The Knesset’s Subcommittee for Jewish Thought in the Education System, chaired by Likud MK Galit Distel-Atbaryan, held a meeting last week about how to introduce content with Jewish identity in Israel’s state schools. Israeli actor and musician Aviv Alush, who has a secular background but grew close to Yiddishkeit in recent years,  participated in the discussion and spoke about the importance of teaching Tanach to Israeli students. “When you see what’s going on here, you wonder to yourself, where was this [teaching Tanach] all this time? There are 16-year-olds here who have no idea who Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov are!” “This is indescribably sad, that we don’t know our own story. What’s the name Yisrael? We’re so proud that we live in Yisrael. What does the name Yisrael mean!? It’s the name Yaakov Avinu received after he went through much suffering – to become Am Yisrael.” “There’s a demand here. People are thirsty to know: ‘Who am I? What am I doing here? Why did I come back to this country? How did I return to this country after 2,000 years? How was it even possible? All the other ancient civilizations died out and we’re still here! With the same tzitzit. With the same tefillin. How? Because were’re Israelis? No, because we’re Jews!” “We have a beautiful and common denominator and it’s stronger than anything else.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)