At the Bikat Kinneret School at Kibbutz Beit Zera in the
Jordan Valley, school officials have been wavering for the
past two months over whether to accommodate a request by
parents from Tiveriya to put mezuzas on classroom
doorways. Reporter Dani Brenner writes that the school was
founded by the (strongly anti-religious) Hashomer Hatzair
Movement and is owned by Kibbutz Beit Zera and Kibbutz
Sha'ar Hagolan.
Since the school's founding 52 years ago, mezuzas
have yet to be affixed to classroom doorways. As long as
the majority of students came from Jordan Valley kibbutzim,
no one was perturbed by the absence of mezuzas. But
due to the demographic crisis on the kibbutzim, as the
number of kibbutz children continued to decrease, the school
was compelled to open its doors to area residents, some of
whom are shomrei masoret.
Currently fewer than 100 of the 380 students at the school
come from kibbutzim. Most of the students live in Tiveriya
or the Golan Heights and belong to the Na'ale youth movement
for immigrants from the former Soviet Union or to Aliyat
Hanoar. Some of the parents of these students want
mezuzas in classroom doorways, and now a sharp debate
is being waged at the school.
One teacher, a member of Kibbutz Beit Zera, says, "The
mezuza has been a symbol of the Jewish home for
generation after generation, and I think that the wishes of
those who feel strongly in favor of mezuzas should be
respected."
Meanwhile, other teachers maintain, "Those who come to our
school for an education are supposed to take into account
that this is a secular school."
Either way, the principal said a meeting would be held in
the coming weeks to address the issue and the school council
would make a final decision in the matter at its meeting at
the end of the month. Those who have already eulogized the
kibbutz movement can take heart in the fact that there are
still people who are willing to dedicate themselves to a
battle against fixing mezuzas in a kibbutz school.
