| This work aims to investigate the extent to which the Just Community approach to moral education is compatible with Israeli religious schools. It suggests the kinds of adaptation necessary if Lawrence Kohlberg's Just Community concept is to be implemented successfully in these schools.; A qualitative study of representative efforts up to now, involving interviews, focus groups, and observations, revealed Israeli religious educators' concerns about their implementation of the Just Community. Kohlbergian Socratic deliberations with educators led to the discovery that they considered their role in educating towards committed religious behavior to be crucial. The main issue of concern was that leading open-ended discussions and empowering students for shared decision-making on school-related issues could compromise the teachers' mandate to promote religious observance.; The research focused on this tension. A key inference from the study was that this central question required a change in the methodology of working with teachers. Case discussions of dilemmas embodying school life issues had first been formulated as a research tool. As the research developed, it became apparent that these cases could also serve as pedagogical resources to address teachers' concerns for their religious task while, at the same time, implementing the Just Community.; Moreover, the pedagogic method of moral role taking, central to Kohlberg's Just Community idea, was found to interleave well with the traditional Jewish perception that "the heart follows the deeds," meaning that personal commitments derive from active and meaningful experiences in a community committed to fairness and justice. In a Just Community, involvement in decision-making about personal religious concerns is crucial in drawing members into the pursuit of justice.; A structured workshop was thereby designed to train teachers for the implementation of the Just Community approach to moral education, employing role-taking in master-story case discussions, both with respect to clarifying teachers' personal religious and educational outlooks and helping them to master the methodology in their own teaching.; This seems the educational meaning of Tsedek, Tsedek Tirdof [Justice, justice shall you pursue. Deuteronomy 16:20]. |
