|
What is unique about the Yaacov Herzog Center?
|
YHC is unique in being an Orthodox institution that is committed philosophically and in practical terms to the pluralistic study of Jewish tradition as a way of bridging the estrangement between different populations among the Jewish people, and in this way making it possible for all to share a Jewish future. Very few are the Orthodox Zionist institutions in Israel that have an interest in "the other" in its broadest meaning, including cooperative work with different religious streams in Judaism, the pursuit of equal rights for women within the context of Judaism and modernity, and the building of bridges between secular and religious Jews without covering up the principled differences that divide them. Rather, difference is seen as the basis for real encounter and mutual understanding. Only if the other stands on his or her own terms can true dialogue take place.
The uniqueness of the Yaacov Herzog Center also finds expression in a number of salient characteristics common to its study programs, teaching staff and study methods, as follows:
1. A focus upon the connection between contemporary values and issues and Jewish sources.
2. Multi-disciplinary approaches to Jewish Studies (Bible and Art, Judaism and Film, Talmudic issues and modern literature, field trips with the Bible in hand, etc.).
3. A diverse teaching staff that represents different voices in the Jewish-Israeli world.
4. Instruction that is characterized by close attention to the student and the nurturing of dialogue, and not simply the frontal transfer of knowledge.
5. An informal and friendly atmosphere of camaraderie.
These characteristics contribute to the implementation of the Center's approach and goals.
|
|
|
The Herzog Center's Main Goals:
1) To open a window on a Jewish world that is becoming more and more unfamiliar or strange to a majority of Jews today: to teach Jews to know their own heritage better.
2) To overcome the alienation between the various and diverse groups in Israeli society without denying or belittling the principled differences that divide us.
3) To empower the southern periphery to take a more significant role in the social-cultural discourse in Israel, by developing pluralistic Jewish identity resources.
4) To develop the reading, listening and dialogue skills that make possible a conversation based on mutual respect, and on genuine and sincere attentiveness to all the voices involved, with the intention of cultivating a process of positive social change, or Tikkun Olam ("Repair of the World").
5) To broaden and revitalize Jewish education among different groups, in order to strengthen modern Jewish identities in a multicultural society, all sharing a common Jewish cultural heritage, even when understood
and held differently.
6) To facilitate a pluralistic meeting with the sources of the Jewish cultural heritage in such a way that Judaism is grasped as a process of enrichment for the individual and his or her community.
|
|
|
What is special about the kind of informal Jewish education that YHC offers?
1. Dialogue: YHC uses a dialogical method of teaching Judaism as a culture, in an effort to facilitate deeply engaged and freely chosen Jewish identities. The method brings about an encounter with Jewish cultural sources, which are set between learners as a shared heritage, inviting everyone equally to the effort to understand what it means personally. The differences between the people studying together are therefore as much a part of the Judaism being encountered as are the texts from the classical Jewish library or from the modern Jewish experience. The method is thus non-hierarchical and interactive, and depends upon adults making individual choices about how they will incorporate Judaism meaningfully into their own lives. Judaism is understood as a culture of ongoing generative debate, rather than a fixed body of content and rulings to be dogmatically transmitted and passively received. On the other hand, Jewish study is not just a means to personal fulfillment; it is also a way of stimulating social conscience and community involvement. To be a Jew is to be in dialogue with a tradition that demands a personal commitment to the welfare of others, an allegiance to the possibility of perfecting the world.
2. Pluralism: YHC is a modern Orthodox, Israeli institution that is in principle committed to the practice of pluralism in education, both from a perception of Judaism as inherently multi-vocal and diverse, and from a philosophical commitment to modernity. Thus the Herzog Center is nourished by a dual allegiance, to both tradition and modernity, committed to strategies of coexistence not as a concession, but as an ideal. This combination is rare in the Orthodox world in general, and in Israel in particular, where there is a cultural tendency towards extremes.
The Center is guided by the assumption that there is more than one legitimate voice interpreting the tradition, and that the different voices do not contradict, but rather enrich one another and extend the range of application for Jewish culture. YHC knows from its own experience that difference is a resource, rather than a liability.
3. Diversity of Method: Jewish educational encounter at the Yaacov Herzog Center is multi-disciplinary, and is characterized by a methodological pluralism that turns in practice to a variety of disciplines and their methods in order to develop understandings of and engagements with Judaism. Written texts are studied, both in pairs and in plenum. But "texts" also take visual, artistic or experiential forms: film, art, music, theatre; educational field trips, both in Israel and abroad, exploring both the lands and the diverse paths of Jewish historical peoplehood; philosophy, both Jewish and general; personal encounter workshops that aim to enable professionals in different fields to integrate Jewish contents into their work, etc. As a broad and multi-faceted culture, the civilization of the Jewish people, and not just a "religion," Judaism needs to be studied with multiple intelligences.
4. The Religious Kibbutz Movement: The Yaacov Herzog Center is aided by the sponsorship of the Religious Kibbutz, with deep historical roots in the Religious Kibbutz Movement, a unique and creative compromise formation in the history of Zionism. As part of the Zionist civilizational effort, the Religious Kibbutz has always worked together with the other, secular kibbutz movements and with agricultural communities of various kinds. These co-operations created a history of mutually beneficial conversations with different Jewish groups, and for this reason the Religious Kibbutz saw itself as a body that was capable of bringing about a reciprocal encounter of joint study between all the streams.
Therefore, in the late 1980s, the Religious Kibbutz took the initiative in founding the Yaacov Herzog Center, out of a concern that the fabric of Israeli society as a whole was unraveling, especially along secular-religious lines. This sense of concerned yet respectful responsibility for the other who is nonetheless a brother or a sister characterizes the Jewish environment of the Herzog Center to this day.
|
|
To Learn
Because Judaism belongs to all of us.
To Listen
Because the gates of interpretation have not been closed.
To Illuminate
Tomorrow from the resources of the past.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
