Israel’s future as the world’s only Jewish democracy depends on the strength of its citizens’ dual commitment to Judaism and core Jewish values. Yet many Israelis face a crisis of identity triggered by the predominant perception of Judaism in Israel as rigid and extreme.
 
The Education Center for Israeli-Jewish Identity brings to life the richness and vibrancy of pluralistic forms of contemporary Judaism for Israelis nationwide, from non-religious high school students to senior officers in the IDF. Spearheading innovative educational initiatives that nurture Jewish-Israeli knowledge, identity and pride, the Education Center enables Israelis to reclaim their birthright – a 3,000 year-old legacy of enduring value and strength – while laying new foundations for Israel’s future.
 
The Center spearheads three key programs that impact broadly on Israeli society:
Be’eri Initiative for Pluralistic Jewish Education
 
Be’eri serves as a nationwide resource center for Israel’s public non-religious high schools. Be’eri transforms schools into providers of meaningful and diverse expressions of Jewish life for their communities. Working at present with over 50 schools and tens of thousands of students, Be’eriis a far-reaching, comprehensive intervention program that places Jewish identity studies at the center of secular Israeli high school education. Within five years Be’eri will encompass 120 schools (25% of the country’s non-religious high schools), on its way to transforming the educational system across Israel. Back to top 

Lev Aharon IDF Senior Officers Program

Lev Aharon equips Israel's senior officers, who are the country's future public and private sector leaders, with a new understanding of Israeli-Jewish identity. Back to top

Hartman Model Orthodox Boys and Girls High Schools

Hartman high schools nurture a generation of future leaders within Israel’s Orthodox community committed to democratic values and to a modern Orthodoxy open to new ideas and respectful of the diversity in Israeli and Jewish life. Serving 700 students the high schools – the Charles E. Smith High School for Boys and the Midrashiya for Girls provide rigorous Jewish and general studies programs, while nurturing critical thinking, tolerance, individual creativity, community leadership, and social responsibility. Back to top

     
   
