THE IMAGE OF JERUSALEM IN HEBREW CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: THE PLAY (JERUSALEM TO ME) AS A MODEL
The Zionist movement, in all its stages, relied on Hebrew literature in order to achieve its aggressive and colonial goals. The celebration of Hebrew literature, in its various expressive and poetic forms, was a celebration of describing the conditions of the Jews, and directing them to emigrate to Palestine. Hebrew education books at various school levels described many Zionist concepts and in accordance with smart educational policies. Likewise, Hebrew literature directed at children played an important and vital role that differs from the rest of other literatures, as it carried with it Zionist ideological orientations according to ideological and political ideas and thus succeeded in creating children of a nature. Especially, Jewish writers focused on raising children through literature and focused on important historical issues and special educational trends. All this led to the success of the Zionist project. Zionism began caring for the Jewish child from the beginning, as it issued newspapers for children next to public libraries, and the movement began to revive the Hebrew language and enrich Hebrew children's literature from 1890-1891. Many Hebrew works directed to children have appeared, including story, poetry, and drama. In 1893, the first Hebrew magazine directed at children was published, entitled (ולם קטן) (a small world). The Zionist movement did not neglect those who direct and take care of children’s literature because the child is the first building block of the state. Therefore, it placed the Jewish child within the framework of its project to accommodate the various Jewish immigrations to Palestine and the production of Hebrew children's literature. With the revival of the Hebrew language at the end of the nineteenth century and the increase of the Zionist presence in Palestine, it became one of the goals of Zionism to make the Hebrew language a language of dialogue between children and to consolidate the values of secular Zionism. One of these methods was to stage theatrical performances in the Hebrew language in front of young children. In this research, I will deal with the play (Jerusalem is mine) by the writer Galia Yei, as this play is concerned with Jewish assimilation in Jerusalem and linking the past with the present. And the Hebrew theater tried to prove the Jewishness of Jerusalem through historical events.
Keywords: Hebrew Children's Literature, Hebrew literature, Jerusalem To Me, Phonitic.