Over the past two years the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), together with the Rashi Foundation and the Ministry of Education, has been running the "Living Democracy" project in the Druze town of Horfeish. The goal of the project is to promote a democratic way of life founded on the ideas of tolerance, dignity, openness, and accepted social norms. Throughout the 2008 school year, students focused on democracy studies and active citizenship through projects organized by the schools, and on Thursday, June 5th 2008, "Aleph" primary-school celebrated the end of a successful year.
All through the school year, teachers at "Aleph" primary-school worked together with Ms. Vera Yogev, the coordinator of "Living Democracy" in Israel's north, in order to combine theoretical studies with active citizenship. The school chose to focus its civic learning and activities on the tomb of the prophet Sabalan – the second-most-important site to the Druze, which is located in Horfeish.
The beginning of the day featured a joint activity for children, parents, and homeroom teachers. The parents sat in class as if they were students, and the children presented what they had accomplished throughout the year – each child presented their parents with a personal notebook in which they had collected all the work they had done on the importance of giving, responsibility, and respect. Diana, a sixth-grader, explained how the project had affected her socially, and changed her from an outsider in class to a socially popular girl, as a result of the learning about giving to the community, the school, and the state. It the fifth grade, a discussion was held about how to implement active citizenship in day-to-day life at school, and outside of it. Students learned how to become partners in the activities taking place at school and in their hometown, and about their rights and duties. Yussuf, a fifth-grade homeroom teacher, explained how the students learn about friendship, respect, mutual assistance, and giving by analyzing problematic situations that arise at school and their possible solutions through dialogue and compromise.
After the activities in the classrooms, the families and teachers walked over to one of the holiest sites to the Druze – the tomb of the prophet Salaban. As part of the school's active citizenship initiative, the fifth- and sixth-grade fixed-up the path to the tomb, cleaned it, and marked the way. Inside the tomb, a festive ceremony took place in the presence of children, parents, grandparents, teachers, the north-district education supervisor, and Ms. Daphna Gruber, head of IDI's educational program. In a touching display of emotions, the children presented their projects – all of which dealt with a value of great importance to the Druze community: tradition. The first grade learned about traditional Druze attire, and presented it at the ceremony. The second grade learned about rights and duties of students in their home, their hometown, and their state, by way of studying about the importance of Salaban's tomb to the Druze community. The third grade prepared signs leading to the tomb in order to guide visitors, and the fourth graders focused on the environmental aspect of the tomb – cleaning and decorating inside and around the site. The fifth- and sixth-graders marked and mapped two important observation points, in addition to fixing-up the shortcut leading to the tomb. Needless to say the project generated much excitement among the residents of Horfeish, as it made this holy site so much more accessible and pleasant to all of them.
Aya Hiradlyn, principal of the school, explained how the idea of the project started with the teacher staff, and developed from there. She mentioned that one of the most important developments was the close connection the project made between teachers and students: "The students go outside to work with teachers, in the field; this activity together brought them closer to one another." The school coordinator of the program, Mr. Kamal Hiradlyn, added that the project led to greater parental involvement in processes taking place at school, and that some parents have already made suggestions for future projects.
The day ended with a picnic by the tomb, where parents, children, and teachers sat together, ate, and were impressed by the work that had been done. The parents were proud of their children for taking part in renovating the holy site, which is of vast importance to local residents as well as the entire Druze community.
On this festive day, it was plain to see how teachers and students were able to bring together values that are important to the Druze community – such as respect, religion, and state – with the important civic values of contributing to society, responsibility, and tradition.