fellowship archive
The fifteenth Nahum Goldmann Fellowship took place in Mumbai, India, in partnership with the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and ORT. Thirty-six Fellows from Jewish communities across four continents—North America, Latin America, Australia, and Asia—participated, with the largest contingents coming from India and Australia.
program
Sessions during the program included:
The ethical teachings of the Bible: From the Patriarchs to the Prophets
Applying biblical morality: A case study
The Jewish mystical tradition
Men and women in Jewish mysticism
The structure of Jewish history
Fellows attended elective workshops on Jewish identity, Jewish community, and Jewish texts. In the evenings, small groups gathered to discuss topics such as building viability and continuity in Jewish communities in Southeast Asia.
faculty
Professor Sylvia Barack Fishman, Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life and Co-Director, Hadassah International Research Institute on Jewish Women, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA
Professor Saul Berman, Columbia University School of Law, New York, NY, USA
Professor David Ellenson, President, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, NY, USA
Professor Benjamin Ish-Shalom, Rector of Beit Morasha, Jerusalem, Israel
Professor Ingrid Lomfors, Professor of Jewish History, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden
Dr. Rina Rosenberg, Private Psychologist, Jerusalem, Israel
Professor Shalom Rosenberg, Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Thought, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Professor Jacob J. Schacter, Dean, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik Institute, Boston, MA, USA
Dr. Shana Schacter, Private Psychoanalyst, Brookline, MA, USA
Professor Uriel Simon, Professor of Bible, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
more about the fellowship
The 15th NGF introduced a new, collective dimension to the Fellowship. On the final day, separate caucuses were held for Fellows from India and Fellows from other regions. The young Jewish leadership of Australia, the largest and most established Jewish community in Southeast Asia, joined their counterparts in India to commit to regional collaboration. Together, they proposed a set of initiatives for sharing and developing cultural resources and programs to support the Indian Jewish community, which was discussed and approved.
Another highlight of this NGF was the strong presence of Indian culture and tradition woven throughout the entire experience. Exchanges within and outside the classroom showcased the strengths and challenges faced by India’s small yet vibrant Jewish community, whose congregation, Bene Israel, consists of 5,000 members deeply committed to growth. Additionally, two young leaders from Bnei Menashe, a lesser-known Jewish community in India that identifies as one of the lost tribes of Israel, attended the Fellowship, bringing an added layer of learning and insight to enrich the program.
The Shabbat experience—a beautiful blend of Western and Eastern traditions—was especially memorable, underscoring the incredible success of the cultural diversity that flourished throughout the Fellowship.
