Prof. Yedidia Stern chosen as incoming president of JPPI
Stern serves as a professor in the Faculty of Law at Bar Ilan University, where he also previously served as dean, and holds a Doctorate in Law from Harvard University.
By IDAN ZONSHINEProfessor Yedidia Stern(photo credit: AVIA STERN)
Prof. Yedidia Stern has been chosen as the new president and CEO of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), the organization announced Monday.Stern will replace the retiring president and CEO, Avinoam Bar-Yosef, who has led the organization since its founding in 2002.Along with its team of experts, Stern will lead the JPPI’s strategic thinking and policy recommendations regarding some of the most pressing issues facing Jewish people across the globe, including Jewish identity, matters of religion and state, antisemitism, demographic trends and aliyah opportunities, JPPI said in a press release.“It is a great privilege to head an institute that provides critical thinking for the Jewish people at the present time, which is a time of both tremendous opportunities and enormous challenges,” Stern said.“JPPI will continue its important activities and over the coming years will expand into developing strategic thinking and policy programs in four areas: Jewish society in Israel, Jewish society outside Israel, relations between Jewish society in Israel and abroad, and relations between all Jews and the non-Jewish world,” he said.Stern is internationally renowned as a jurist and researcher of society and state and has authored books, Jerusalem Post articles and policy studies in these fields. He serves as a professor in the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University, where he also previously served as dean, and holds a doctorate in law from Harvard University.Stern serves as a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. He has a record of civic and professional activity impacting key issues for the Jewish people and Israeli society, including issues of religion and state, Judaism and democracy.Stern’s selection was led by a search committee from JPPI’s board of directors. Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog approved their recommendation.“Professor Yedidia Stern brings vast experience and deep acquaintance with the issues at the heart of the Jewish people and the State of Israel and will present an original and bridging voice in an era of internal tensions among the Jewish people and in Israeli society,” Herzog said.JPPI, which was established by the Jewish Agency, is the only organization that deals with strategy and policy for Jewish people across the globe as a collective.Its experts promote strategic thinking on fundamental issues that contribute to the prosperity of the Jewish people, with Israel at its center, and formulate policy recommendations that are presented to decision-makers in Israel and around the world.JPPI’s annual assessment, which is submitted to the Israeli government, reviews geopolitical realities and the standing of the Jewish people on key issues, including the struggle against antisemitism and the delegitimization of Israel, identifying aliyah opportunities, portraying demographic trends in the Jewish world and building an ongoing dialogue between global Jewry and Israel.“I applaud this selection from the bottom of my heart and am confident Prof. Stern will lead the institute to new heights at a time when the Jewish people are faced with significant challenges,” Bar-Yosef said.The “establishment of the JPPI was an opportunity of a lifetime,” he said. “As part of this effort, we managed to recruit among the finest strategic minds in Israel and across the Jewish world.”“They represent a broad spectrum of opinion, from Left to Right, from ultra-Orthodox to sworn secularists. Together, we created a communal professional language, which is an unprecedented achievement in the Jewish world,” Bar-Yosef said.
