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Cardozo-Kagan IDC Programs Ends Initial Year with a Bang
(10/06/2010)
For the last session of their yearlong fellowship, participants of the Cardozo-Kagan Jewish Leadership Program at the IDC Herziliya traveled to Jerusalem, where they had the opportunity to meet with Nobel Prize Laureate Prof. Yisrael Auman. As Prof Auman was just turning 80, he decided to celebrate this milestone with the highly appreciative IDC students. Prof. Auman spoke about the commonalities between modern economic thinking and ideas that appear in Rabbinic and later Halachic literature. The talk was one more occasion for the students to see the relevance of the Jewish tradition to their lives as leaders in a modern Jewish state. Following the meeting with Prof. Auman, the students were escorted on a guided tour of Yemin Moshe, the first Jewish neighborhood outside the walls of the old city, and then held an informal celebration to mark the end of this year’s program.
On Wednesday June 9, the David Cardozo Academy formally celebrated the completion of program’s first year by holding a reception at the IDC for the students, their parents and friends. A panel discussion addressed the topic of “Jewish Identity and Universality: In Harmony or on a Collision Course?” hosted by Dr. Pnina Neuwirth, who had taught a session for the program earlier in the year. The panelists were:
Rabbi Michael Melchior
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Prof. Amnon Rubinstein
M. K. Dr. Einat Wilf
The panel enthusiastically engaged the topic from different perspectives and laid out some of the challenges and opportunities facing the Jewish people today.
The gathering was also addressed by Jonathan Davis, Vice President, External Relations and Head of the Raphael Recanati International School. He spoke about the importance of the program and the effectiveness of the Cardozo Academy’s approach. Yuval Ben-Hai, Director of Hillel at the IDC, also spoke about the unique opportunity provided for IDC students as a result of the partnership between Hillel and the DCA. This was followed by a few words from a student representative, who confirmed the centrality of this year’s experience in her life and told the audience that she plans to continue her Jewish learning and exploration as she embarks on her career, a sentiment shared by all of her peers.
Rabbi Cardozo then addressed the audience by discussing the genesis of the program and why the Cardozo Academy is focusing more attention on elite students in Israel’s academic institutions. Finally, Michael Kagan, the primary sponsor and namesake, offered brief remarks about why he chose to be involved with this specific program and then presented each of the participants with a certificate of completion.
The great success of the program’s initial year is largely due to the dedication and hard work of Program Director, Rabbi Chanan Atlas who, almost single-handedly, took this incipient program and made it into one of Israel’s most successful ventures of its kind.
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