6 Sa’ar slams Piron for canceling Meitzav examhcc.haifa.ac.il/images/1508JDN06.pdfaccused Piron of...

An Israeli plumbing anddrainage firm based in anUpper Galilee kibbutz hassigned contracts in six Euro-pean countries to install itsenvironmentally friendlysewage and wastewater pipes,the firm announced thisweek.

The company, Huliot ofKibbutz Sde Nehemia, hasbegun marketing a type ofpipe that is a first for theEuropean sewage industry –an acoustic insulated pipemade from a unique plasticcompound that does not pol-lute the environment,according to the firm. Offi-cially recognized as an envi-ronmentally friendly prod-uct, the pipes recently

received a green stamp ofapproval from the Israel Stan-dards Institute.

The pipes operate particu-larly quietly and are meant toreplace lead pipes in theground that lack insulation,the company explained.

In addition to signing thesix contracts in Europe,Huliot is currently holdingdiscussions with a number oflarge construction companiesin Israel seeking to purchasethe equipment as part greenconstruction projects, thecompany said.

Israeli building firms havebecome increasingly eager tomake use of such products intheir projects “in order to getextra coveted points to bedefined as ‘green building,’”explained Ariel Apeloig, vice

president for marketing atHuliot.

The reduced amount ofnoise of downward tricklingwastewater associated withthe new pipes will be particu-larly key to building resi-dents, Apeloig stressed.

“We are very familiar withtenants living in apartmentswhere the sewage pipe goesthrough the living room andsometimes even through thebedroom,” Apeloig said. “Thetenants suffer serious distressas a result of this. Theacoustic pipes blend with theenvironment and reduce thenoise completely.”

Huliot expects that thesepipes will quickly gainmomentum with developersand building contractors inIsrael, who risk facing law-

suits when apartment ownersdiscover that the building’swaste pipe passes throughtheir apartment, the compa-ny said. Even more impor-tantly, however, the pipescan help “increase the scopeof green building in Israel,”the firm stressed.

All in all, the Israeli plasticplumbing industry turns overan estimated NIS 500 millionannually, and within thatsum the sewage pipe marketis estimated to bring aboutNIS 130m., according to theTel Aviv and Central IsraelChamber of Commerce.

The entire Israeli plumbingand infrastructure marketturns over a sum of approxi-mately NIS 3 billion eachyear, the Chamber of Com-merce said.

Jay Ruderman has observed foryears that when American Jew-ish leaders visit Israel or whenIsraeli leaders visit the UnitedStates, the conversation is“always about Israel” and howthe Jewish state relates to Iran,Syria, the Palestinians and oth-ers.

“What’s happening in theAmerican Jewish community?”and how those events impactfuture support for Israel neverseem to enter the conversation,

according to Ruderman, whoworked for the American IsraelPublic Affairs Committee inboth New England andJerusalem, and is now presi-dent of the Ruderman FamilyFoundation.

The foundation, which prior-itizes Israel-Diaspora relations,has already tackled this issue bysponsoring US trips for two del-egations of Israeli Knessetmembers and launching a cau-cus designed to improve theMKs’ understanding of theAmerican Jewish community.

Now the foundation is fur-

ther addressing knowledgegaps in the next generation ofIsraeli leaders through its fund-ing of the new Ruderman Pro-gram for American Jewish Stud-ies at the University of Haifa.The formation of the program,which will be the first of itskind in Israel, was revealedexclusively to JNS.

“Israeli universities have allsorts of programs studyingAsia, Africa and the Arab world,but no one is studying theAmerican Jewish community,which is probably the mostimportant community affect-

ing the future of Israel,” Ruder-man told JNS. “The idea is thatover the course of time youhave a cadre of Israelis who’vegotten a master’s in the Ameri-can Jewish community, andthat they will help Israel shapethis relationship.”

Headquartered in Israel andBoston – which has a sister-citypartnership with Haifa – theRuderman Foundation madean initial $1 million contribu-tion to the new program, anamount that was matched bythe university. Starting this falla class of 21 graduate students

will embark on the one-year,seven-course program, whichwill survey Jewish-Americanimmigration history, modernforeign policy and governmen-tal structures, as well as genderissues and the religious makeupof US Jewish communities.

