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This chapter presents the field of Israel education as a rich field of educational practice that has lost its sense of direction. In many ways, Israel education is a field that is being dominated by practitioners while the theoretical discussion lags way behind. The chapter begins by demonstrating why the lack of theoretical discussion in the field is a problem. Second, and perhaps most crucially, the chapter argues that the difficulties in theorizing Israel education are not the same as the conventional difficulties often encountered in education. The primary issues in this field of education are not connected to problems of teaching and pedagogy. A great deal of current research emphasizes the phenomenon of "distancing" between the Jewish youth of the Diaspora and Israel. Again, this chapter maintains that the problem is not pedagogical. The fundamental concern of Israel education, so this paper argues, is the meaning of Israel itself. Israel is a complex and ambiguous symbol in contemporary Jewish life and clarifying its meaning – in a context in which both the reality and the symbol are very present – is essential to clarity in educational practice. The chapter suggests that the confusion that surrounds Israel is connected to the disillusionment with ideology in contemporary culture. Israel is a product of an ideology. "Israel education" was neither ambiguous nor confused when classical Zionist ideology was around to make sense of it. Israel education, like the State of Israel itself, is in need of an ideological context in which to define its continued purpose in the future. Before proposing an ideological context for the present, the chapter presents a taxonomy of practices in Israel education analyzing the purposes of each model in terms of its attitude to the ideological problem defined above. Here six models are presented and described theoretically. Following upon the taxonomy the chapter proposes that a complex and rich understanding of "peace" – and of Israel as a vehicle for bringing peace to the Middle East and to the world – as a Jewish vision that was indeed an albeit suppressed but essential component of early Zionist thought might provide an ideological context for a re-engagement with Israel in contemporary Jewish education.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-0354-4_28

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