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Advanced level – רמה מתקדמת
The Hebrew Gymnasium
The Hebrew Gymnasium was founded in 1909. Its curriculum combined general
knowledge plus Hebrew culture, Jewish history, and knowledge of the land of
Israel. Among the founders were Eliezer ben Yehudah, Yitzhak ben Tzvi and his
wife Rachel Yanait. For many years, the Gymnasium had to fight for its existence.
The Hassidim from within the Yishuv (Jewish settlement community) were
concerned that, for the first time in a Jewish institution, in the Gymnasium boys and
girls studied together. Representatives of Mizrachi (the Religious Zionist
Movement) opposed the Gymnasium because they taught Torah in accord with
scientific Biblical criticism and they weren't strict about the observation of Mitzvot.
The competitors from the Ezra School and the Alliance School worried about
educational competition.
With the outbreak of World War One the Jerusalem Gymnasium closed. After the
war ended, the school was able to reopen its doors in 1919. Ten years later the
Gymnasium moved to a new building in Rechavia. The residents of Rechavia were
considered the social elite of Jerusalem so the Gymnasium enjoyed the status of a
prestigious and exclusive school. Its students came from families with social status.
During the Arab attacks of 1929, the new Gymnasium served as a safe refuge for
the people of the neighborhood. In the War of Independence, Hagana forces used
the Gymnasium's offices and some students fought alongside Hagana fighters.
At the end of the 1960's the Israeli government decided on an educational reform,
the main aspect of which was the establishment of middle schools between
elementary school and high school. The reform took as its guiding principle the
integration of students from all population strata. The Gymnasium was one of the
first schools to begin the process and wrote new programs which became models for
similar processes in other schools.
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