24 | APRIL 25 • 2024 
J
N

D

onniel Hartman, 
president of the 
Shalom Hartman 
Institute in Jerusalem, said in 
the months that have unfold-
ed since the Oct. 7 attacks, 
the best way that he could 
support his students, staff 
and faculty is to give out a lot 
of hugs. 
Speaking to an audience 
of about 200 on April 3 
at the Berman Center for 
Performing Arts, Hartman 
said since Oct. 7 he has had 

to figure out how to best 
serve the personal, profes-
sional and academic circles 
in his life. The scholar, 
author and podcaster said 
he has encouraged all his 
workers to take care of them-
selves. Even if at work, they 
can only “excellently” give 
of themselves at 10 percent 
capacity, that would be suffi-
cient for a while. 
 “For those first few weeks, 
the biggest part of my job 
was just to stop and ask my 

hundreds of workers how 
they were doing, how were 
their families,” recalled 
Hartman. “Part of my job 
was just letting them know I 
had their back so they could 
work as best as they could. 
For me, I have attended at 
least 12 funerals, and one 
of the hardest was seeing 
a great-grandparent at the 
funeral of their great-grand-
child.” 
The Shalom Hartman 
Institute is a Jewish edu-
cational center serving 
communities in Israel and 
North America. Its mission 
focuses on Jewish people-
hood, identity, and pluralism 
and to enhance the Jewish 
and democratic character of 
Israel and to emphasize that 
Judaism is a force for good in 
the 21st century. 
Conducted in a conver-
sation format facilitated 
by Detroit’s shlichah, Lior 
Zisser-Yogev, the two shared 
their perspectives on navigat-
ing differences and disagree-
ments within Israel’s complex 
society. The full recording of 
the hour-long conversation 
is available at https://vimeo.
com/933021582. 
Hartman said that a year’s 
worth of work planning cur-
ricula for the 2023-2024 aca-
demic calendar was scrapped 
following the massacre. 
“We spent a year putting 
together a new curriculum 
which had grown out of the 
whole democratic conversa-
tion, and we had to cancel it 
all,” Hartman said. “After the 
attacks, we knew we had to 
come up with a new curricu-
lum. From very early on, we 
realized these are our respon-
sibilities: We need to help 
Israelis begin to ask the hard 
questions. We must push 
them to ask and answer: 

‘What is our tomorrow?’ 
“Our work is not about 
shouting at people or guilting 
people. It’s about creating 
a conversation that people 
feel that they can own, take 
it and work with it as they 
work things out (about the 
aftermath of Oct. 7) in their 
systems.” 
 Hartman said at the core 
of the institute’s mission is 
how to teach students to dis-
agree respectfully. “We are 
not here (as instructors) to 
give students a prescription,” 
Hartman said. “We are about 
training (students) how to 
think no matter if you are 
right, left or center. All we 
ask is our students not inter-
rupt.” 

‘FIGURING IT OUT’
Hartman said in one class 
that dealt with the diffi-
cult subject of how to show 
humanity to Palestinians, he 
had to repeatedly remind a 
young man to stop rudely 
disrupting his talk. Only later 
did he learn that just three 
weeks before, the man’s boy-
friend was killed as a combat 
soldier in Gaza.
“Sometimes, there are 
times when we really do 
not know what our students 
are going through, and this 
student who was triggered 
clearly was not ready yet to 
have conversations and listen 
to other sides,” Hartman said. 
“And through his disrup-
tions, I later realized that all 
this young man needed was 
a hug.” 
Hartman said that resum-
ing life again from Oct. 7 is 
a constant act of “figuring 
it out” as more Israelis are 
beginning to open up about 
the complex ramifications of 
the war. Ultimately, Hartman 
said the conversations must 

Looking Ahead: 
The Future 
of the 
Jewish People

Shalom Hartman Institute president 
shares how Israeli society can move 
forward post Oct. 7.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Lior Zisser-
Yogev and 
Donniel 
Hartman

