Shalem Faculty Collaborate with Ein Prat Leadership Academy to Advance Model of Humanistic in Israel

As part of its ongoing faculty-development seminar series, Shalem College joined with the lecturers at Ein Prat—The Leadership Academy to share insights and ideas about teaching the humanities in Israel. Ein Prat, a pluralistic Beit Midrash in Kfar Adumim, graduates hundreds of students each year. Its curriculum employs the study of Western and Jewish texts as a means of strengthening both Jewish and Israeli identity, and of bridging the gap between tradition and intellectual progressivism. Like Shalem College, Ein Prat also emphasizes a commitment to adding value to the Jewish state and people at large. The academy is led by Dr. David Nachman, a member of Shalem’s Bnei Moshe Program, which provides professional development for the directors of Israel’s elite pre-army preparatory programs.

During their visit, Shalem faculty learned a text by Bialik together with Ein Prat students, experiencing firsthand the powerful impact of small, discussion-based seminars. They also heard a talk on liberal education by noted historian of Zionism Ehud Luz, a long-standing lecturer on contemporary Israeli thought at the University of Haifa and at Ein Prat, as well as a member of the Shalem faculty. Students expressed their unanimous enthusiasm for Shalem College, which offers young Israelis who wish to pursue the sort of integrated, service-oriented model of liberal studies offered at Ein Prat a way to do so at the college level. “Our collaboration with Ein Prat is very much in keeping with our college mission,” explained Shalem Educational Director Ido Hevroni. “We want to understand the needs and ambitions of exceptional young Israelis, so that we can craft a curriculum that responds to them. The Shalem College experience will be a two-way street, and we take our responsibility to engage and inspire our students with the utmost seriousness.”