With a bold new venture in Jewish classical education, a major conference in Israel, new online courses, and discussions on vital Jewish issues, Tikvah remains as energetic as ever.

Here are some of the things we’ve been up to in recent weeks—and a preview of what’s ahead.

I. The Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education

One of Tikvah’s newest—and most exciting—projects in 2023 is the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education. Our mission: build a generation of young Jews immersed in the very best of our Jewish, Western, and American heritage. You can read about our vision in greater depth in this recent essay in Mosaic.

To advance this project, we just launched two significant new initiatives focused on developing master teachers:

1. Our first-ever degree program: the Tikvah–University of Dallas M.A. in Humanities, with a concentration in Jewish classical education. Focused on aspiring and practicing educators, Tikvah M.A. students will delve into Western civilization through a Jewish lens, while simultaneously learning how to bring those ideas into Jewish classrooms. Applications are now open—click here to learn more and apply.
   
2. The Lobel Teachers Colloquium: a series of high-level workshops at Princeton University focused on developing the ideas and strategy of Jewish classical education with teachers, education experts, and school leaders from around the world. You can learn more about the program here.

II. The Hertog Forum for National Security

We all know that America and Israel face major strategic challenges in an increasingly tense and chaotic world. How can we preserve the American-led international system in the face of a rising China? What can America and Israel do to maintain and enhance their special relationship? How can we bolster Israeli security amidst rising Palestinian violence and an increasingly belligerent Iran? Can a new alliance structure be created in the Middle East—including a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia?

To think about these crucial questions and many others, Tikvah Israel recently held the first-ever Hertog Forum for National Security in Tel Aviv: a three-day (mostly off-the-record) conference with some of the most important decision-makers from Israel, America, and around the world.

Some of our sessions and guests included:

1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in conversation with Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Russell Mead in the influences that shaped his worldview, what Israeli grand strategy should look like, and how to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship. You can watch their full conversation here.
2. The current and former U.S. Ambassadors to Israel, Tom Nides and David Friedman, on how the Jewish state can build strategic partnerships for the future.
3. U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell, Tom Cotton, and Jim Risch on America’s biggest security challenges, how Israel can help the United States, and the politics of the U.S.-Israel relationship. (Senator Cotton released a transcript of his prepared remarks, which you can read here.)
4. Secretary Mike Pompeo on what America’s global leadership should look like in today’s complicated security environment.
5. Some of the leading experts and practitioners of world affairs—including former Israeli National Security Advisors Meir Ben-Shabbat and Yaacov Amidror, human rights leaders Dr. Ebtesam Al-Ketbi and Natan Sharansky, and policy experts Mark Dubowitz and Karen Elliott House.

You can read more about the conference in columns from Walter Russell Mead in the Journal and Peter Berkowitz in RealClearPolitics.

III. New Tikvah Online Course

This year, Tikvah is making a big investment in producing more high-level online courses. Recent and forthcoming series include:

1. Just Released: “The New York Intellectuals” with Ruth Wisse
   In her new online course, Ruth Wisse—one of our most treasured teachers here at Tikvah—takes students on a tour of the New York Intellectuals. With lectures on Norman Podhoretz, Midge Decter, Milton Himmelfarb, and many others, she examines the intellectual lives of the writers and critics who became the guardians of American culture. If you haven’t yet registered, you can do so here.
2. Coming Soon: “Menachem Begin: Israel’s Jewish Prime Minister” with Daniel Gordis
   Menachem Begin is one of the most important, beloved, and misunderstood figures in Jewish history. In this six-lecture series, Begin biographer Daniel Gordis will guide students through Begin’s dramatic and consequential life, placing a special focus on how Judaism and the Hebrew Bible informed his choices. Registration for this course will open this week. Stay tuned for more information!
3. Later This Year: Exodus, the Yom Kippur War, Agnon, and More
   Later this year, Tikvah will be releasing even more online courses—including: Leon Kass on the Book of Exodus; Michael Doran on the Yom Kippur War; Micah Goodman on the Book of Samuel Rabbi Jeffrey Saks on S.Y. Agnon; and much more.

IV. Great Tikvah Conversations & Events

We’ve also held a variety of in-person and online public events in recent weeks. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Israel is in the throes of a contentious debate over judicial reform. Tikvah Israel and the Jewish Journal brought together two of the leading figures in the current dispute: MK Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and Professor Yaniv Roznai of Reichman University. They sat down to a vigorous, yet civil debate about the reforms and the ongoing political negotiations around them. You can watch the full recording here.
2. A few weeks back, Tikvah and the Jewish Parents Forum held an event with Rabbi Meir Soloveichik at the Boca Raton Synagogue in Florida. His subject: “The Bible, the Founders, and the War on American History.” Hundreds of people turned up on a Tuesday evening to hear America’s most interesting rabbi discuss how Jews should think about the cultural assault on American history. If you want to follow the latest work from Rabbi Soloveichik, you can subscribe to MeirSoloveichik.com.
3. On the Tikvah Podcast, Mosaic Editor Jonathan Silver recently sat down for a conversation with Tikvah’s chairman, Elliott Abrams, to discuss the reactions to Israel’s new government. Other recent podcast guests include Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman on ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible, and national security expert Richard Goldberg on recent joint military exercises between Israel and the U.S.

V. Tikvah Alumni in the Arena

Tikvah’s alumni are impacting public policy and public discourse on the key issues facing the Jewish people in American and Israel:

1. In December, Krauthammer Fellowship alumnus Josh Halpern co-authored a paper on anti-BDS laws and the First Amendment. In a recent brief defending their anti-BDS law before the U.S. Supreme Court, the State of Arkansas relied heavily on Halpern’s essential work. You can read the brief here.
2. Beren Collegiate Forum member Adam Hoffman took on the lack of intellectual diversity at his Ivy League campus in the pages of the New York Times. Read his piece, “My Liberal Campus Is Pushing Freethinkers to the Right,” here.
3. Zoé Tara Zeigherman, a Georgetown senior and one of our 2022 Beren Summer Fellows, completed filming a five-part video talk show featuring Dr. Einat Wilf on the topic of “Zionism and Anti-Zionism.” Zoé developed the idea for this series during her Tikvah Fellowship, and you can hear Zoé talk about her project in this video here. We look forward to sharing her completed project at the end of this coming summer!

Tikvah’s comprehensive set of programs and initiatives, all laser-focused on securing the Jewish future in America and Israel, is only possible because of the generosity of our supporters. There is no organization in the Jewish world quite like Tikvah, and we invite you to support our work at this link here.