An article published in Ha'aretz discussed the various
academic studies available at Israeli universities. The
universities are up in arms at Ha'aretz's approach to
this topic: "You can't talk about more or less important
subjects, since all study groups are meant for research and
the acquisition of profound knowledge."
The paper points out that like the capital and fashion
markets, the field of academic university studies is also
influenced by international fashions and trends. The
popularity of academic study groups fluctuates in accordance
with the needs and moods of the time. "Twenty years ago we
did not have a study group for the Chinese language and
culture," says Professor Dan Lior, Dean of the Faculty of
Humanities at Tel Aviv University. "Nowadays there is also
quite a big demand for Indian studies. The demand stems from
the local phenomenon of youngsters traveling to the East and
the consequent exposure to these cultures and curiosity about
them. These studies are actually a continuation of the `Great
Eastern Tours' and the study group for Asian studies is one
of our three biggest study groups. This comes as something of
a surprise to the outsider."
The paper also mentions a list of study groups, some of which
are attended by a small amount of students, and which only
take place for the sake of "academic research." These include
those on "The ancient East and its languages," "Italian
language and literature," "Indian and Armenian studies," and
so on. These statistics are preceded by the headline: "A
Lecturer for Every Student."
The university points out that studies for Tanach and
Talmud are suffering from a lack of interest and
demand.
As far as we are concerned, this fact should not be a source
of disappointment. Although this trend testifies to the
alienation between Israeli students and youngsters and their
foundations, anyone who knows about the distorted and
heretical attitude prevalent in limudei kodesh
subjects in universities can confirm that it would preferable
if these study groups were closed altogether.
Suffice it to quote Professor Lior, who praises Ben- Gurion
for having created a "connection with the Tanach." We
can imagine what these studies consist of. The professor, who
spoke about the big demand for Indian studies, contrasts this
with the small amount of students participating in studies
dealing with "Israeli and Jewish subjects" as he puts it.
We can see an opposite trend when it comes to subjects such
as Bible Studies, which used to have a full-size, flourishing
study group, which today is much smaller. "About 20 or 30
years ago these subjects took up a prominent place in the
Israeli consciousness. During Ben-Gurion's period and
afterwards there was a stress on our connection to the Bible
and it was at the center of Israeli discourse. This
connection manifested itself in the Bible Quiz and the
popularity of Bible Studies and Tanach studies in
schools and universities. Nowadays there has been a dramatic
decline in their status and these groups have become much
smaller. This transformation is due to changes taking place
in post- modern Israeli society, which have pushed these
subjects into the sidelines of academic interest."
Professor Lior adds: "Linguistics, history and Bible studies
will always remain academic subjects, but there is no doubt
that a correlation exists between the extent to which these
subjects interest the public at large and their prominence in
academic circles. We should note the fluctuations in the
popularity of these study groups. There are 14 undergraduate
Talmud students in Tel Aviv University and 18 post-
graduate students. Some people would say that we should give
up. Our attitude is that a university should not act in
accordance with the laws of supply and demand." Incidentally,
Ha'aretz points out, "Surprisingly, in Bar-Ilan
University too there are not many students studying these
subjects."
Professor Lior explains that any university "with a
conscience and values" remains faithful to areas which do not
enjoy great popularity, but which it feels are important for
whatever reason. "In our opinion, it is out of the question
that there should be any university in the State of Israel
with a sense of responsibility towards Israeli and Jewish
culture which does not have some sort of organized framework
for Talmudic studies. We feel obliged to offer these
studies even if there are only 30 students. The same applies
to Semitic linguistic studies, which are a subdivision of the
Hebrew study group. Even though this study group only has
about ten students, we live in the Semitic region and we
consider it important to teach our students languages such as
ancient Accadian and Syrian and the whole legacy of Semitic
languages as an integral part of the cultural legacy of the
civilization of the area we live in. We invest a lot of
energy into this study group, since we do not have a lot of
teachers who deal in the subject. The university's conscience
obliges us to teach Semitic languages and offer a study group
for ancient cultures such as Greece and Rome, in which only a
small amount of students take part."
These statements speak for themselves. If Tanach and
Talmud are compared to Semitic linguistic studies and
the study of ancient cultures such as Greece and Rome, and if
the study of Jewish sources is considered as "an integral
part of the cultural legacy of the civilization of the area
we live in" it is little wonder that the spirit of these
studies is dominated by a distorted and heretical
attitude.
