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Description Activities
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Description: The President's Forum on World Jewish Affairs was established in the 1960s during the presidency of Zalman Shazar, of blessed memory, as a joint program of the president of Israel and the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Forum was active during the tenures of Presidents Shazar, Ephraim Katzir, Yitzhak Navon, and Chaim Herzog. The Forum was renewed in November 2001, at the initiative of President Moshe Katzav. Five to six meetings are convened each year. Most of the members of the Forum are academics and experts in the field of contemporary Jewish life. They are invited to present a lecture, which is followed by a discussion and the fielding of questions from the audience. The aim of this enterprise is to encourage study and debate on serious problems facing world Jewry and to suggest possible solutions in the areas of education and communal activity. Among the topics that have been discussed in the past — and which remain of interest and concern — are Jews and Jewish communities throughout the world, antisemitism, the memory and history of the Holocaust, Jewish demography, Jewish identity, education, relations between Jews and non-Jews, and Jewish institutions. The uniqueness of the Forum is the fact that it is not only comprised of scholars — who share information on their current research and activities — but of government officials and representatives of the far-flung communities of the Diaspora. This fruitful encounter enables participants to examine the issues from many different perspectives before seeking solutions to problems. The lectures and discussions have been taped and subsequently published in a series of hardcover booklets, which have proven to be a valuable source of information on a wide range of interests. These booklets are available from the Publications Department of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem ( Mount Scopus campus). The Institute plans to continue publishing the lectures and ensuing discussions in print and on its informative website. The Forum's steering committee includes representatives from the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of the Hebrew University, the Bar Ilan University, the Jewish History Department of Tel-Aviv's University, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Representative of the Minister for Jerusalem and Jewish Diasporas, the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish National Fund, B'nai B'rith, the World Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, and the Public Demographic Council. The Study Circle welcomes the participation of other similar groups. Orders for booklits and books of the Forum, please apply to E-Mail: msbarg@mscc.huji.ac.il |
