The Tikvah Fund has announced the addition of Edward Whelan to its lineup of speakers at this summer’s Tikvah Institute for Yeshiva Men. Mr. Whelan is the president of the Ethics & Public Policy Center and a prominent commentator on issues of constitutional law. He is a lead contributor to National Review Online’s Bench Memos blog and a former law clerk to the late United States Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.

At Tikvah, Mr. Whelan will discuss the role of the judicial branch in modern-day American society, with a special focus on how decisions of the court system affects religious communities. His presentation will be one of many throughout the week-long program, in which leading experts and rabbonim focus on political challenges confronting the Torah community in modern times.

Among those presenting at Tikvah this year are the celebrated author and columnist Yonason Rosenblum, Rabbi Aaron Kotler, CEO of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey, and Professor Robert P. George, a leading U.S. public intellectual and distinguished teacher at Princeton University.

Dr. Yuval Levin, founding editor of National Affairs political journal, will be the program’s anchor faculty member. Dr. Levin served on the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush, and was the Executive Director of the President’s Council on Bioethics. He has been referred to as “probably the most influential conservative intellectual of the Obama era.”

The institute will take place August 14-18 at the Tikvah Fund’s headquarters in New York City, and is open to those between the ages of 20 and 35 who have considerable yeshiva background. The program is fully subsidized by the Tikvah Fund, including tuition, travel, books, activities, and a modest stipend.

The application deadline is this Thursday, May 25. For more information or to apply, visit www.tikvah2017.org.