/ David Hartman Memorial Conference for a Jewish-Democratic Israel

The Jewish State and The Jewish People

Leading scholars and thinkers from Israel and North America addressed relations between Jews in the State of Israel and Diaspora Jewry at the Shalom Hartman Institute Conference for a Jewish-Democratic Israel on Feb. 14, 2018.

This year’s Conference tackled the challenges facing Israeli and Diaspora Jewry in Hartman Institute style, with honest, in-depth discussions that acknowledge the issue’s complexities but without partisan or ideological shouting matches. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky was the keynote speaker.

Rare recording of David Hartman from 1987 in which he addresses the same issues as were discussed at the 2018 Conference.

The Conference explored what can be done to understand and address these issues and to create a new narrative that encourages the shaping of shared values for Jews in Israel and the Diaspora:

• How do we create a Jewish Peoplehood consciousness?
• How do we analyze the relationship between the two Jewish centers?
• What is our Jewish vision for the connection between the centers?
• How can we repair and cultivate the connection between the Jews of Israel and North America?
• What are the Jewish values all of us can share?
• What can we learn from each other?
• How should the State of Israel address its responsibility as the home of Jews worldwide?

Watch videos from the conference (in Hebrew) , one session in English featuring Shira Koch Epstein, Rabbi Avital Hochstein, and Yossi Klein Halevi recorded live at the Shalom Hartman Institute.