$2 Million in Gifts for Shalem College

June 2008 | Sivan 5768

Greetings from Jerusalem. Shalem E-News brings with it updates and information about progress in areas key to our mission at the Shalem Center. Shalem is preparing a new generation of young people able to examine their world at the highest level of discourse and lead the way for the Jewish people. Our work is rooted in the following principles: Serious engagement with the broad tradition of classical Western sources, the creative investigation of Jewish sources, and active preparation for a lifetime of Jewish service. We encourage you to send us the email addresses of your friends who you think might like to receive news of our activities. Please email us at e-news@shalem.org.il. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe to the E-News list please follow the instructions at the end of this email.

Klarman Family Foundation, George and Pamela Rohr Pledge $1 Million Each to Help Launch Shalem College
Two generous commitments of $1 million each have been made in support of establishing Shalem College by the Klarman Family Foundation of Boston and by George and Pamela Rohr of New York. These generous gifts are part of a campaign recently launched to attract the seed money needed to lay the groundwork for Israel’s first liberal arts college. Shalem College will offer top students from Israel and the Diaspora a unique core curriculum in the humanities and Jewish thought, modeled on the finest undergraduate institutions in the Anglo-American liberal arts tradition.  By building Shalem College, the Shalem Center will be extending its intellectual community to include those students who will be the future leadership of the State of Israel and the Jewish world.  Click here to read more about Shalem College:

Toronto Prime Minister’s Mission Comes to Shalem
More than 75 members of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto Prime Minister’s Mission visited the Shalem Center on May 7, Israel Independence Day, where they met with Shalem Foundation Chairman Yair Shamir, President Daniel Polisar, Provost Yoram Hazony, Senior Vice President Daniel Gordis, and Shalem students. The mission, headed by leaders of Toronto’s Jewish community, heard speeches by Shamir and Hazony on the challenges facing Israel and participated in a vibrant discussion of how to meet those challenges. As part of a full roster of activities over 9 days, the group also met separately with Shalem Senior Fellows Yossi Klein Halevi and Michael Oren for further briefings and discussions. Click here to see photos of the visit:

Shalem Center Purchases Historic Building in German Colony
Additional progress toward the establishment of Shalem College was made this month when the Shalem Center purchased the picturesque building which houses Shalem’s main lecture hall and seminar room, as well as Shalem Press and the Azure journal. Located in the heart of Jerusalem’s Greek Colony, the as-yet unnamed 1930s Bauhaus-style structure covers three floors totaling 3,700 square feet and has an extensive garden. Click here to see images of the building on Hatzfira Street:

A.B Yehoshua in Azure: Is Jewish Identity Responsible for Hatred of the Jews?
“An Attempt to Identify and Understand the Root of Antisemitism,” was first published in Hebrew in 2005 and provoked intense public debate. Azure, following its commitment to provide a forum for the most challenging contemporary voices in Jewish thought, presents the first English translation of A.B. Yehoshua’s controversial essay. Yehoshua sets out to analyze and describe the quintessence of antisemitism in its various historical and cultural incarnations. He asserts that it is Jewish identity’s unique structure that itself creates antisemitism’s venomous reaction. After publication of his essay in Hebrew, Yehoshua said: “Because there is something unclear in their identity, the antisemite can easily project his problems, his fantasies, on the Jews. The Jew is like a text with a lot of gaps. As a Zionist, I know our purpose is to be among ourselves and not to wander again in the world. The Diaspora Jews have to know that the structure of their identity invites antisemitism. They need to decide themselves if the price is too high." Click here to read A.B. Yehoshua’s essay in Azure 32:

Michael Oren Hosted Aboard USS Truman, Cited in US Congress
Shalem Senior Fellow Michael Oren joined a select delegation of Israelis flown to the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday and the friendship between America and Israel. Oren’s best seller Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present has just gone into its fourth paperback printing and remains a fixture of public debate in America. The book was recently cited in Congressional Testimony as a “brilliant discussion” of the US-Israel relationship. Click here to see pictures from the USS Truman visit:

TAU Economist: Israel’s Economics Departments Suffering “Implosion”
A report by Dr. Dan Ben-David, a Tel Aviv University economist and Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, examines the precipitous decline of Israeli economics departments in recent years. According to Ben-David’s findings, since 2000 top young Israeli economists have been leaving the country at an alarming rate, with three recent graduates leaving for every one remaining. This is caused, the report argues, by markedly lower salaries in Israel compared with the US, and by a system of academic promotion which does not reward talent. “Without qualified economists to advise the public sector, the economic reforms of recent years could well be undone," Shalem Senior Fellow and economist Omer Moav told E-News. Click here to read the report:

Peres, Murdoch Establish Task Force to Found Elite High School
Israeli President Shimon Peres and media leader and entrepeneur Rupert Murdoch have joined those working to improve Israeli education and train its next generation of leaders. The two have established a task force which is also set to include Leslie Wexner, chairman of the Limited Brands Corporation, and New York Daily News publisher Mortimer Zuckerman. Their goal is an elite Israeli high school which would “be a model for raising the level of Israeli education.” Click here to read the Jerusalem Post article: 

