For the sake of Elyakim Liebman, may God avenge his blood: The Jewish education revolution must begin
Avi Maoz argues that the left's reaction to dancing with a Torah scroll at the Nova festival does not stem from hatred but from Jewish ignorance, created by the neglect of Jewish education in the state school system. He presents five practical steps for change and criticizes the government for not giving Jewish identity a true home in the Ministry of Education.
Avi Maoz, a member of the Noam party, writes about the left's reaction to dancing with a Torah scroll at the Nova compound on Hoshana Rabbah night, the third anniversary of the massacre. He argues that the reaction, which called it "desecration of the fallen," stems not from hatred but from ignorance: children raised in the state education system do not recognize the Torah scroll as their heritage, but as a symbol of the religious camp. Maoz accuses the right itself of neglecting Jewish education for the majority of Israel's children, while building separate institutions for its own sector. He cites data from the Knesset Research and Information Center, according to which Jewish-Israeli culture receives at most five weekly hours in elementary school and an additional five hours in middle school, with the subject defined as mandatory but not enforced in practice. Maoz offers five practical steps: a single address with authority over curricula, an unequivocal status for the subject, a national heritage index, a dedicated teacher training track, and transparency on external programs. He emphasizes that this is education for identity, not religious coercion, and concludes with the story of Elyakim Liebman, the son of his friend, who fell at Nova after treating the wounded.