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Sharansky to State Case for Democracy in Prague
Pesach 5767 | April 2007, vol. 1, no. 1
Chag Sameach! Welcome to the first edition of Shalem E-News, the Shalem Center's new monthly electronic newsletter for friends and supporters and readers of Shalem publications -- Azure, Techelet, Hebraic Political Studies and Shalem Press books. With so many dynamic scholars, programs and events, there likely is much more to the Shalem Center than you ever realized.
Our goal with Shalem E-News is to give you an easy-to-scan digest of news from the Center: updates on our scholars, publications, events and conferences; developments in our educational and public programming; opportunities to meet or hear Shalem personnel in Israel or abroad; as well as links to Shalem's web-based resources and a guide to Articles, interviews and essays that shed light on the issues important to the Shalem Center's intellectual community.
Shalem E-News is published by the Communications and Media department of the Shalem Center; the Pesach 5767/April 2007 is our first issue and we would welcome your comments and suggestions. If you have friends you think would be interested in receiving Shalem E-News please let us know. If at any time you would like to unsuscribe from the E-News list, please follow the instructions below for removal.
Shalem Senior Fellow Michael Oren's Power, Faith and Fantasy Enters Third Month on the NYT Best Seller List
Michael Oren has just returned to Israel following a hugely successful 2-month, 20-city book tour in support of Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present. Not only has the book received wall-to-wall positive coverage from Newsweek to Foreign Affairs Magazine, but ideas from the book have been cited in the United States Congress, and speaking engagements have included an address to 6000 people at the recent AIPAC conference. Click here for full press coverage as well as pieces in the Israeli media:
Record Number of Students Apply for Shalem Spring Courses.
Now completing the second full year of academic courses, Shalem Center student programs received a record number of applications for spots in the spring 2007 semester. Close to 200 students were accepted to the program, out of nearly 700 who inquired. 194 Israeli undergraduates have enrolled in this semester's 21 courses and are joined by thirteen full time graduate and postdoctoral fellows. See full course listings and meet graduate student Jacob Savage here:
Taking Back the Z-Word: Shalem Press Publishes New Essays on Zionism
With depth, humor and intensity, this watershed anthology - just published by Shalem Press, upholds the moral, philosophical and historical underpinnings of the Jewish state. From the trance scene of Tel Aviv to the political legacy of Theodor Herzl, the authors ask what kind of countervailing cultural force must the Jewish state nurture if it is to succeed in maintaining the allegiance of the next generation of Israelis? Click here for a provocative reading group guide and ecard:
Strategic Studies Institute Plans Unique Prague Conference on Democracy and Security
Has the war in Iraq brought the democratization process to an impasse? Shalem Center Distinguished Fellow Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Shalem Strategic Studies Institute, is joining with former Czech President Vaclav Havel and former Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar to bring political dissidents together with leading statesmen from the world's democracies to the fourth international conference of the Program of Atlantic Security Studies, to be held June 4-6 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Sponsored by the Shalem Center Strategic Studies Institute, the Prague Security Studies Institute, the Foundation for Social Analysis and Studies in Madrid and NATO, the conference will provide a forum for dissidents from a broad range of countries.
"I Say that Something Bad is Happening in Academia Here. Something Very Bad."
Amnon Rubinstein, renowned Israeli thinker, law scholar and political leader slams what he sees as the post-Zionist takeover of Israeli academia in a recent Haaretz interview. Formerly President of the IDC in Herzliya, he called the current situation at Israeli universities damaging to academic freedom, as well as illegal. Click here to read the full text of the interview:
Bringing Down the Iran Curtain
Shalem Center Distinguished Fellow Natan Sharansky's recent call to arms regarding the growing hostility towards Israel from Iran has struck a nerve. His recent piece in the Jerusalem Post, "Mobilize Now, Save the World" has attracted global attention for its power and lucidity - "As in the case of the Soviet Jewry movement, we are not alone. We are surrounded by potential allies who may not themselves know they are ready to join us until we create a movement for them to join." Read the complete text here:
Thirty-six Percent of Israelis Would 'Not Mind At All' If One of Their Children Were To Marry a Non-Jewish Immigrant
According to a sample of 500 respondents polled by the Mutagim Institute on behalf of Gesher, an educational organization and Ynet, 57 percent of secular Israelis would have no problem with their child intermarrying. Twenty-seven percent would try to persuade the bride to convert to Judaism and 16 percent would try to stop the wedding. Click here for further data:
"Progressive" Jewish Thought and the New Antisemitism
Alvin Rosenfeld's recent essay for the American Jewish Committee continues to generate controversy. The professor of English and Jewish studies at Indiana University's argument that segments of the intellectual left share an "emphatic dislike" of Israel along with the far right and radical Islam has been the subject of discussion in Articles, websites and blogs on all sides of the political spectrum. Read the full text of the essay here:
Chronicle of Higher Education Marks Second International Conference on Political Hebraism
In January, the Shalem Center's Political Hebraism project and its journal, Hebraic Political Studies made their debut in the august Chronicle of Higher Education, and on its popular website, Arts & Letters Daily. Scholar-writer Carlin Romano, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote "Political Hebraism. Mark the phrase. Prepare to meet its makers. During four days here, the new scholarly field flexed its muscles, determined to grow. In this neighborhood, the words 'If you will it it is no dream' pack a certain punch. The Shalem Center, founded by a group of Princetonians who made aliyah to Israel, willed it."
