Tikvah Scholars Program Seminars
These courses meet 2x per week over a two-week period. They are only open to Tikvah Scholars.
Jewish Bioethics with Dr. Daniel Mark
June 29, July 1, July 6, and July 8 / Mon. and Wed. / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Can Judaism have a system of ethics? Does it? And if so, what consequences might that system hold for some of the most pressing bioethical questions of our time? In this course, we will examine Jewish approaches to bioethics and consider whether, and how, a Jewish system of ethics might address today’s significant challenges.
Jewish Morality and American Democracy with Dr. Harry Ballan
July 28, July 30, August 4, and August 6 / Tues. and Thurs. / 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
From The Federalist to Tocqueville and down to the present day, the role of liberalism (under a variety of names), and relatedly of freedom and virtue, have been described and debated by observers of the American experiment. In this course, we begin with accounts of the American Founding and its principles, as well as the thinkers who inspired it, and then consider contemporary diagnoses of America as well as prescriptions for its future.
The Varieties of Religious Zionism with Dr. Michael Berger
July 27, July 29, August 3, and August 5 / Mon. and Wed. / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM ED
On its face, Zionism in its early phases was a paradox – on the one hand, a continuation of classical Judaism’s 2,000-year old dream to return to Eretz Yisrael, and on the other, a radical rejection of the assumptions, methods, and values of Rabbinic Judaism. Starting in the 1890s, a small group of Orthodox thinkers sought ways to integrate a largely secular Zionism into more traditional modes of Jewish thought. Some were motivated by pragmatic considerations, while others marshalled mystical or messianic ideas to find religious significance in a non- or even anti-religious movement. Over four sessions, we will examine the thought of the early founders of Mizrachi, Rav Avraham Hakohen Kook, post-1948 pragmatic religious Zionists, and more recent messianic and even postmodern religious Zionists, all within the context of a maturing Yishuv/state and evolving Israeli culture.
Varieties of American Conservatism with Dr. David Azerrad
July 27, July 29, August 3, and August 5 / Mon. and Wed. / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
This course traces the development of American conservative political thought in the past century with a view to understanding the major strands that comprise American conservatism: constitutional conservatism, traditional conservatism, libertarianism & classical liberalism, neoconservatism, social conservatism, and paleoconservatism. In the course of doing so, the course will introduce students to the writings of leading conservative thinkers, examine the major fault lines in American conservatism, and consider its present state and future prospects.
Ideas Electives
These courses meet 1x per week over a four-week period. They are open to both Tikvah and Maimonides Scholars.
The Heroes of Zionism: Herzl and Jabotinsky with Dr. Brian Horowitz
June 14, June 21, June 28, and July 5 / Sunday / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Two ideas—nationhood and political self-determination—form the basis of a particular kind of modern Zionism. It embodies seemingly contradictory elements: a homeland exclusively for the Jewish people that also emphasizes liberal-democratic principles, from religious freedom to minority rights. In this course, we will examine two thinkers who helped craft this worldview: Theodor Herzl and Vladimir (or Ze’ev) Jabotinsky. Through their forceful activism and writing, they articulated original ways to conceive of the Jews as a nation and the subject of their own political fate.
The Magic of the Market: Literature and Economics with Dr. Sarah Skwire and Dr. Steve Horwitz
June 14, June 21, June 28, and July 5 / Sunday / 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Students in this course will have the opportunity to make economics come alive through literature, and consider how literature presents the ideas of economics by engaging in a wide-ranging conversation with instructors designed to deepen understanding of both subjects. Team-taught by an economist and a literature scholar, the course will introduce students to the concepts of specialization/division of labor, opportunity cost, subjective value, and spontaneous order. Readings may include authors such as Adam Smith, F. A. Hayek, Frederic Bastiat, Frank O’Hara, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Frost.
Economics and the Human Good with Dr. James Otteson
June 15, June 22, June 29, and July 6 / Monday / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
What contribution can the principles of economic reasoning make toward our understanding of the nature of, and the chances of achieving, the human good? In this course, we will examine seminal texts exploring human nature, the nature of the human condition, the nature of a good human life, and how markets and economics affect our ability to create lives of meaning and purpose.
American Autobiographies: Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglas with Louis Petrich
July 13, July 20, July 27, August 3 / Monday / 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Benjamin Franklin was the first person to define, by means of his own personal history, what it means to be an American, in possession of new virtues befitting the new political and economic orders of the country that he did so much to found. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a classic of the genre, and exemplary Americans ever since have emulated its form and ambition. Perhaps the greatest in that sequence is “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself.” Participants in this seminar will read and discuss both these autobiographies to witness how human beings become cultured by western civilization in its latest American incarnation. Central to that activity of formation is the study of certain worthy things and the fight against enemies inside and out to make oneself worthy of them.
Freedom without Freedom with Dr. Tamara Tweel
July 13, July 20, July 27, August 3 / Monday / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Try to define freedom. Do you land on words like choice, speech, or even obligation? Does your language emerge from the realm of politics or literature, psychology or religion? In this course, we will study the evolving idea and experience of freedom. Studying texts chosen from ancient philosophy, modern literature, and political history, we will read excerpts from Thucydides, Frederick Douglass, and Herman Melville. We will ask ourselves how this term has developed and begin to shape our own definitions of a concept that has great relevance for our moral and political lives, particularly in a time of uncertainty, instability, and confinement.
The Nature of Reason with Rabbi Mark Gottlieb and Dr. RJ Snell
July 14, July 21, July 28, August 4 / Tuesday / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
In our cultural moment, society appears to have decided to favor quantitative over qualitative reasoning, and with notable results in the sciences, technology, and medicine. At the same time, this reduction of reason to what can be “observed and counted” has left a gaping hole in issues relating to morality, spirituality, and meaning. Can our understanding of reason be expanded to avoid reductionism while still remaining rational and rigorous? Can reason be large enough to make meaningful contributions to our understanding of morality and religion?