“The key to understandingAmerican Jewry is first tounderstand American society,”Prof. Gur Alroey, chairman ofthe School of History at theUniversity of Haifa and directorof the new program, told JNS.

A highlight of the curriculumwill be a 10-day trip to the US.Students will attend lectures,tour Ellis Island and explorethe Tenement Museum inlower Manhattan. The groupalso will visit Philadelphia’sNational Museum of AmericanJewish History, which houses acomprehensive exhibit detail-ing Jewish immigration toAmerica from colonial timesthrough the present.

“The trip will be the equiva-lent of Birthright for Israelis,only the experience will be aca-demic rather than primarilycultural,” said Alroey, whospent two years lecturing in theUS at both New York Universi-ty and Rutgers University.

Prof. Hasia Diner – a scholarin American Jewish history atNYU who next summer in NewYork will teach a 10-day courseon the American Jewish pastand present for students of thenew Ruderman program – toldJNS she was “very impressed”with Alroey’s scholarship overthe years.

“I consider his move to createthis program a brilliant aca-demic intervention and lookforward to working with him,”Diner said.

During his stay in the US,Alroey became increasinglyaware of the attitudes com-monly shown by Israelistoward their most importantally.“The reality is that our treat-ment of the Jewish Americancommunity in Israel has beensuperficial at best,” he said.“How can it be that numerousprograms exist at Israeli univer-sities for Asian, African andEuropean studies, yet there isnot a single program dedicatedto the study of the American

Jewish Community?”Ruderman, who has lived in

Israel since 2005, said thatwhile American Jews “probablylook at themselves as bothAmerican and Jewish,” Israelismay look at them and say,“Well, their real identity is Jew-ish, and they should be livingin Israel, but because it’s morecomfortable, or for whateverreason, they’re in America.”

That is “not a correct andhonest way” to look at Ameri-can Jews, he said.

For the most part, “Israelisand Israeli scholars know littleabout American Jewry,” NYU’sDiner said. “Historically, theyhave expected the Jews of theUnited States to providemoney and political support,particularly vis-a-vis the USgovernment, but have no ideaas to how Jews in the UnitedStates have gone about theprocess of both integrating intoAmerican life and buildingtheir own communities. Theydo not understand the ways inwhich living in this particularmulti-religious, multi-ethnicsociety has shaped Jewishoptions and expectations, andhow those changed over time.”

Amos Shapira, president ofthe University of Haifa, said hesaw the university “first andforemost as a center forresearch and advanced instruc-tion in critical fields, but also asa tool for strengthening theJewish state.”

“One of the primary strategicissues in Israel is the connec-tion with the United States,and throughout the past threedecades I believe this bond hasweakened,” Shapira told JNS.“The program initiated by Prof.Alroey will create a new gener-ation of educated and engagedcitizens who share a deeperunderstanding of the Americanrelationship.”

A cornerstone of the pro-gram will be the initiative toconduct new research on Jew-ish-American topics. Each yearstudents will assist in translat-ing one important Americantext into Hebrew. Additionally,guest professors from the USand officials involved withpolitical, social and religiousaspects of Israeli-Americanrelations will be invited to

share their perspectives.Course offerings will include:

American Jews and the Ameri-can Political System; AmericanJews: From Melting Pot toMinority Group; The AmericanZionist Leadership: Jewish Cul-ture in America; AmericanJewry and the Jewish World;Immigrants, Revolutionaries,Intellectuals; American Jewrybetween Culture and Politics;and New York–Tel Aviv: AComparative Study of EastEuropean Immigrant Societies.

The immediate goals of theprogram are exploratory, butlong-term expectations of grad-uates are high.

“Today’s students are tomor-row’s teachers, activists andKnesset members. We hopestudents will use what theylearn to prompt a larger dia-logue among Israelis and toinspire improved US-Israel rela-tions,” Shapira said.

Ruderman, meanwhile, looksforward to an improved dis-course among Israelis regardingthe American Jewish commu-nity.

Before, he was accustomed tohearing American Jewish lead-ers “whisper to me or to them-selves on the side that, ‘Hey, Ijust talked to the [Israeli] for-eign ministry and they don’tunderstand what’s going onwith us,’ or ‘I went to the Knes-set and they didn’t know thedifference between AIPAC andADL.’”

