2011–2012 Events
Public Events
Revolution and Change in the Middle East: Policy Challenges For The U.S.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011, Moses Hall, UC Berkeley
Revolutions, counter-revolutions and peace-process stagnation are presenting unprecedented challenges for the U.S. in the Middle East. Can the U.S. influence change or is the “American era” in the region drawing to a close?
Honorable Daniel C. Kurtze, Former Ambassador to Israel and Egypt
S. Daniel Abraham, Professor, Princeton University
Co-sponsored by the Institute of International Studies and the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law
When Maskilim Went to the Spas: On the Recovery and Rejuvenation of the Jewish Body, Mind and Nation
Monday, September 19, 2011, Moses Hall, UC Berkeley
During the last third of the 19th century Marienbad, a fashionable spa town in Bohemia, became an intellectual and spiritual venue for Hebrew and Yidishwriters from Eastern Europe. It became known not only for its amenities and luxuries but also for its Jewish sociability and infrastructure. The poets and writers who visited Marienbad and nearby Carlsbad on a regular basis assigned Jewish and Zionist images to the places. Judah Leib Gordon, David Frischmann, Sholem Aleichem, Rueben Brainin and Chaim Nachman Bialik paid considerable attention to the present Jewish groups, who represented almost every religious, cultural and social aspect of the Jewish nation at the time. Especially since the establishment of the Zionist congresses unofficial pre- and post-conventions of delegates in Marienbad and Carlsbad furthered the spas’ character as places of intellectual Jewish encounters.
Mirjam Triendl-Zadoff, University of Munich, Department of History
Israeli Intellectuals and the Six-Day War
Thursday, September 22, 2011, Moses Hall, UC Berkeley
The Six-Day War is considered a turning point in the history of the State of Israel, in the Jewish world and not least in international politics of the 20th century. Within less than a week the geographical and political reality of the Near East was changed radically, and the extreme events left their imprint on the society of the young state. An almost apocalyptic fear, which had prevailed in the Israeli public opinion before the war, was overnight replaced by a victor’s euphoria. Many Israeli intellectuals confronted the new reality and reflected this turning point in history of the state in their writings. This talk focused on three central Israeli intellectuals, who represented different political and ideological streams in intellectual circles of post-war Israel: the writer Moshe Shamir, the politician and journalist Uri Avneri and the poet and linguist Yonatan Ratosh.
Noam Zadoff, University of Munich, Department of History
Co-sponsored by the Department of History and the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Prospects for Peace: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict…What is Next?
Monday, October 3, 2011, 7:00 pm, Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley School of Law
David Makovsky and Ghaith al-Omari give an informed perspective of the uncertain future for a peace in the Middle East.
Co-sponsored by Berkeley Hillel, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Institute of International Studies, Israeli Action Committee, Real Partners, Real Peace and International House
Biblical Law and Narrative: Leviticus 5:20-26, Fraudulent Transaction, and the Joseph Story
Tuesday, December 6, 2011, 12:15 PM, Dean’s Seminar Room
Professor Calum, Carmichael Cornell University
The State of the Middle East Peace Process
Thursday, January 19, 2012, 4:30 pm, Boalt Hall, School of Law
Shmuel Rosner, Israeli Journalist & Blogger; Author of Shtetl, Bagel, Baseball
Israel Through the High Tech Lens
Wednesday, February 1, 2012–Thursday, February 2, 2012, Haas School of Business and UC Berkeley School of Law
Israel has been a uniquely and immensely successful hub of technology entrepreneurship. With the second largest number of start-up companies in the world (after the U.S.) and numerous NASDAQ listed companies outside North America, Israel is often compared with Silicon Valley. This spring, the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israeli Law Economy and Society will launch “Israel through the High-Tech Lens,” an international conference which will focus on important and multidisciplinary aspects of the flourishing Israeli high-tech phenomenon.
Demonic Desires: The Evil Inclination (“Yetzer Hara”) in Rabbinic Thought
Monday, February 13, 2012, 6:00 pm, Warren Room, Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley School of Law
Professor Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Department of Hebrew Culture Studies, Tel-Aviv University
Laws and Ethics: Jewish and U.S. Traditions
Monday, February 27, 2012, 12:45 pm, Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley School of Law
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Director and Prof. of Philosophy, American Jewish University
Jewish Music Festival
Thursday, March 22, 2012, 7:00 pm, The Magnes Collection, 2121 Allston Way Berkeley
Bustan Quartet
A Robbins Collection Lecture in Jewish Law and Thought
Narrating the Law: How Stories Create Complex Law in the Talmud
Monday, April 16, 2012, 5:15 pm, Goldberg Room, Boalt Hall School of Law
Professor Barry Wimpfheimer, Northwestern University
Investing in Israel: How Innovation from the Start-Up Nation is Changing all of Our Lives
Monday, April 23, 2012, Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley School of Law
Legal Heterodoxy in Islamic and Jewish History: Late Antique and Medieval Transformations Symposium
Monday, April 23, 2012 – Tuesday, April 24, 2012, Goldberg Room, UC Berkeley School of Law
Monday, April 23
9:15am–9:45am: Introduction, Noah Greenfield (Berkeley)
10:00am–11:45am: Legal Systems of the “Other”, Islam Dayeh (Freie Universität Berlin), Yaakov Elman (Yeshiva University), Shari Lowin (Stonehill)
1:30pm–3:15pm: Minority & Dissenting Opinions, Lena Salaymeh (Berkeley) & Azzan Yadin-Israel (Rutgers), Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman (Vanderbilt)
4:00pm–5:45pm: Orthodoxy & Heresy, Mohammed H. Benkheira (Sorbonne), Naftali Cohn (Concordia), Daniel Boyarin (Berkeley)
Tuesday, April 24
9:30am–11:15am: Legal & Theological Hermeneutics, Mohammad Fadel (Toronto), Steven Fraade (Yale), Michael Pregill (Elon)
11:15am–12:30pm: Conclusion, Talya Fishman (U of Penn)
Academic Events
The Legal and Social Challenges Faced by the Israeli Supreme Court
Daniel C. Kurtzer, S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt
Eliezer Rivlin, Deputy President, Supreme Court of Israel
A Democracy Without a Constitution: The Future of Israel’s Survival
Arye Carmon, President, Israel Democracy Institute
Barriers to Entry: Who Builds Fortified Boundaries and Why?
Prof. Ron Hassner, Assistant Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley; Gilbert Foundation Colloquium Faculty Fellow
Prof. Jason Wittenberg, Associate Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley; Gilbert Foundation Colloquium Faculty Fellow
The "Distancing Hypothesis": Young American Jews and Israel
Shmuel Rosner, The Jerusalem Post, Author, Shtetl, Bagel, Baseball
When Hard-Liners Opt for Peace: The Political Psychology of Israeli Prime Ministers
Prof. Yael Aronoff, Serling Chair in Israel Studies, Michigan State University
Milk and Honey — or Chlorinated Hydrocarbons? Pollution, Promise, and the Israeli Environment
Prof. Alon Tel, Ben Gurion University; Visiting Professor, Stanford University; Founder, Adam Teva v’Din
Playing Across a Divide: Israeli–Palestinian Musical Encounters
Prof. Ben Brinner, Chair, UC Berkeley Department of Music