SHI event this week: Jerusalem–War and Peace

 First session in a series on the ‘The “Jewishness” of Israel’

On Thursday, October 28, the Shalom Hartman Institute (SHI), in partnership with the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) “Harel” brigade  and the Givat Hatachmoshet organization (Ammunition Hill Museum) will hold a special event  in honor of author Dr. Nachum Baruchi. The event, “Jerusalem–War and Peace,” will feature lectures and discussion by prominent guest speakers. Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs will address the subject of the strategic status of Jerusalem. Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, president of SHI, will speak about the “The Vision of Jerusalem in Judaism,” focusing on the critical issues that make Jerusalem one of the most controversial cities in the world.  

The event will honor the publication of a new book by Six Day War veteran Dr. Baruchi, entitled, “The Harel Division in the Six Day War,” which recounts Dr. Baruchi’s experiences as a commander in the Harel Brigade, and the battles the unit faced on the way to uniting Jerusalem during the 1967 war.

On the site of one of the most crucial battles that ultimately allowed the IDF to gain access to the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, “Jerusalem: War and Peace” will seek to break through the rhetoric of political slogans and religious divisions that have come to cloud debates about Jerusalem. The goal of the discussion is to explore core ideas and concepts regarding the role of Jerusalem within Judaism, in the hope that such an exploration can lead to new approaches, possibilities, and solutions, and ultimately, to peace.

Facilitating this SHI-sponsored event is Colonel (reserved) Ya’akov Castel, director of the Shalom Hartman Institute Lev Aharon program, which provides  seminars for senior IDF officers. Over 1,000 senior officers a year participate in this unprecedented leadership training experience, exploring intersections of Jewish and Israeli identity, Zionism, religious pluralism, and the complex interplay between Judaism, democracy, and morality in Israeli society. For additional information on the Lev Aharon program see: http://www.hartman.org.il/Center_Edu/Program_View.asp?Program_Id=19

 

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Your Essential Rosh Hashanah Links from the Hartman Institute

With Rosh Hashanah in our minds and hearts, we are pleased to share new articles for the holiday by David Hartman and Donniel Hartman, as well as additional articles from our scholars. 

Rabbi Dr. David Hartman

•  David Hartman illuminates the significance of Rosh Hashanah through an analysis of the Akeidah:

Two of the most important biblical stories we revisit every Rosh Hashana are the binding of Isaac (known in the Hebrew parlance as the Akeida), and Abraham’s argument with God regarding the fate of the inhabitants of Sedom. These two accounts represent two different religious anthropologies: one of sacrificial self-surrender, and one of assertive moral challenge.

Read “The Akeidah”: A Window into God’s Humanity and Our Own 

• Connecting events of today with the timeless relevance of Rosh Hashanah, Donniel Hartman gives a perspective of tshuva (repentance) in relation to Middle East politics in Tshuva as the Foundation for the Renewed Israeli-Palestinian Discourse. 

 

• On a lighter note, Stuart Schoffman writes about the tumult of Jerusalem in the tourist season–and the city’s venerable history as a tourist destination, as chronicled by American literary giants Herman Melville and Mark Twain. Read Jerusalem Travel Sets the Mind Spinning.

 

• In Seder Rosh Hashanah: Special Foods and New Year Wishes, SHI fellow Noam Zion details the various edible peculiarities that have been customary on Rosh Hashanah throughout history, and their deeper significance.

The Shalom Hartman Institute wishes all of our readers a happy, healthy, and a sweet New Year! 

 

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NEW: Rabbinic Students Seminar at the Hartman Institute

The Shalom Hartman Institute announces the second year of the well-received Rabbinic Student Seminar. During the 2009-2010 academic year, 20 students from six North American rabbinical schools participated and gave phenomenal evaluations.

Click here now for secure online registration.

“We are excited about this coming year. We will again include significant time for socializing, for processing important issues having to do with spirituality, Israel related concerns, and the meaning of becoming a rabbi,” said Rabbi Dr. Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, Vice President, Shalom Hartman Institute North America, Israel Department.

 

The study this coming year will again include a variety of scholars from the Hartman faculty. Program Co-Coordinators are Dr. Melila Hellner-Eshed and Rabbi Bill Berk. Melila will teach a class every other week focusing on central biblical stories and figures, primarily in Bereshit and Sh’mot, and the ways in which they are interpreted and developed in Midrash and in the Jewish mystical teachings of the Zohar. In addition, this year we are planning a shabbaton for the group in the winter.