Hartman Institute Explores Purim, the ‘Strangest’ Holiday
Is Purim just a time out from Jewish ethics to let us relax and have a good time or does it offer an alternative worldview that can contribute to our self understanding?
Israeli Conversion
The dramatic changes in the character of Jewish existence in the modern era have reshaped the spheres of Jewish identity and have made it necessary to create conversion mechanisms that are appropriate to the new possibilities
Hartman Boys HS Wins Israel National Education Award
Hartman Institute’s Charles E. Smith Experimental High School for Boys has won the National Education Award, one of the highest possible honors that can be conferred upon an academic institution in Israel
New on the Hartman website - Hebrew teachers guides for downloading
New educational material for Israeli teachers in Hebrew from Shalom Hartman Institute for downloading
Update: David Hartman lecture January 11: Eric Fromm’s humanistic approach to halakha
January 11 lecture completes Fred and Della Worms Lecture Series on spiritual opportunities and dangers of halakha
Hartman Institute launches Hebrew website
Hartman Institute launches Hebrew website
Hartman Institute announces reorganization for growth
The Shalom Hartman Institute is pleased to announce a new organizational structure built around three centers focusing on our core areas of advanced Judaic Studies research, educational initiatives in Israel, and North American leadership development.
Hartman Institute scholars, ideas, and programs in the news recently
Hartman Institute ideas, scholars, and programs - Be’eri - have been in the news a great deal recently
Melamdim 2009 class begins: New Jewish studies teachers training begins
Melamdim 2009 class begins: New Jewish studies teachers training leading to MA in affiliation with Tel Aviv University
High school students distribute hundreds of holiday food packages
The Shalom Hartman Institute Boys High School this past week conducted its fourth annual Rosh Hashana food distribution program to families throughout Jerusalem
Afflict your soul, but don’t you dare endanger your life
The mitzvah of afflicting one’s soul does not undermine the principle that Shabbat and Yom Kippur and all of Jewish law, for that matter, are not intended by God to cause physical or emotional damage
Seder Rosh Hashana: Symbolic foods and New Year wishes
Since the days of the Talmud the foods on the holiday table have been transformed into informal symbols of our New Year wishes. Best-known are the apples dipped in honey that symbolize a sweet year. Yet even the most ordinary vegetables, seasonal fruits and miscellaneous foods provide us an occasion to wish away our fears and verbalize our deepest hope
DOWNLOAD! Newly developed full curriculum for tefillah course for high schools
For a new course in tefillah and its role in Jewish life, Dr. Saundra Sterling Epstein, director of BeYachad in Pennsylvania developed an entire curriculum under the auspices of the Shalom Hartman Institute, where she worked with Noam Zion and David Dishon
Hartman Institute education guides: Complete list
This is a single-page listing of the complete collection of educational material, curriculums and course guides on the Hartman Institute website
Hugs and high school - a Hartman HS father writes about his son’s graduation
What I’ll remember most about our son Amir’s graduation from 12th grade earlier this week was the hugs. Hugs between the guys. Hugs from the teachers to the graduates while on stage receiving their diplomas
Third group of Melamdim Jewish studies teachers to graduate June 24, 2009
The third cohort of Melamdim graduates will be celebrating completion of their two-year program June 24, 2009, at Shalom Hartman Institute
Sephardic Sefer Torah donated to Hartman Boys HS (Video)
The family of a seventh grader donated a Sephardic Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) to the Shalom Hartman Institute High School for Boys middle school (seventh and eighth grades) - includes a video
To be ‘remaindered’: Book of Ruth’s Naomi as mourner
Naomi’s mourning of her lost possibilities is comforted by Ruth bringing home grain. This is called in the halacha Seudat havraah = the meal of consolation served by friends to the mourner after the dead of have been buried. Food is a sign of life and commitment to the future
Tel Aviv high school in Be’eri program wins award for Jewish studies
Tichon Hadash Tel Aviv, a high school in the Israeli secular school system participating in the Be’eri program of Jewish education enrichment, has won an award for Jewish education from Tel Aviv University
Hartman HS wins award for work with former prisoners (Video)
The Shalom Hartman Institute Boys High School is being awarded a prize by the city of Jerusalem for its work with rehabilitated prisoners. The project is part of the social involvement program that the school has become known for
Models of the ideal Jew in Kabbala
Textual sources on Models of the ideal Jew in Kabbala - Art Green
Models of the ideal Jew in the thinking of Kaplan, Heschel, and Soloveitchik
Textual sources - Models of the ideal Jew in the thinking of Kaplan, Heschel, and Soloveitchik
The Ideal Jew: A feminist perspective in rabbinic literature
Textual sources - The Ideal Jew: A feminist perspective in rabbinic literature
Fallen soldiers remembered at Hartman Boys HS (Video)
Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel`s Wars, the official name for Memorial Day in Israel, was noted at Shalom Hartman Institute during a one-hour program on the morning of April 28
Teaching Jewish pluralism: 10th grade lessons
Perhaps the central question students will tackle in this opening unit is: How is a community able to permit freedom of thought and action, but still remain a unified group?
New book in Yahaduyot series: Eliezer Goldman’s ‘Judaism Without Illusion’
Goldman (1918-2002) was one of the most original and profound Jewish philosophers of our day. His work includes research and independent philosophic creation, and lays out a novel reading of Jewish sources in the light of contemporary philosophy
