Shalem Center

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The Shalem Center was founded in Jerusalem in 1994 'with the aim of developing ideas capable of sustaining and unifying the Jewish people, and enriching and strengthening the State of Israel.'[1]

Activities

Lobbying for Herzl Law

The Shalem Centre was involved in lobbying the Knesset in favour of enacting a law establishing a national memorial day for Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism.[2] It assisted in drafting 'the Herzl Law' which was passed in June 2004.[3] In 2006 president and co-founder of the centre Daniel Polisar was appointed to the National Herzl Council, an official state committee responsible for commemorating Herzl's legacy through implementing the provisions of the law and carrying out research projects related to his life and memory.[4]

Funding of City of David excavation

Between 2005-8 Shalem sponsored senior fellow and archeologist Eliat Mazar's excavations of a site in East Jerusalem just outside the Old City which she believed to be the ancient palace of King David. The dig was also supported by Susan and Robert Hertog, chairman of the Tikvah Fund[5] who pledged to give $500,000 to the project. The site is located in the Palestinian Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood of Silwan and is seen by some as a means to strengthen Israel's control of East Jerusalem[6]. Robert Hertog, asked by the Washington Post if he contributed in the hopes of enhancing Israel's claim to East Jerusalem, said that it "was not the most significant" reason.[7]

The project was jointly funded by right-wing settler organisation Elad Association[8], instrumental in the Judaization of East Jerusalem[9], who also own the land in question.

Shalem College

Having taught a variety of short courses since 2005[10] in April 2009 the centre filed an application with the Council for Higher Education in Israel for the opening of an American-style liberal arts college authorized to grant B.A. degrees, to be called Shalem College.

History

According to a Jerusualem Post article, "the Shalem-Princeton connection runs deep." The centre's founders included a number of Princeton University graduates, among them Yoram Hazony and Daniel Polisar, and others like Michael Oren and Martin Kramer have worked at Shalem at various points.[11] Hazony, Polisar and Joshua Weinstein met as students at the university.[12]

The three obtained initial funding in 1991 and founded the centre in 1994 as a not for profit organisation. Since 2005 it has also been a registered company. By 2007 it reportedly had an annual budget of $10 million, around 100 employees and was paying Hazony and Polisar salaries worth NIS 850,000 ($220,000) each.[13]

In April 2009 the centre filed an application with the Council for Higher Education in Israel to establish an American-style liberal arts college able to grant B.A. degrees intended to "cultivate a cadre of broadly-educated, committed citizen leaders for the Jewish state and the Jewish people"[14]

Research units and departments

People

Board of Directors

Yair Shamir, Chairman of the Board | Isaac Applbaum | Jed Arkin | Jayne Beker | Louis Frenkel | Yoram Hazony | Leon Kass | Ronald S. Lauder | Polina Liberman | David Messer | Elisa Palter | Daniel Polisar | | Aliza Sharon[15]

Former directors

Howard Jonas | Barry Klein | William Kristol | Allen Roth | Jacob Z. Schuster[16]

Executive Leadership

Daniel Polisar, President and co-founder | Martin Kramer President-designate, Shalem College and Senior Fellow | Yoram Hazony, Provost and co-founder | Daniel Gordis, Senior Vice President | Anat Altman, Vice President for Strategic Planning | David Arnovitz, Vice President for Operations | Erez Eshel, Vice President for Student Affairs | Seth Goldstein, Chief of Staff, Office of the President | Ofir Haivry, Director of Studies and Associate Fellow | Yael Hazony, Vice President for Communications and Director of the Press | Jonathan Mensh, Chief Financial Officer |[17]

Former senior management

Suzanne Balaban, Vice President for Communications | Elana Ben-Haim, Director of Strategic Development at Shalem | Shai Porath, Vice President for External Relations[18]

Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies

Natan Sharansky, Director, 2006-9 | Moshe Ya'alon, Distinguished Fellow | Martin Kramer, Senior Fellow | Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Fellow | Ehud Ya’ari, Senior Fellow | Yagil Henkin, Associate Fellow

Shalem College

Planning Team

Rhanan Har-Zahav, Legal Council for Shalem College[19]

Academic Council

Eytan Gilboa | Daniel Gordis | Yosef Gorny | Isaac Hasson | Menachem Kellner | Martin Kramer | Dan Laor | Ze’ev Maghen | Asher Maoz | Daniel Polisar | Ziva Shamir | Suzanne Stone | Asher Susser | Joshua Weinstein | Hillay Zmora

