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Amitai Etzioni Delivers Bernstein Lecture to Overflow Crowd
January 2009 | Tevet, 5769
Greetings from Jerusalem. In this regularly scheduled edition of E-News, we are proud to bring you news of our academic and research work, as well as our efforts to bring greater awareness to the need to address the higher education crisis in Israel. Please do forward this email to friends and colleagues you think may like to receive it, or simply send names and email addresses to us at e-news@shalem.org.il and we’ll send them a monthly edition of E-News fresh from the server.
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Amitai Etzioni Delivers Annual Bernstein Lecture to Overflow Crowd
An audience of two hundred, including students and scholars from around Israel and the world, attended Shalem's 11th annual Zalman C. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in Jewish Political Thought. On January 22, Professor Amitai Etzioni of George Washington University spoke on "The Conflict Between Rights and the Common Good." Etzioni, who argued that the Bible is aware of the need for a fine balance between personal freedoms and obligations to a particular community, went on to say that this balance is missing from the work of much current political thought. For more on the ZCB lecture series click here:
Shalem Middle East Studies and Strategic Studies Scholars Present Analysis on Confrontation with Hamas
As Israel faced the multifaceted and painful challenge of confronting the Hamas regime in Gaza, Shalem scholars delivered daily, in-depth and up to date analysis on Israel's situation. Shalem Scholars in the fields of Middle East and Strategic Studies, including Michael Oren, Natan Sharansky, Martin Kramer, Ze’ev Maghen, Daniel Polisar, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Daniel Gordis contributed during the war to more than 100 major television, radio and print media outlets including CNN, Fox News Channel, the BBC, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Globe and Mail and CBC. Click here for a summary of links to the major Articles and appearances:
Joshua Berman’s Created Equal National Jewish Book Award Finalist
Shalem scholar Joshua Berman’s new book Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought (Oxford University Press, 2008) continues to earn wide critical praise. The February 2009 edition of First Things magazine notes “Berman makes a number of splendid observations and his book is well worth reading,” concluding, the “book reminds us of an underappreciated element of our common biblical heritage.” Jerusalem Post columnist Evelyn Gordon writes that the book “argues that the Bible introduced what were then radical notions of political and economic equality… I was stunned by their ongoing relevance even millennia later.” In news just announced, the book is a finalist in the scholarship category of the National Jewish Book Awards. The Awards ceremony will be held in March in New York City. Joshua Berman is also a senior lecturer in Bible at Bar Ilan University. Click here to read about the book in the Jerusalem Post.
HPS Symposium on ‘Jerusalem and Athens’ explores ‘What Jerusalem is all about’
The latest issue of Hebraic Political Studies is now in circulation, presenting papers from the September 2008 Political Hebraism Conference co-sponsored by Shalem and Princeton University. The issue includes a roundtable discussion on the topic “Jerusalem and Athens Revisited.” Engaging with scholars from Clemson, Colgate, Princeton and Rutgers Universities, Shalem Provost and Senior Fellow Yoram Hazony’s essay “Jerusalem and Carthage” warns that creating what is essentially a false dichotomy between “faith” and “reason” creates a blindness to “the role played by human collectives in the quest for knowledge in general, and in the Jewish pursuit of God’s wisdom in particular.” This false dichotomy, he asserts, “threatens to leave us in almost complete ignorance of what Jerusalem is all about.” Click here to read HPS online:
Several American Universities Suspend Study Abroad Programs in Israel
Major American universities including the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers and Duke University have chosen to suspend their study abroad programs in Israel in the wake of the Gaza operation launched in late December 2008. At Penn, the decision to suspend the programs came in response to a U.S State Department warning issued on January 6, 2009 calling for American citizens in Israel to "to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness." Rutgers University followed suit several days later, advising its students to defer their travel to Israel. Duke University has also suspended its six-week 'Duke in Israel' program that included opportunities for students to assist disadvantaged communities in Israel. Many other universities, including Cornell, are continuing with their programs: "Obviously, if we felt our students were in particular danger in any country, we could withdraw them" said Richard Gaulton, director of Cornell Abroad. Click here to read the article:
Ruth Gavison Speaks Out on Israel’s Future
A wide-ranging interview recently appeared in Ha’aretz with Ruth Gavison, who heads the Metzilah Center for Zionist, Jewish, Liberal and Humanistic thought, and is a member of the Public Council of Shalem College (currently in formation). In the interview, Gavison speaks about Zionism and Israel’s future, telling Ha’aretz: “I think I speak for the large majority of the Israeli public that wants to maintain this country as a state that is both Jewish and democratic... I'll fight any attempt to label me and my message…. I reflect the backbone of the people in Israel." Gavison is also a Professor of Law at Hebrew University. Click here to read the interview:
