Mission Statement
II. Programs
The exploration of Law and Jewish civilization, the principal mission of the Center, takes place through the following programs.
Scholarship – The Fellowship and Affiliates Programs
The Center hosts, on an annual basis, six Fellows who spend a ten month Fellowship working on individual scholarly projects which coincide with the Center’s intellectual orientation. The projects apply the insights, sensibilities, normative considerations and experiences of Jewish civilization to law and legal issues of significant scholarly and social value. This effort is meant to result in publication, by the Center as well as in learned journals and books, of scholarship of the highest quality.
Fellows are of the highest quality, and selected on a competitive basis from applications received from all over the world, on the basis of their credentials and the compatibility of their research with the Center’s mission. Fellows receive a generous stipend, office space, working facilities and support from Center administrative staff. In addition to their individual research, Fellows are expected to contribute to the intellectual life of NYU School of Law, NYU as a whole, as well as the general community through various fora and an annual conference.
The Fellows in the Tikvah Center’s Inaugural Year in 2009/2010 are:
Yishai Beer, Professor of the Law of Taxation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law, Israel
Beth Berkowitz, Assistant Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York
Rabbi Saul Berman, Director of Continuing Rabbinic Education at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, New York (Berkowitz Fellow)
Moshe Idel, Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought, Hebrew University, Israel (Joint Fellow with The Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law & Justice)
James Kugel, Professor of Bible and Director of the Institute for the History of the Jewish Bible, Bar Ilan University, Israel
Avital Margalit, Professor of Property Law and the Sociology of Law, Bar Ilan University, Israel
Adiel Schremer, Associate Professor, Department of Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University and Head of the Halpern Center for the Study of Jewish Self-Perception, Israel
Aharon Shemesh, Associate Professor, Department of Talmud, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
The Center also serves as the intellectual home of the Berkowitz Fellowship Program and the Gruss Program at NYU Law School.
The Center associates scholars from NYU and other institutions of learning in New York as Affiliates, with a view to encouraging and facilitating scholarship by them in the field of Law & Jewish civilization, as well as enlisting their support in the learning programs of the Center. The first Affiliate, for the 2009/2010 Inaugural Year, is Christine Hayes, Professor of Religious Studies in Classical Judaica in the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University. The second Affiliate Scholar, beginning in the same year, is Suzanne Last Stone, Professor of Law and Director, Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Overall, the Fellowship and Affiliates Program serve to attain three meta-objectives:
To act as an incentive for emerging and established scholars to branch out to new academic endeavors geared towards Law & Jewish civilization.
To facilitate conversations among the Fellows and Affiliates during the year through workshops, seminars and intellectual synergies in the group which will enhance the quality of the scholarship produced, and also create lifelong networks among the past and present members of the Center.
To result in published scholarship which builds up to a significant repository of high quality work in the field, fueling and stimulating the interest of others.
Learning – the Tikvah Scholar in Residence Program, and the Undergraduate Outreach Program
Tikvah Scholar in Residence Program:
The Tikvah Scholar in Residence Program, starting in 2010/2011, is directed at outstanding graduates and young scholars interested in spending a year of research, writing and learning in the company of some of the most gifted and creative scholars in the field of Law and Jewish Civilization.
Applications are considered from candidates at the following levels:
(1) Post Docs (Tikvah Scholars);
(2) Students currently writing a doctorate in a field related to the Mission Statement of the Tikvah Center (Visiting Doctoral Researchers); and
(3) Recent BA graduates from any discipline with outstanding academic credentials (Junior Tikvah Scholars).
Successful applicants will join the intellectual community at the Tikvah Center as integral members. This includes:
The Tikvah Forum: Each Tikvah Scholar-in-Residence is expected to attend a bi-weekly forum in which the research of the Tikvah Fellows, members of the Judaic Studies faculty at NYU, and invited guests will be presented and discussed.
Academic Seminars: Tikvah Scholars are expected to participate in one core seminar presented by Center directors Professor Moshe Halbertal and Professor Joseph Weiler. Scholars also have the ability to audit any courses offered within the auspices of the Tikvah Center itself, NYU Law School or the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies.
Intellectual Advisor-Mentor: Each Scholar-in-Residence is individually mentored by one of the Tikvah Fellows (see bios of the 2010-11 fellows below) or Directors of the Tikvah Center (also see bios below) or another NYU Faculty member.
A Major Writing Project: Each Scholar is expected to engage in a writing project commensurate with his or her experience and interests—this could include a major academic paper, an essay for publication in a serious journal of ideas, or a major section of a book or dissertation.
The duration of the Scholar in Residence Program is 8 months (September through April) and carries a stipend of $22,000 U.S. dollars.
Please see the separate Tikvah Scholar in Residence Program Mission Statement for further details.
Outreach – The Undergraduate Summer Program:
Together with its strategic partner, the Law Faculty of Bar-Ilan University, the Center will organize, starting from the second or third year of its operation, a residential Summer Program in which undergraduate students from around the country will enroll in intensive courses or seminars on the theme of Law and Jewish civilization. The courses and seminars will be designed in part to provide first and stimulating encounters between the students and the “greats” of the Jewish Canon in the context of contemporary social and political issues. They will be designed such that enrolled students, who will be self-funded at this stage, may earn credit for the undergraduate degrees in their respective institutions. Here, too, it is expected that the Summer Outreach program will be particularly attractive to aspiring law students from all over the United States. A summer program in Israel at Bar-Ilan will be integral to this initiative. The program will also work synergistically with the NYU in Tel Aviv study abroad program.
