Librarians, Would you include an anti-Semitic or holocaust denial children's book in your collection in order to be evenhanded? Such books should be in an adult collection, perhaps in a closed section to be used under supervision when it comes to children and youth.
The same holds true with books dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. During WWII, did children collections included books from the Japanese and German points of view? Would you have agreed to include such books? Do you have children books glorifying the acts Al Qaida? As librarians and educators, we have the responsibility to guide our children in all respects to understand our tradition, our values and what is important for the continuity of the Jewish People which includes the State of Israel. We must explain to our children/youth that if the Arabs would have accepted the 1947 Partition Plan all the so-called injustices and suffering on both sides would not have occurred. They must understand the history of Eretz Yisrael (the area called Palestine) that since the fall of the 2nd Temple there has not been an independent entity until the State of Israel and that the Palestinians did not consider themselves a nation until after the 6 Day War (1967) and that the population that lived here over the centuries (including Jews who were not allowed to freely return by the governing bodies) were peoples (including Arabs) from all over the Middle East and Mediterranean countries. Prior to introducing our children to the other points of view, they must first have a good basic background in our history. Be careful when choosing books for our children and youth - they are our future. We, Jews and Israelis, are not perfect, but we do not have to commit national suicide in the name of "evenhandedness". David Elazar Rishon LeZion, Israel [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.geocities.com/d_elazar (home page) eVoicemail (413) 581-4711 (USA) eFax (801) 672-2976 (USA) Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