Pesach’s many questions: An introduction
At Pesach, we are asking far more than the traditional Four Questions. We are listening to questions from girls, as well as boys. We are asking ourselves questions, and we are asking you questions – questions about Jewish identity, freedom and the meaning of Pesach itself
Be’eri holds seminar on challenges of Israeli-Jewish education
Two-day seminar enriched school principals and Be’eri program coordinators and deepened their knowledge and understanding of the educational challenges that the Be’eri program continues to tackle
Purim at Hartman Boys High School
Costumes, dancing, singing, and performances mark middle school activities
Students from Be’eri, Ma’atzim programs visit Hartman Institute
More than 180 Israeli high school students in programs for Jewish learning enrichment visit Shalom Hartman Institute for a day of lectures, discussions, presentations
Studying and responding to the problem of evil - a new curriculum
The latest educational curriculum to be posted online is extensive, and focuses on evil and Jewish responses to it. Click on the links below to view and to download PDF files
Use and abuse of authority
Sources on use and abuse of authority, from a lecture by David Hartman
Biblical Re-readings by Avivah Zornberg
Biblical sources from the re-readings of Avivah Zornberg
Who is a Jew: Policies of admission in the Jewish tradition
Sources on Jewish community membership
Mandel Beit Midrash to be dedicated February 26
Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel have lived their lives in total dedication and commitment to the well-being of the Jewish people
Purim preview: Who really controls Ahashverosh?
Ahashverosh has a weakness, an Achilles heel, a secret point of vulnerability, which causes him a great deal of anxiety: his relations with women
The Modern Jew: Between Autonomy and Commitment
In this series of video lectures, Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi discusses the tensions and challenges modern Jews face when balancing autonomy with commitment and community
Israel not ready for Green message - yet
New environmental-Jewish party did not win enough votes for Knesset representation but is encouraged for the future
Tzedaka and tikkun olam curriculum
Tzedaka is about correcting what is wrong and doing that which is right and good. Hesed is about perfecting our actions, about envisioning what can be and acting to effect real changes that can make ours a more perfect society
Israel’s war on Hamas: Special commentary on the war’s justification, consequences and impact
Read these special articles and view the special videos we have prepared for you with the goal of answering questions, or more likely, prompting new ones
Hartman scholars participating in major Jewish education conference
Several Shalom Hartman Institute scholars will be participating in the international seminar of the Israel Association of Research in Jewish Education in Israel Jan. 7-9, 2009
Middle school student in national geography contest
Ariel Abramovitz will soon be participating in the nationwide geography competition
David Hartman reads Maimonides’ laws of Hanukkah: The rabbinic ideal of the peacemaker
Hanukkah not only commemorates past events, it celebrates the human virtues that shaped those events as well. Download of special Hebrew course curriciulum, as well
Hartman high school student writes prize-winning essay on democracy, Israel, US
A 12th grade student at the Shalom Hartman Institute Charles E. Smith High School for Boys has won honorable mention in an essay writing contest sponsored by the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv on the occasion of Israel`s 60th anniversary
Shabbat and the human experience: Study guides, essays
This collection of essays and study guides for reading and downloading - in English and Hebrew - examine the relationship between Shabbat and the work experience in human life
Ethics: Sources, havruta guide, more
This special selection of sources and questions for study and research into ethics is compiled from Hartman Institute courses and lectures in recent years
Authority: Sources, havruta guide, and more
This special selection of sources and questions for study and research into authority is compiled from Hartman Institute courses and lectures in recent years.
Religious certainty: Sources, havruta guide, and more
This special selection of sources and questions for study and research into religious certainty is compiled from Hartman Institute courses and lectures in recent years
Faith: Sources, background materials and more
This special selection of sources and questions for study and research into faith is compiled from Hartman Institute courses and lectures in recent years
Source materials for Jewish study now on Hartman website
We have compile source materials from our many hundreds of files for you to use – for teachers looking for materials to back up their own classes, for rabbis looking for sermon ideas and the sources for them, for lay and community leaders studying on their own or in adult studies programs, and for individuals interested in doing their own research
Enhancing homemade Judaism: A manifesto and a practical program for Shabbat
Shaping those home celebrations, in particular Shabbat at the table, requires work in preparation, just as they require a structure and routines created by each household. Literally, we make our own Judaism, and the more we make Shabbat, the more it means to us
The Troubling Family Triangle: Sarai, Avram and Hagar
We are happy to present you with three extensive packages of educational material about the Avram, Sarai and Hagar story of Genesis (Bereishit) 16 and 21
The narrative of Israeli Judaism
A new and exciting development in the last 10-20 years is that some Israelis are starting to build up a new culture that is taking a lot from the old Jewish culture and renewing it
The First Jew: A journey begun with a fateful choice
Abraham is rightly designated, according to the Bible, as ‘the pillar of the world.’ Learn about Avraham, to learn about how he has been interpreted and what Jews have wanted to become. See this entire curriculum for teaching Genesis 12 and 18 in-depth
