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Tikvah Advanced Institutes: Summer 2022

Review and Choose Your Courses Below

Summer 2022 Tikvah Advanced Institutes and Working Groups

Building Strong Families in Late Modernity 

with Scott Yenor, Claremont Institute 

Sundays, 9:30–11:00 AM ET: May 22, May 29, June 12 

This course aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the forces undermining marriage and family life in the modern situation and to point a way forward to a modernity more open to marriage and family life. It begins with an investigation of the underlying philosophic assumptions and the political goals of modern feminism and the sexual liberation movement so as to understand the ideological threats to marriage and family life. Then it investigates some of the major problems and shortcomings of these ideologies, so as to show that there is room for an alternative more consistent with human nature. Lastly, we put the Christian and Jewish traditions in dialogue on what the future of marriage and family life could be given the limits of our time and place.

Scott Yenor is a professor of political science at Boise State University and a Washington Fellow at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life. He has written two books for Baylor University Press: Family Politics: The Idea of Marriage in Modern Political Thought (2011) and The Recovery of Family Life: Exposing the Limits of Modern Ideologies (2020). Recovery is being translated into several languages, including Hebrew. He also has written for The American Mind, City Journal, Law & Liberty, First Things, The American Reformer, and other outlets. He lives in Meridian, Idaho with his wife, Amy, with whom he has five children.

 

The Ideology of Israeli’s Political Right: From Jabotinsky to Netanyahu

with Brian Horowitz, Tulane University 

Sundays, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM ET: May 22, May 29, June 12, June 19, June 26

The Israeli right’s hold on political power since 1977 is nothing short of astounding. Its leaders have shaped government policy while its activists have driven the development of Israeli political thought. This course will involve an excavation of the ideological origins of Zionism’s political right to explore the personalities and events that animate Israeli conservatism. We will look closely at the speeches by Ze’ev Jabotinsky and leaders from groups in the 1930s and 40s—Betar, Brit ha-Biryonim, Etzel and Lehi—as well as the ideas of Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Among our questions will be:

  • What is Israeli conservatism and how far does it overlap with the concept of Israeli political right?
  • How can we explain the long period of conservative opposition in the early years of the state? Was it fruitful to be in opposition? What problems did the right face when it eventually gained power?
  • Has the popularity of Israel’s right-wing governments changed the image of Israel? Which policies have been most effective and which have not been successful?
  • What role has U.S. politics played for the Israeli right, and what about the Palestinian problem?
  • What is the role of religion in the Israeli conservative movement?

Brian Horowitz is the Sizeler Family Chair Professor of Jewish Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans. He is an award-winning and noted scholar of Zionism and Russian literature and the author of many books, including Vladimir Jabotinsky: The Russian Years (2020) and Russian-Jewish Tradition:  Intellectuals, Historians, Revolutionaries (2017).

Israel-China Working Group *Invitation Only*

with Harry Halem, Tikvah Fund 

The ICWG brings together some of the best young minds from the United States and Israel engaged in understanding and combating the strategic threat posed by China. The ICWG opens with an eight-week seminar and speaker series, held virtually. Then, participants are invited to contribute a paper on a specialized topic of their choosing. These papers are presented at a joint conference bringing together the American and Israeli participants in person. In general, the ICWG frames Sino-Israeli relations in two prisms: first, through that of broader Chinese history, policy, and strategy, and second, through that of regional political competition. The ICWG hopes to inculcate a holistic understanding of Chinese objectives, an integrated view of Chinese strategy, and a truly strategic understanding of the Sino-Israeli relationship. This will allow participants to make coherent arguments that further shared US and Israeli strategic objectives and ensure the Jewish State and American Republic can continue their strategic, political, and social partnership during an impending period of intense great-power rivalry, and possibly great-power war.

with Devorah Goldman, Tikvah Fund 

This Manhattan-based discussion series will take place over five weeks beginning at 7:30 pm on June 9th and will cover the influential and incisive 1985 book Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Written by a team of sociologists led by Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart seeks to make sense of the American character by tracing the diverse influences upon it, particularly the biblical, civic, and individualistic traditions in American life. Through case studies based on hundreds of interviews, the book also sketches Americans’ understanding of the self, the family, the workplace, friendship, and the role of therapy.
These discussion groups will be relatively informal, but careful reading of the text and consistent attendance is expected