At the end of last week, two articles were published in "Israel Hayom".
One dealt with gratuitous hatred and its heavy costs, and the other, unfortunately, dealt with fueling hatred and polarization.
The focus of the second article was the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem, next to the President's House and the National Academy of Sciences.
The institute is a world-renowned institution and employs the best researchers from the Israeli academy in the fields of humanities and social sciences.
The researchers specialize in a variety of subjects such as religion, economics, science and society.
A major issue that the institute deals with is the divisions in Israeli society, divisions that often lead to gratuitous hatred between religious and secular, Mizrahi and Ashkenazim, Jews and Arabs, periphery and center.
The aim of the institute is to develop new ways of thinking that go beyond these kinds of contrasts.
The reference is not only to the contradictions prevalent in the general public and fueling hatred, but also to those that influence academia and create a misunderstanding of religion, tradition, the Middle East and peripheral groups.
In addition to academic research, the institute holds discussion evenings dedicated to acute controversies (for example, the case of the abduction of the children of Yemen, the East and the Balkans), creates unexpected bridges (for example, between East Jerusalem and the West), and leads programs for young leadership that bring together all the "tribes" of Israeli society .
What, then, was the article about?
The article referred to the "exemption" that the institute receives from taxes, as well as to the institute's general budget, which according to the article comes from a "private Dutch philanthropic foundation".
Indeed, the vast majority of the institute's budget comes from a private foundation, but not from a foreign Dutch foundation, but from the Jewish foundation of the Van Leer family, who fled from Holland to the United States from the terror of the Nazi oppressor and donated a huge fortune to the State of Israel in the first years of its establishment. Thanks to this significant donation, and on the basis of an agreement Signed at the time with David Ben-Gurion and enshrined in law, the Institute is exempted mainly from property taxes - an exemption that other institutions, such as the Begin Heritage Center, are also granted. The main claim of the article is that the Van Leer Institute is a "fortress of the radical left in Israel," and she cites as an example Prof. Yehuda Shanhav-Shahrevani stands out. The reporter forgot to mention, and not by chance, the important enterprise that Shanhav-Shahrevani has been leading at the Institute for the past five years, the "Maketub" project for translating beautiful literature from the West into Hebrew,
whose purpose is to introduce the Hebrew reading public to the cultural world around them.
It is not for nothing that the project received enthusiastic praise in this newspaper as well.
It is true that the institute also gives a platform to opinions and positions that are not in consensus, and some of them are outrageous.
From the desire for a lively public discourse it follows that the more difficult it is to voice a certain opinion, the more important it is to give it a platform.
Sometimes these are left-wing views that are difficult for the general public to digest, and sometimes these are critical positions towards the progressive left, which are difficult for liberal academics to accept.
One way or another, our goal is not to downplay the controversies;
Controversy is an important element in the Jewish tradition and in a democratic society.
which is difficult for liberal academics to accept.
One way or another, our goal is not to downplay the controversies;
Controversy is an important element in the Jewish tradition and in a democratic society.
which is difficult for liberal academics to accept.
One way or another, our goal is not to downplay the controversies;
Controversy is an important element in the Jewish tradition and in a democratic society.
Our ambition is to prevent disputes from becoming a divisive and divisive reality and to promote mutual understanding and respect.
All the activities of the Van Leer Institute are available free of charge, and we invite the public to take a closer look at the many events and publications on the Institute's website, on social media, in bookstores, and of course at the Institute itself.
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