THE CORE CURRICULUM

The Shalem Core creates a shared conversation that permeates and enriches the learning experience in a way no other curriculum can.

The centerpiece of a Shalem education, our four-year Core Curriculum—the only one of its kind in Israel—is required of all students, regardless of their major. Grounded in works that explore questions of enduring significance—across time and place, in diverse styles, and from different, sometimes conflicting, perspectives—the Core teaches students to be an active participant in the Jewish and Western traditions and to help shape the character and future of their state.

Education for Freedom

Beyond the teaching of certain subjects or provision of particular skills, the Shalem Core seeks to free students from unthinking adherence—both to their own assumptions, and to the unexamined opinions of others.

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Seeking Wisdom with Leon Kass

Dean of the Faculty Prof. Leon Kass, the public intellectual, physician, and Addie Clark Harding Professor Emeritus in the Committee on Social Thought and in the College at the University of Chicago, leads Great Books seminars for both students and faculty at Shalem. Or rather, he lets the texts lead a conversation: about liberal education, the virtues required for leadership, and the relationship between human excellence and a commitment to one’s society.

Featured Courses

From history to Islam, philosophy to economics, and Bible to Western literature, the Shalem Core is a guided engagement with the past, with the aim of envisioning a better future.