Israel Aerospace Chairman Shamir Chosen as Chairman of the Shalem Board of Trustees
Yair Shamir, Chairman of Israeli Aerospace Industries and Chairman and Managing Partner of Catalyst Investments, has been named as the new Chairman of the Shalem Foundation's Board of Trustees. “During the time I’ve gotten to know the Shalem Center, I’ve only been impressed by the outstanding job they’re doing in raising the Zionist discourse in Israel to new intellectual heights. It’s an honor to serve as Chairman of the Board and I look forward to the future, building the College that will help develop the leaders Israel so vitally needs.” Shamir replaces the long-time leader of the Board, Roger Hertog. “As Chairman of the board for the past eight years,” commented Hertog, “I’m proud to turn over the reigns to a great Israeli leader and patriot, Yair Shamir.” Click here to read about Yair Shamir:

‘Big Ideas Forum’ Kicks off Toronto Federation Partnership with Shalem
Five Shalem scholars briefed the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto last month at the launch of what Toronto Federation President Ted Sokolsky referred to as “a strategic partnership between the Federation and Shalem.” More than 150 leading members of the Jewish community participated in a full day seminar on March 30, dubbed the “Big Ideas Forum”. In a series of interviews and lectures, Yossi Klein-Halevi, Meirav Jones, Daniel Polisar, and Daniel Gordis examined the power and importance of ideas in the national life of the Jewish people, followed by a keynote address on this subject by Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Shalem Center’s Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies.

Harvard Law School Mission Visits Shalem 
The Shalem Center partnered with the Harvard Leadership Mission to Israel for a half-day session for students led by Adelson Institute Chairman and Distinguished Fellow Natan Sharansky and Shalem Senior Fellow Michael Oren. The forty-five students, future leaders in law, business and politics, were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants to join the trip from Cambridge and become familiarized with the reality of life in modern Israel. Oren held an interactive class on “America and the Zionist Idea,” while Sharansky focused on “Freedom and Doublethink – Life as a Dissident in a Fear Society.” Students gave Natan Sharansky a standing ovation on closing. To read more about student programs at Shalem click here:

Shalem Board Welcomes New Members: Jed Arkin and Aliza Sharon Join Trustees 
Israeli business leaders Jed Arkin and Aliza Sharon have joined the Board of Trustees of the Shalem Foundation. Arkin, who serves as a director of several Israeli high-tech firms and as CEO of Mosaic Crystals Ltd, told E-News, “Michael Oren introduced me to the Shalem Center, his intellectual home.” He added, “ I met a remarkable group of scholars, thinkers and leaders, pursuing similarly impressive and ground-breaking research. When I learned of their larger mission – to build a world class liberal arts college in Jerusalem, emphasizing Jewish and classical thought, I found myself immediately committed to seeing them succeed.” Sharon, the founder and managing director of one of Israel’s most respected accounting firms, brings experience from a variety of Israeli non-profit boards, as well as from the commercial world. Click here to read about Arkin, Sharon, and other members of Shalem’s Board of Trustees:

Israel’s Academic Exodus ‘Unparalleled’
Professor Ben-David of Tel Aviv’s University’s Center for Economic Policy Research has published a report entitled “Brain Drained.” According to the report, close to 25% of all Israeli academics were working in the US in 2003-2004, the highest per capita of any nation. Canada, the next on the list, had just 12%. Ben-David blames an insufficient number of academics posts, low salaries and government regulation for a problem which “is at a magnitude beyond anything [elsewhere] in the developed world.” Click here to read the full report:

Jewish Telegraphic Association: Jews Flee Paris suburbs and Establish Jewish “Ghettos”
Increasing numbers of Jews are fleeing anti-Semitic conditions in the Paris suburbs, and in some cases communities have been halved in just three years, according to a recent JTA article. University of Paris sociologist Shmuel Trigano explains, “All of France is experiencing the problem. It is a general shift, not a passing crisis. The Jewish community is becoming a ghetto. It is no longer a community of choice but a community of necessity. In a democracy that shouldn't happen.” Click here to read the full article:

Tel Aviv University Historian Sand: The Jewish People Is ‘A National Mythology’
In a recently published book, When and How Was the Jewish People Invented? (Resling Press [Hebrew]) History Professor Shlomo Sand of Tel Aviv University argues that the Jewish people never existed as a “nation-race” with a common origin, but rather was invented by Zionists under the influence of 19th century German ideas. Sand, who specializes in modern France, told Ha’aretz, “I am not afraid of the undermining of our existence, because I think the character of the State of Israel undermines it in a much more serious way.” Click here to read Sand’s full interview in Ha’aretz: 

