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BRIEFS
Mishpatim Program A Life Changing Experience
TRAVEL STUDY PROGRAM IN ISRAEL AT THE
HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
Any story worth telling is enhanced
by a compelling setting. That is
why Bryan Schwartz, Professor at
the Faculty of Law, was motivated
to create a travel study program
that would teach legal system of
Israel to Robson Hall law students
in historic context. The name of the
program was chosen to capture
the Hebrew concepts of law and
judgement: Mishpatim.
Prior to the first session in 2011,
Professor Schwartz had visited
Israel’s institutions scouting
for an academic partnership
for the University of Manitoba.
The Rothberg International
School at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem stood out as a
promising candidate. “The
university contacts were very
receptive to the idea and we
already had at least a very basic
model to work with as Hebrew
University had recently delivered
a pilot project during the
Christmas Break to a group of
Australian law students.”
What soon followed was the launch
of Mishpatim in May 2011 with
a Winnipeg group of 18 Robson
Hall law students traveling eight
thousand miles for the three
week contextual experience. The
students attended educational
lectures, explored historical settings
in their free time. They returned
expressing great satisfaction with
their overall experience.
When it came time to arrange
for the second Mishpatim in May
2012, Schwartz found that the
positive buzz generated in 2011
persisted and quickly helped to
attract a group of 15 Robson Hall
students along with 3 University
of Saskatchewan participants
and 2 business students from the
Asper School of Business at the
University of Manitoba.
With the inaugural year’s
experience documented and
analysed Professor Schwartz
established the 2012 theme
‘Israel as a Start Up Nation’.
The theme was based on the
New York times bestseller Start
up Nation the story of Israel’s
Economic Miracle coauthored by
Dan Senor and Saul Singer.
“It’s all about how Israel is dealing
with very difficult internal and
external challenges going
from a not very economically
advanced country to a place
that’s prosperous, a member of
the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development
representing the group of rich
nations with a high standard of
living and driven by Israel being a
world leader on a per capita basis
in high tech and innovation.”
“This year I think the theme
was even better articulated and
better delivered in practice,”
says Schwartz. As an example,
he describes Jerusalem Arab
entrepreneur who works
at Hebrew University and
runs a program encouraging
entrepreneurship supported
significantly by the Asper Family
Foundation in Winnipeg.
“This instructor teaches
entrepreneurship to a group
of Arab women. He talks
about the challenges of his
particular political status and
how he’s learned to use the
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