Do you believe in these propositions?
First: The Jews are an exceptional people; Jewish civilization is a treasure for the world; the Jewish state is a heroic achievement.
Second: American self-government—with its cherished principles of religious liberty, a free economy, and strong communities—is a precious inheritance.
Third: The rising generation of American Jews has a responsibility to enter the public arena—inspired by the great thinkers and statesmen of past ages—in order to defend our loftiest ideals and our enlightened interests.
Fourth: Mentors matter: young Jews need models of excellence in politics, education, journalism, religious leadership, law, and business.
The Tikvah-Beren Collegiate Forum is a community of select college students from across North America committed to the Jewish people and their flourishing; dedicated to the preservation of the American project; morally courageous in the face of ideological intolerance; and eager to pursue a serious liberal education. Our members can attend as many events as they like throughout the school year. Some are held in a digital classroom, some are in person. All are of the highest quality. Below you can read about four mini-courses that we are offering in winter/spring 2022.
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Current Members: Select Your Classes Here
SPECIAL SEMINAR: Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" and the War in Ukraine
Samuel Huntington's essay is a remarkable meditation on the limits of Western power and the permanence of civilizational conflict, as salient today as it was twenty-nine years ago. From "The Clash of Civilizations?" have come countless scholarly and popular debates about the post-Cold War age. Have we reached "the end of history?" Will war be with us forever? What will it look like going forward?
Great Essays Sequence I: "What Is the Purpose of American Power?"
In this three session mini-course, we will read essays that think deeply about the purpose of American Power. How narrowly should we understand the idea of “American Interests?” And when, if ever, should we step outside of the paradigm of interests and allow that our moral values should shape our foreign policy?
Great Essays Sequence II: "How Has Zionism Changed Judaism?"
In this four session mini-course, we will discuss Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s masterpiece, "Kol Dodi Dofek." How does “the Rav” advise the halachic community to orient themselves to the project of Zionism? The course will also discuss a pair of powerful recent essays that reexamine the contemporary implications of the rivalry between Theodor Herzl and Ahad Ha’am, two founders of Zionism.
Great Essays Sequence III: "Has Technology Abolished Mankind?"
In this four session mini-course, we will examine opposed ways of understanding the relationship between human intelligence and human embodiment. At stake is the question of whether it is coherent to imagine a future where intelligence is “liberated” from the body’s limits. We will explore the pros and cons of putting limits on the technological enterprise. We will conclude with a screening of the recent film "Ex Machina", which will bring many of the courses themes to life, as only science fiction can.
Great Essays Sequence IV: "Sex, Family, and Human Nature,"
In this three session mini-course we will ask the following questions: How important to human flourishing are the biological differences between men and women? How do our sexual appetites relate to our whole psyche? Is the traditional Jewish view of marriage grounded in unchanging facts of nature? In revealed law that must be re-examined as social conditions change? Or merely in social conventions that become outdated and need to be tossed aside or overcome?
Great Essays Sequence V: "Against the Stream: Conservative Ideas and the Jewish Future"
In this three session mini-course, we will probe recent statements from Tikvah’s leading voices on how Jews should orient themselves towards the various forces shaping life in America and Israel. Each essay seeks in its own way to defend Biblical morality from its secularist detractors while salvaging the best of Enlightenment liberalism—especially the freedom of worship—from decay.