2008-2009 Foster Seminar Highlights

Teaching/ Seeing/ and Living Israel:

  • “Teaching Israel Through the Medium of Film"
  • “Defining Israeli Identity from an Orthodox Perspective,” films of students at the Ma’aleh film school, Jerusalem
  • "Teaching Israel: from the Classroom, Israel Trips, Adult Education, and the Diaspora”
  • Walking past and present history: “non-tourist” walking tours of the Old City and West Jerusalem

“Branding Israel” initiatives:

  • “Branding Israel.” Meeting with Ido Aharoni at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • Critical/ evaluative tours of Israel Museum, Yad Vashem, and the Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem

Israel in the World:

  • Water and Environmental Issues in Israel: Gershon Baskin, IPCRI, Tantur
  • Meeting with key leaders and engineers at Project Better Place (electric car global initiative)

The Gaza operation and related issues:

  • “I Am Now a True Israeli”– discussion with Yossi Klein Halevi on the Gaza operation and his son’s service in it
  • Discussion with Amal Jamal, Head of the Department of Political Science, Tel Aviv University, about the status of Israeli Arabs in the state of Israel

Jewish Learning and Identity:

  • Text study with David Levin Kruss, Pardes
  • Conversations with Ethiopian-Jewish-Israeli leaders of Project Shulavim, Haifa

    Seminar in Israel

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    The Foster Seminar in Israel on Contemporary Jewish Life has been a cornerstone of the Hornstein Program’s curriculum for 30 years. Partnering with the Jewish Community Center Association (JCCA) Israel office, the seminar provides an incomparable experience allowing you to explore Israel in its 6th decade. Thought-provoking dialogues, dynamic speakers, experiential activities, wide-ranging field visits, and personal and group reflections will help you to relate to Israel in a professional context while defining your own connection to it.

    The seminar exposes you to the complexities of Modern Israel, helping you to shape your personal and professional relationships to the country. It will introduce you to individuals and organizations that can serve as important resources for years to come. It will deepen your connections to classmates. It will strengthen your ability to speak knowledgeably about Israel in your workplace. We expect our graduates to help shape the relationship between Israel and American Jewry in the decades ahead. The Foster Seminar helps to provide you with the tools to do this.

    Cost of participating

    The 2008-2009 seminar was generously funded by the Robert and Myra Kraft Israel Initiatives Fund at Brandeis which allowed our students to participate in this unique experience at little cost. In coming years, we hope to be able to continue to heavily subsidize the trip. We recommend that students bring about $400 personal spending money with them.