ISRAEL: Educators use comics to bust Bible blues
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In an attempt to make Bible studies more appealing to Israeli students, a new textbook will be tested during the next school year. The text teaching the books of Samuel (Shmuel) and Kings (Melachim) to fifth-graders in non-religious public schools will incorporate catchy comics to illustrate each chapter and chart the plot for children who are becoming less proficient in reading biblical texts, much less understanding them.
The Center for Educational Technology, (CET) the largest publisher of textbooks for all streams of the education system, has launched this initiative to make this core-syllabus component more accessible to Israeli children.
The words are actually far less remote from modern Hebrew than one might expect. But tenses can be confusing, along with vowel markings and syntax, for children (and parents) struggling with the language. A decline in reading has eroded general language skills, widening the gap between instant-messaging abbreviations and biblical phrases. Secularization also has had an effect on the language. Fewer Israelis recognize biblical references and phrases that still adorn modern Hebrew, and adults’ package-deal approach to religion and politics in Israel probably hasn’t helped.
Teachers and education planners acknowledge that the Bible has gone from being the book of books to an unpopular and poorly understood classroom subject. ‘The Bible has gone from being the first Hebrew text to a ‘foreign language’ that distances children from the text,’ says CET’s June newsletter. It says that as far as young pupils are concerned, the stories might as well be describing ‘life on another planet.’
Somewhat apologetically, the publisher asks, ‘Do we really need to make the Bible more clip-like and trendy?! And must we fight for its ratings?’
Their answer is clear: ‘YES.’
Defending the decision, the publisher explains that comics have long since moved from the funnies-fringe into the mainstream as an educational tool and a means of dealing with diverse social and historical issues, such as Art Spiegelman‘s Maus.
The polemic on Bible instruction (Tanach, really. Tanach is the Hebrew acronym for the three components of Scripture: Torah, Prophets and Writings.) questions the purpose and whether this should be an identity-shaping experience or merely required curricular proficiency. Either way, it’s not quite working. Elementary school pupils enjoy the lessons, which typically begin in second grade, but lose interest in the subject somewhere along the way to their high school final, considered by many students (and some teachers) to be unnecessary, technical and — worst of all — utterly boring. The average score is 72.5.
Anat Gov, an Israeli playwright long out of school, came across a question in the high school final exam last year: ‘Explain the etiological basis of chapter 11 in Genesis.’ She found that the chapter contains the very cool and ‘expressly unboring’ story of the Tower of Babel.
‘Etiological?! What’s that word even doing here?’ she asked in exasperation. ‘Instead of focusing on the story and its meaning, you give them ‘etiological?’ This is how you’re going to make them like Tanach?!’
— Batsheva Sobelman, in Jerusalem
The cover of new sample textbook from the online catalogue of the Center for Educational Technology. The banner reads ‘David King of Judea (Judah), welcome home!’ The child on the left asks, ‘Can I get in?’ The tough-looking bouncer replies, ‘Sorry, entrance for members of the Tribe of Judah only.’
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