Top Israeli scholar will deliver Syracuse University’s annual B. G. Rudolph Lecture in Judaic Studies

Top Israeli scholar will deliver Syracuse University’s annual B. G. Rudolph Lecture in Judaic StudiesJanuary 11, 2005Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Hannan Hever, a leading literary scholar and public intellectual in Israel, will deliver Syracuse University’s annual B. G. Rudolph Lecture in Judaic Studies on Jan. 30 at 2 p.m., at the Winnick Hillel Center for Jewish Life, 102 Walnut Pl.

The lecture will be followed by a reception; both the lecture and the reception are free and open to the public. For further information, contact Pamela Paul at 443-5671 or papaul@syr.edu.

Hever’s lecture will be titled “Facing Disgrace: Coetzee and the Israeli Intellectual.” He will ask how one can maintain a universalistic intellectual stance in Israel today. “Confronted with the occupation, many Israeli intellectuals feel torn between their commitment to universal values and their commitment to the State of Israel,” Hever says. The lecture will analyze this dilemma and the various options that have been discussed and adopted by different Israeli intellectuals. In particular, Hever will consider the case of Ha’aretz columnist Gideon Levy, who frequently reports on the Palestinians’ suffering in the occupied territories.

Hever is currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University, while on sabbatical from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is remarkable for having combined literary scholarship with direct involvement in Israeli politics. Since the Lebanon War of 1982, he has been known for his anti-war views.

Hever has published numerous books and articles, including “Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon: Nation Building and Minority Discourse,” which was published by New York University Press in 2002. He received his doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the 1990s he was a professor at Tel Aviv University.

Following his postdoctoral work at the University of California-Berkeley, Hever visited the United States many times and has lived here for several extended periods. Before his current stint as a visiting professor at Columbia, he was a visiting professor at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan.

The annual B. G. Rudolph Lecture in Judaic Studies was inaugurated by B. G. Rudolph in 1962. Since then, his son Jay Rudolph, along with others, have helped to build the Judaic Studies Program at SU.