/ Muslim Leadership Initiative

Seminar One

Encountering Israel:
Foundations of Peoplehood and Faith

Week One: Peoplehood, Land and God

• From Crisis to Covenant
• Foundations of Jewish Peoplehood
• Jews and the World: The Ideas of Choseness
• Biblical Ideas of God
• Rabbinic Ideas of God
• The Mystery of Shabbat

Week Two: Land, Power, and the Palestinian Conflict

• Three Pillars of Zionism
• Jewish Theologies of History
• Judaism and the Land
• Between Fulfillment and Disappointment: Israel through Contemporary Literature
• The Dilemma of Power
• The Palestinian Israeli Community Today
• Memories of Powerlessness and Isolation in an Age of Jewish Power

Seminar Two

Dilemmas of Power

Week One: Israel and the Palestinians: A Values Discussion

• The Current Jewish Discourse on Peace
• Justice: “X” Happened
• Justice and Compromise
• Classical Zionist Thinkers and the Palestinians
• Israeli and Palestinian Women Confronting Traditional Societies

Week Two: Israel Confronts Itself

• How Israelis Understand a Jewish and Democratic State
• Mizrahi Politics
• Us and Others
• Jewish Secularists, Israeli Secularists
• Ultra-Orthodox and Religious Zionists
• A Palestinian Vision of Peace
• Living with Difference: Pluralism, Tolerance, and Deviance