Sources and links for ‘The First Jew’
Sources and links for ‘The First Jew’ curriculum by Noam Zion and Steve Israel
TICHON Winter 2009: Narratives of giving; registration now open
The TICHON Seminar this February is devoted to the narratives of giving - how do we see the needy, how do we see ourselves, as benefactors or brothers or reformers or good Samaritans or fellow needy?
Tanakh teaching: An introduction
This introduction to the comprehensive curriculum, Teaching Tanakh, provides a framework for understanding the diverse approach
Shema as a love story
The three paragraphs of the Shema can be interpreted allegorically by connecting each of the three paragraphs to a different stage of a growing, loving relationship
Buy Hebrew books, in Israel, from Shalom Hartman Institute
Hebrew books from Shalom Hartman Institute are now available for direct, secure, online purchase in Israel
Hartman Institute part of Sukkot learning fest in Jerusalem
The rationale behind this event is to bring together all streams of Jews on Sukkot, the Feast of Ingathering, in Jerusalem for a celebration of Jewish learning and culture
Bible translation as commentary
The Bible is the most translated book in the history of the world, and it is important to remember that the vast majority of human beings who have encountered the Bible have done so through the medium of a specific translation
Midrashiya girls’ school opens year with more classes, new programs
This year the school has two seventh grade classes, three eighth grade classes, one ninth and one tenth grade class
Busy Elul at Charles E. Smith High School
highlights for the coming month include: an opening ceremony for the new year, a lecture by Nobel Prize laureate Prof. Yisrael Aumann, a parent-pupil learning evening and a lecture on the topic of repentance
New gender programs begin at Hartman Institute
Shalom Hartman Institute is ready to launch two new gender programs in the coming academic year. In doing so, the Institute aims to be at the forefront of exploring and helping to redefine women’s role and status in Israeli and Jewish life
Israel needs school system that develops Jewish culture
Israel needs an education system that will create knowledgeable people who know Judaism is a source of values and ideas. It is not enough to have it in the air
Israeli school texts by Hartman Institute now for sale online
The bestselling Shalom Hartman Institute curricula, used in middle schools and high schools throughout Israel, are now available for purchase on the Shalom Hartman Institute website
High school educators in Tichon program study ‘tikkun olam’
According to Tichon program director Noam Zion, tikkun olam is a primary definition of the human calling in the contemporary liberal Jewish world
North American Jewish school leaders to explore ‘vision’
Vision Forum brings together Heads of School and key board members to address significant questions facing world Jewry in general and Jewish education in particular. Over an eight-day period, participants will contemplate the critical challenges facing Jews today
Hartman Institute to host hundreds in busy summer
The impressive and challenging lineup of North American rabbis, educators, lay leaders and Christian scholars is sure to create the Institute`s most exciting summer. Find daily schedule here
Dates set for TICHON winter 2009 program
TICHON addresses key issues facing Jewish education in the modern world and is designed to help sustain and enhance teachers’ passion for their profession, while developing and producing new curricular units for use in the classroom
Torah not contradicted by multiple applications
Pluralism can be understood as characteristic of the nature of the Torah as an intentionally open text that cannot be applicable to differing situations and times without human interpretation
Russel Berrie Foundation Board visits Institute, Jewish studies program it supports
The board visited two of 11 participating high schools – Nahalat Yehuda in Rishon Lezion and Tichon Hadash in Tel Aviv
Student leaders from across Israel meet for Be’eri end of year event
Youth leaders convened at WIZO Youth Village, Nahlat Yehuda, to hear, learn and discuss questions of leadership, social problems and the vision of a Jewish Israeli society
Encouraging a culture of questions
There are no questions that may not be asked, no doubt that may not be raised - as long as the true motive for the question is a genuine desire to learn
Purim celebrated at Smith high school
Charles E. Smith High School for Boys celebrate Adar spirit with a day of fun and activity
Hartman Institute marks International Women`s Day
Initiative for study event came from staff member who wanted to learn more about the texts she prepares for scholars and visiting students
Secular HS principals meet for Judaic learning at Hartman seminar
Be’eri aims to transform secular Israeli high schools into centers of Jewish pluralism by empowering educators, students and parents to serve as change agents and turn Jewish studies from marginal discipline into cornerstone of secular Israeli education
Magic of the Mishna now available for Israeli secular schools
Book is part of series of Judaic studies volumes aimed at secular school students in Israel
Donniel Hartman: Rabbi the highest title for teacher
Hartman Institute launches co-ed, rabbinical program aimed at creating educators for day schools
Unite Israel`s education system
A unified state school system - where secular and religious children study together, eat lunch together, play basketball and go on field trips together - is the only way to secure our future as a people.
Shalom Hartman Institute to ordain men and women of all denominations as rabbi-educators
Shalom Hartman Institute is opening a multi-denominational rabbinical program that will ordain men and women from all denominations to work as rabbi-educators in community Jewish high schools across North America.
     
 
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