.With a long roster of important think tanks, Israel can boast many a scholar, educator, philosopher and thinker who are actively considering the challenges and complications of living in the Middle East.
Jerusalem’s Van Leer Institute, near the President’s Residence, is one of the local grande dames, established by the Van Leer family in 1959, focusing on Israeli society, culture, education and philosophical thought. Bernard van Leer, the founding father of the institute, wanted to create a place where all could meet and study democracy and justice, regional cultures and the values of a society founded on the principles of equality for all people.
A guiding principle of Van Leer is mankind – all of it, including Israel’s neighbors – all of them -- and creating a meeting place where open communication and respect could be fostered along with learning and appreciating each other’s differences as well as cultural and religious norms. Van Leer is a place for higher education as well as a hothouse for emerging local scholars and thinkers, such as Hebrew University law professor Ruth Gavison. It offers an open forum for expressing innovative thoughts and ideas, to present and debate, write and publish. A cadre of fellows generates an environment of thoughtful action and reaction and a commitment to scholarship at the highest level. Jewish culture and religion is the springboard for discussions about democracy, about Middle Eastern philosophy and Jewish thought. It is also a place that concerns itself with an improved civil society that offers lessened tensions for all and as Van Leer himself put it, for the “betterment of mankind.”
Over in the neighboring German Colony, the Shalem Center is dedicated to both the public life of the Jewish people – educationally and intellectually – with a focus on Jewish morals, Zionist theory and history, politics and public policy and Jewish leadership.
Founded in 1994 by a group of academics and public figures, the Shalem Center aims to be a place of reinvigorating modern Zionism and political theory and methodology. With a roster of thinkers and lecturers, including Israel’s U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren, Shalem aims to train new cultural and intellectual leaders who will work both in Israel and the Diaspora to create a new understanding of Israel. That understanding will include facing her challenges, her history – past, present and future – and stemming the rising tide of anti-Israel sentiment so prevalent in the world today.
Like the Van Leer Institute, the Shalem Center is focused on training the next generation through higher education with the soon-to-be inaugurated Shalem College program – as well as new programs aimed at Israeli teens, graduate students and beyond. Recognizing that a breakthrough in education is necessary in Israel today, the Shalem Center intends to offer a place of open thought, dialogue and discussion. The thinking is that out -of -the -box training is the way to develop the thoughtful, smart and insightful leaders of tomorrow.
The common thread that binds the research institutes is concern for Israel and the Jewish people – their success, continued progress and maturity as a democratic people. Beyond that, there is the concern about how to advance freedom and democracy in a world of increasing religious fundamentalism, how to foster new cooperation with Israel’s neighbors and important allies taking into consideration the peace and security of her people, how to move ahead in the years to come as a beacon for decency, powerful ideas and measured leadership.
The existence of both of these modern institutes of higher education are critical in Israel today, as well as Jerusalem, a city with a rapidly growing percentage of ultra Orthodox and often conservative-minded population. As places that value open thought and discourse, where ideas and minds can be opened and opinions expressed, they share goals critical to Israel’s growth as a mature society – Jewishly and socially. The Shalem Center’s raison d’etre is ensuring Jewish peoplehood – developing the leaders of today and tomorrow, who will care about collective goals and equality, within the framework of Jewish concerns and Jewish ethics. At the Van Leer Institute, educators and academics from all walks of life are offered the chance to study, share and speak their minds, with an interest to creating a population that cares about societal needs and interests of all peoples living in the region.
Two institutes, varying approaches, one main goal – insuring the success and development of modern day Israel, a place of peace, prosperity and common thought.
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