With Israel constantly in the news – and debates about the Jewish state dominating many headlines and campus discussions – researchers at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University decided to measure how much today’s Jewishly involved college students – who often find themselves on the front lines defending the Jewish state on American campuses – know about Israel.
In a series of interviews and questionnaires administered over two years from 2013 to 2015, hundreds of Jewish students from 20 major American Universities who’d applied to visit Israel on a Birthright trip were asked to answer a range of questions about Israel’s history, politics, culture and society – with shocking results.
These students already had strong Jewish backgrounds. In addition to planning to tour Israel with Birthright, 44% already had visited Israel previously. The vast majority – 83% – had some formal Jewish education growing up, either in the form of part-time Religions School or full-time day school. A quarter had taken at least one college class about Israel, and over a quarter of the students listened to news stories about Israel at least once a month.
Yet most flunked the test. The average score was 46%: an “F” in most grading scales. The median score was even worse: 44%. Only 8% of respondents managed to score above a 75: a “C+” or higher.
While some greeted the results with dismay, the researchers who devised and administered these tests noted that it’s easy to improve scores: “There seems a clear and obvious link between education, time spent in Israel, and reading the news with increased scores on the literacy questions. ….those who have greater exposure to Israel answer more questions correctly.”
Over a quarter of the Birthright applicants characterize hostility towards Israel on campus as either a “very big” or a “fairly big” problem; 15% report that hostility towards the Jewish state has spilled over on their campuses into hostility towards Jews in general. In this atmosphere, it’s vitally important to be able to talk about the Jewish state confidently. Scoring high on Israel literacy helped students stand up to anti-Jewish bigotry, the researchers found: “students who scored higher on the questions also felt more confident in their ability to explain the current situation in Israel”.
Here are 15 sample questions from the Israel literacy test. (Answers are at the end.) See how you score – then challenge yourself to learn even more about Israel – and encourage others to do the same!
1. The word “Zion” was FIRST used when?
- By Theodore Herzl at the First Zionist Congress
- In medieval poetry about Israel
- In the Hebrew Bible as a reference to Jerusalem
- as an alternative name for Israel when the State was founded
2. Who gets to vote in Israel?
- All citizens
- Jewish citizens
- Jewish and Arab citizens but not Druze citizens
- Citizens who have served in the Israeli army
3. What was one of the immediate causes of the Second Lebanon War?
- The capture of a Lebanese freighter trying to smuggle weapons in the Gaza Strip
- Iraq’s invasion of Lebanon
- The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafic Hariri
- Hezbollah’s cross-border attack and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers
4. Zionism is a movement that DOES NOT include the promotion of:
- A Jewish nation state
- A distinctive Jewish culture
- A return to an ancient homeland
- A revival of the Yiddish language
5. The State of Israel was declared on:
- November 11, 1918
- December 7, 1941
- May 14, 1948
- June 20, 1950
6. Which of the following statements about the Israeli economy is TRUE?
- Israel has a socialist society in which wealth is relatively evenly distributed among all citizens
- The kibbutz movement is the main driver of the Israeli economy
- Israel has a national health care system
- Israel is a very poor country due to its lack of natural resources
7. The population of Israel is approximately:
- 100-110 million
- 50-60 million
- 20-25 million
- 5-10 million
8. The Prime Minister of Israel is:
- Appointed by the Chief Rabbi
- Leader of a coalition representing the majority of seats in the Knesset
- Elected by direct popular vote
- Elected by a three-fifths majority of members of the Knesset
9. Hamas and Hezbollah are:
- Nonviolent Islamic organizations in the Middle East
- Groups that are classified as terrorist organizations by the United States
- Recognized representatives of the Palestinians in the United Nations
- Political leaders of the West Bank
10. The current Prime Minister of Israel is:
- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Mahmoud Abbas
- Angela Merkel
- David Ben-Gurion
11. The Holocaust is significant to the State of Israel because:
- Holocaust survivors founded the Zionist movement
- Many Holocaust survivors immigrated to Israel after World War II
- The United States encouraged Jews to settle in Israel to escape the Holocaust
- Israel’s first three Prime Ministers were Holocaust survivors
12. What is the Green Line?
- The armistice line following the Israeli War of Independence
- The border between Israel and Lebanon created by the British mandate
- The line that divides the forested area of Israel from the desert
- The new train line between Tel Aviv and Haifa
13. The largest wave of immigration to Israel in the last two decades of the 20th Century came from:
- The United States
- Poland
- Morocco
- The Former Soviet Union
14. Which statement is NOT true?
- Israel has a parliamentary system of government
- Like the United States, Israel has a written constitution
- People vote for a political party and seats in Israel’s Parliament are allocated proportionally
- Unlike the United States, Israel has many political parties represented in government
15. Who are Amos Oz, David Grossman, A.B. Yehoshua, and Etgar Keret?
- Members of the Israeli parliament
- Israeli novelists
- Israeli soccer stars
- Founders of the Kibbutz movement
(Answers: 1 – C. 2 – A. 3 – D. 4 – D. 5 – C. 6 – C. 7 – D. 8 – B. 9 – B. 10 – A. 11 – B. 12 – A. 13 – D. 14 – B. 15 – B.)
