Annual lectures presented by the Amy Adina Schulman Fund at The Jewish Center, Princeton, New Jersey:
2011
The title of this year's lecture was "From the Front Lines - Grassroots Social Justice Activism in Israel." The keynote speaker was Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and author of Arguing About War (2004). He is also the editor of Dissent and contributing editor of The New Republic. In addition, Bruce Temkin, the New York Director of the New Israel Fund, spoke in place of original speaker Daniel Sokatch, the CEO of NIF, who was unable to be in Princeton that day.
2010
Dr. Leonard (Leibel) Fein is a writer, teacher, columnist and an independent voice fully immersed in the American-Jewish and Israeli communities. A founder of Moment Magazine, he served as its editor and publisher for 13 years. He is also the founder of the organization Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. His text on "Israel Politics and People" was required reading in all Israeli universities for ten years. His talk was titled "The U.S., the Peace Process, and Us."
2009
Moshe Halbertal, Professor of Jewish Thought and Philosophy at Hebrew University, Jerusalem. A prize-winning author and recipient of the Rothschild Foundation - Goren Goldstein Award for the Best Book in Jewish Thought, 1997-2000. Dr. Halbertal has also served as a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, Penn Law School, and in the Global Law School Program at NYU. The talk was titled, "Morality, Strategy, and the War on Terror: Israel and the Goldstone Report."
2008
Gidon Bromberg, founder and Israeli Director of Friends of the Earth - Middle East spoke on "Water and Peace in the Middle East: Crisis and Opportunity." Mr. Bromberg and the Palestinian and Jordanian directors of FoE-ME were honored by Time Magazine in 2008 as Heroes of the Environment for their work described as a model for peace and environmental programs in developing cross border community programs between Jordan, the Palestinian Territory, and Israel. www.foeme.org
2007
Professor Amnon Rubinstein, 2006 Israel Prize Laureate, which described him as “the father of constitutional law in Israel…few can equal his contribution as a public figure, member of the legislative and executive branches of government, and a brilliant researcher and legal expert.” His topic: "The Crisis in Israel's Legal System."
2006
Rabbi Michael Cohen was founding faculty member of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies located on Kibbutz Ketura and Executive Director of the Arava Institute's North American Office. His talk: "Nature Knows No Boundaries: How the Environment is a Key to Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."
2005
Yaron Ezrahi, one of Israel's foremost political theorists, examined criteria for change in the Middle East. His topic was "The Clash of Ideology and Necessity in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." Ezrahi is a noted commentator on Israeli affairs, distinguished by his twin passions for Jewish tradition and the tradition of liberal democracy. He is a professor of political science at Hebrew University and senior Fellow Emeritus at the Israeli Democracy Institute in Jerusalem.
2004
The 17th annual lecture was given by David Horovitz, then editor of the award-winning news magazine, The Jerusalem Report. His 1996 biography of Yitzhak Rabin, Shalom Friend, won the U.S. National Jewish Book Award for non-fiction. His topic was "Liberty and Security: Israel in the Age of Terrorism."
2003
Dr. Stephen P. Cohen, President of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, National Scholar at the Israel Policy Forum and foreign policy expert discussed the question: "Can There be a Narrative for America, Israel, and the Arab World that Gives Dignity to All Three?"
2002
Four Fund grantees:
Beth Jacowitz - first-year rabbinical student working with Ethiopian immigrants in Jerusalem
Talya Weisbard - intern with the Jewish Organizing Initiative in Boston; engaged in building bridges between the African American and Irish communities
Aiton Goelman - intern with the Israeli Supreme Court; currently serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney investigating and prosecuting violent gangs in Manhattan, the Bronx, and other counties in the southern New York district
Dafna Hochman - worked with the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Seeds of Peace projects in Israel. She is now a Deputy Director of theTerrorism Tracking Project at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.
2001
Linda Gradstein, journalist for National Public Radio about Israel and the Middle East: "Linda Gradstein Reports..."
2000
Dr. Menachem Lorberbaum, Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and lecturer at Tel Aviv University: "Beyond Clericalism? Religion and State in Israel"
1999
Dr. Ruth Gavison, Professor, Hebrew University, and founder and president of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI): "Can Israel Be Both Democratic and Jewish?"
Dr. Deborah Dwork, Professor and Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies at Clark University: "Hidden Children of the Holocaust"
1998
Rabbi Amy Klein, Reconstructionist rabbi living in Jerusalem and working with Rabbis for Human Rights: "Jewish Unity: Religious Conformity or Diversity"
1997
Five Fund grantees:
Shoshana Lopatin - Senior at Princeton University who interned with The Israel Union for Environmental Defense
Raquel Ukeles - Wexner Graduate Fellow at Harvard who participated in activities geared toward Arab-Jewish cross-cultural exchange
Merrill Zack – Inter-Religious Coordinating Council in Jerusalem
Daniel Block – volunteered as a grant writer for The Union of Local Associations of Unrecognized (Arab)Villages in the Galilee
Shanah Glick – Yale Law School student who interned with Israeli Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner
1996
Dr. Alice Shalvi is Professor Emerita of Hebrew University, founder and chair of the Israel Women's Network, and a tireless advocate for equality and social justice. In 2007, she was awarded the Israel Prize, Israel's most prestigious honor for her lifetime acheivements and unique contributions to Israeli society. Her topic was "The Israeli Agenda Today: A Guide to the Perplexed."
1995
Dr. Sidra Ezrahi, Professor, Hebrew University, and author: "Jerusalem: Sacred Center and Bloody Intersection"
1994
Dr. Najat Arafat Khelil, President of the Arab Women's Council
Judith Stern Peck, Chair of the national UJA program examining Diaspora-Israeli relations, both participants in "The Dialogue Project" in the U.S.
1993
Dr. Naomi Chazan, Knesset member and chair of the Truman Institute at Hebrew University: "Can The Middle East Peace Talks Lead to Peace?"
1992
Dr. Janet Aviad, Professor, Hebrew University, and Israeli Director of the Charles R. Bronfman Foundation: "The Impact of Orthodoxies on the Israeli Elections and the Peace Negotiations"
1991
Merle Feld, playwright and poet: "Poems, Dialogues, Struggling with the Other: Tracing One Woman's Journey in Jerusalem"
1990
Yael Dayan, Knesset member, author, and journalist: "Israelis and Palestinians: Moving Beyond the Status Quo"
1989
Dr. Galia Golan, Professor, Hebrew University, and a founder of Shalom Achshav (Peace Now): "Women and Peace in Israel"
1988
Dr. Alice Shalvi, recipient of the Israel Prize on 2007 and first invited lecturer. She is the founder of the Israel Women's Network and is Principal of the Pelech Religious Experiential High School for Girls as well as a founding member of the New Israel Fund. Her topic was "Out of the Wilderness into the Promised Land: Israel's Women after 40 Years of Statehood."