Israel joins EUSTORY Network
We welcome Israel as the 24th member of our EUSTORY Network. The first Israeli History Competition was inaugurated in October 2013. The topic of the first competition round is "Attitudes Toward the Other as Reflected in History". The award ceremony will be held on 26 June 2014. The competition follows the model of EUSTORY. We are happy to have helped the competition start off by giving methodological and structural assistance.
By including the Israeli competition in its network, EUSTORY intends to give new impetus to the European-Israeli dialogue and also takes into consideration the special historical meaning of the relationship between Europe and Israel. We are looking forward to strengthening this bridge to the Middle East.
The Israeli history competition is initiated and organised by The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History in Jerusalem. The center was established in 1973 by the Historical Society of Israel with the assistance of the government of Israel, in honor of Zalman Shazar, the third president of the State of Israel. The center is a bridge between the work of professional historians and the general public. CEO of the center is Mr. Zvi Yekutiel.
Shamir Yeger of the Zalman Shazar Center is one of the founders and the organiser of the competition. He has this to say about the new competition:
"It’s no longer just the Eurovision song contest and soccer. Now young Israeli historians are also joining their colleagues in Europe!
This academic year (2013–2014) inaugurates the first Israeli Young Historians Competition. Initiated and organised by The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, this competition aims to enable Israeli youth to integrate in-depth historical research with the latest developments in the European scene.
In addition to strengthening thinking skills and high level critical analysis, this initiative will serve as a catalyst for young people to engage in historical, social, and ethical issues and encourage them to act as agents of social change in their immediate environment. Moreover, relying on experience gathered from similar projects around the world, it is quite possible that some of the participants will chose to continue on this academic path in the future, making them a kind of research reserves in the fields of general and Jewish history.
The topic for each year will be announced by the academic steering committee overseeing the competition. The committee is headed by Prof. Eli Lederhendler, head of the School of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and includes other academics, as well as teachers and representatives from the Ministry of Education. This topic chosen by the committee for the inaugural competition is: Attitudes toward the Other as Reflected in History. This subject allows students to chose a period or geographic region according to their area of interest, provided that within the framework of their research they examine various definitions and viewpoints of “the other,” such as, minority, gender, origin, and adversary.
The competition is open to students in middle schools and high schools throughout the country (aged 12 to 18), who will compete in three separate age categories. One of the goals of the project is to enrich the “toolbox” of teachers who teach or aspire to teach according to the principles of research methods. To this end, teachers who are supervising their students during the writing process will meet for a series of workshops over the course of the year and will in turn work closely with the project’s staff throughout all the stages of the competition.
Collaboration with the European network EUSTORY is central to this competition, and enables participating students and their teachers to be exposed to what is happening in the international arena and broaden their perspective.