Israel

For our most committed students—alumni of the Tikvah Scholars Program and the Solomon Fellowship—we are launching an advanced, month-long seminar in the heart of Jerusalem. Housed at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center and led by Tikvah’s President and CEO Eric Cohen, this program represents a peak of Tikvah’s educational vision for our most engaged high school students: a sustained, rigorous engagement with the political teaching of the Hebrew Bible.

What is the Jewish understanding of law and justice? How does the covenant shape Jewish political life? What does the Hebrew Bible teach about family and nation, war and peace, leadership and responsibility? Over four weeks of intensive study, participants will read deeply in the Hebrew Bible and consider how ancient wisdom speaks to contemporary political challenges facing Israel and the Jewish people.

This is a program designed for young scholars and future leaders who have already demonstrated exceptional commitment to Jewish learning and who are prepared to dedicate a full month to the most important questions of Jewish political thought. Participants will emerge with a sophisticated understanding of how Judaism conceives of power, sovereignty, and the responsibilities of Jewish statehood, ready to lead the Jewish people as they begin their journey into adulthood.

Eric Cohen is the President and CEO of Tikvah, where he has served in a leadership role since 2007. He is one of the founders and chairman of the board of Emet Classical Academy, and he has been involved in founding many publications, including the New Atlantis (where he continues to serve as editor-at-large), the Jewish Review of Books, and Mosaic magazine (where he serves as publisher). He was also instrumental in building Tikvah’s operations in Israel, and he serves on the board of directors of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Hertog Foundation. Mr. Cohen writes regularly in numerous academic and popular journals, magazines, and newspapers, and is the author of In the Shadow of Progress: Being Human in the Age of Technology (2008) and co-editor of The Future Is Now: America Confronts the New Genetics (2002). He was previously managing editor of the Public Interest and served as a senior advisor to the President’s Council on Bioethics.

The morning seminars will examine Biblical narratives, prophetic literature, and rabbinic commentaries, with a focus on the following questions: What is the Jewish understanding of law and justice? How does the covenant shape Jewish political life? What does the Hebrew Bible teach about family and nation, war and peace, leadership and responsibility—and how do these texts inform both classical and modern understandings of Jewish peoplehood?

Over four weeks of intensive morning study, students will read deeply in the Hebrew Bible and consider how ancient wisdom speaks to contemporary political challenges facing Israel and the Jewish people today.

Readings will include selections from:

Genesis
Exodus
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
I & II Samuel
I & II Kings
Later Prophets
Ezra–Nehemiah

Excursions and field trips will bring students to the sites of extraordinary Biblical and military significance in the history of ancient Israel, including the City of David and the Old City of Jerusalem.

The afternoon seminars will immerse the students in the political thought of the central figures of modern Zionism: Theodor Herzl, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, David Ben Gurion, and Menachem Begin. How did these four Zionist leaders articulate Jewish national aspirations, and translate their ideas into political action? How did their competing visions of Zionist statesmanship shape the founding of the Jewish state, and its early years of existence? How did these Jewish statesmen balance moral conviction, political realism, and historical necessity? And what can their respective successes (and failures) teach us about Jewish political leadership in moments of national crisis?

Readings will be drawn from primary sources, including original writings, speeches, and correspondence, alongside extraordinary historical analyses. Weekly excursions will visit the sites of decision and consequence in the careers and lives of these four founding architects of modern Jewish sovereignty.

Week 1 - Theodor Herzl

This week examines Herzl’s transformation of historic Jewish longing into a coherent political project, exploring his diplomatic efforts to gain legitimacy and international recognition for a Jewish state. Students will consider the immense challenges Herzl faced, and his vision for Jewish political sovereignty in the face of overwhelming odds and internal opposition in the earliest stages of Zionist statesmanship.

Week 2 - Ze'ev Jabotinsky

This week explores Jabotinsky’s uncompromising vision of Jewish sovereignty and nationhood, and his emphasis on Jewish strength, deterrence, and national dignity as prerequisites for Jewish political survival. Through his writings and testimony, students will confront enduring questions about Jewish security, self-defense, and the necessity of Jewish pride - Betar Hadar.

Week 3 - David Ben Gurion

This week centers on the transition from movement to state, examining Ben-Gurion’s role in forging institutions, unifying armed forces, and making critical political and military decisions under existential pressure. Students will analyze how Ben Gurion's Labor Zionist ideals were translated into pragmatic governance, and how Ben Gurion confronted his rivals. ultimately establishing a Jewish state recognized by the powers of the world.

Week 4: Menachem Begin

This week traces Menachem Begin’s evolution from Soviet gulag survivor to underground militia commander and, ultimately, democratic statesman, shaped by a deep commitment to Jewish historical memory, moral responsibility, and national pride. Students examine Begin’s reverence for Jabotinsky’s Betar movement, his experiences under Nazi and Soviet persecution, and his leadership of the Irgun, considering how these forces shaped the struggle for Jewish sovereignty and the founding of the State of Israel. The week culminates in an exploration of Begin’s rise from opposition leader to prime minister, culminating in peace with Egypt and a transformation of Israel’s regional standing and political self-conception.

Advanced Residential Institute: The Jerusalem Seminar on Jewish Political Thought

Housed at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center

June 28 – July 26, 2026Jerusalem, Israel

Application deadline: February 2, 2026

Dean of Faculty

Eric Cohen

Key Information

Eligibility

Location & Dates

Cost

Morning Track

Jewish Political Thought and the Hebrew Bible

Afternoon Track

Zionist Statesmanship

Tentative Daily Schedule