Gymnasia
Days
The Herzliyah Hebrew Gymnasium, 1905-1959
A hundred and seven years have passed
since Gymnasia Herzliyah was founded, and the time has come to
discover the people, actions, and events in its history through a
treasure trove of rare and fascinating photographs. This exhibit
presents a chapter in the history of one of the most important and
significant institutions in the history of Jewish culture.
Gymnasia Herzliyah as a world of
memory
Times passes, pictures become blurred and increasingly fade,
figures disappear, frames disintegrate, dust covers the files in
which the photos are kept, torn bits of photos and pages fly about
whenever the door to the archives opens.
The past of Gymnasia Herzliyah is slowly disappearing, eroded by
time. I write these words, sitting at a heavy wooden desk, one of
the three built by Avraham Krinitzy, the carpenter from Ramat Gan
(and later its first mayor), for the three key figures in the
cultural life of the rejuvenation of Hebrew: Haim Nachman Bialik,
Meir Dizengoff and the principal of Gymnasia Herzliyah at the time
- Yehudah Leib Matman-Cohen, later succeeded by Ben-Zion Mosinzon,
Haim Bograshov (Boger) and Baruch Ben-Yehuda. Everyday ongoing
matters were discussed around this desk, a silent witness to a
history of decades; on the other hand, the archives
next door hold numerous documents and
photographs, which beg to be uncovered and tell the story, thus
enabling readers to examine the stories and events for themselves,
meet the figures whose names are now the names of streets, while in
the photos they are immortalized in their educational-social
endeavour. The gymnasium began as the first Hebrew high school, and
next to it was a boarding school for children from all over the
world who came to study. The sense of mission that beat in the
hearts of the founders was passed on to their followers. They
perceived the educational mission as far more comprehensive than
simple teaching and saw themselves committed to the building and
shaping of society.
Even in those days the gymnasium was far more than just a local
high school. It was a school whose existence did not depend on one
building or another, a school whose spirits made it possible for it
to exist anywhere.
A great deal has been written about the school's first students,
many of whom later became the social, political, economic, cultural
and artistic infrastructure of the State of Israel. Their
photographs, kept in the archives, some of 
which are displayed in this exhibit
and catalogue, attest to the way in which they were educated,
studied and developed, later to become key figures in Israeli
society. The photos reflect the spirits, values, and atmosphere -
the essence of a social and cultural institution.
The photographs immortalize both the private and the public.
They show teachers and students engaged in school activities:
inside and outside the gymnasium, against the background of their
landscapes; many of the pictures are staged, organized and planned
with a great deal of attention. In most cases the people
photographed are looking straight into the lens of the camera, and
thus - toward us, to those looking at them, as if to say: We are
here and you are with us. Our gaze as spectators makes it possible
for those photographed to exist again, here and now. We are
reviving, albeit even for just a moment, the shapers of our history
in their quotidian life, big and small moments alike.
From of the point of view of those engaged in education the
exhibit has two aspects: for the old-timers am
ong us it may be the world of memory,
a nostalgic moment for the endeavour; for the younger people among
us it may serve as an example of educational work in the present
and in the future. The pictures reflect beginnings, initiatives and
developments in the first years of the school's existence. As the
present principal of the gymnasium I walk among the photographs,
and the past comes before me as an anchor and a source of
inspiration.
The exhibit, which is taking place at the 107th universe of the
founding of the school, focuses on one chapter in the school's
history: the first chapter that lasted 55 years and took place in
the building on Herzl Street in Tel Aviv. In the spirit of Roland
Barthes, who said that without an adventure there is no photograph,
it may be said that the history of the gymnasium is indeed a
socio-cultural adventure, a pedagogic poem, from its beginning
until the present day.
Dr.Zeev Dagani, principal of Gymnasia
Herzliyah
A New Year greeting postcard sent during the High Holidays of
1913 by Ester Targovitzer to her friend Geula Shertok. The postcard
is franked with a JNF label and cancelled by the oval cachet of
"Herzl Club".
Curator: Guy Raz
Closes: April 30, 2013