Nathan Rotenstreich wrote that understanding the world is a precondition for changing it. Since his years in the youth movement "Gordonia", he was loyal to bringing together thoughts and ideas with the twisted road to their realization. His writings influenced and inspired, and still do so, the existential struggles of the Jewish world and of Israel in the turmoil of times. The present collection of papers aims to be a link to the interaction between thoughts and deeds, and between intellectual heritage and what he called: "The tempo of action and events" . Many of his writings bear very clear interpretations, so much so that it seems they were written in the present. These papers are hidden in periodicals, protocols of conventions and newspapers. Therefore it is appropriate they should be partly exposed in the new volume so that they are available and challenging for future generations. Moreover, his special contributions will illuminate aspects of the renewable sides of his work. The collection marks Nathan Rotenstreich 100 birthday and 20 years since he passed away.

Nuclear Weapons in the Middle East 1948-2013 is an in depth description and analysis of the nuclear dimension of Israel's wars and politics since its birth until mid 2013. Born as the main lesson of the Holocaust and of the extremely high casualties of its War of Independence, the search for nuclear equalizer to the immense Arab conventional superiority in the longer run is a key to Israel's unofficial alliance with France during and after the Suez-Sinai War of 1956. Arab reactions and superpower intervention on the way to completion of the nuclear option, missiles included, explain the road to the Six Day War of 1967. Domestic politics and controversies regarding the viability of Israeli nuclear deterrence, American and Soviet inputs were studied along the adoption by Israel of a unique, undeclared status of a fully fledged nuclear power. Further developments of Israel's nuclear behavior, including the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor Osiraq in 1981 are discussed until Israel's current campaign against Iran's nuclear program. Finally, the role of the Israeli nuclear option, undeclared as it was and remained, is discussed in terms of limiting the Arab war aims of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and leading, in due course, to the Israeli-Egyptian (and Jordanian later on) peace treaty of 1979, tested now since the ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood and the takeover by Egyptian Army .

This volume, the first in the Notebook Series of the Martin Buber Society of Fellows, addresses the notion of authority in a set of multi-disciplinary and inter-cultural perspectives. The essays share a meditative quality, perhaps more accessible than the usual academic format would allow: a great mathematician reflects on the kind of authority mathematical truths can (and cannot) claim; historians explore shifting forms of institutional authority in different historical contexts; a linguist probes the authority implicit in the use of the second person singular in modern Hebrew oral narratives by soldiers serving in the territories; a political scientist offers an unsettling account of the largely fictive authority implicit in democratic systems and the role of science in rationalizing that authority; and so on. Many of the essays embody or give voice to the ambivalence endemic to issues of authority, which habitually arouses inner protest and resistance that can become authoritative in their own right. Wide-ranging, irreverent, and often highly personal in tone, these essays reflect the rich conversations and the sheen of intellection at the Martin Buber Society of Fellows.

What is Social Leadership? What makes a true leader? The book 'Social leaders in Israel' focuses on life stories of a wide range of social leaders. The stories are based on interviews with social Israeli leaders and their personal stories. The book was written by students pursuing doctorate studies and research while also devoting their time to social agendas.The students are all fellows of the Hoffman Leadership and Responsibility program at the Hebrew University.

Is the role of professional policy analysts and advisers simply to send their recommendations to political leaders? The authors of this book have a different outlook. Of course, in a democracy policy making is the responsibility of elected leaders, and therefore “politics” is a necessity of policy making. Indeed, “politics” has received a bad name in many countries, including Israel, due to unfulfilled expectations as well as the behavior of politicians. In this book the use of the term “politics” is completely neutral, based on familiarity with the difficult task that is placed upon the shoulders of dedicated politicians. At the same time, this book proposes that there is no need for policy analysts to transform themselves into politicians, or to see themselves as a sort of “political assistant” to elected leaders. On the contrary, because the fence that differentiates between the two domains of politics and policy analysis is not clearly marked, it is important to recognize the overlapping areas as well as those areas that remain clearly separate. A good understanding of these demarcations is necessary for the professional formation and implementation of policy, and for the strengthening of democracy. This book is intended for those who work in the separate but overlapping fields of policy analysis and policy implementation, as well as for those interested in improving processes of policy change in Israel. The book reviews skills for analyzing the political environment which impact upon the formation of public policy and upon the identification of common areas of agreement that balance between professional recommendations and legitimate political constraints. The ultimate goal of this book is to provide analysis and training so that recommendations for creative policy solutions will not simply remain on paper. The chapters of this book are based on selected case studies about policy making Israel. Learning through the case method is widespread in leading universities in the study of law, business, medicine, and, more recently, in public policy as well. This approach provides an opportunity to learn from the experience of others – real-world successes and failures alike – in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes, and to search for alternate solutions. The book is based on cases developed for the interactive teaching of graduate students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University.

