Imagine teaching a college-level course about the history of Israel, never having been there before. That’s what Bruce Thompson, a professor at U.C. Santa Cruz, was faced with when he signed up to teach such a course for the next academic year.
Thompson is an intellectual historian, specializing in Europe. The preparation facing him was immense.
Then he heard about the Summer Institute for Israel Studies, in its second year at Brandeis University. The three-week seminar, which ended last month, brought together 21 scholars.
Calling it “a gift from heaven,” Thompson said, “It was just what I needed. Suddenly there was an incredible seminar with a trip attached to it.”
Fred Astren, a scholar of medieval Jewry at San Francisco State University, was another local professor who attended.
The program’s goal was “to ensure that a more serious and balanced study of Israel be available at universities,” according to S. Ilan Troen, director of the program.
“Each time we do a seminar, we’re reaching thousands of students. If you understand that these professors will be teaching year after year for 30 years, the multiplier effect is tremendous.”
The first two weeks of the program were held at the Brandeis campus in Waltham, Mass., and the third week took place in Israel.
Both Thompson and Astren participated with financial help from a grant to the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation from the S.F.-based Koret Foundation.
Thompson was the only one in the group who had never been to Israel before. And he was amazed at how much they were able to pack into a single day.
In one 24-hour period, the group visited the tunnels beneath the Western Wall, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they heard about the Gaza disengagement plan, and the West Bank settlement of Ofra. They also met with literary superstar Etgar Keret and Jerusalem Post Executive Editor Amotz Asa-El.
They also visited a Bedouin village in the Negev and a Palestinian university in eastern Jerusalem.
“We packed more into a day than I could have done on my own in a week or 10 days,” said Thompson.
The bibliography he came away with was extremely helpful as well.
Thompson had been thinking about teaching a course on the Israeli-Arab conflict.
“There’s no doubt that that’s a major part of the history of Israel,” he said. “But it’s not the whole story, and the [seminar] gave me ways in which I can change the axis a little bit, and not make every part center on the conflict.”
Even though Astren had been to Israel many times, he came away with 100 pages of notes.
“I knew a lot already even though I hadn’t studied Israel as a formal topic,” he said. “I also realized how much I didn’t know.”
Astren learned a great deal more about the role of the religious parties in the government and the situation of the Bedouins.
“We’ve been taught that the government was Labor-oriented and was founded largely by Eastern European Socialists, but in fact, there was always an ongoing relationship with the Zionists and non-Zionists in the religious parties,” he said.
Astren also didn’t realize the extent of the Bedouin communities that are known as “unrecognized” villages by the government, and therefore receive no services.
“We are always in discussions about the Palestinians and the Arabs who are Israeli citizens, and we easily overlook the Bedouins,” he said.
Astren said his knowledge of Israel expanded as a result of the seminar.
“When we move the question of Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians into the classroom, so that it doesn’t only belong to people who are on the plaza chanting and having rallies, we’re moving in the right direction,” said Astren. “Anything that helps make Israel studies and the academic scholarly study of Israel happen on campus really enhances the situation for students both Arab and Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian, and takes power away from the extremists.”
Richard Asinof of the JTA contributed to this report.