As a result of the program,however, he hopes AmericanJewish leaders will witness achange in Israeli attitudes andbe able to say, “Hey, Israel haswoken up, they get it. They’repeople who really get this issue[of the American Jewish com-munity].”

Ruderman added that the ini-tial $2m. combined investmentfrom the foundation and theuniversity was expected to sus-tain the program for five years.

(JNS)

Interior Minister GideonSa’ar blasted Education Min-ister Shai Piron on Wednes-day for earlier this week can-celing the Meitzav standard-ized exams.

“I am of the opinion thatwhatever is not measuredcannot be managed,” Sa’ar,who was education ministerin the last government, toldArmy Radio.

The interior ministeraccused Piron of takinglearning and hard work andbringing “butterflies and

fairy tales” instead, whichwill not bring progress.

“When we decide to cancelnationwide standardizedtests that serve as the basisfor the education system’sdata and are used to improveschools, we are replacing aculture of measurement withone of pretending,” headded.

On Monday, the EducationMinistry announced thatthere will be no externalMeitzav achievement examsin the coming school year.Instead, a committee ofsuperintendents, principals

and teachers will work on analternative to the tests.

The results of externalMeitzav exams are reportedto the Education Ministryand are usual given everytwo years, while internalMeitzav test are for individ-ual schools to use. TheMeitzav achievement exam,which is used to evaluateschools, was administered tofifth- and eighth-graders atschools around the country,testing language, math andscience skills.

According to Sa’ar, “nomethod has been invented to

replace testing knowledgewith exams. Even if they’releaving the internal Meitzavand only getting rid of theexternal one, they’re cancel-ing the basis that can be usedto shrink gaps and increaseachievements. These examsdon’t give grades to students;they test the system andallow us to find strengthsand weaknesses.”

The interior ministeraccused Piron of populismsaying that people like theidea of canceling tests.

“It’s more comfortable, butit’s wrong,” Sa’ar stated. “He

decided to bury his head inthe sand, which can cut offimprovements in the educa-tion system that we saw ininternational exams, [educa-tional] Olympics and similarcompetitions. There was anincrease in achievements.”

Sa’ar explained that he ispublicly criticizing Pironbecause he cares about edu-cation.

“I respect the current edu-cation minister, and it isimportant that he believesin what he’s doing, but Ithink his methods are mis-taken and dangerous,” he

concluded.Piron responded to Sa’ar

later on Wednesday in aninterview with Channel 2News saying that the later“contributed a lot to Israelieducation, but I’m the educa-tion minister now, and Ihave my own stances.”

The Education Ministrysaid he was not canceling theMeitzav, but “freezing” it.

“We’ll know what’s hap-pening in every school,”Piron stated. “I’m not againstmeasurements. What I’magainst is the superficial cul-ture of ‘A Star is Born.’”

NEWS6 T H U R S D AY, A U G U S T 1 5 , 2 0 1 3 T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

Sa’ar slams Piron for canceling Meitzav exam Interior minister says new policy is one of ‘burying our heads in the sand’

• Education Ministry says it is only ‘freezing’ standardized acheivement test• BY LAHAV HARKOV

GIDEON SA’AR(Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)

University of Haifa and Ruderman Foundation launch pioneering ‘American Jewish studies’ program

• By JEFFREY F. BARKEN

and JACOB KAMARAS

Israeli firm brings green sewage pipesto six European countries

• By SHARON UDASIN

8 T H - A N D 2 N D - C E N T U RY B C E F I N D SAT A S H D O D P O RT

This three-dimensional representation shows the remains of a second-century BCEHellensitic-period building recently found in the Philistine port city of Ashdod. Archeologistsalso uncovered a fortification system from the 8th century BCE, as well as coins and weightsfrom the Hellenistic period. The first excavation season by Tel Aviv University’s ArcheologyInstitute recently finished. Led by Dr. Alexander Fantalkin, these findings from the Assyrian

occupation era are the first relics to be excavated at Ashdod-Yam since a few trial digs in thelate 1960s. (Text: Sharon Udasin; Photo: Philipp Spierstein)

JAY RUDERMAN(Ruderman Fam Foundation)

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