Public Council

Anat Altman | Yitz Applbaum | Jed Arkin | Menachem Dotan | Erez Eshel | Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Aharon Ze'evi Farkash | Chaim Friedland, | Prof. Ruth Gavison | Dr. Daniel Gordis | David Y. Greenberg | Dr. Aviad Hacohen | Stuart Hershkowitz | Doron Inbar | Yaron Jacobs | Martin Kramer | Izhak Lax | David Leichner | David Messer | Prof. Aaron Namdar | Aviv Revach | Ruth Polachek| Dr. Daniel Polisar | [[Yair Shamir] | Aliza Sharon

Scholars and Faculty

Joshua Berman | Daniel Gordis | Ofir Haivry | Yoram Hazony | Meirav Jones | Martin Kramer | Menachem Kellner | Yosef Isaac Lifshitz | Zeev Maghen | Daniel Polisar | Assaf Sagiv | Suzanne Last Stone | Joshua Weinstein[20]

Former Scholars

Ran Baratz | David Gelernter | Eric Gould | Yossi Klein Halevi | Yagil Henkin | Ido Hevroni | Pini Ifergan | Ami Linder | Amichai Magen | Julia Magnet | Eilat Mazar | Arie Morgenstern | Avi Nov | Dan Schueftan | Yiftah Shalev | Michael Widlanski | Ehud Ya’ari[21]

Post Doctoral Fellows

Tzahi Weiss | Hannah Hashkes | Michael Fagenblat | Micha'el Tanchum

Funding

In 1991 Hazony, Polisar and Weinstein obtained the initial funding of a few thousand dollars, from Barry Klein, to set up the Shalem Center Association.[22]In May 2005 the Las Vegas-based Adelson Family Foundation announced that the Shalem Center in Jerusalem was to receive a $4.5 million grant to enable creation of the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies, which Sharansky heads and in which Ya'alon is a "distinguished fellow."[23][24] Initial funding also came from Ronald Lauder[25], chairman of the centre's Foundation Board, while he was chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and he reportedly gave "a few hundred thousand dollars a year".[26]

According to an article published in 2007 in Haaretz, the Tikvah Fund founded by Zalman Bernstein had for some years "provided the center with more than $5 million a year".[27] Barbara and David Messer are listed alongside the Tikvah Fund as major donors to the center. Other supporters include The Koret Foundation, the Gilbert and Elisa Palter[28], the Israeli Leadership Council, the Beker Foundation, Paul Singer and the US State Department.[29]

Funding for internship programme

Since 2007 the centre has run a summer internship programme mostly attended by North American students. The 2012 intern programme received an endowment from the J Richard and Dorothy Shiff Family (Toronto) Programme[30]. In previous years the Leichtag Foundation of San Diego has covered the costs.[31]

Funding for Shalem College

In June 2008 the Klarman Family Foundation of Boston and George and Pamela Rohr of New York each made a commitment of $1 million in support of establishing a liberal arts college at the Shalem Center.[32]

In February 2010 the Conduit Foundation based in Chicago, USA, announced a $5 million donation towards the Shalem College. Betsy Brill of the Conduit foundation said the planned college "reflects our foundation’s vision, which is the continuity of the Jewish people and the sustainability of Israel as a Jewish state."[33]

In summer 2010 Shalem received $2 million to endow the first chair of the Shalem College. An "anonymous donor from England" gave $1 million and the Conduit Foundation gave the other half.[34]

In May 2011 the New York-based Tikvah Fund - the Shalem Centre's "most generous" donor for over a decade according to Yair Shamir, chairman of the Shalem Foundation Board - pledged to match donations up $12.5 million received over the first 4 years after the establishment of the Shalem College.[35]

Publications

Journals

Between 2006-11[36] the Shalem Centre publishes the quarterly journal Azure: Ideas for the Jewish Nation issued in Hebrew (under the name Techelet) and English. Notable contributors included former Shalem Center fellows such as Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren, jurist Ruth Gavison and Hillel Neuer of UN Watch. It has published several articles critical of anti-Zionism and post-Zionism.[37][38][39]

From 2004 until 2006[40] Shalem also published a peer-reviewed journal "dedicated to reevaluating the nature and scope of the Jewish contribution to the core ideas of Western civilization", called Hebraic Political Studies.[41]

Shalem Press

In 1997 a publishing house Shalem Press was established which specialises in translating "classics from the Western tradition" into Hebrew. Its first translation was The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek, known for being a major proponent of free market economics.[42] Other titles it has translated include Samuel Huntingdon's Clash of Civilizations which became a bestseller in Israel.

