JERUSALEM — While thousands of tourists flock from afar in pilgrimage to Jerusalem every year, many young Israelis have never even set foot in their country’s capital.
In fact, according to Stephan Miller, an aide to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, only half of recent Israeli high school graduates have ever visited the holy city.
Barkat, Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Shimshon Shoshani, director general of the Ministry of Education, are passionate about changing this situation.
“It is an alarming statistic and a significant problem that not all Israeli students visit Jerusalem,” Miller said. “Jerusalem is the capital not only of our country, but of our homeland. Mayor Barkat [along with Sa’ar and Shoshani] have acknowledged that all Israelis need to experience the city and forge a personal connection to it.”
Their joint response is an educational initiative dubbed “Bring All Israeli Students to Jerusalem.”
The program aims to bring every Israeli student to Jerusalem at least twice during the course of their studies – once in middle school and once in high school – for day-long tours that will include visits to government buildings, historic sites such as Ammunition Hill and Yad Vashem, Jewish spiritual sites such as the Western Wall and the City of David, as well as contemporary sites such as the city centre, the Mahane Yehuda market, museums and other cultural institutions.
“Mayor Barkat is moving forward aggressively with plans,” said Miller, who explained that a steering-committee with members from the Jerusalem municipality and the Ministry of Education has been established to design the program and liaise with schools.
“Not only does he want to bring all Israeli students to Jerusalem, he wants the quality of their Jerusalem experience to be very high. This is a group effort.”
Barkat, a longtime proponent of Jerusalem’s economic growth, is also dedicated to education in and around the city. Prior to becoming mayor last November, the former opposition leader on city council founded Snuneet, the largest educational website in Hebrew, as well as New Spirit, an organization that aims to deepen the connections young people have to Jerusalem so that they’ll remain to build their adult lives there.
“It is imperative that all students throughout Israel come to experience Jerusalem,” said Barkat, who has retained the municipal education portfolio for himself.
“We intend to offer students a tour-style journey through the past, present, and future of Jerusalem. Students will be able to experience the city on many levels and create a direct connection between them and our eternal capital.”