 

The sessions will take place weekly on Tuesday evenings from 6-10 pm. The program will begin October 12, 2010, and run through May 30, 2011. The substantially subsidized program fee for a limited number of students from each school is $390, including the shabbaton.

 

Click here now for secure online registration. If you have additional questions please contact Marlene Houri. We look forward to another rewarding year.

The Rabbinic Students Seminar in Jerusalem

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Hartman Institute Scholars to Coordinate Knesset Conference on Jewish Identity in a Democratic State of Israel

The question of how to sustain and maintain Jewish identity in a democratic State of Israel will be the subject of a daylong conference at the Knesset, May 27, 2010, expected to draw more than 400 participants and leading rabbis from all streams of religious thought in Israel.

The conference was set up by Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni, who told the Jerusalem Post:

The attention of the leaders and the public naturally is devoted first and foremost to security and diplomatic issues, but the challenges related to the character of internal Israeli society are no less important. We must work on developing the Zionist vision of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

Success dealing with the challenges of civil and social issues will make the state better able to deal with its challenges on diplomatic and security issues.

Hartman Institute participants include Ron Margolin, Ariel Picard, Gili Zivan, and Shraga Bar-on are scheduled to be the chairs of four sessions, at which lecturers will talk on various aspects of the subject. Margolin helped organize the panels. Hartman Institute’s Micah Goodman is among the participants.

“This is an attempt to have a serious conversation in the Knesset and discuss issues of Jewish identity and democracy in a rational manner,” said Ariel Picard.

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Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) in a contentious time: Hartman Institute commentary

Has there ever been a more contentious time in Jerusalem than now? Or is that a joke? It has always been the most contentious time in Jerusalem: invaders, occupants, takeovers, fences, walls, barbed wire, combat, fire, and more are in the earthly history of Jerusalem.

Yet now, while we hope and pray there is never again a shooting war in Jerusalem, is a particularly contentious time where the future of Jerusalem as an earthly and spiritual city, as well as the capital(s?) of state(s?) is under heated discussion. It seems that every apartment built, every synagogue reopened, every road/street repair causes someone to get agitated, from the President of the United States to the lowliest local resident. I do not mean to equate all of these concerns; some are clearly more serious on a global, political, and spiritual basis than others. But it does make for lively discussion when the city’s Mayor is snubbed by the White House and the Interior Minister is invited.

Herein, then, in advance of this year’s Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day – May 12, 2010)  are several articles and essays by Hartman Institute scholars on this city of many faiths, many constituents, and residents:

One Mount, Two Religions, Three Proposals

A set of surprising suggestions and recommendations for how to address perhaps the most argued over spot on Earth: the Temple Mount/Har Habayit/Haram Ash-Sharif/Mount Moriah/Noble Sanctuary from Hartman Institute’s Menachem Fisch, Israel Knohl, and Elhanan Reiner.

Professor Israel Knohl relates to the partial fulfillment of Yeshayahu’s vision; Professor Elhanan Reiner explains the idea behind aliyah le’regel; and Professor Menachem Fisch explains that the holiness of place is not connected to ownership.

Donniel Hartman: Divide Jerusalem to unite it

Jerusalem must be a divided city – divided among all aspects and ideologies of Israeli society, for only as a divided city can it be united as the capital of all Israelis. Jerusalem must be a safe city – safe for all expressions of Jewishness.

Jerusalem will achieve this only when we recognize that the city is no one’s unless it is all of ours, and when there is a new spirit in which we all actively pursue public policies that give room and respect for us all, not only our personal agendas.

Donniel Hartman: This summer in Jerusalem – heat and holiness

Jerusalem is not just the place where we convene; it is the place that enables the convention. It is in this capacity that I experienced the holiness of Jerusalem, a holiness which fosters respect, loyalty, and mutual consideration. May this be the Jerusalem we all get to experience, for this is when Jerusalem is truly a city of gold.

Rani Yaeger: Heavenly Jerusalem, Earthly Jerusalem

Forty one years after the reunification of the city’s east and west, it is time to unify heavenly Jerusalem and earthly Jerusalem. We must temper our veneration with criticism, and our criticism with veneration, neither glorifying the city so much we cannot see her flaws, nor deploring her so much we have no desire to correct them. Only once we stop loving Jerusalem from afar, once we eradicate the barriers of idealized images and disappointed dreams, will the 2,000-year exile from the city really come to an end. Only then will Jerusalem become our home.

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Joseph Cedar filming at Hartman Institute

A little glitz at the Institute: Acclaimed Israeli director Joseph Cedar (“Beaufort“) is at the Shalom Hartman Institute today, April 15, 2010, filming a scene in his new movie, “הערת שוליים”, currently being translated into English as “Footnote.” The movie, according to IMDB, is set for release this year. A large film crew is encamped at the Institute, and there is a lot of standing around while each scene is readied.

