A Lesson In Politics

Binyamina, a town near Haifa, and its most famous native son, have both grown over the last six decades.
Binyamina’s most famous native son is now Israel’s prime minister.
Ehud Olmert returned to his childhood elementary school this week and gave a third-grade class a surprise 40-minute lesson on civics on Tu b’Shevat and the Knesset’s 59th anniversary.
“When I studied here, it was so many years ago. I look around and try to recognize the school as it once was and I can’t,” he said at the Eshkolot school. “I remember how the teacher Kahane tried to teach us carpentry lessons, and I was very clumsy. I also remember the teacher Drora who taught me in first grade.”
He sketched the school as he recalled it on the blackboard, above. He signs a student’s sheet of paper, right. His graduating school picture is posted on the school’s wall, inset.
Asked what he considered the most important law passed by the Knesset, Olmert answered the Law of Return, which grants any Jew automatic Israeli citizenship. “The law ensures every Jew’s right to return to Israel,” the prime minister said. “This is the law that makes the dream come true, that Israel is the home of the Jewish people.
“This was the most interesting class I’ve taught in the last year,” Olmert told the students, inviting them to tour the Knesset. “If you ever have a question you are welcome to call me in Jerusalem,” he said. “Just say I was your teacher and they’ll transfer me to you.”