cover 2006

economics has been as dramatic –
but happily as successful – as hers
from industry to academia.
The time devoted to her work,
research and family preclude much
opportunity to pursue many
extracurricular interests.
Nevertheless, Kedem-Yemini
always volunteers two hours a week
for Ilan – the Israel Foundation for
Handicapped Children – teaching
the youngsters there computer
applications. It is, she says, her way
of returning a measure of the
encouragement and support which
she herself has received.
How does she manage everything
– the hours, preparation for classes,
her open door for consultation with
students and peers, the demands of
research, her family life? “It is not
easy,” she admits with a smile,
I believe that I am
now better able to
serve industry from
the research end
“but it is a help that my husband
and I support one another fully. Our
respective happiness within our
chosen fields makes it easier. He is
so delighted with his career-change,
and I with mine.”
Industry may have lost a dynamic
insider, but the field of Industrial
Engineering and Management itself
and BGU together stand much to
gain by the efforts of this enthusiastic
Fellow. And one has to envy her
students for the energy, vision and
dedication she brings to the
classroom.
Prof. Ya’akov Blidstein Wins
Israel Prize in Jewish Thought
Prof. Ya’akov (Gerald) Blidstein of
the Goldstein-Goren Department
of Jewish Thought was awarded
the 2006 Israel Prize in Jewish
Thought.
The prize, Israel’s highest honor,
was presented in a special
Prof. Ya'akov Blidstein
Independence Day ceremony.
Incumbent of the Miriam
Martha Hubert Chair in Jewish
Law, Blidstein immigrated to
Israel from the United States with
a Ph.D. from Yeshiva University
and joined the BGU faculty in
1972. Over the years, he has
served in a number of senior
positions, including Dean of the
Faculty of Humanities and Social
Sciences, Chairman of the
Goldstein-Goren Department of
Jewish Thought and Chairman of
the Goldstein-Goren International
Center for Jewish Thought. A
member of the European Academy
of Sciences and Arts, Blidsteinis an
internationally-renowned scholar in
Maimonides’ Halachic law and
philosophy, with a special emphasis
on political philosophy. His work in
Jewish law focuses on Jewish public
law and the interface of law and
social ethics.
The citation issued by the Ministry
of Education, Culture and Sport,
noted that “Prof. Ya’akov Blidstein
is the outstanding researcher of
rabbinic thought from the medieval
and modern period. His research
into the relationship between
democracy and halacha has had a
major impact beyond academe, in
Israel and around the world.”
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