http://www.shalem.org.il/Program-Description/Political-Hebraism.html
"Brain Drain" Economist Gould Signs On at Shalem Institute of Economic and Social Policy
The "Brain Drain" issue entered Israel's public debate in 2006 after the Shalem Center Institute of Economic and Social Policy published a report by Omer Moav and Eric Gould detailing high emigration among Israel's most educated and economically productive sectors - and the deleterious impact this has on the Jewish state's productivity. Moav is a veteran Senior Fellow at the institute and Eric Gould joined Shalem at the end of 2006. In addition to teaching duties in the economics department, his research at the Institute will focus on economic inequality, education policies, immigration, and labor economics. Senior Fellow Omer Moav, in addition to his academic research, has continued to be a prominent advocate for the free market in the Israeli print and broadcast media.
http://www.shalem.org.il/Program-Description/Department-of-Economics.html
International Publishers, Editors and Agents Get a Read on the Shalem Center
More than sixty hand-picked members of the global publishing community visited Shalem as part of the prized Editorial and Agent Fellowship program run under the auspices of the Jerusalem Book Fair. Hosting the reception, Azure Editor-In-Chief David Hazony celebrated Shalem's role in the success of Michael Oren's New York Times best selling book, and explained the role of the Shalem Center and Azure in identifying and nurturing new writing talent in the region. Best selling author, and Shalem Distinguished Fellow Natan Sharansky congratulated the group on their commitment to publishing and shared his belief in the power of words and ideas to change the world.
http://www.shalem.org.il/Events/Jerusalem-Events-International-Book-Fair.html
Angelenos Chew Over Israel's Image at Milken Institute Breakfast
Israel's image in the media was the subject of an off-the-record briefing by Shalem Center Founder and Senior Fellow Yoram Hazony at a breakfast at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica, CA earlier this month. The invite-only group of Shalem friends and supporters heard Hazony's dissection of a recent CNN program that linked criticism of the State with anti-Semitism, as well as comments on Alvin Rosenfeld's much-discussed American Jewish Committee report on Jewish critics of Israel (see link to full text above in Essential Reading) A Q & A period and lively discussion continued for another hour.
Latest 'Jerusalem Seminar' Fascinating, Well Attended
More than sixty guests attended the latest event in the exclusive lecture and discussion series that brings together a select group of individuals from Jerusalem's English-speaking community with the Shalem Center's top scholars, as well as with thinkers and public figures who are leaders in the fields in which Shalem is engaged. The participants gathered at Mem Bernstein's home in the beautiful Jerusalem neighborhood of Yemin Moshe to hear Shalem Center scholars Martin Kramer and IDF Lt. Gen.(Res.) Moshe Yaalon discuss the question: "Can Iran Be Defeated?" Martin Kramer's world class knowledge of the Muslim Arab world and General Yaalon's strategic expertise provided a broad picture of the challenges and options for Israel. If you are interested in learning about similar events, here in Israel or in your home community, contact International Seminars Director, Karen Brunwasser here.
Shalem Intern Brings Azure Student Journals Program to National Prominence
Continuing the program's goal of creating forums for ideas about Israel and Judaism, veterans of the Azure student journals program are going national: organizing conferences for student writers and thinkers across the country and starting magazines. "There exists no forum for Jewish student writers and thinkers from across the political spectrum to get together," writes Bari Weiss, a Columbia University senior and 2005 Shalem intern who edits the Columbia Current, one of the Azure journals. Bari brought the journal's program together with the Jewish Student Press Service and the Center for Jewish History to co-sponsor the 36th annual National Seminar on Student Journalism. Azure editors David Hazony and Noah Pollak will address the three-day conference, other speakers include scholars Michael Walzer and Ruth Wisse, New York Times Foreign Editor Ethan Bronner, and journalist Daphne Merkin.
Fellow '05 Shalem Intern Looks at Jewish Life in Present Tense
Also creating forums in print is Ariel Beery, another 2005 Shalem Center intern. Beery's Present Tense magazine which bills itself as a "transdenominational and international marketplace of ideas," is entering its second year of publication. In addition to its paper version, the magazine sponsors events for Jewish students across the country. Beery, a Columbia '05 grad, is a graduate student at New York University.
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.tchelet.org.il
Hebraic Political Studies: www.hpstudies.org
Michael Oren: www.michaeloren.com
IDF Lt. Gen.(Res.) Moshe Yaalon: www.mosheyaalon.com
We want to hear from you. Please send comments and questions to e-news@shalem.org.il. To unsubscribe to this newsletter, please email e-news@shalem.org.il with subject "Unsubscribe".
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