IDI's Human Rights and Judaism program is designed to strengthen Israel's Jewish and democratic identity by training the next generation of thought-leaders and educators in a new field of knowledge—Human Rights and Judaism. The centerpiece of this initiative is a prestigious fellowship program for Israel’s brightest Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences.
Professor Shahar Lifshitz, dean of the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University, is considered a leading scholar of family law and responsible for shaping civil law theory in that field. He is the author of the Partnership Covenant, which he wrote as part of the IDI’s Constitution by Consensus Project.
Family law; contract law; multiculturalism; human rights and Judaism.
Edna Harel Fisher leads policy research at the institute on the topic of funding for culture, ‘Mamlachtiyut’, and freedom of speech.
Prof. Daniel Statman is a lecturer at the Philosophy department of the University of Haifa and specializes in ethics and political philosophy. He has served on several public committees, including the committee that revised the ethical code for the IDF, the committee that is responsible for decisions on new medicines to be covered by the national medical insurance, and the ethical committee of Ha-Emek hospital.
Written By: Yohanan Plesner
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must charge forward and turn his words into action. Only then will he be able to guarantee his vision of Israel as “a source of unity for our people.” (This article was first published by JNS.org.)
Written By: Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern
IDI Vice President Prof. Yedidia Stern reflects on the privilege of sacrifice and the necessity to maintain a Jewish Israel in order to justify that sacrifice, in an article written for Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars and Victims of Terrorism.
Written By: Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern
Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern asserts that if we see ourselves as "other" and identify with the stranger, the poor, and people with disabilities, historic redemption of our ancestors from Egypt will be an ongoing redemption for our generation.
Written By: Benjamin (Benny) Lau, Shira Ruderman, Admiral (Res.) Amichay (Ami) Ayalon
An op-ed by IDI Senior Fellow Admiral Ami Ayalon, Project Head Rabbi Dr. Benny Lau, and Shira Ruderman of the Ruderman Foundation, stressing the need to dispel the fear of the Other and the Different.
Written By: Prof. Shahar Lifshitz
Prof. Shahar Lifshitz explains why IDI's proposal for civil unions, which was first presented in his IDI policy paper The Spousal Registry, is the best solution possible today for alleviating the distress of couples who cannot or do not want to marry in a religious ceremony in Israel.
Written By: Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern
How should Jews in Israel feel about the mass slaughter of Arabs by Arabs just a few miles away? IDI Vice President Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern shares thoughts in this article, which was originally published in The Jewish Week.
Written By: Prof. Shahar Lifshitz
Prof. Shahar Lifshitz, author of an IDI policy paper proposing a spousal registry as a framework for civil unions in Israel, welcomes the reintroduction of this issue to the public agenda but expresses some concern about the formulation of the current bill.
Written By: Prof. Shahar Lifshitz
Why didn't the religious community in Israel participate in the socio-economic protest of the summer of 2011? IDI Senior Fellow Prof. Shahar Lifshitz reflects on this question and discusses the need to develop a pluralistic language that includes both particularistic Jewish values and universal democratic values.
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