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$2 Million Donation Endows First Chair at Shalem College
July 1, 2010 | 19 Tamuz 5770
Early summer greetings from the Shalem Center. We are pleased to announce the creation of the first faculty chair for Shalem College, a crucial step in our efforts to establish Israel's first liberal arts college, which will prepare generations of students for a lifetime of learning, service, and leadership.
This issue contains summaries and links for a number of articles that examine the ongoing crisis in the Israeli system of higher education and an ambitious attempt to address it. We also bring you news of recent Shalem publications, including the 40th issue of Azure, as well as essays written by Shalem scholars on topics ranging from the advancement of Political Hebraism in academia to the Gaza flotilla incident.
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$2 Million Donation Endows First Chair at Shalem College
A gift of $2 million will establish the first endowed chair for Shalem College. The chair will be held by the head of the Liberal Studies Department responsible for the college’s Core Curriculum. An anonymous donor from England has made a gift of $1 million, which has been matched by an additional $1 million from The Conduit Foundation of Chicago. “Creating an elite liberal arts college in Israel, which will both encourage and nurture broadly educated potential young leaders, is a wonderful opportunity to contribute towards a secure future for the Jewish state,” the English donor told E-news. “I am honored to be in a position to play a role in this initiative.” Click here to read more about the Shalem College curriculum:
Azure’s Assaf Sagiv Calls for Renewal of the Jewish Academic Home
The 40th issue of Azure, released last week, was headlined by a poignant editorial by Editor-in-Chief Assaf Sagiv, which outlines the alarming increase in hostility towards Israel and Zionism on North American College campuses. “The campuses of some of the Western world’s leading universities have become places where Israelis, and to a certain degree Jews at large, can no longer feel comfortable,” he writes. As a solution, Sagiv urges the revival of Israeli academia as the intellectual home of the Jewish people. “Though not new, this option, in light of recent events, may prove more relevant than ever.” Click here to read the full editorial:
Shalem Provost Hazony: Eric Nelson’s The Hebrew Republic a “Singular Achievement” in Political Hebraism
In his most recent edition of “Jerusalem Letters,” Shalem Provost Yoram Hazony reviews a recently published book, The Hebrew Republic: Jewish Sources and the Transformation of European Political Thought by Harvard Professor Eric Nelson. Hazony sees Nelson’s book as a breakthrough for the field of Political Hebraism, in which the Shalem Center has played a major role over the last decade. “Nelson offers a refreshingly bold reinterpretation according to which the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic texts in fact had a massive impact on the thought of the 17th century,” writes Hazony. Click here to read more about Eric Nelson’s book, and here to read Hazony’s assessment of it in “Jerusalem Letters”:
Daniel Gordis Addresses Toronto Prime Minister’s Mission to Israel
In late May, Daniel Gordis addressed the Toronto Prime Minister’s Mission to Israel, speaking to the Toronto Jewish Federation’s lay leadership about the marginalization of Israel in the court of international public opinion. “In a climate of believing that we ought not be ‘defined by our differences,’ to quote President Obama’s speech in Cairo, a country like Israel, which thrives on difference and is actually designed to promote the flourishing of one particular people, ends up being highly counter-cultural.” The talk evoked a lively discussion among the delegates. Click here to read an article by Gordis in Azure’s 40th issue, which further explores the value of national diversity:
Technion Raises $1 Billion from American Donors
The American Technion Society’s historic 13-year “Shaping Israel’s Future” campaign has come to a close after reaching its goal of $1 billion to benefit the Technion, Israel’s premier science and technology university. In the largest campaign ever conducted by an American organization raising funds for Israeli higher education, a full 61% of the funds secured were in gifts of $1 million or more. A number of gifts between $10 million and $50 million will go towards the establishment of new research centers and institutes at the Technion. Click here to read a press release from the ATS, and here to read the Jerusalem Post article on this milestone:
Harvard Research Fellow Describes “The Brain Drain We Don’t Hear About”
The dramatic effect of the Israeli brain drain on the humanities is being ignored by the officials best positioned to reverse the trend, claims Dr. Ilai Saltzman, a research fellow at Harvard University. Along with natural and exact sciences, “It is important to include the fields of philosophy, political science, history and communications,” Saltzman writes in a recent op-ed in Ha’aretz. These fields “definitely meet an academic demand and undoubtedly can help address the non-material needs of Israeli society, thereby contributing to its strength and vitality.” Click here to read the full op-ed at Ha’aretz:
New Israeli Academy to Advance Humanities Breaks Ground
A $50 million gift from Leonard Polonsky and his wife, Georgette Bennett, will establish the Polonsky Academy for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. The gift, intended to advance the humanities and draw top Israeli researchers currently living abroad, will support the construction of a state-of-the-art building, as well a $40,000 annual stipend for 30 post-doctoral fellows. "This is an opportunity for very bright people to have the freedom to focus on their work," Mr. Polonsky commented. Click here to read the full article in The Chronicle of Higher Education:
NYU Opens Elite Liberal Arts Affiliate in Abu Dhabi
