Israelis are worried about their leadership. The Jewish state’s political life is never without its share of controversy, but the last year has seen a monsoon of scandals and mishandled crises—including the war in Lebanon, in which admirable aims were eviscerated by diplomatic and military failure; the withdrawal from Gaza, in which the uprooting of thousands of families from their Gaza homes emboldened Israel’s enemies on multiple fronts; and the criminal investigation or indictment of the country’s justice minister, president, and two successive prime ministers—a situation so acute as to make many Israelis wonder whether there is not something more profound at play, a kind of deterioration of public life, or perhaps a breakdown in the mechanism that is supposed to produce leaders of integrity and skill who dedicate themselves to public service.
How do great leaders arise? There are, of course, so many intangibles of character that make for the combination of judgment, steadfastness, and courage necessary to lead. But there is one investment a society can make which may contribute directly to the emergence of good leaders: In the area of education, and especially higher education. Great leadership begins with citizens who are deeply familiar with, and committed to, the history, ideas, and values of their people. To produce wise political and cultural figures, a nation’s schools must provide tomorrow’s leaders not only with the proper skills required for political activity, such as public speaking and organization, but also with a serious education in history, literature, philosophy, and other disciplines collectively known as the “humanities.” For this reason, some schools, such as
The Jewish state, too, was founded on a vision that included a dream of creating a new generation of Jews capable of leading their people in their new, sovereign life. Theodor Herzl envisioned the establishment of a Jewish university, and even canvassed the Ottoman Sultan for its establishment in
In a Jewish state, of course, such a vision would not mean simply the re-creation of the same humanities programs taught in non-Jewish settings. Heirs to a tradition which produced the Bible and the Talmud, Jews have always understood that they possessed not only a unique way of life, but also a message for the world grounded in a unique Jewish understanding of life, morality, God, and the ways of the world. It was the supreme dedication to this worldview which led Jews around the world to endure hardship and persecution rather than abandon their identity. Even those Jews who knew little about their own heritage understood that they were protecting something precious—a message of enduring relevance not just for ourselves, but for all mankind. In order to develop a future of thoughtful, historically minded, uniquely Jewish leaders, a new concept of humanities would have to be developed—what we may call a “Jewish humanities.” Such a curriculum would combine the riches of Western civilization, to which both
In the last generation, however, something has gone wrong with this crucial element of the Zionist enterprise. While Israeli universities have succeeded in producing world-class scholars in fields like the natural sciences and economics, the vital area of the humanities, after prolonged neglect, has entered a tailspin. Drastic budget cuts have sharply reduced the number of faculty positions and scholarships, with the brunt of the burden borne by the “unprofitable” humanities programs. Libraries, too, have suffered, with
There’s an educational deterioration at all levels. Even when speaking to those possessing academic degrees, I find garbled language, the lack of cultural depth, and ignorance when it comes to general history and the history of the Jewish people.... I see an intimate connection between the degeneration of the Israeli spirit and the degeneration of the country. Without developed humanities and Jewish studies, there will be no high quality science of any kind in the State of Israel. Not physics, not chemistry, not mathematics, and not medicine.
A generation in the making, the collapse of the humanities in the Jewish state has come at an inauspicious time. If the humanities are needed to give us the clarity, wisdom, and perspective to give our people direction, then one cannot but notice the lack of such direction in the most crucial areas of Jewish life. In the diaspora, the absence of a creative Jewish intellectual leadership has resulted in the inability of rabbis, scholars, and communal leaders to present a coherent message as to what meaning Judaism may have today—without which there is little hope in convincing our most talented young people why, at the end of the day, Jewish identity is anything more than an irrational and arbitrary attachment to a people of the past. In
The encouragement of great leadership is not an exact science; but neither is it rocket science. It begins with education, and in particular, a university system that provides far more than vocational preparation for the next generation of high-tech wunderkinder. It requires a profound investment in Jewish and Western humanities, for only in this way can a generation of citizens emerge who understand the meaning of our past, the imperative of public service, the reasons for sacrifice, the possibilities of the spirit, the obligations of ethics, and the unique potential of the Jewish people. In a democracy, one must cast a wide net, investing in the education of an entire populace, and especially in those institutions which will produce the authors, activists, journalists, judges, politicians, and cultural heroes of tomorrow. There may be no tonic for
David Hazony, for the editors
December 1, 2006