Conference Chairs:
S. Ilan Troen, Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies and Director, Schusterman Center, Brandeis University
Donna Robinson Divine, Morningstar Family Professor in Jewish Studies and Professor of Government, Smith College

Conference Overview:
The conference will explore what Zionism has meant and might continue to mean for the development of Israel's highly sophisticated and multicultural society. Academics have done a great deal to understand Zionist ideas and policies in their early historical context. We have paid less attention, however, to how Zionism has continued to influence Israel through more recent years of military dangers, economic upheaval, and social and cultural transformations. Less still have we explored the potential role of Zionism in the future of Israel. The leading scholars in the field will discuss their views regarding the continuing relevance and role of Zionism.

1. Keynote Address: Anita Shapira – (Tel-Aviv University, Ruben Merenfeld Professor of the Study of Zionism and head of the Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism)

2. Zionist Theory
Allan Arkush- (SUNY, Binghamton) “Cultural Zionism Today and Tomorrow”
Rachel Fish- (Brandeis University) “Visions for the Construction of the State of Israel”
Chair and Commentator: Eugene Sheppard (Brandeis University)

3. Culture: Literature and Music
Alan Mintz- (Jewish Theological Seminary) “Jewish Literature in Israel and Israeli Literature in America: Some Reflections”
Edwin Seroussi- (Hebrew University) “Zionist Soundscapes: The Sonic Past of the Israeli Nation and Its Future”
Chair and Commentator: Rachel Rojanski (Brown University)

4. Dinner Speaker: Leon Wieseltier- (literary editor of the New Republic)

5. Cultural Orientations and Dilemmas
Tuvia Friling- (Ben-Gurion University) “The Evolution of Holocaust Memory”
Aziza Khazoom- (Indiana University and Hebrew University) “Internal Ethnic Relations and Orientation of Israeli Culture” Chair and Commentator: Maoz Azaryahu (Haifa University)

6. Politics and Law
Donna Robinson Divine- (Smith College) “Zionism and the New Politics of Authenticity in Israel”
Suzanne Last Stone- (Yeshiva University and Shalem Center) “Legal Discourse - Law and Human Rights”
Chair and Commentator: Pnina Lahav (Boston University)

7. Economics and Land
Kobi (Jacob) Metzer- (Hebrew University) “Economy and Society in Israel: Past Experience, Current Issues, and Future Prospects”
Ilan Troen- (Brandeis University) “Competing Concepts of Land in Eretz Israel”
Chair and Commentator: Alan Dowty (Notre Dame University)

8. Israel’s Relationship with its Neighbors and the Palestinian Arab Citizens
Elie Rekhess- (Northwestern University)“Jews and Arabs in Israel: Reconsidering the 1948 Paradigm”
Asher Susser- (Tel Aviv University) “Israel’s Place in the Middle East”
Chair and Commentator: Shai Feldman (Brandeis University)

9. Religion and Society
Eliezer Don-Yehiya- (Bar-Ilan University) “The Political Transformation of Religious Zionism”
Yoel Finkelman- (Bar-Ilan University) “The Ambivalent Ultra-Orthodox Jew”
Chair and Commentator: Yehudah Mirsky (Brandeis University)