About us

Opened in October 2023, at a moment of profound rupture, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Public Humanities at Tel Aviv University is grounded in a clear proposition: in Israel, the humanities are a civic practice. We bring the methods of the humanities - careful reading, attentive listening, and sound judgment - from an exclusive academic discourse into shared civic life: schools, libraries, archives, community centers, municipalities.

We work where trauma and repair intersect, aiming to turn difficult realities into thoughtful, collective action. Our commitment is to method, not doctrine: practical ways for people to speak and act across differences (Hebrew Arabic, center-periphery, secular-religious, veteran-newcomer). Together with educators, cultural practitioners, municipal teams, and students, we co-design simple, repeatable tools - discussion protocols, narrative practices, ethical guidelines - that make humanistic thinking usable in daily life and support the habits of a shared democratic culture.

What We Do

Turn knowledge into practice.
We translate humanistic methods into practical tools for classrooms and community settings, co-designed with local partners, strengthening mutual recognition, civic responsibility, and equal dignity.

Train facilitators of judgment.
We prepare teachers, students, and “Humanities Ambassadors” to work with complexity, ask sharper questions, and make responsible decisions for a shared future.

Research while doing.
Our work generates scholarship in pedagogy, public humanities, memory, and civic imagination - because engagement with communities continually reshapes the humanities themselves.

Two Flagship Initiatives

Program for Research & Teaching in the Humanities
A cohort of scholars and educators developing methods and materials for teaching the humanities to diverse learners. Together with schools and community partners, we prototype and test approaches for teaching through crisis, across languages and communities, and for strengthening the capacities required for shared civic life.

Program for Humanities in the Community

A selective annual track preparing Humanities Ambassadors - community leaders and social entrepreneurs - to design and sustain initiatives that foster trust-building, ethical deliberation, and cross-community cooperation, using clear, replicable protocols.

Join Us

Researchers, educators, cultural organizers, and community leaders - join us. Help explore how freedom, justice, responsibility, and mutual recognition can be practiced and taught. The Center is a place to learn, to build, and to renew the humanities as a living civic craft at the heart of Israeli life.