One of my math students made Aliya only a few months ago.
As she was solving a math riddle, the clues spelt out a phrase which I informed her comes from Pirkei Avot.
"Wow!" she exclaimed, "Is this book Jewish?"
We old-timers take it for granted that a"secular" math text book in Israel doesn't only teach math. It teaches Gematriya, it teaches that 14 and 15 are written with the letter ט, not י, in order to avoid writing Gd's name. It talks about Jewish holidays and Shiv'at HaMinim, the characters are named "Mishpahat Cohen" and "Mishpahat Levi," and it has quotes from Pirkei Avot as the solutions to riddles.
We old-timers take it for granted that a"secular" math text book in Israel doesn't only teach math. It teaches Gematriya, it teaches that 14 and 15 are written with the letter ט, not י, in order to avoid writing Gd's name. It talks about Jewish holidays and Shiv'at HaMinim, the characters are named "Mishpahat Cohen" and "Mishpahat Levi," and it has quotes from Pirkei Avot as the solutions to riddles.
But, to a new Oleh, the idea that EVERYTHING in Israel is not only in Hebrew, but actually connected to our religion, is truly awesome.
And, if we think about it, it really IS awesome.
A people that, more than once, has almost been completely wiped out, has made a comeback and rebuilt their ancient homeland.
A language that was not spoken in over 2,000 years is now the mother tongue of an entire country, with 4 of the world's top 300 universities teaching almost exclusively in that language.
And a religion that has, over the millenia, seen reforms, rejections, intermarriages, forced conversions-out, and more rejections, this religion is the centre of every aspect of life in this amazing country, including commonly used phrases in kids' math books.
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