(12) Joey, December 9, 2015 10:32 PM
Oh my gosh, I got them all right.
Not only have I never been to Israel, I'm not even Jewish.
(11) Sharon, December 6, 2015 3:18 PM
disagree with one answer
That I scored 100% is nothing to boast about since I live in Israel. But I would differ about one question. The Holocaust is significant to the State of Israel because not only because many survivors came here. An equal number went to the US and Canada, and the Holocaust is not significant to those countries for that reason. The Holocaust is an important history lesson to all the world, whether survivors immigrated to those countries or not. It is of the most significance to Israel, because if there had been a state before WWII, there would have been a haven for millions who were slaughtered. Some people believe that this is the reason the world voted in favor of a Jewish State on Nov 29,1947. That may be true, but today, there would never be a majority of countries agreeing to a Jewish state. But the Jewish state's right to exist does NOT emanate from the Holocaust or from any of the attempts to destroy them over the last 2000 years. It is the fulfillment of a Biblical promise.
(10) Peter Klug, December 4, 2015 2:52 AM
12
80% Pretty bad!
(9) Anonymous, December 3, 2015 8:12 PM
Aliyah?
Okay, so I scored 13 out of 15... Will they now realize that I'm not a goy, even though it's difficult to proof my heritage and will they now allow me to make aliyah? ;-) I can only keep on hoping that one day I will be able to live where my heart is!
(8) Dina, December 3, 2015 6:09 PM
I can believe that the students didn't score high--but failed?
I scored 100% but it may be due to the fact that I lived in Israel from 1973-1983 and studied Israeli history on my own. Also, I'm constantly reading about Israel and the news from Israel and NOT THE US press which is so biased.
I'm not surprised the students scored so low. Just having a Jewish education and studying about Israel in the US, they would not know the answers to most of these questions. One needs to live in Israel to know answers about Israel elections, no constitution, health care system, and even who the novelists are since this information wouldn't be in a class.
Ask the students about Israeli technology and Waze, and their answers would be higher. I would suspect that most know about Hamas & Hezbollah, but I would assume most wouldn't know about the second nor the first Lebanese wars. They most likely never heard of these wars. For them, it is Gaza. I don't even think they know why the US went into Afghanistan and Iraq.
What this shows is that there really needs to be some major educational programs on campuses. And, I hope that there will be some taught by Israelis. I was active in Hillel in 2001-2002, and there wasn't any of this education and it was during and after 9/11 attacks on US soil!
Anonymous, December 3, 2015 9:28 PM
Well, why did the U.S. go into Afghanistan and Iraq?
Trick question. Bush the First, Bush the Second and Obama couldn't give good answers (Bush I came closest and got out relatively quickly), so can anyone expect that of students?
(7) Aliza, December 3, 2015 5:09 PM
Yay
Got 14 right! :)
(6) Amy, December 3, 2015 5:04 PM
I scored 100%
These were very easy questions! It's pretty disturbing that Jewish students flunked this test. Clearly, much more needs to be done in educating young Jews about Israel!
(5) Anne Lawrence, December 3, 2015 5:02 PM
Good quiz
I would say that because I got 100%, but this isn't a kindergartern quiz, you need to keep up. Very clever. :)
(4) Anonymous, December 3, 2015 4:50 PM
I scored 100%
I too scored 100%, and am very surprised by the bad marks these students had.
Let's not forget that if we want to defend Israel properly, first of all we must know FACTS! Thank you Aish among other readings I do for helping me do that!
(3) Reuven Frank, December 3, 2015 4:29 PM
I got 80%
I missed three, or one fifth, therefore, I got an 80.
At least I passed.
OTOH, I've been living in Israel since 1979, so I should have SOME idea.
It IS kind of sad that Jewish and Israeli and modern Middle-Eastern history is not being taught extensively enough to ANY Jews, let lone birthright students.
(2) Mary, December 3, 2015 4:03 PM
results
You are so right; your diligence definitely paid off; I only go 11 of the 15 questions right.
(1) Andrew Stiller, December 1, 2015 3:32 PM
I surprised myself!
I scored 100%. Never thought that was possible as I'm usually not a good test taker. However, I do try to keep abreast of Jewish and Israeli history every chance I get. Looks like my diligence is paying off. ;)