The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the interconnectedness of humanity. It has also revealed and compounded vast inequalities within and between societies. This has lent new urgency to the question of our responsibility – as individuals, communities, and nations – to the world’s most vulnerable people. Within Jewish tradition, there have always been universal dimensions. But the relatively new phenomena of the State of Israel and of a well-resourced American Jewish community have transformed the ways in which Jews can exercise global responsibility and make a positive contribution on the world stage.

How might the twin experiences of a strong diaspora and a vibrant Jewish state – taken separately and together – foster a greater Jewish collective consciousness towards global responsibility? How might the experience of Jewish collectivity mobilize Jewish involvement and leadership in addressing the world’s pressing problems, including climate change, poverty, and structural inequalities?  What resources from Jewish tradition can be brought to bear to guide and inspire these efforts?

Internationally renowned research fellows from Hartman’s Kogod Research Center for Contemporary Thought and the OLAM network are tackling these and other questions during weekly seminars over the 2021-2022 academic year, with the aim of generating new thinking about the role of Israel and the American Jewish community in pursuing global justice.

The partnership officially launched on November 2, 2021. Seminar meetings are being led by coordinators: Dr. Elana Stein Hain, Senior Hartman Fellow & Director of Faculty, and OLAM CEO Dyonna Ginsburg.

Meet the Fellows

Listen to a discussion between President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North American President Yehuda Kurtzer and OLAM CEO Dyonna Ginsburg, on Israel’s responsibility to other nations experiencing crisis on injustice:

Shalom Hartman Institute’s Identity/Crisis podcast, July 5, 2022

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