Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies

Yechiel Klar of Tel Aviv University Appointed Russell Berrie Visiting Professor at the Berman Center

Dr. Yechiel Klar of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Psychology is serving as the 2007-08 Russell Berrie Visiting Professor at the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies. The position was created as a result of a challenge grant provided by the Berrie Foundation and the generous response of a select group of Lehigh alumni and friends. The foundation’s gift was in large part due to the efforts of one of its trustees, Lehigh graduate Myron Rosner ’59.

Dr. Klar is teaching two courses each semester in Lehigh’s Department of Psychology. One of his courses in the fall 2007 semester, cross-listed in International Relations, used the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a case study to consider the social psychological dynamics of intergroup conflicts and paths to resolution and reconciliation. He also taught Comparisons, Choices, Decisions. In the spring semester 2008, he is offering a course on the social psychological and societal impact of the Holocaust and another on social cognition.

As a social psychologist, the Israeli scholar has done his primary research in the general field of social cognition, decision making, and social comparison processes. However, in the last decade he has spent more of his time and teaching efforts on issues shaping Israeli existence. His current research examines the ways in which Israelis deal with the moral implications of the enduring Jewish-Arab conflict, and the legacies of the Holocaust in Israeli moral discourse.

Dr. Klar received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D from Tel Aviv University. A faculty member of Tel Aviv’s Department of Psychology since 1990, he currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer and has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Kansas, Carleton University in Canada, and the University of Connecticut. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including grants from the Israel Foundations Trustees, the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, and the Israel Science Foundation. His essays have appeared in many edited volumes and such journals as Political Psychology, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and European Review of Social Psychology. He is the coauthor of Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training: A Longitudinal Study of Psychological Effects and coeditor of a volume entitled Self Change: Social Psychological and Clinical Perspectives.

The Russell Berrie Foundation was founded by Russell Berrie, creator and manufacturer of the Russ© brand gifts, toys, and other juvenile products. He established the foundation to fulfill his philanthropic mission to give back to the community by funding education, health care, the arts, and enrichment of the Jewish communal life.