Study: IDF officers less committed to Jewish values after visits to Nazi death camps

[bemildred]

Interesting, no idea what it "means".

---

The study found that before going on the trip, officers expressed a very high level of commitment to the Jewish people and to preserving their Jewish heritage, and high levels of solidarity with the fate of other Jews.

In contrast, they expressed a lower - though still high - level of commitment to more universalist ideas, such as understanding the universal context of the Holocaust.

After they returned from the trips, however, the researchers found a drop in commitment to all values related to Jewish identity, including the importance of the Land of Israel for the Jewish people, the importance of the IDF's existence, feelings of national pride in being Israeli, and a sense of a shared Jewish fate.

The study found a particularly dramatic decline in the importance the officers attached to Jewish and Israeli symbols, and to Diaspora Jewry.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/study-idf-officers-less-committed-to-jewish-values-after-visits-to-nazi-death-camps-1.408237

[Jefferson23]

1. I don't say wow often but wow.

I wonder if the trips will be altered in some fashion now, considering the
results. The results being an indicator of how the meaning of the
Holocaust does not equate to the subject at hand of the occupation..I find
this very encouraging.

"The trips also produced a decline in IDF-related values, including commitment to the state and the army, feelings of leadership, and love of heroism.

In contrast, the trips produced no change in the officers' commitment to universal democratic values such as human dignity, the sanctity of life and tolerance."

Regarding the contrast here: "That study, conducted for the Education Ministry in 2009 and published in 2011, also found that the trips left commitment to universal values unchanged, but found that they strengthened Jewish and national values."

These students have not participated in the ugliness of defending the occupation and I imagine had no
direct cause and effect comparison to make as the soldiers do.

Highly recommend..thanks for posting.

[bemildred]

2. It's very interesting, and in a way that I think is good.

I am reluctant to draw any conclusions about why, though the difference in ages strikes me, and the related differences in experience and maturity etc. I would be reluctant to single out anything in particular, there is just not enough there.

Let me put it this way, they may be stunned, I'm not stunned. But I'm interested, it's the sort of thing that ought to be dug into deeper, like the recent altruistic rat story, it erodes unquestioned dogma, something I always consider worthwhile.

[Jefferson23]

5. As I said I find the responses of the soldiers to be an encouraging indicator.

They ( Israeli military) may be stunned because they have had the desired
response in the past, and something changed..I don't know what but it is certainly worth looking at,
absolutely. My concern is where they go from here.

On edit to add: I am curious about the role OCL may have played in this
situation too...not just the occupation as a factor.

[oberliner]

3. What book is this from?

The last paragraph states:

The new study was conducted by Dr. Nitza Davidovich and Prof. Dan Soan, together with Brig. Gen. (res. ) Amir Heskel. It was recently published in a book edited by Davidovich and Soan called "Remembering the Holocaust - Issues and Challenges."

<end of citation>

Having a hard time verifying the existence of this book.

[bemildred]

4. Might be Hebrew.

I found the HS study from last year, nothing for this one in English though. It may show up after a while.

[bemildred]

7. Do feel free to repost it anywhere you think it's apropriate. nt

[bemildred]

9. Thanks for the tip. nt

[ellisonz]

10. I think looking the Holocaust in the face...

...has a horrifying effect in the short-term - it creates feelings of anomie. I think this study will find the reverse in the long run. Recalling this memory, will produce a different effect: resolve.

[bemildred]

11. I think of it as teaching humility, but that reaction seems to be unusual.

I've been savaged here more than once for suggesting that historically such genocidal violence is far too common, and the Nazi genocide was not the worst.

[ellisonz]

12. I think turning it into a contest...

...is an abstraction that those who were couldn't afford to make and therefore useless for any analysis.

[bemildred]

13. Indeed.