In crucial decision-making moments during the struggle of the Zionist Movement for obtaining sovereignty, the Jewish members of the Communist Movement in Israel presented an opposition. They made an attempt to undermine the Zionist narrative and Zionism itself as a value. In the public eye, its activists were tied to treason and turning their back to the national struggle. The conduct of the Jewish communists in Eretz Yisrael is a case study for the ability of ideological commitment to keep its seniority when facing opposite its members' national loyalty. The book A Red Star in the Israeli Flag presents a complex relationship between the Zionist Movement and the approach to it by members of the Communist Movement. The latter brought together various ideological streams and perceptions regarding Zionism, and its leadership did not always express the ideological variety that was common amongst its members. The Labor Movement was initially a home to members of the Communist Movement and they took part in acts of settlement and protection, but following their split and the establishment of a separate movement, its members' positions became more radical and this climaxed with their renouncement of the Zionist ethos. The attempts to recreate a dialogue with the Zionist Movement were led by the Jewish section of the Communist Movement. Its Jewish members recruiting to serve in the Second World War alongside Yishuv people, despite the objection of its Arab leaders, accelerated the splitting. The War highlighted the connection with the Yishuv and a Zionist stream was forming in the Movement. The events of the Second World War and the establishment of the State of Israel faced the leaders of the Communist Movement with the need to define their relations with the newly-formed state, its socialist-like actions and the value of Zionism. Jewish communist leadership continued denying Zionism as a value and attempted to replace it with values such as patriotism and nationalism. The Communist Movement tested the willingness of Israeli society and political system to accept an ideological group that takes part in Zionist causes and yet refrains from siding the value of Zionism.

The relationship between Israel and Africa is a unique case of radical changes that Israel did not experience in its relations with other continents. During the 1960's when most African states received their independence, Israel was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with them and to offerthem assistance. Its representatives operated in 33 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Africa occupied an important place in Israel's foreign policy. The considerations that made Israel establish such a widespread presence in Africa were political, economic, humanitarian and security. Israel had expectations that through friendly relations with many African states, she could break through the circle of Arab enmity,strengthen her security and bolster her legitimacy. Hundreds of Israeli experts were dispatched to africa and tens of thousands of African students came to Israel. There followed, however, tremendous disappointment. In 1973, during the Yom Kippur war and after,almost all african states broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. The author elaborates on the main reasons for this collapse. In the 1980's Israel returns to Africa and at present it has diplomatic relations with 40 African countries. However, several changes have taken place in Israel's present policy towards Africa and they are discussed in the book. The author, who spent nearly 2 decades in Africa, has based his thesis on primary sources and also on his personal experiences

