Uriel Simonsohn, PhD

The Haifa Laboratory for Religious Studies is a new initiative that seeks to promote religious studies at the University of Haifa through interdisciplinary collaborations. At the background of this initiative lies a recognition in the unique features of the University of Haifa as an academic institute that operates in one of the most multi-religious settings in the world and hosts the most religiously, culturally, and linguistically diverse academic community in Israel. These features provide our academic community with a unique opportunity to conduct its academic ventures in conjunction with the human fabric around it.

The Haifa Laboratory for Religious Studies will operate towards the realization of a vision of the University of Haifa as a leading institution in the field of religious studies, both in the Israeli and international academic spheres, and a center for quality research initiatives that transcend disciplinary boundaries. To that end, the laboratory will endeavor to facilitate a community of scholars whose research stands in affinity to religious studies; to promote an interdisciplinary dialogue regarding relevant research themes; and to encourage research collaborations within the local academic community and between it and other institutions in Israel and abroad.
 

Background and Vision:
 

Haifa is one of the most multi-religious cities in the world!

Among its religious communities are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and secular Jewish congregations, an expanding Muslim community, seven different Christian churches, the Ahmadiyya Islamic community, the World Baha’i Center and the Druze community.

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Haifa’s uniqueness is embodied in the existence of spaces in which people from a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds share a daily routines of coexistence: members of different religions live in the same neighborhoods, streets and even apartment buildings; they share workplaces, send their children to the same schools, start families and raise their children in the light of different religious traditions.
 

Against the background of this reality, the Haifa Laboratory for Religious Studies was founded by Dr. Uriel Simonsohn – a historian and scholar of religions in the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Haifa.
 

Underlying the establishment of the Laboratory is the vision of turning the reality of a shared society in Haifa into a model of inter-religious and intercultural relations for mixed cities in Israel and around the world. To that end, the Laboratory aims to promote collaborations among a variety of elements: academic researchers, religious communities, social organizations and NGOs in order to address a host of social and civic challenges that affect the lives of all of us.
 

The working assumption that sets us apart is that even in the 21st century, religion continues to be a driving force for many people. Religious communities, despite the differences between them, have many values in common in areas such as social solidarity, concern for the environment, education, and civic justice. We thus believe that religious communities constitute effective frameworks for driving social and civic changes thanks to this shared value base. Religious communities of diverse faiths can work together to promote shared values and thereby also work to promote coexistence.
 

We believe that religious difference and diversity should be seen as social assets that welcome options for advancing solutions.

Our work plan for 2021-2022:
 

The Laboratory works in collaboration with key figures in the Israeli public, a variety of organizations and associations in Israel and around the world, with the business sector, government bodies in Israel and religious communities. These collaborations are expressed, inter alia, in the Laboratory’s international academic committee and its public board, both of which include top-ranking figures in the field of religious studies, leaders of religious communities in Israel, public figures, and media and cultural personalities.

The Laboratory’s activity in the 2021-22 academic year includes the following events and initiatives:
 

• A series of dialogue meetings between multiple religious leaders on social and civic issues: religious leaders who are experts in the areas under discussion meet and talk about issues such as education for religious pluralism, the intersection of religious law and civil law, religious traditions and gender equality, urban planning in a multi-religious settings, religion and environmentalism, and communnal organization. (Three of the six planned meetings have already taken place.)

• The Haifa Forum of Fellows in Religious Sciences: Ten outstanding research students from the University of Haifa who receive a scholarship from the Laboratory and meet during the academic year for joint seminars.

• Seed-money support for research innovative research in religious studies.

• Planning an academic degree track in social leadership for religious leaders (rabbis, priests, etc.), which the University of Haifa will operate in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior Affairs.

• The “Religion and Social Change” Initiative: University researchers in collaboration with a variety of religious communities in Haifa that work in the face of social and civic challenges in the city. The research and practical activities will help formulate models and plans for managing shared societies in mixed cities.

• An educational program on the subject of shared society: for fifth- and sixth-grade children on the subject of a mixed city and coexistence - based on the Haifa model.

• Promoting initiatives that advance the business and social potential inherent in religious diversity in collaboration with municipal and governmental bodies: tourism that draws on the religious, historical, artistic, architecturtural and social assets of Haifa and the north of Israel.

• “Art-Religion-Place” project: together with the Haifa City Museum; preparations towards an exhibition that will display the history and cultural treasures of Haifa's religious communities.

• An annual conference on mixed cities: The conference will examine the challenges we face in mixed cities, particularly light of the events of May 2021, and explore directions for a future of coexistence. The conference is organized in collaboration with third sector organizations in Haifa, such as the Musawa organization, the Society for Social Progress, and the Haifa-Boston partnership.

• An international conference of students from countries accross the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East, in particular from Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. The conference will focus on the participants’ religious and cultural worlds.

• Tours in Haifa and its surroundings for the foreign diplomatic corps in Israel, which will present the religious diversity of the region and illuminate the factors enabling its existence.

 
                For further information and suggestions, please contact us at rlglab@univ.haifa.ac.il