THE TIKVAH FUND 165 E. 56th Street New York, New York 10022

Jews and Power: Literature, Philosophy, Politics

December 1, 2014 – December 12, 2014

Participant Biographies

Benjamin Bilski Netherlands

Benjamin Bilski is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Pericles Foundation. Benjamin is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law, Faculty of Law of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He is working as author and editor with The Owls Foundation on a new book about innovation and breakthrough processes, to be published late 2014. He co- founded an international student conference that continues to this day. He studied in America, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. He holds B.Sc. degrees in philosophy and biochemistry from Brandeis University and an M.Sc. in the philosophy and history of science from the London School of Economics. Mr. Bilski has published on Machiavelli and Plato, and taught seminars on Plato, Machiavelli, Tocqueville, Leo Strauss, Hugo Grotius, and Thucydides at the University of Leiden. With five former Chiefs of Defence, he co-authored the book Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World (2007) that influenced the new NATO Strategic Concept. Mr. Bilski is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the Young Atlanticist Working Group of the Atlantic Council, and the Royal Dutch Marksman Association.

Elli Fischer Israel

Elli Fischer is an independent writer, translator, and rabbi. Previously, he was the JLIC rabbi and campus educator at the University of Maryland. He holds B.A. and M.S. degrees from Yeshiva University and rabbinical ordination from Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. His original writing has appeared in Commentary, Jewish Review of Books, Mida, Mosaic, Jewish Ideas Daily, Journal of Halakha and Contemporary Society, New York Jewish Week, Jewish Action, and Intermountain Jewish News, as well as popular blogs Seforim and Hirhurim. Among the issues he writes about are religion and politics in Israel; Jewish and rabbinic literature; and models of halakhic leadership. Among his translated works are By Faith Alone: The Story of Rabbi Yehuda Amital, and he serves as editor of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed’s Peninei Halakha series. He is currently working on a book-length exploration of the interplay between legal and nonlegal material in the Talmud. Originally from Baltimore, he currently resides in Modiin, Israel, with his wife and four children.

Asaf Pollin Galay Israel

Asaf Galay is the curator for the new core exhibits at Beit Hatfutsot (The Museum for the Jewish People) and upcoming temporary exhibits on European Life between World War I and World War II, Jewish humor, and Jewish fashion designers (entitled Dream Weavers-Jewish Fashion Designer). He was also curator for an exhibit on the Dreyfus Affair and its impact on French Jewry and an exhibit entitled Amy Winehouse-Family Portrait. Mr. Galay has directed and written a number of award-winning documentaries for Israeli television. They include series on: Israeli humor (2005), the history of Tel Aviv-Jaffa (2007), and the life and influence of the Zionist hero Joseph Trumpeldor (2008). He has just completed writing, directing, and producing a documentary film on the Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer titled “The Muses of Bashevis Singer.” He is currently completing a documentary film on how comics reflect Israeli life, entitled “The Search for an Israeli Superhero.” Mr. Galay has a background in media and communications, journalism, and advising on political campaigns.

Yehonatan Givati Israel

Yehonatan Givati is an associate professor of law at Hebrew University, where he teaches his students market-based approaches to the law. Dr. Givati was a post-graduate research fellow in law and economics at the New York University School of Law. He has presented widely on law and economics issues and is the recipient of numerous academic awards and fellowships, including a Fulbright Fellowship and the John M. Olin Fellowship in Law and Economics at Harvard University. A native Israeli, Dr. Givati served as the financial advisor to the Chief of Staff during his army service and clerked on the Israeli Supreme Court after obtaining his LL.B. from Hebrew University. He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and his S.J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Daniel Goldman Israel

Daniel Goldman is the founding partner of Goldrock Capital, a family office. He is a regular speaker and panelist at family office conferences. Born and raised in the U.K., Mr. Goldman has been living in Israel since 1992 and is active in several social and educational initiatives. Living in Beit Shemesh with Debra-lee and five children he is very involved in the community and active in local politics. As Chairman of Gesher, Mr. Goldman is closely involved in creating dialogue between religious and non-religious groups, and is also focused on adding value to the challenge and opportunity of the integration of Haredim into mainstream Israeli society. Mr. Goldman is a member of the Public Council of Beit Hillel, the Board of the Jewish Agency and the Council of Newcastle University. Mr. Goldman contributes opinion pieces in both English and Hebrew on issues affecting Israeli society.

Lahav Harkov Levine Israel

Lahav Harkov Levine is the Knesset reporter for The Jerusalem Post. She has interviewed major figures across the Israeli political spectrum and has the inside scoop on the country’s top lawmakers. Mrs. Levine is often invited to lecture on Israeli government and politics in Israel and abroad. International news outlets, such as the BBC, France 24, CTV, Sky News and Sun News Network have sought her insights and analysis about breaking news. She has published articles in Commentary, The Tower, The Jewish Week and the Hebrew-language newspaper Makor Rishon, as well as Jewish culture website Jewcy. Lahav grew up in New Jersey, making aliyah at age seventeen, where she did two years of National Service (Sherut Leumi) at museums dealing with Jewish and Israeli history. She has a degree in Political Science and Communications from Bar-Ilan University, and lives in Tel Aviv with her husband.

Omer Lachmanovitch Israel

Omer Lachmanovitch is a Journalist, Critic and Writer. He has been the Founder and the Editor of the Book Review at the Israel Hayom Daily Newspaper since 2007, and is the Political Weekend Edition Deputy-Editor of Israel Hayom since 2009. Mr. Lachmanovitch was awarded Bernstein Prize for Literary Criticism in the Daily Press (2013). He currently serves on the board of the Literature department at the Israeli Council of Culture and Art for the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and served as a Member of the Jury for the Prize for Children’s Literature in memory of Deborah Omer (2014). Lachmanovitch has published reviews, opinions and magazine articles about literature, art, society, and Jewish life and thought in numerous publications including Makor Rishon Newspaper, and the Nativ and Erev-Rav journals.

Roi Makler Israel

Roi Makler is the Founding Director of Midrasha LeMaase, an Israeli Educational Enterprise Award Winner which trains Mechinot graduates to take on national responsibilities and tackle national and Jewish issues. In addition, he teaches courses on Law, Nationality, and the Israeli Society at pre-army preparatory academies which focus on training social leaders. Mr. Makler also lectures for primary school principals at the Alma Institute. Mr. Makler was program director at the JDC Institute for Leadership and Governance. He established networks that connect senior government leaders for the purpose of social empowerment and also managed and convened the institute’s Governors’ Forums. Before working for the JDC, Mr. Makler Served in the IDF Rescue Combat Unit – 669. After completing his IDF service, Mr. Makler earned his B.A. degree in Law and an M.A. in Public Policy (with distinction) from the Hebrew University. Mr. Makler was then educational manager at MiBereshit (The Foundation for Jewish Renaissance). He wrote educational programs and selected and instructed the staff. Mr. Makler is the Vice President of the Masa Israel Program’s Audit Committee and Ha’machaneh Ha’meshotaf an NGO that advocates for equitable army recruitment and solidarity.

Tamara Morsel Eisenberg Belguim

Tamara Morsel Eisenberg is originally from Belgium and received her B.A. in Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2009). She is currently a fifth- year Ph.D. candidate at the History Department of the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Eisenberg completed her coursework and other requirements at UPenn in 2013-2014, and is currently immersed in dissertation-research at the Center for Jewish History in New York. Ms. Eisenberg’s research centers on early modern Jewish History, particularly Jewish law, from the perspective of intellectual and cultural history. She is interested in the responsa literature (ShU"T) of Central and Eastern Europe in the 16th century. Ms. Eisenberg has presented her work at conferences and seminars at the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, Harvard and other institutions.

Emily Neilson Israel

Emily Neilson is the Director of Strategy for The Face of Israel, an organization partnered with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs that promotes enhanced education on Israel and the Middle East. Ms. Neilson is also the co-founder of LINK Asymmetric Strategies and Services, a company providing in-depth research, analysis and strategy solutions for pro-Israel entities. Ms. Neilson has an extensive background in research and strategy formulation, previously positioned at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (Department of International Relations), the Office of Israeli President Shimon Peres, the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington D.C. (Department of Middle Eastern Studies), and served as an intelligence analyst in the Israeli Defense Forces. Ms. Neilson is a graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem where she double majored in International Relations and Studies of Islam and the Middle East, with an emphasis on international law and conflict resolution. In recent years she has spoken to numerous groups, students and government officials from around the world regarding Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict, in the hopes of promoting a better understanding of the issues at hand and a better future for the Middle East.

Tsuriel Rashi Israel

Rabbi Dr. Tsuriel Rashi is Chair of the Department of Mass Communications at Herzog College of Education in Jerusalem. He is also a lecturer in the School of Communication at Bar-Ilan University and in the Jerusalem Center for Ethics. His principal research interests revolve around issues related to mass communication and religion (Mainly Judaism) as well as professional ethics and religion. He also teaches in non-academic programs at the IDF, Israeli police, Ministries of Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and others. In his rabbinical position, he serves as a chaplain of the Golani brigade in reserve service. Dr. Rashi is a graduate of the Division of Journalism and Communications and holds an M.A. in Political Science and Public Communications, both from Bar-Ilan University, where he completed his doctoral dissertation entitled, “Media, Judaism and Ethics: The Public’s ‘Duty to Know’ in Jewish Law.” Several years ago, Dr. Rashi developed an instructional program for Jewish religious schools, commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Education, dealing with Judaism and Communications, which is now incorporated into the curricula. He was also chairman of the committee that reshapes the communications, cinema, and theater studies curricula in Israel’s religious high schools and colleges. Dr. Rashi is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Tel-Aviv University, working with Prof. Asa Kasher, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Vice Chair of the Jerusalem Centre for Ethics.

Shimon Riklin Israel

Shimon Riklin is an Israeli activist and an entrepreneur; he is also a radio talk show host. Mr. Riklin was born in Tel Aviv in 1963. He served in the IDF as an intelligence officer, with the rank of Captain. He would begin to study archeology and classical studies in Tel Aviv University, and has since received Master’s degree in biblical archeology from the same institute. Mr. Riklin would go on to establish the “Next Generation” movement in Judea and Samaria, a movement which built dozens of outposts in the area during the late 90’s and early 2000’s. As an entrepreneur he built a variety of buildings for a variety of commercial purposes. In recent years, Mr. Riklin became a popular guest on Israeli media. He also hosts a weekly talk show in Galey Israel radio.

Gidon Rothstein United States

Rabbi Dr. Gidon Rothstein was ordained by Yeshiva University (1991) and received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (Post-Biblical Jewish History and Literature) in 2003. His dissertation, Writing Midrash Avot: The Change That Three Fifteenth Century Exegetes Introduced to Avot Interpretation, Its Impact and Origins discussed the hermeneutics of interpretation of Avot in 15th century Spain. Rabbi Rothstein has worked in the synagogue rabbinate, as well as in high school and adult education. He is the author of two works of Jewishly-themed fiction, Murderer in the Mikdash and Cassandra Misreads the Book of Samuel (and Other Untold Tales of the Prophets). His most recent book is We’re Missing the Point: What’s Wrong with the Orthodox Jewish Community and How to Fix It.

Jeffrey Saks Israel Rabbi Jeffrey Saks is the founding director of ATID – The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions in Jewish Education and its WebYeshiva.org program. He edited Wisdom From All My Teachers: Challenges and Initiatives in Contemporary Torah Education (Urim); To Mourn a Child: Jewish Responses to Neonatal and Childhood Death (OU Press); and authored Spiritualizing Halakhic Education (Mandel Foundation). He is an Associate Editor of the journal Tradition and the Series Editor of the S.Y. Agnon Library at The Toby Press. He lectures regularly at the Agnon House in Jerusalem. Prior to his aliyah in 1994, Rabbi Saks served on the faculty of the Yeshiva University High School for Girls. Upon arriving in Israel he was the director of Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat and, subsequently, of Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim in Beit Meir. Rabbi Saks holds a B.A. in Political Science, and M.A. in Medieval Jewish History, and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University, and was a Jerusalem Fellow at the Mandel Leadership Institute for senior Jewish educators. He lives in Efrat with his wife Ilana and their four children.

Amit Segal Israel

Mr. Segal currently serves as a chief political correspondent for Channel 2 News, Israel’s most popular and influential news outlet. In his military service he works as a media and parliamentary correspondent for IDF Radio. In 2006 he joined Channel 2 as a parliamentary correspondent. In 2009 he was appointed to the position of London correspondent for the same channel, and a year ago was appointed to his current position, in addition for hosting a weekly News talk show. He writes a weekly political column in Makor Rishon Newspaper. He has a bachelor degree in law from the Hebrew University and M.Sc. in Public Policy from University College London. Currently he is a Ph.D. Student in the Hebrew University, researching the subject of prisoners swap deals in Israel.

Yossi Shain Israel

Yossi Shain runs a dual academic career, in Israel and the US. At Tel Aviv University he holds the Romulo Betancourt Chair in Political Science where he is also Head of the Political Science Department, Head of the Aba Eben Graduate Program of Diplomacy, and Director of the Frances Broady Institute for Applied Diplomacy. In the US he is a Full Professor of Comparative Government and Diaspora Politics at Georgetown University, where he is also Founding Director of the Program for Jewish Civilization. In 2007 he served pro-bono as President of the Western Galilee College. Professor Shain earned his B.A. in Philosophy and M.A. in Political Science from Tel Aviv University and then his Ph.D. in Political Science (with distinction) from Yale University. Outside the academy he served on national and international committees related to foreign policy, diaspora and migration policies, security and human rights, and the Jewish world, and worked with Governmental agencies and NGO’s in Israel, the US, and Mexico, and with research groups attached to the United Nations. Shain is the author and editor of eight books. They include The Frontier of Loyalty: Political Exiles in the Age of the Nation-State (1989; 2nd edition Michigan University Press, 2005, Hebrew edition, 2006); Between States: Interim Governments and Democratic Transitions (with Juan J. Linz; Cambridge University Press, 1995); Marketing the American Creed Abroad: Diasporas in the U.S. and Their Homelands (Cambridge University Press, 1999), which was awarded the 2000 Best Book of the Year Prize by the Israeli Political Science Association; and Kinship and Diasporas in International Affairs (Michigan University Press, 2007). His latest book The Language of Corruption and Israel’s Moral Culture received national acclaim when it appeared in Hebrew in September 2010 (Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir). An English edition is forthcoming. He is now writing a book and a documentary on the “Israelization of Judaism.” Shain is also the editor of Governments-in- Exile in Contemporary World Politics (Routledge, 1991), and co-editor of Democracy: the Challenges Ahead (with Aharon Kleiman; St. Martin’s, 1997) and Collective Memory in International Affairs (with Eric Langenbacher; Georgetown University Press, 2010).

Teddy Weinberger Israel

Mr. Weinberger is the Director of Development at Meaningful, a company that works with other non-profit organizations in Israel. Mr. Weinberger was an assistant professor of religious studies at Florida International University in Miami before making aliyah with his wife and children in the summer of 1997. Since then, he has written a bi-weekly column in the Israel for American Jewish newspapers. Mr. Weinberger received his B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University. After teaching English and mathematics for a year at a Manhattan high school, he was awarded a full doctoral fellowship in English Literature from Emory University. At Emory, he went on to receive an M.A. in English and a Ph.D. in Religion (“Theological Studies”). An abridged version of his Master’s thesis, titled “Philip Roth, Franz Kafka, and Jewish Writing,” was published in Literature and Theology (September 1993). His book, Strategies for Sustaining Religious Commitment: The Art of the Religious Life was published in 1991 by the Edwin Mellen Press.

Rona Yona Israel

Rona Yona is a postdoctoral fellow for the Israel Institute (2013-2015) at Tel Aviv University and New York University, and editor of Israel: Studies in Zionism and the State of Israel published by Tel Aviv University. Previously she has taught at the Hebrew University. She holds a Ph.D. in Jewish history from Tel Aviv University (2014), an M.A. in European history from the Hebrew University (2005), and a B.A. from the Hebrew University’s Honors Program in History and in Sociology and Anthropology. Her Publications include: “A Kibbutz in the Diaspora,” Journal of Israeli History 31 (2012), “Zionist Terminology and the Jewish Sources: Berl Katznelson and the Creation of the Term ‘Hanchalat Halashon’ [Bequeathing the Language],” Hebraic Political Studies 2 (2007), and “Muslims under Christian Rule in Late Medieval Spain,” Hayo Haya 2 (2003; in Hebrew).