Reinventing a Nation: Palestinian Intellectuals in Israel , focuses on a comparison of three generations of Palestinian intellectuals and idea producers and disseminators in Israel. The book displays the ways that these intellectuals struggled to make meaning and contextualizing of their national catastrophes (Nakba) and to cope with it by building some alternative social and political identities, while also attempting to preserve their relative elite and preferential positions. The research is based on qualitative content analysis of the works of major writers, poets, journalists and essay writers - from 1948 and onward - who were active in Israel, at least for a part of their lives.

The present volume charts ways that may allow a larger number of historians to experiment with the comparative method. It contains articles that deal with history and problems of comparative history as well as studies that demonstrate the potential of symmetrical, asymmetrical, parallel and cross comparisons. The studies include comparisons of the Roman and Inca empires, of Muslim networks of renewal of the eighteenth century, of serfdom in Russia and slavery in the American South, of early modern European expansion and present-day globalization, of modern welfare states, and of multiple modernities. Comparative studies of feudalism exemplify some of the method’s pitfalls. The volume concludes with a report by three faculty members on the problems encountered while teaching a course in comparative history. Contributors: Peter Baldwin, Elisheva Baumgarten, Esther Cohen, Michael Confino, S.N. Eisenstadt, Tamar Herzog, Benjamin Kedar, Jürgen Kocka, Sabine MacCormack, Diego Olstein, Susan Reynolds and Ruth Roded.

Due to political and cultural developments in the region, Middle Eastern women receive a lot of attention lately. Gender analysis which emphasizes historical aspects in differentiating between the sexes has become an inseparable part of the area's genealogy study. The collection Women and Gender in the Middle East in The Twentieth Century , which introduces study results in this important area of research, aims to enrich knowledge and erode stereotypes. Written by Israeli researchers, these articles deal with women authors and movie makers, the Islamic dress code controversy, women education and the women movement. The collection also deals with the state's attitude towards women and their attitude towards the state. It touches upon official feminism, when the state wishes to take upon itself the improvement of women's status, and also women's opposition statements about policies implemented upon them.

The book "Sabras don’t age" explores the inner world and identities of 23 senior officers from the founding Israeli 1948's generation, at their seventies. As human representations of the "Sabra" – the mythological "new Jew" – these officers embody the extreme opposition between youthfulness and old age; between hegemony and marginality. Those persons who once constituted the ultimate symbols of the Hebrew youngster, the agile commander, the powerful masculine body, and the Western ideal of eternal youth – are presently facing the deterioration of their bodies, their approaching death, and most painfully – the current cultural meanings of being old. Their personal aging process is accompanied by major changes that took place in the Israeli society, primarily the move from collectivistic toward individualistic ideologies, with the consequent undermining of their status. How do these Israeli heroes settle the wide contradiction between the values which they have symbolized throughout their lives and their present situation? Are they able to preserve their status as national pantheon heroes, while coping at the same time with the various demands posed by their advanced age? Already at their eight life decade, the Israeli officers identify themselves – in their "narrative identity cards" – as Sabras, men and heroic commanders who have dedicated their lives to their homeland, and above all –as non-old. Yet, as opposed to the ceased time in the narratives, time incessantly flows in their private lives. Indeed, the officers do not deny their aging. Rather, they are completely aware of the changes that took place in their lives and bodies and directly cope with the new needs. Through the mechanism of compartmentalization, they are able to preserve a public heroic young self, while coping - in private - with old age. In this way, they succeed to maintain a valued identity in a world that worships youth. These officers' identity management sheds light not only on the first Israelis at their advanced years, but also on the founding ethos of the Israeli collective identity. However, as the youth ideal is by no means bounded to the Israeli case, but encompasses the Western world as a whole, the identity strategies employed by the Sabra Generals possess major implications for all elders, and especially for older men, in the post-modern era. Thus, this book is aimed not only at readers interested in the Israeli society and culture, and not only at those concerned with the aging of army officers, but to anyone that wonders how is it possible to age keeping a respected and continuous self in a world that relates to old people as the ultimate "other".

This book represents a first attempt to examine in a systematic manner televised humor in Israel. It focuses on the Israeli “comic canon” – a bunch of sketches, characters and programs that were produced between the early 1970’s and late 1990’s. In the course of the years, these texts have accuiraed a unique status and became part of the cultural DNA of many Israelies. The analysis investigates the interrelationship between humor and six prominent social cleavages in Israeli society: national, ethnic, class, political, religious and gender. A close reading of the texts shows that “a joke is never just a joke” – the social, political and economic dramatic transformations that Israel has undergone in the last three decades are capsulated in televised humor. Moreover, humor has served as a sensitive seismograph, capturing processes in early formative stages and sometimes even functioned as an actor in socio-political transformations. The book uncovers the polysemic, or multi-meaning, qualities of popular televised humor, which make it unifying and dividing, conservative and subversive. These qualities enable the “comic canon” to contain the set of paradoxes underlying the Israeli society without resolving them. This polysemity also allows the comic texts to serve as a “cultural core” – shared by different, opposing groups, each of which interprets the texts according to its own needs and perspective.

