The study of Hebrew Bible in Israel – between love and knowledge

Abstract

The Bible and its study was central to the growth of Jewish nationalism and a Jewish national spirit from the nineteenth century, but especially in the new settlement in the Land of Israel, where knowledge of the Bible became integral to Jewish identity and its formation. The purported ability of Bible study to create identity achieved mythical proportions, and students were even expected to love the subject. But they did not, nor do they today, and as seen here, educators lamented, and still lament, this predicament. They seem to be ignoring that the real issue is not “love,” but teaching the Bible’s intrinsic worth.