The Struggle Over Education in the Yishuv: Rav Kook and the Herzliya Gymnasium

Abstract

Abstract The following discussion seeks to clarify the attitude of Rav Kook, the chief rabbi of Jaffa and one of the most important moral figures in the Jewish community, regarding the founding and early development of the Herzliya Gymnasium in 1905, the world’s first secondary school to employ Hebrew as its language of instruction. The Gymnasium was criticized for two reasons: the way of life it promoted, which ran counter to the spirit of the Halacha (Jewish law), and its method of teaching Bible studies. Despite his opposition to the worldview of the founders and teachers of the Gymnasium, Kook refrained from speaking out against them publicly, preferring a less confrontational approach. He also wholeheartedly believed that they contained a degree of inner goodness that would cause them to return to what he regarded as the righteous path. Moreover, he was convinced that so long as he was unable to offer the public an alternative religious institution, one that would provide the same level of general studies as the Gymnasium, embarking on a public campaign against it was ill-advised. In his view, the situation also had a positive side: the existence of the Gymnasium provided an incentive for Jewish religious educational institutions to raise their own academic levels in order to compete. Had the Gymnasium not had something positive to offer, it would not have posed a threat at all.