicly be-
rated it for screening "in-
13,800 Attend
Israeli College
JERUSALEM — Thg
1978-79 academic year
opened at the Hebrew Uni-
versity of Jerusalem with
an enrollment of some
13,800 students. More than
one-third of these are study-
ing for advanced degrees.
The limiting factor in stu-
dent enrollment is the high
cost of housing in
Jerusalem.
Special programs for
overseas students have
brought nearly 1,000 young
men and women from 42
countries to the Univer-
sity's' School for Overseas
Students this year. Not in-
cluded in the total are 900
summer students from
abroad.
Galilee Marathon
TIBERIAS, Israel —
Thousands of joggers from
Israel and around the world
are expected to participate
in the marathon around the
shores of Israel's Sea of
Galilee Dec. 30.
This year's marathon will
be the Second Sea of Galilee
International Marathon. It
incorporates the Israel
"Open" Championships and
is under the auspices of the
Sports Federation of Israel.
The course is 42,195
meters (almost 26 miles) on
asphalt roads and is almost
entirely flat. The final five
miles are downhill.
A real human heart with
divine love in it beats with
the same glow under all the
patterns of all the earth's
tribes.
— Oliver Wendell Holmes
appropriate material"
and using broadcasters
with "leftist sympathies"
— is demonstrated in his
new post.
"We must stress Zionist
education," he declares fer-
vently. "The tone sets the
music. I am very much
aware of the toll - asgfinila-
tion and non-Zionist educa-
tion is taking on Jewish
youth abroad. Thus, most of
my work will be field ac-
tivity in the Diaspora it-
self."
Under Tavin's leader-
ship, and that of his chief
subordinate, director
Michael Kleiner, efforts in
the WZO's Education De-
partment will be directed
toward giving new momen-
tum to Jewish education in
different communities
throughout the world. Un-
like previous programs in
the department, all educa-
tional material will be
finalized in accordance with
the direct involvement and
guidance of educators from
the target community and
will be directly suited to the
needs of that community.
This was seen in the de-
partment's recent negotia-
tions with the American
Conservative movement to
jointly build an educational
program for the 53 Solomon
Schechter schools in the
U.S. The department has
also initialed contacts with
the Reform community, but
leaves Orthodox Jewry to
the WZO's Torah Education
Department. Tavin noted
that he would like to see the
two departments merged
into one, if the political
situation permitted such a
move.
Tavin also hopes to in-
crease Jewish education
in communities in
"spiritual distress" all
over the world, and not
just those in Latin
America, as he feels was
done by his predecessors.
He cites many European
communities as exam-
ples, notably those in
France, "where only four
percent of all Jewish
youth receive a Jewish
education."
The department also in-
tends to turn its efforts to
Jewish communities in Iran
and Spain.
To assist these com-
munities, Tavin has tenta-
tively proposed a number of
programs through which he
plans "to combat growing
assimilation, prepare Dias-
pora youth_ for eventual
aliya and emphasize Israel's
centrality in Jewish educa-
tion abroad."
The WZO's Education
Department, the Jewish
Agency and the Israeli
Ministry of Education are
presently considering es-
tablishing a supreme coun-
cil for education in the
Diaspora, which would
oversee and organize every
education-oriented activity
abroad.
Such activities would in-
clude sending groups of
Diaspora teachers to Israel
to receive educational train-
ing, increasing the number
of Hebrew-language ulpans
abroad, bettering educa-
tional training abroad, cen-
tering educational efforts
on children of former Is-
raelis, and bringing
homogeneous groups of
Diaspora youth to Israel to
learn for a limited time
period.
The WZO has also
reached a major agree-
ment with the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem
to establish a pedagogic
center to prepare educa-
tional and teaching
materials for use in the
Diaspora. "We hope to
utilize educators in the
Diaspora to test the
materials at pilot schools
set up in accordance with
the center's guidance,"
says Tavin.
"We also want to raise the
standards and thus gain Is-
raeli and American aca-
demic accreditation for the
Greenberg Teachers Insti-
tute in Jerusalem, with the
hopes that this will increase
the number of potential He-
brew teachers in the Dias-
pora coming to Israel for
their teaching accredita-
tion." -
The new department
chairman also contends
that parents abroad are not
involved enough in their
children's Jewish education
and he would like to extend
the Jewish educational
framework available in the
Friday, December 15, 1918 7
r
Diaspora at present. This
would include the estab-
lishment of both Jewish
youth clubs to be operated
in the after-school haurs for
children who do not attend
Jewish schools, and- the
opening of an extensive
network of adult education
courses, whose content
would approximate the sub-
jects taught to children.
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