NEWS

Amy Kass, teacher and scholar of Classics, passed away last week. Her method of teaching left a lasting impression on Dr. Ido Hevroni, educational director at Shalem.

Shalem has recently received a $2 million contribution from founding supporters of the college. The gift, said Shalem President Martin Kramer, represents “an enormous vote of confidence in the institution, and a testament to our supporters’ belief in the critical role that Shalem will play in Israel’s future.”

Two summers ago, Shalem freshman Sapir Bluzer was a participant in an alumni conference for LEAD, an initiative that identifies promising young Israelis and nurtures their leadership skills. The conference’s theme was addressing the country’s future challenges; to that end, the main plenum was given over to a debate on Israel’s Jewish and democratic character. Yet Sapir felt this was a missed opportunity.

The tension between privilege, position, and authority on the one hand, and equality on the other is as old as human society. When social and spiritual leadership is concentrated in the same hands, the tension becomes especially acute.  Dr. Richie (Shmuel) Lewis, Shalem lecturer in rabbinic thought, explores the talmudic treatment of this sensitive issue in a recent book, which has just been awarded the Matanel Prize, given to the best book in Jewish thought for 2013-2014 by the World Union of Jewish Studi

This past week students headed off-site for their weekly Shalem Forum – specifically, to City Hall, where they joined Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat for an informal, free-flowing conversation about the city, its challenges, and its future.

Spinoza on State & Religion, Judaism and Christianity, by the leading German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen, was released this fall by Shalem Press, marking the first time the rationalist thinker’s critique of Spinoza’s theories has been available to an English-speaking audience.

Part of its ambitious mission to use “city as classroom,” Shalem launched a unique history of art course for sophomores this past fall—in the galleries of the Israel Museum. A first-of-its-kind joint venture between Shalem and the museum’s education department, the course offers students not only an experiential approach to studying the paradigmatic movements in art from antiquity to post-modernity, but also an opportunity to explore the reception and use of artwork among both the art world and the public alike.

When students arrived on campus for the commencement of studies this semester, they were greeted by a new addition: An art installation that “narrates visually the story of the first year of studies,” explains Director of Culture, Community, and Society Dr. Stephen Hazan Arnoff.

“How will we match last year’s class?” That was the question on Shalem leadership’s mind as it entered its second admissions season this past January. The inaugural class would be a hard act to follow by any standard, with students of not only exceptional academic, extracurricular, and public-service track records, but also a rare virtue: the desire to be part of a pioneering experiment in higher education, in its very first year off the ground.