This fall, NYU will open the doors of an elite, U.S.-style liberal arts research university in Abu Dhabi. The affiliate is founded on, “a common belief in the value of a liberal arts education…and a commitment to educating students who are true citizens of the world,” according to its website. After a world-wide search for top high school students, the 150 incoming students, who hail from 39 countries, were chosen from more than 9,000 applicants, and have an average SAT score of 1440, making the school one of the most selective in the world. Click here to read the full New York Times article about NYU Abu Dhabi:
Top Education Official: “Israeli Higher Education in Decline”
A looming budget crisis, a dismal faculty-student ratio, a serious rate of brain drain, and a high average faculty age now characterize the Israeli system of higher education, once top-rated internationally, according to Prof. Manual Trajtenberg, Chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Israel Council on Higher Education. “Over the last decade the system has been in decline,” said Trajtenberg, who is spearheading a plan to lure young researchers back to Israel. “The focus on accessibility came at the expense of quality. Now is the time to go back and put the emphasis on the quality.” Click here to read an English translation of the article:
Yosef Isaac Lifshitz’s Secret of the Sabbath Published by Shalem Press
“The traditional Jew dedicates a seventh of his life in recognition of God’s having rested on the seventh day of creation,” writes Senior Fellow Yosef Isaac Lifshitz, “yet the Bible offers no explanation as to why God rested.” In Secret of the Sabbath, published this spring by Shalem Press, Lifshitz explores one possible explanation. “The theology embedded in the Sabbath is based on integration between the active and the passive…in which a rhythmic balance is discovered.” Click here to read an earlier essay on the same topic in English, and here for purchasing information (in Hebrew):
Pre-Socratic Philosophers "Excellent Shalem College Teachers," Says Fellow Ran Baratz
In a recent seminar, Post-Doctoral Fellow Ran Baratz outlined for fellow Shalem scholars why the earliest Western philosophers were really the original Renaissance men. “Their breadth and depth of knowledge allowed them to make significant breakthroughs in fields from art to science to philosophy,” he said. Along with their social and political activity, they were also responsible for the shift from mythological to rational thought. He concluded with a smile. “They would have all made excellent Shalem College teachers.” Click here to read a full bio of Ran Baratz:
New York Times Features Side-by-Side Op-Eds by Scholars from Shalem
Responding to the flotilla incident off the shores of Gaza, on June 3, the New York Times print and online editions ran side-by-side op-eds from Shalem Senior Vice President Daniel Gordis, and US Ambassador Michael Oren, who was a Shalem Distinguished Fellow from 1998-2009. “This flotilla was no 'peace operation.' Its leaders…set a trap, and Israel blundered smack into it. But that does not make the blockade wrong,” writes Gordis. Oren, in “An Assault, Cloaked in Peace,” writes, “The mob that assaulted Israeli special forces on the deck of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara…was not motivated by peace.” Click here to read the full piece by Gordis, and here for the full piece by Oren:
Students from Top Universities and Colleges World-Wide Join Shalem as Summer Interns
Seven students from Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, Hampshire College, Georgetown Law School, and the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London joined Shalem this past week for an 8-week research internship. They will be working with Daniel Gordis on his forthcoming book on nationalism, with Daniel Polisar on his research on the philosophy of higher education, and with Amichai Magen on democracy and the rule of law. “I came to Shalem because I knew it was the perfect place to balance my passion for Israel with my intellectual fervor,” said intern Ben Ratskoff of Northwestern University . “At Shalem, I am learning how to think critically about Israel's future.” Click here to read more about the Shalem Summer Internship:
Martin Kramer Presents on the Effectiveness of Washington Think Tanks
In May, Shalem College President-Designate Martin Kramer participated in the annual conference of the Association of Israel Studies in Toronto. As part of a panel entitled, “Washington-Based Think Tanks: How They View Israel,” Kramer explored the various political climates in which think tanks do and do not wield influence. Commenting on the conference and the field of Israel studies, Kramer told E-News, “Some of the work is scholarly, dispassionate, and seeks to set Israel in a multitude of contexts. But a fair number of Israel’s detractors have hitched a ride on the Israel studies bandwagon. Both trends were well represented at the conference.” Click here to download the conference schedule:
Shalem Scholars Discuss “The Beginning of Wisdom” at Alma in Tel Aviv
On June 17, Azure Editor-in-Chief Assaf Sagiv and Shalem Fellow Ido Hevroni joined Ruth Calderon, Executive Director of ALMA Home for Hebrew Culture, for an event exploring Leon Kass’s The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, published in Hebrew this past fall by Shalem Press. The event, held in the main study room of the popular house of Jewish culture and study in Tel Aviv, drew a large and interested crowd of readers new to Shalem Press and its publications. Click here to purchase The Beginning of Wisdom in English, and here to purchase the Hebrew translation from Shalem Press:
The following web addresses provide an easy to access directory of all Shalem Center sites:
The Shalem Center: www.shalemcenter.com
Azure: www.azure.org.il
Techelet: www.techelet.org.il
Hebraic Political Studies: www.hpstudies.org
The undergraduate program: www.shalemstudents.org
Martin Kramer: www.martinkramer.org
Daniel Gordis: www.danielgordis.org
We want to hear from you. Please send comments and questions to e-news@shalem.org.il.
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