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is described by many as a paradoxical philosopher. He often seems to be asserting both sides of a contradiction. His teaching has been a source of inspiration for various opposing and even antagonistic political movements and doctrines: He is considered to be one of the first thinkers of modern democracy, and an apostle of totalitarianism. He is the father of "Natural Education", but his thoughts might sound as a program for "Social Engineering" of human beings. He is a romantic, longing to simple life within nature, but again, he is a loyal son of the bourgeois civilization of his era. Rousseau's Paradoxical character is also reveled in his account of "Progress". It seems that he is saying to contradictionary things about this notion. On the one hand, it appears that, according to Rousseau, mankind can realize freedom only through a process of historical progress. On the other: that progress has enslaved men and brought disaster upon them. These paradoxes have deceived many of Rousseau's readers and interpreters, who chose to emphasize one side of Rousseau at the expanse of the opposite. The book "Rousseau: Progress as a trap" strive to avoid this mistake. It shows that the greatness of Rousseau's philosophy lies precisely in its dialectical character. Rousseau is indeed a Severe critic of progress, but his critique is not merely an "external" and purely-negative one: He is a philosopher of the enlightenment, and accepts the principles of enlightenment (in fact, he is one of the formulators of such principles). On behalf of these principles he criticizes enlightenment itself. Rousseau's decree, that progress has enslaved mankind, gets its critical substance only if one presumes, as did Rousseau, that progress should emancipate mankind. The philosophers of the enlightenment celebrated progress. In his optimistic epoch, and without denying the credo of enlightenment, Rousseau pointed out a dark and dangerous character of human progress. This book shows the Rousseau's dialectical, or ambivalent approach to progress anticipates important currents in 20th century philosophy and critical theory. Due to this approach, Rousseau's philosophy is perhaps more relevant today than it was during his lifetime.

Two opposite arguments are heard in political and academic discourse in Israel about the status of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF): One argument is that the IDF possesses too much power and that military thought governs political thought. Others contend that the military is over-supervised by civilian groups such as parents, civil rights groups, and other organizations, thereby limiting its space of operation. Can both these arguments be right at the same time? How can the contradiction between them be reconciled? This is the problematic at the heart of this book. In Who Governs the Military , Yagil Levy proposes a distinction between two modes of civilian control over military affairs: control of the armed forces – focused on military doctrine, weapons systems, operational performance, recruitment policies and the resources allocated to the military – and control of militarism, which focuses on political culture and the level of legitimation it awards to the use of force. Levy argues that inverse relations have developed since the early years of the state; namely, increase in control of the IDF dovetailed with a decrease in control of militarism. This distinction is useful in analyzing key issues that have attracted scholarly attention in recent years, among them: - The political implications of changes in the social composition of the IDF. - The sources and implications of casualty-averse policies. - The impact of extra-institutional control; namely, the actions taken by social movements and interest groups, in the public and judicial arenas, in an attempt to restrain the military. - The significance of the military's permeability to the market society. - The complex role played by the press in controlling the military.

The Hope of Enlightenment presents for the first time in Hebrew a comprehensive analysis of the thought of Jürgen Habermas. A philosopher, social critic, and public intellectual, Habermas is an ardent but hardly a dogmatic defender on the Enlightenment. He has thus has contributed a distinctive perspective in the ongoing discourse on modernity. To illuminate the far-reaching significance of this contribution – and its challenges to both Israeli and modern society in general -- Matan Oram examines Habermas's critical thought through the prism of political philosophy in the broad context of the crisis of modernity. By focusing on the dialectical relationship between 'rationalism' and 'liberalism' in Habermas’s thought, the book traces his theoretical project as it has evolved throughout his vast corpus of writings, and explores its philosophical and intellectual origins.

The crashing of two jet airplanes into the Twin Towers in New York is vividly remembered by most people in the world today. Similar powerful images have come through videos of bombing in Kosovo, Moslem riots in Europe, brutal reprisals of protest in China, terrorist attacks in Israel, Kenya, Thailand, Turkey, Spain, India, Russia and England. These global events have challenged the beliefs of people in the Western world, and many have found themselves grappling with the perennial questions of modernity: Where is the world going? Are we attaining perpetual peace, or are we simply in the midst of ‘perpetual war’? How can we come to terms with seemingly opposing historical shifts, one pointing toward a globalizing and integrated world, the other toward tribalism and balkanization? This book celebrates S.N Eisenstaedt's works in sociology while addressing these questions. It brings together highly qualified and esteemed scholars to revisit the questions above in a nuanced, comparative, and empirically supported manner. Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the 2006 winner of the Holberg International Memorial Prize.