Times of London: Israel Acts Because World Won’t Defend It
Writing in the Times of London, Daniel Finkelstein argues for the controversial thesis that the historical essence of Zionism is the need to stand firm, when necessary, even against world opinion. Recalling the experience of his mother and aunt in 1944 at the Belsen concentration camp, where they were sent together with Anne and Margot Frank, he writes: “The origin of the state of Israel is not religion or nationalism… [but rather] the bitter conclusion that world opinion could not be relied upon to protect the Jews.” Lamenting the plight of the Palestinians, he promises Israel “will lay down its arms when the Jews are safe, but it will not do it until they are.” Click here to read the article:
Read Shalem's IHEU Updates
The Shalem Center closely follows the state of higher education in Israel, which in recent years has entered what is widely believed by Israeli experts to be a crisis. Because many outside of Israel are almost entirely unaware of what is happening, Shalem has decided to offer regular updates to our friends concerning important developments in Israeli higher education. We hope these updates will provide a balanced and informative picture, as well as proposals as to what can be done. Click here to read or subscribe to the updates:
Shalem Center Website en Francais
The Shalem Center’s website - which contains information on Shalem’s institutes, scholars, research, activities, student programs and our vision for the establishment Shalem College, Israel’s first privately funded liberal-arts college – is now online in French. We invite our French-speaking friends and supporters to browse Shalem’s website en français:
Professor Steven Grosby Lectures on Hebraic “Third Culture”
As part of the Shalem Center’s ongoing Visiting Scholars and Works in Progress Seminars, Professor Steven Grosby of Clemson University delivered a talk on Hebraic culture entitled “The Third Culture.” Grosby, who is a member of the editorial board of Shalem’s peer-reviewed quarterly Hebraic Political Studies, discussed the reception of Hebraic ideas in the West, asking “How is one to account for the resilience of the image of ancient Israel as a key object in the historical imagination of the Occident?” Click here to read about the Shalem Visiting Scholar series:
Uriya Shavit Joins Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies
Uriya Shavit recently became the Adelson Institute’s newest Associate Fellow. Shavit, 34, will serve as Director of the Institute’s Programs in Democracy, which encourage and aid Palestinians in the development of the economic, legal and educational infrastructure necessary for a stable civil society. Shavit is also a fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University and the author of The Wars of Democracy: Arabs and the West since the end of the Cold War (2007). Click here to read more about the Adelson Institute:
A Jewish Jerusalem, 1816
Shalem Senior Fellow Arie Morgenstern published a book The Return to Jerusalem (Shalem Press, 2007 [Hebrew]) based on original research into the settlement of Jerusalem in 1816 by followers of the Gaon of Vilna. Known as the “Talmedei HaGra,” these religious settlers were instrumental in rebuilding the Old City and the first Jewish neighborhoods outside its walls. Morgenstern argues that their efforts to “hasten the redemption by natural means” were instrumental in laying the foundations of the future state of Israel. An excerpt of the book was recently translated and published in English, and is available on-line. Click here to read that excerpt:
Controversy in Azure on the Meaning of Humanism
The 34th edition of Azure is now available in print and online. A new ‘Controversy’ section offers heated debate between professors David Heyd, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Leon Kass, of the University of Chicago and the American Enterprise Institute. In Articles entitled “Man as His Own Maker” (Heyd) and “A Truer Humanism” (Kass), they debate man’s status as a self-creating being, the ability of science to replace religion, and man’s creation in God’s image. Articles also appear distinguished fellow Michael Oren and senior economics fellow Omer Moav, and by Lt. Gen (res.) Moshe Ya’alon, with fresh perspectives on American Zionism, the Israeli economy, and the peace process. Click here to read selected Articles from Azure 34, the preeminent forum for open and enlightened debate on issues of concern to Israel and the entire Jewish world:
Manhattan Seminar: Michael Oren Argues for New Book on Israel’s Creation
The latest in Shalem’s Manhattan Seminar Series was held on December 16 at the home of Jeff and Lauren Altholz and featured a talk by Shalem Distinguished Fellow Michael Oren. A standing-room only audience heard Oren speak on “Why Does a New Book on Israel’s Creation Need to be Written?” in which he addressed the history of Israel’s struggle for independence, and his own plans to write “the first complete narrative history of Israel’s creation.” Oren’s new work in progress will join his bestselling books on the Six-Day War and American Middle East involvement since 1776. Click here for information on attending future Manhattan Seminars:
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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