Education Expert Argues Religious Practices Should Stay Out of Israeli Public Schools
Recent debates within Israel's Ministry of Education about reinstating a directive allowing the laying of tefillin in schools have reignited a sensitive national discussion on the role of religious practices in public education. The controversy goes beyond legal questions of which religious streams may pray in schools, focusing instead on whether ritual religious acts belong in state educational settings at all. The author, Yael Nachon Harel, CEO of the Fozan Foundation and chair of BINA, argues that religious rituals have no place in the public school environment. She cites the French model of Laïcité, which maintains a strict separation between religion and state in public spaces to preserve neutrality and unity among diverse populations. According to Harel, a secular public space allows individuals to develop their religious and cultural identities privately and freely, without social pressure or division.
Harel emphasizes that religious rituals such as prayer or laying tefillin are inherently divisive and risk fragmenting Israel's complex educational landscape by distinguishing between observant and non-observant students. Instead, she advocates for a rich cultural and identity education through customs, history, texts, art, and music that connect students to their heritage without religious ritual. She stresses that religious practice should remain a private, familial matter, experienced at home rather than institutionalized in schools. The article concludes that attempts to regulate religious expression in schools only increase tensions, and that the education system should focus on being a secular, inclusive space based on culture and knowledge, leaving religious practice to individual choice within families.
