Neil Rogachevsky — Israel's Declaration of Independence: Founding Values and Contemporary Debates
Neil Rogachevsky — Israel's Declaration of Independence: Founding Values and Contemporary Debates
Monday, November 16, 202612:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Registration required. Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456.
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Encina Hall E409 (Goldman Conference Room) may attend in person.
Israel's Declaration of Independence is the Jewish state's most important political text. It is, in fact, the only official text from Israel's founding moment that speaks foundationally about foundational subjects of statecraft: the nature of sovereignty, the relationship of religion and state, the rights of citizens. This presentation will explore the history of the drafting of Israel's Declaration of Independence and the sometimes-clashing efforts of its multiple drafters to define the character of Israel in 1948. It will pay special attention to the contribution of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who fundamentally transformed the proposed text of Israel's Declaration, producing a quite different final version in the days before May 14, 1948. And finally, it will consider whether Israel's Declaration of Independence might serve as a text of "civil religion" for Israel today.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Neil Rogachevsky is Assistant Professor in the Hamilton School, having previously taught at Yeshiva University. His research concerns Israeli political thought and history, comparative constitutionalism, and Jewish history.
With Dov Zigler, Rogachevsky is the co-author of Israel’s Declaration of Independence: The History and Political Theory of the Nation’s Founding Moment (Cambridge University Press, 2023), which won that year’s Concordia-Azrieli prize for Best Book in Israel Studies. He is currently at work on a new book on the political thought of David Ben-Gurion, which is slated to appear with Cambridge University Press in 2027.
Rogachevsky’s scholarship has also appeared or is forthcoming in Israel Studies Review, Shofar, The Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, French History, and edited volumes on Michel Houellebecq’s political thought from Brill and diaspora politics in the United States from NYU Press. Rogachevsky also writes widely for general-interest and policy journals including the Wall Street Journal, Mosaic, Jewish Review of Books, The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, First Things, and American Affairs.