jews in the d Growing in Focus M ichigan State University at the Taba talks in 2001. He hosted the largest aca- currently heads the Center for demic conference on Applied Negotiations and is a Israel in its history Sept. 16-17. senior researcher at the Tel Aviv More than 260 faculty, students Institute for National Security and community members from Studies. East Lansing, Metro Detroit, Other topics ranged from the Yael Aronoff controversies over how Jerusalem Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids might be divided and/or shared attended the recent two-day con- in future peace agreements to ference: “Israel at 70: Complexity, the many “lessons to be learned” from Challenge and Creativity.” cooperating grassroots Israeli and The conference brought together 40 Palestinian non-governmental organi- prominent scholars from Israel and zations. Also, the constructive role that throughout the United States, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and UAE MSU’s own experts, to discuss trans- might play in the peace process was formations in Israeli culture, society, debated. politics and innovation. The sympo- As the evening keynote speaker, sium received extensive support from Sher gave a thought-provoking, inspir- MSU with 14 colleges, departments and ing vision for moving things forward programs co-sponsoring. Provost June to an eventual peace agreement. The Youatt and six deans also attended the hope for peace that infused the panels opening lunch or dinner and various and keynote was captured in a sing-a- sessions. long with Elaine Serling, accompanied Fortuitous timing added another by Israeli scholar Dr. Alon Tal and kib- layer to the excitement. Just three days butznik Cantor Bill Slott. The high-spir- before the conference, Michael and Elaine Serling of West Bloomfield signed ited music session ended with Elaine’s original song, “Sing a Song for Peace,” documents for their impactful multi- with more than 100 people joining in. million-dollar naming gift for the MSU Interesting dialogues developed during Jewish Studies Program, which officially the portion of the conference on shifts in becomes the Michael and Elaine Serling Israeli society, culture and politics over Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern the past 70 years. Topics ranged from an Israel. The Serlings both addressed the examination of the portrayal of women conference to express their excitement. “To see my alma mater taking the lead in Israeli film to teaching pedagogies for in the intellectual advancement of Jewish Israeli and Palestinian students studying creative writing in the same classroom to studies and connectivity with Israel has been very rewarding, and it is a great joy shifts in Israeli nationalisms. A highlight of the day was a talk by to be able to support the bright future of Naomi Chazan, professor emerita of this program,” Michael said. political science at Hebrew University, who warned of illiberal trends in Israeli CONFERENCE TOPICS society and forces challenging those At the conference, a panel present- trends. Chazan served three terms as a ed on American efforts to medi- Meretz Party member of Knesset and has ate peace between Israelis and authored eight books on comparative Palestinians. Moderator Gilead Sher was politics. She is among the founders of the chief of staff and policy coordinator to International Women’s Commission for former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and an Israel-Palestinian peace. served as chief negotiator at the Camp Another thought-provoking panel David summit in 2000 and co-chief 20 October 4 • 2018 jn JORDAN NOBLE MSU holds its largest Israel conference as new Serling Institute is launched. Many of the conference participants, along with Elaine and Michael Serling, seated at left examined the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) and dis- cussed the boundaries of legitimate crit- icism of Israel and where such criticism crosses into anti-Semitism, with empha- sis on some of the rhetoric, accusations and images used by the BDS movement. The second day focused on the many strands of Israeli innovation in agricul- ture, water technology, the environment, entrepreneurship, business start-ups and biomedical engineering. For example, Professor Oded Shoseyov of Hebrew University talked about how Israeli genetic engineers discovered the meth- ods to cultivate previously unknown substances existing in nature that can now be used in food, water and biomed- icine. MSU professors Dr. Galit Pelled and Dr. Assaf Gilad, originally from Israel, gave presentations about their research in biomedical engineering at the Institute of Quantitative Health and Sciences at Michigan State. STRENGTH OF ISRAEL STUDIES This conference is the outgrowth of MSU’s existing strengths in Israel studies, and the new endowment in Modern Israel signifies continued growth. The Michael and Elaine Serling Institute has one of the most robust Israel studies components in the country, and we are now poised to make even greater strides. Through the program, up to16 cours- es a year on different aspects of Israel studies and Hebrew are offered by our faculty and visiting Israeli scholars, as well as faculty leading our study abroad programs in Israel. More than 200 MSU students have benefited from the two faculty-led study abroad programs in Israel. We are fortunate to have the most generous Israel study abroad scholarships in the country, thanks to funds established by Ed Levy and Linda Dresner, Albert and Sherie Gladner, and Ed and Dot Slade. The Levy scholarships, the new Modern Israel endowment from the Serlings and a recent endowment from David and Larry Hersh in memory of their parents, James and Anna Hersh, will also provide internship and research scholarships in Israel for our students. In recent years, we have hosted seven visiting Israeli scholars to campus in four different colleges, offering a total of 27 courses. These Israeli scholars have included anthropologists, architects, screenwriters, documentary filmmakers and directors, political scientists, envi- ronmentalists and business entrepre- neurs. Our 14 annual MSU Israeli Film Festivals have featured more than 64 Israeli films and hosted many of the films’ directors to MSU for discussions. We have also hosted many lectures on Modern Israel by prominent novelists, journalists, film directors, political sci- entists, historians, professors of literature and policy makers. This “Israel at 70 Conference” is only the most recent example of the vibrancy of Israel and Jewish studies at MSU. I’m proud to say MSU embraces the study of Israel, the country’s democratic values and its challenges, as well as its signifi- cant achievements in science, technol- ogy, innovation, entrepreneurship and the arts. The leadership at MSU and I, as direc- tor of the Serling Institute, are enthusi- astic about the new opportunities this Modern Israel endowment will create for partnering with Israelis in many endeav- ors, including research, internships and faculty/student exchanges. ■ Yael Aronoff is director of the Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel and Michael and Elaine Serling and Friends Chair in Israel Studies at Michigan State University.