Institute for Jewish Thought

The Tikvah Institute for Jewish Thought is an academic program with a public dimension devoted to a searching intellectual encounter between the best sources of Jewish and broader Western reflection on the deepest problems of human life.

The initial focus of the institute will be an educational program focusing on how Jews have framed and attempted to answer the "big questions." At the heart of the program will be a team-taught course featuring JTS professors from the History, Jewish Thought, and Jewish Literature departments. There will also be a two-semester seminar for a select group of Tikvah scholars on contemporary Jewish philosophy. Leading exponents of Jewish thought will be invited on campus to interact with the Tikvah scholars and to give lectures open to the general public.

The Tikvah Institute will coordinate with The Jewish Theological Seminary's Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies to organize conferences and promote events devoted to Jewish thought.

The program will begin in full in 2010–2011; 2009–2010 will be a start-up year in which the professors and administrators involved in the program will meet to plan the core courses and surrounding activities.

The Tikvah Institute at JTS is supported by the Tikvah Fund. The mission of the Tikvah Fund is to promote serious Jewish thought about the enduring questions of human life and the pressing challenges that confront the Jewish people. The Tikvah Institute of JTS will cooperate with existing Tikvah projects at Princeton University and NYU Law School.

Further information about the Tikvah Institute is available by contacting Dr. Alan Mittleman, director of the Tikvah Institute and chairman of JTS's Department of Jewish Thought, at (212) 678-8054.

Upcoming Programs

Works in Progress Seminar

The Tikvah Institute at JTS is planning a works in progress seminar for faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, and others in the greater New York area.

Invited participants, working in the fields of Jewish philosophy and theology, will gather several times each semester for dinner and discussion of a seminar member's current work or an important current book, or to hear a guest speaker. Members will receive reading material in advance.

The seminar is intended to build an intellectual community of persons committed to developing constructive Jewish thought.

New Course

In 2010–2011, the Tikvah Institute at JTS will inaugurate a new course, housed in the Jewish Thought Department, on "Contemporary Jewish Philosophy and Theology in America." The course will run for two semesters, the first devoted to philosophy and the second to theology. Students must take both semesters. Admission to the course is by permission of the instructor, Dr. Alan Mittleman, only. Students will apply by writing a brief essay. Seven students will be selected; each will receive a stipend of $3000 for the year. The selected students will be designated Tikvah Fellows and will participate in special events, conferences, etc., outside the class. Open to upper-division undergraduates and all graduate and professional students.

The course will focus on the work of living Jewish philosophers and theologians. The novelty of the course is that seven of the authors whom students will read will visit JTS to hold a special seminar with the students on their work. Students will get the chance to study and converse with today's leading Jewish thinkers. (Public lectures will also be held for the benefit of the JTS and larger communities.)

To apply for this course, please write an essay of no more than five pages on the topic "the tasks of Jewish thought today." Describe what you think the main philosophical and theological issues confronting the Jewish thinker are. What methods should Jewish thought follow? What audiences should Jewish thought address? What external philosophical and theological frameworks should Jewish thought employ? The successful essay will be a coherent argument on behalf of an agenda for the constructive Jewish thinker in the early twenty-first century.

Essays should be submitted via email to Ms. Bobbi Raphael, assistant to the director of the Tikvah Institute, at boraphael@jtsa.edu. Essays should be submitted no later than January 19, 2010.

Self-Portraits of Contemporary American Jewish Philosophers

Jewish philosophy in North America is undergoing a renaissance. Here is a set of papers from a conference co-sponsored by JTS and the Madison Program at Princeton University which provide a look at this development. Read how prominent American Jewish philosophers understand their own work, their context, and the tasks of Jewish philosophy.

The Renaissance of Jewish Philosophy in America

See videos from the conference.

Leadership

Dr. Alan Mittleman is director of the Tikvah Institute for Jewish Thought and Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies as well as professor of Jewish Philosophy at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Dr. Mittleman is the author of Hope in a Democratic Age and other works.

Contact Us

For questions about the Tikvah Institute, please email Dr. Alan Mittleman or Bobbi Raphael, or call (212) 280-6124.