How did cooperative social groups evolve? This is one of the major questions that concern evolutionary biologists ever since Darwin. One of the first explanations was selection at the level of the group: groups with cooperating individuals increase their reproduction and survival as a whole. Alternative explanations exist, such as selection at the level of the individual: a former beneficiary later rewords a cooperating organism or the seemingly altruist increases its social status thus increases its chances of finding a mate. Another explanation involves selection at the level of the gene: although an individual helping its relatives reduces its direct fitness, measured by its expected number of viable offspring, it enhances the frequency of genes identical to its own in the population. Each one of these models claims centrality or even exclusivity - theoretical primacy - in answering the question of the evolution of altruism. The book is an original and interdisciplinary contribution to the study of the evolution of cooperation. It facilitates a renewed discussion, from a fresh point of view, of classical problems in the fields of evolutionary biology and philosophy of biology; and raises fascinating questions about the history and sociology of science and the complex ties between science and values. From the Introduction by Prof. Yemima Ben Menahem and Prof. Eva Jablonka: Shavit's book discusses the different explanations to the evolution of altruism and how evolutionary researchers commonly decide between them. The author elucidates the nature of the problems and predicaments in this field, tries to identify their sources, and by using these insights offer new ways of thought that will avoid such pit falls in the future. The disposition to undermine observations and experiments of the local population while seeking the cause for universal altruism, and use of a narrow concept of 'group', biases researchers toward a semantic dispute, which completely denies group selection or spots this process everywhere. According to the author the roots of this practice lie, at least partly, in the socio-political echoes of the concept of 'group selection' since World War II. The author explicates an implicit and multifaceted dialog between science and values and argues for a plurality of selection processes in the evolution of altruism. This book is intended for anyone interested in the nature behind the well-known about the human nature. .

The book Selected Issues in Business Ethics and Social Responsibility deals with a subject that is at the forefront of our economic and social agenda and presents the ethical credo of the author. It is unique in the sense that it comprises theoretical chapters, case studies that are based on the large business experience and the academic research of the author, and the analysis of masterpieces on business ethics. The parts of the book focus on the ethical facets of leadership, integrity, whistleblowers, corporate governance, stock market, banking, government and business, corruption and bribes, wrongdoing of stakeholders, trust, transparency, decency, sustainability, social responsibility, activism, environment, globalization, international aspects and business ethics in Israel. The combination of theoretical and empirical components and the analysis of works on business ethics, addressing the reason and the emotions as well, was proven as a successful mix that has assimilated the concepts of ethics by businessmen and students. The author maintains in his book that it is possible to succeed in business while keeping rigorous ethical standards in the complex business environment of today.

What drives certain Bedouin women to fight for their right to higher education? Are they a rising power in their communities? What price are they forced to pay? These questions and others are discussed in Excluded and Loved , which delves into the world of the Bedouin women who have chosen to attain higher education in Israel. The book touches upon their private and community lives, telling the story of their pain and strength. It depicts a broad picture of the relationships between men and women in the southern-Israeli Bedouin communities, unraveling the changes that occurred over the last decade. The stories of the interviewed women are interwoven in the personal story of the researcher, one of the first women in her tribe to seek higher education.

The Temple Mount is the most sacred site in Judaism and the third most sacred site of Islam in, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The sacred nature of the site has made it one of the main foci of tension and friction in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Jewish fundamentalism and the Temple Mount is original and pioneering research on a number of radical and messianic movements in Israel that wish to, and at times, are making preparations to rebuild the Temple. The manuscript examines the theological roots and historical circumstances that have given rise to the movement of Temple Builders. It places the different movements within larger political, social and religious developments, offering the readers a context to understand the place of such groups within the larger Israeli, and global realities of our time. The research is described in the context of the fundamentalist phenomenon – a wave whose ramifications go far beyond the context of the Middle East. The research gives special attention to the connection between Jewish Temple Builders and Christian fundamentalist supporters and presents the theological exchanges that have taken place. The Book points to the Six Day War as a watershed event that has given rise to messianic interpretations of the Israeli victory and its significance for Jewish history. Israel’s’ overtaking of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, resurrected and enhanced messianic convictions of Zionist Orthodoxy. However, the crystallizing during the 1980s-2000s of contemporary Messianic groups and their Temple oriented Messianic beliefs has driven not the euphoria of victory, but form the fear of disappointment. Those aspiring to build the Temple are afraid of an imminent loss of the territorial gains of made in the Six Day War, due to the peace process, and the theological implications of such setback to their messianic hopes.

"Criticism of Modern Secular Culture" discusses the ethical, social, national-political humanistic and religious foundations of modern and post-modern secular culture, especially amongst the Jewish People and in the State of Israel. The topics discussed are from a philosophical-historical perspective that relates directly to the present. The book defines the basic values of Western Humanism from a Jewish point of view, and analyses the problems of their implementation. It evaluates the achievements and the tragic failures of secular modernism which became factually anti-humanistic.