Hanan A. Alexander

Residence : Haifa, Israel

Biographical information

Hanan Alexander is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa, where he heads the University's Center for Jewish Education and Department of Overseas Studies. Before moving to Israel, Professor Alexander edited Religious Education, lectured in education at UCLA, and was Academic Vice President of the University of Judaism. He has taught at Universities in Israel and abroad and was recently elected a Visiting Fellow in St. Edmund's College, Cambridge.

He earned a Ph.D. in Education and Humanities from Stanford University and was ordained a rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Alexander has published widely in a variety of academic and professional venues and writes regularly on contemporary Jewish affairs for the Anglo Jewish press. He has been a consultant to educational organizations and institutions of higher learning in North America, Australia, the UK and Israel.

His recent book Reclaiming Goodness: Education and the Spiritual Quest (University of Notre Dame Press, 2001) is the winner of a 2001-2002 National Jewish Book Award. He is currently editing Ethics and Spirituality in Education: Philosophical, Theological, and Radical Perspectives for Sussex Academic Press.

Discussion topics

• The Case for Israel--For the first time in many years, leaders and opinion-makers throughout the world question the moral and political legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state. In this talk, Alexander argues that Jews have an inalienable right to self-determination in their ancient homeland and reviews Israel's role as the hub of Jewish cultural renaissance and Mid-East democracy.
• Israel and the New Anti-Semitism--Anti-Semitism is back, but in a new form. Israel had become the "Jew among the nations;" canards previously voiced against Jews as individuals are now said about Israel. In this talk, Alexander reviews this new threat to Jewish existence and discusses how Diaspora Jews can respond.
• The Jewish Problem Revisited--With Israel in crisis and assimilation and anti-Semitism on the rise, the "Jewish problem" is back. Jews are a problem for western society so long as they choose to be different. Zionism and Jewish emancipation were designed as ways for Jews to become normal or assimilated. In this talk, Alexander discusses why the ideas of normalization and assimilation cannot work for the Jews, and how we must reassert our right to be different today.
• Education and the Diaspora Jewish Renaissance--Despite growing anti-Semitism and assimilation, Jewish life in North America and Europe is undergoing a spiritual and cultural renaissance. In this talk, Alexander discusses the role of Jewish education for youngsters, adults, and families in sustaining this revival.
• Education and the Spiritual Quest--This talk is based on Alexander's book Reclaiming Goodness: Education and the Spiritual Quest, which won a 2001-2002 National Jewish Book Award. He discusses the political successes and moral failures of contemporary life, the spiritual awakening that has emerged as a result and what religious and educational institutions can learn from this critique to retool for the new century.

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