Liberal Education, Then and Now
Noted public intellectual Peter Berkowitz argues in “Liberal Education, Then and Now” that although the present state of the universities is alarming, it is not beyond repair. Presenting the educational theories of John Stuart Mill, he argues that “reforming the university is as urgent as the obstacles to it are formidable. Citizens today confront a mind-boggling array of hard questions… No citizen can be expected to master all the issues. But liberal democracies count on more than a small minority’s acquiring the ability to reason responsibly about the many sides of these many-sided questions.”  Click here to read the article:

Jewish Studies Now Reach More Israelis
An increasing number of programs for adults offer instruction in traditional Jewish sources to non-traditional Israelis, according to noted columnist Evelyn Gordon, writing in the Jerusalem Post. Gordon argues that familiarity with Jewish sources could form the basis of a “common language,” able to bridge religious and social divides and drive “joint social action.” She warns that “if the Jewish state is culturally indistinguishable from any other Western state its citizens are liable to question whether the sacrifices necessary to maintain it are worthwhile.” Click here to read the article:

Visiting Scholars Series: Professor of Philosophy David Schmidtz to Speak in Jerusalem
Philosophy Professor David Schmidtz, joint Professor of Economics, and Director of the Philosophy of Freedom Program at the University of Arizona will be the first participant in Shalem's new Visiting Scholars Series. The Series is designed to feature scholars from abroad who write and publish on subjects of interest to Shalem's academic community. Schmidtz will spend three days at Shalem's Institute of Philosophy, Political Theory, and Religion, between June 23-25, and will deliver two lectures. The first, “Ownership and Justice: On the Artificial, the Arbitrary, and Natural Facts in Property Regimes” will be open to Shalem Faculty and Staff. “The Prehistory of Liberty: Truck and Barter and the Ascent of Man” scheduled for later in the week is open to the broader Israeli academic community and will be held at Beit Nativ. Click here to read more about Shalem's Institute of Philosophy, Politics, and Religion:

Sharansky’s New Book Defending Identity Quickly Wins Praise
Early reviews praising Adelson Institute Chairman Natan Sharansky’s new book Defending Identity have been published. The book argues that identity is freedom’s greatest ally in the struggle against tyranny. Ira Stoll writes in the NY Sun that “the most compelling proof in Mr. Sharansky's account is his own life story.” A Jerusalem Post review “Rediscovering the Will to Win” states: “Defending Identity cuts to the heart of the malaise that causes many in Europe and America to refuse to understand the threat to their freedoms that post-identity thinking represents.” The Sun concludes, “Mr. Sharansky's last book, 'The Case for Democracy,' was famously endorsed by Mr. Bush, who gave Mr. Sharansky the Medal of Freedom. If the next American president reads this latest book by Mr. Sharansky on the interplay between identity, democracy, and freedom, it could be more important than any CIA or State Department briefing in understanding the foreign policy horizon." Click here to read the latest reviews:

General Moshe Ya’alon Receives Award for Leadership and Courage in Los Angeles
In a Los Angeles ceremony hosted by the Israel Christian Nexus and sponsored by the Israeli consulate, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles as well as local synagogues and churches, Adelson Distinguished Fellow General Moshe Ya’alon was presented with the “King David Award for Courage and Leadership in Defense of the State of Israel.” Capping a distinguished career in the IDF, Lt. Gen. (Res.) Ya’alon served as Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2005, and is currently a Distinguished Fellow at Shalem’s Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies, where he is writing a book laying out a strategic vision for Israel. Click here to read more about Moshe Ya’alon:

The Media Line: IDC Herzliya, Shalem College Cited as ‘Reaching for the Skies’ Academically
A feature story on Israeli higher education appearing recently on multimedia Middle East news source The Media Line considers the growth of private institutions of higher education in Israel. Two of these, IDC Herzliya and the proposed Shalem College, are singled out as efforts to produce “small, superior colleges” that “reach for the skies” academically. Shalem Senior Vice President Daniel Gordis is quoted as saying: “[Shalem College] will not driven by market niches but by what the next generation of Israeli leadership needs to have read and thought about. The goal is to contribute to the state of Israel.” Click here to read the story:  

Yossi Klein Halevi Addresses Syrian Intentions in LA Times
A Los Angeles Times article by Senior Fellow Yossi Klein Halevi addresses recent talk of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Voicing his suspicions regarding Syrian intentions, Klein Halevi argues that Syrian President Assad does not fit the model of a leader committed to peace and notes that “negotiations with Israel -- regardless of whether they actually succeed -- help Assad… by deflecting world attention from the destruction of Lebanese sovereignty and by transforming him from pariah to peacemaker.” Click here to read ‘Who Gets the Golan?’:

Four Post-Doctoral Fellows to Join Shalem in the Coming Year
The Shalem Center will be expanding its post-graduate fellowships in the upcoming academic year. Starting in academic year 2008-2009, four post-doctoral students with outstanding academic credentials will pursue original research at Shalem, helping to build and teach innovative courses to be offered within the framework of the future Shalem College. Over the last three years, Shalem has offered 104 graduate and undergraduate courses on varied subjects to top students from Israel and around the world. Click here to read about Shalem's Post-Doctoral Fellowships: 

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
The undergraduate program: www.shalemstudents.org
Hebraic Political Studies: www.hpstudies.org
Daniel Gordis: www.danielgordis.org
Michael Oren: www.michaeloren.com
IDF Lt. Gen.(Res.) Moshe Yaalon: www.mosheyaalon.com

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