The Framework for Contemporary Jewish Thought and Identity

Fifth Annual Conference:

Kabbala, Mysticism and Israeli Society

Will be held at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

Wednesday – Thursday, 18-19 Sivan, 5760

June 21-22, 2000

Conference Chairmen:

Dr. Avraham Elqayam

Dr. Boaz Huss

www.vanleer.org.il

E-mail. Chashif@vanleer.org.il

Wednesday, 18-19 Sivan 5760, June 21-22, 2000

9:00 am – 9:30 am Registration

9:30 am – 11:15 am Opening Remarks: Rabbi Dr. Naftali Rothenberg

Co-Chairman, The Framework for Contemporary Jewish Thought and Identity, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

FIRST SESSION

Mysticism and Israeli Society

Rationalistic Responses to Mysticism and Magic in Israel Today

Prof. Yoram Bilu

Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Kabbala, Mysticism and the Religious Gap in Israel:

Alternative Approaches and the Opposition to Them

Prof. Harvey Goldberg

Department of Sociology and Anthropology,

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Anthropology and Anthropologization of Eastern Mysticism in Israel

Dr. Andre Levi

Department of Behavioral Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

11:15 am – 11:45 am Coffee Break

11:45 am – 1:45 pm SECOND SESSION

Panel Discussion:

Kabbala, Mysticism and Being Israeli

Chairman: Dr. Avinoam Rosenak

Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Dr. Meir Buzaglo

Department of Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Dr. Elchanan Reiner

Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University

Prof. Eliezer Schweid

Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Dr. Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin

Department of History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

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1:45 pm – 2:30 pm Lunch Break

2:30 pm – 4:30 pm Workshops

Methods of Meditation in Judaism and Outside of It

Rabbi Menachem Kalush

Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Spiritual Awakening in The Zohar

Melila Helner-Eshed

Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

4:30 pm – 5:00 pm Coffee Break

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm THIRD SESSION

Mysticism, Psychology and Psychiatry

Chairman: Dr. Andre Levi

Department of Behavioral Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

The Jerusalem Syndrome in the Year of the Millenium:

Reality and Fantasy

Prof. Eliezer Witztum

Faculty of Health Studies Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

The Psychology of the Transcendent:

God, Belief in God and the Image of God in Man

Dr. Micha Ankori

Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University

Thoughts on The Hidden in Psychoanalysis and Mysticism

Prof. Yolanda Gempel

Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm Dinner Break

7:30 pm – 9:30 pm Poets Read from Their Mystical Poetry

Chairman: Dr. Yochanan Greenshpon

Institute of Asian and African Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Prof. Chamutal Bar-Yosef

Department of Hebrew Literature, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Binyamin Shvili

Author, Poet, Lecturer at Alma Hebrew Institute, Tel Aviv

Agi Mish’ol

Poet

Thursday 19 Sivan 5760, June 22, 2000

8:45 am – 9:15 am Light Refreshments

9:15 am – 11:15 am FOURTH SESSION

Mysticism, Science and Rationalism

Chairman: Dr. Yisrael Koren

Oranim – University Section

Intercritique of Myth and Science

Prof. Henri Atlan

Human Biology Research Center,

Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital, Jerusalem

Kabbala as Science: A Case Study of the Methodology of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Halevi Ashlag

Dr. David Hansel

C.N.R.S., France

Web culture: Science, Mysticism and Technology

Dr. Yoav Ben-Dov

The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas,

Tel Aviv University

In Criticism of the Hostility Towards Folk Beliefs

Prof. Joseph Agassi

Department of Philosophy, Tel Aviv University

11:15 am – 11:45 am Coffee Break

11:45 am – 1:45 pm FIFTH SESSION

Kabbala and Creativity in Israeli Culture

Chairman: Dr. Avraham Elqayam

Department of Philosophy, Bar Ilan University

The Story From the Other Side

Dr. Michal Guvrin

Author

Kabbala and Theatrical Creativity in Israel

Dr. Danny Horowitz

Playwright

Creation and Creativity

Dr. Nadine Shenker

Bezalel, Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Author

Three Shofar Blows: A Midrash for Rosh Hashana

Udi Aloni

Artist

1:45 pm – 2:30 pm Lunch Break

2:30 pm – 4:00 pm SIXTH SESSION

The Book, the Writer and the Story:

The Israeli Kabbalistic Story

Chairwoman: Dr. Gitit Holtzman

Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Patterns of Printing of the Kabbalistic Book

Dr. Daniel Abrams

Department of Philosophy, Bar Ilan University

Kabbala in an Israeli Light: Popular Kabbalistic Literature in Israel

Dr. Boaz Huss

Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

The Research of Kabbala and Its Branches in Israeli Literature

Prof. Michal Oren

Department of Hebrew Literature, Tel Aviv University

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm Coffee Break

4:30 pm – 6:45 pm SEVENTH SESSION

On the Renewal of Mysticism in Israel

Chairman: Dr. Boaz Huss

Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

On the Religious Significance of the Research of Kabbala

Prof. Yehuda Leibes

Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

“Academic Kabbala”: The Price of Modernism

Dr. Avraham Elqayam

Department of Philosophy, Bar Ilan University

“RIVAZ Superstar”: Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai’s Logos Wanderings Throughout the Generations

Prof. Shlomo Giora Shoham

Faculties of Law, Fine Arts, and Political and Social Sciences,

Tel Aviv University

The Pardess as a Public Garden:

On the Growth of Mystical Dialogue within the Jewish People

Rabbi Dr. Naftali Rothenberg

Co Chairman, The Framework for Contemporary Jewish Thought and Identity, the Van Leer Jerusalem institute

6:45 pm – 7:30 pm Dinner Break

7:30 pm – 9:00 pm Panel Discussion: Mysticism and Spirituality in Judaism and Islam

Chairman: Rabbi Roberto Arbiv

Midreshet Iyun, Tel Aviv

Rabbi Menachem Fruman

Rabbi of Tekoa

Sheikh Ali Abu Salah

Deir Qeards

9:00 pm – 9:45 pm Islamic Dhikr Ceremony

Sheikh Ali Abu Salah and his son, Yacoub Hussein

Dier Qeards

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