Contact

Address:The Shalem Center
13 Yehoshua Bin-Nun Street
Jerusalem
93102
Israel
Telephone: (+972) 2-560-5500.
E-mail: inquiries@shalem.org.il.
Website:http://www.shalemcenter.org.il/
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Shalem-Center/63364750961
LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/companies/shalem-center

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Shalem Center Our History, accessed 24 May 2012
  2. ↑ Na'ama Lanski and Daphna Berman Storm in a neo-con teapot Haaretz, accessed June 15 2012
  3. ↑ Ella Florsheim, Giving Herzl His Due, Azure, accessed June 14 2012
  4. ↑ Daniel Polisar Biography, Shalem Center, accessed June 15 2012
  5. ↑ Our History, Shalem Center, accessed June 6 2012
  6. ↑ Scott Wilson, A Dig Into Jerusalem's Past Fuels Present-Day Debates, Washington Post, accessed June 6
  7. ↑ Scott Wilson, A Dig Into Jerusalem's Past Fuels Present-Day Debates, Washington Post, accessed June 6 2012
  8. ↑ Nadav Shragai, Is Jerusalem discovery King David's waterway?, Haaretz, accessed June 6 2012
  9. ↑ Meron Rapoport, The Republic of Elad, Haaretz, accessed June 6 2012
  10. ↑ Shalem's Adelson Institute to Partner With Annual Herzliya Conference, Shalem Center, accessed June 16 2012
  11. ↑ Elliot Jager, A Progressive First From a Conservative Think Tank, Jerusalem Post, accessed June 14, 2012
  12. ↑ Na'ama Lanski and Daphna Berman Storm in a neo-con teapot Haaretz, accessed June 14 2012
  13. ↑ Na'ama Lanski and Daphna Berman Storm in a neo-con teapot Haaretz, accessed June 14 2012
  14. ↑ Shalem College Q&As, Daniel Gordis.org, accessed June 14 2012
  15. ↑ Board of Directors, Shalem Center, accessed June 15 2012
  16. ↑ Shalem Center Shalem Center Leadership, accessed 21 August 2009
  17. ↑ Executive Leadership, Shalem Centre, accessed June 15 2012
  18. ↑ Shalem Center Shalem Center Leadership, accessed 21 August 2009
  19. ↑ Shalem Center Shalem Center Leadership, accessed 21 August 2009
  20. ↑ Faculty and Scholars, Shalem Center, accessed June 15 2012
  21. ↑ Shalem Center Scholars and Faculty, accessed 21 August 2009
  22. ↑ Na'ama Lanski and Daphna Berman Storm in a neo-con teapot Haaretz, Last update - 00:00 30/11/2007
  23. ↑ Foundation Centre Adelson Family Foundation Awards $4.5 Million to Shalem Center in Jerusalem Posted on May 3, 2007, accessed 21 August 2009
  24. ↑ Shalem Center [1]
  25. ↑ Elliot Jager, A Progressive First From A Conservative Think Tank, Jerusalem Post, accessed June 14, 2012
  26. ↑ Na'ama Lanski and Daphna Berman Storm in a neo-con teapot Haaretz, accessed June 14 2012
  27. ↑ Na'ama Lanski and Daphna Berman Storm in a neo-con teapot Haaretz, accessed June 14 2012
  28. ↑ Mika Timor, Canadians donate $1.1m for book translation to boost Shalem Center Haaretz, accessed June 16 2012
  29. ↑ Our Supporters, Shalem, accessed June 16 2012
  30. ↑ The 2012 Summer Internship Programme, Shalem Center, June 15 2012
  31. ↑ Summer Interns, Shalem Center, accessed JUne 15 2012
  32. ↑ Tzvee Teaneck Shalem Center to Become a Liberal Arts College in Israel Tzvee's Talmudic Blog 6.25.2008, accessed 21 August 2009
  33. ↑ Abe Selig, $5m. donation makes Shalem College vision a reality, Jerusalem Post, accessed June 6 2012
  34. ↑ $2 Million Donation Endows First Chair at Shalem College, Shalem Centre, accessed June 6 2012
  35. ↑ Tikvah Fund issues $12.5 million challenge grant for the establishment of Shalem College, Shalem Center, accessed June 6 2012
  36. ↑ Journals, Shalem Center, accessed June 15 2012
  37. ↑ Assaf Sagiv, The Sad State of Israeli Radicalism, Azure, accesed June 6 2012
  38. ↑ Is This Land Still Our Land? The Expropriation of Zionism, Azure, accessed June 6 2012
  39. ↑ Zionism's New Challenge, Azure, accessed June 6 2012
  40. ↑ Journals, Shalem Center, accessed June 15 2012
  41. ↑ Our History, Shalem Centre, accessed June 6 2012
  42. ↑ Our History, Shalem Centre, accessed June 6 2012
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