The film involves a rivalry between a father and son, both of whom are scholars.  Israeli actor Lior Ashkenazi plays the son. Today, they are using offices; in two weeks they are due back to use our octagonal beit midrash as a synagogue (not too much of a stretch; prayers are held there on a regular basis).

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Holy Living in Human Bodies: 2010 Edward Bronfman Family Foundation Annual Lecture

Holy Living in Human Bodies: 2010 Edward Bronfman Family Foundation Annual Lecture at Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, Israel. Part of the 2010 International Theology Conference, January 2010. Speakers were Dr. Melila Hellner-Eshed, Shalom Hartman Institute, Prof. Rusmir Mahmutehaji, University of Sarajevo, President, International Forum Bosnia, and Rev. David M. Neuhaus, SJ, Vicar for the Hebrew and Russian-speaking Catholic communities in Israel, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Opening remarks were made by Rabbi Prof. David Hartman. The moderator was Dr. Hami Verbin, Shalom Hartman Institute.

The Hartman Institute gratefully acknowledges the Bronfman family for supporting this annual initiative.

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Hartman Rabbinic Fellows heading home, blogging about their visit

Hartman Institute Rabbinic Fellows have concluded their Winter 2010 retreat at the Institute. They are nearing the end of their three-year program. Some of their comments from recent blog posts give you a sense of how highly they have valued the program:

Rabbi Jonah Layman: “Another week of study at the Shalom Hartman Institute has concluded and I am still amazed at how wonderful the program is. No matter the topic of study for the week – this week it was individual and community – the classes are first rate and engaging. The teaching is engaging and provocative and there is always something that I can bring home to shul to teach.” Rabbi Layman posted a nice gallery of photos on Picasa. Click here to view them.

Rabbi Steve Moskowitz: “Rabbi David Hartman created the Shalom Hartman Institute where I am now studying. He is a remarkable rabbi.  It is an honor and privilege to study with him….He is unafraid of questions.  He is unafraid of struggle, and therefore no stranger to controversy.  What is most remarkable is that I have found him to be loving and caring when addressing people and especially us, his students, yet tenacious and unforgiving when struggling with our texts.”

Rabbi Moskowitz also posted several videos on YouTube. Here’s one he titled, “Jerusalem Montage”

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David Hartman 2009 public lecture series begins October 19, will focus on traditional Judaism vs. modernity

David Hartman will focus on the clash of modernity and traditional Judaism in his fall 2009 public lectures, the Fred and Della Worms Lecture Series, which is titled, “The Spiritual Opportunities and Dangers of Halakhah:  Readings from Rosenzweig, Buber, Soloveitchik, Berkovits, Heschel, and Leibowitz.”

Dates
Oct. 19, 2009
Nov. 2, 2009
Nov. 16, 2009
Nov 30, 2009
Dec. 21, 2009

The Winter-Spring semester will be titled the Jay and Hadasa Pomrenze Lecture Series, and the topic will be: “Talmudic and Traditional Perspectives on the Legal and Moral Status of Women, Converts and Non-Jews.”

Dates
Dec. 28, 2009
Jan. 11, 2010
Jan. 25, 2010
Feb. 8, 2010
Feb. 22, 2010

For additional information, please contact Brenda Yagod, shi@shi.org.il

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Shooting of gay teens in Tel Aviv, Israel, a shocking attack

Israel – parts of it at least – promotes itself as the most tolerant country in the Middle East. Gays and lesbians have a freedom to live openly unheard of in the Arab world. Transsexual singer Dana International is a popular entertainer and TV personality. Yet… Yet… Late Saturday an unidentified shooter opened fire in a Tel Aviv club that provides a haven for gay teens and youth. Two are dead. Another 10 are wounded, some critically.

Mainstream and ultra-Orthodox politicians have risen to condemn the shooting. The Mayor of Tel Aviv pledged his city will remain friendly to and supportive of gays. Yet…there is often open talk in this country about how homosexuality is the root of many problems – even earthquakes!

Shalom Hartman Institute has made a point of being an open, pluralistic center that is a place where gay and Orthodox rabbis study together. Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman has several times on our website condemned the hateful speech of anti-gay political and religious leaders.

Read his recent posts:

This summer in Jerusalem – heat and holiness
The ultra-Orthodox, gays and the future of Jerusalem
and one from last year: When an earthquake is not just an earthquake

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