As Philosophy Gains in Popularity With Students, Israeli Philosophy Programs Lag Behind
According to a study compiled in 2008, Israel had no graduate philosophy department ranking among the world’s top philosophy programs. The independent “Philosophy Lists” website ranks the Hebrew University as Israel’s top philosophy school, but places it only in 73nd place worldwide, while Israel’s second-place program at Haifa University finished 104th worldwide. Meanwhile, a major New York Times article, “In a New Generation of College Students, Many Opt for the Life Examined” reports that enrollments in philosophy programs are ballooning and students are showing renewed interest in the discipline. Click here to read the NY Times article:

LA Jewish Journal Features Article on Shalem College
As part of a series of Articles on Israel at 60, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles has published a lengthy feature on Shalem’s initiative to launch Israel’s first liberal arts college. The article relates that “the college is planned as an American-style, four-year liberal arts school, an educational model that doesn't exist in Israel. Israelis usually enter a three-year college or university program in their early-to-mid-20s, right after army service, choosing their majors straightaway. Most students view their college years as vocational training and commute to school.” Shalem Senior Vice President Daniel Gordis explains, “We want to change the experience of what being an undergraduate student is about." Click here to read “Coming Soon – A Jewish Liberal Arts College”:

Latest Issue of Hebraic Political Studies Examines Maimonides’ Politics, Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan’
The latest issue of Hebraic Political Studies (HPS), Shalem Press’s peer-reviewed journal examining the Jewish political tradition and its contributions to the West, is now on shelves. This issue features an investigation into the balance forged between divine law and the exigencies of politics in “Political Leadership and the Law in Maimonides’ Thought: Flexibility and Rigidity” by Menachem Ratson, Lecturer in Political Theory at Ben-Gurion University. In “That 'Dreadful Name, Leviathan'” Kim Ian Parker, Professor of Religious Studies at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland explores the biblical traditions of the monster Leviathan and their relation to Hobbes’ classic work.  Click here for further information on HPS and subscription details: 

Shalem Press Issues New Translation of Berman’s ‘Power and the Idealists’
On April 1, Shalem Press published the first Hebrew translation of Paul Berman’s modern classic Power and the Idealists. The book is a compelling intellectual and personal history of some of the leading figures involved in the student uprisings of the late 1960s. With a masterful grasp of modern history, Berman gives a lucid, penetrating and eminently believable account of some of the ideas and idealists that continue to shape contemporary politics. The book is the latest in the Shalem Press series of books on democracy and public affairs translated into Hebrew.  For more information on Shalem Press publications click here: 

Oren Briefs Israel’s Foreign Press on the History of Jerusalem
At a March 17 news conference held at MediaCentral in Jerusalem, Shalem Senior Fellow Michael Oren briefed journalists from global newspapers including the Times of London, Italy’s La Stampa, and Scandinavian dailies on the history of Jerusalem. In light of current press interest in building projects around the city, Oren took journalists through the history of settlement in the city, proposals for its division under the Oslo process, the Clinton “Bridging Initiative” and the Geneva Accords. Oren’s latest work, Power, Faith and Fantasy is a New York Times best seller recounting the history of American involvement in the Middle East.

Student Ezra Hoch Awarded First Shalem Certificate in Philosophy, Political Theory and Religion
Ph.D. candidate Ezra Hoch will be the first recipient of Shalem’s Certificate in Philosophy, Political Theory and Religion (PPR.) The certificate is awarded to students who have participated in seven semester-long seminar courses and submitted a substantial essay paper. Since 2006, Hoch has balanced studies at Shalem with his coursework at the Hebrew University. “The Shalem courses are on the highest level,” said Hoch, whose focus is on philosophy and religion. “Every student should join.” Click here for information on Shalem’s undergraduate Program: 

Shalem Graduate Fellow to Pursue Ph.D. at Yale
Shalem graduate fellow Mordechai Levy-Eichel will begin a Ph.D. in History next year at Yale University, where he plans to explore the development of foundational liberal ideas in light of his interest in intellectual history, Atlantic history, and Jewish history. Levy-Eichel, who earned his B.A. in History from the University of Chicago, is currently at Shalem researching the theology and growth of the messianic movement within the Chassidic sect of Chabad.  Click here for information on Shalem’s graduate fellowships: