{"id":1794,"date":"2025-04-29T09:58:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T09:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2025-05-08T12:41:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T12:41:03","slug":"spreading-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/?p=1794","title":{"rendered":"Spreading the Light"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Through courses, a leadership program, and a prize for outstanding achievement as a public intellectual, the Jonathan Sacks Institute is preparing exceptional Israelis to develop ideas that can shape the present and future of our nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"
The Jonathan Sacks Institute The Department of Political Studies<\/h5>\n
Spreading the Light<\/h1>\n
Through courses, scholarships, and a prize for outstanding achievement as a public intellectual, the Jonathan Sacks Institute is preparing exceptional Israelis to develop ideas that can shape the present and future of our nation.<\/h3>\n
If You Build It<\/h6> Prof. Jonathan Rynhold<\/figcaption> <\/figure>
After a class in one of the two Basic Jewish Studies courses developed by the Department of Political Studies\u2019 Jonanthan Sacks Institute, a student approached Academic Director Prof. Jonathan Rynhold to share a revelation. \u201cHe was a secular Israeli, and he said that he\u2019d studied at Tel Aviv University and Georgetown, yet he\u2019d never encountered ideas like these before,\u201d recalls Rynhold, who is also the department head. \u201cHe didn\u2019t just mean that Rabbi Sacks\u2019 ideas were inspiring. He also meant that he didn\u2019t realize he could ever be inspired by the thinking of a religious Jew.\u201d And now, thanks to the institute\u2019s first two courses\u2014\u201cPhilosophy, Religion, and Fundamentalism,\u201d taught by the Dr. Miriam Feldmann-Kaye of the Department of Jewish Philosophy, and \u201cThe Social, Moral, and Political Thought of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks,\u201d taught by Dr. Tanya White of \u201cBooks and Beyond: The Rabbi Sacks Podcast\u201d\u2014he can continue to speak to hundreds of students at Bar-Ilan each year.<\/p>
Along with courses that introduce Rabbi Sacks\u2019 thought to a wider Israeli audience, the multi-faceted institute is also gearing up to launch the No\u00e9-Sacks Scholarships, awarded to master\u2019s and PhD students whose research engages with Rabbi Sacks\u2019 work, and a new bachelor\u2019s degree in politics, Jewish and general philosophy, and economics. While this combination of three disciplines into one prestigious degree originated at Oxford University, the Bar-Ilan version is unique in its emphasis on Jewish philosophy. As such, it reflects Rabbi Sacks\u2019 singular achievement: crafting a philosophical framework that is deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition, yet capable of addressing the most social, political, and moral challenges facing the world today. Together with the Learning and Teaching Division, the institute is also developing the first-ever Hebrew-language MOOC (mass open online course) about the philosophy of Rabbi Sacks, which will feature both English and Arabic subtitles, as well. But first, the institute plans to award the inaugural Annual Jonathan Sacks Institute Prize for Outstanding Achievement as a Public Intellectual in Memory of Samuel Gewurz of Montreal z\u201dl to Prof. Emeritus Robert Putnam of Harvard University. The most-cited political scientist in the world over the last 50 years, Putnam\u2019s expertise has often been sought out by global leaders, including numerous U.S. presidents and British prime ministers.<\/p>
\u201cBoth Rabbi Sacks and Prof. Putnam highlighted the threats posed by excessive individualism, religious extremism, and polarization. Prof. Putnam\u2019s groundbreaking research has also significantly shaped global discourse on the importance of civic engagement and community cohesion in preserving democracy,\u201d says Rynhold. \u201cIt is a privilege and an honor, through this award and the Institute\u2019s other activities, for Bar-Ilan to continue Rabbi Sacks\u2019 conversation with the State of Israel, to which he was deeply committed.\u201d<\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2487,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/2487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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