With the decrease of anti-Semitism following World War II, greater numbers of Jews began to enter the profession. By 1960, three Jewish architects – Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil, Eric Mendelsohn (born in Poland) and Richard Neutra (born in Austria), were already counted among the masters of 20th century architecture, but Judaism was never their point of departure. While today we have quite a number of Jewish architects of international stature, their works are irrelevant to Jewish life.

In Judaism, the Torah, the Nation and Land of Israel are inextricably bound, so that if a contemporary “Jewish” architecture were to exist, it would have to be here. But Israeli architecture was based from its outset on all manner of cultural importations.

With the founding of the state, most architects were immigrants. Three leaders of modern Israeli architecture, Arieh Sharon, Dov Karmi and Ze’ev Rechter, all studied in Europe, returning home with their cultural baggage. From the 1920s onward, it was the Bauhaus and International Style that held center stage here.

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Lacking historical precedents, creating a Jewish architecture simply isn’t possible. And as we have seen, an Israeli architecture responsive only to the specifics of region, climate and available materials, while obviously necessary, is hardly sufficient. To be able to reach the highest levels, Israeli architecture must finally look beyond pragmatic concerns. Any true Israeli architecture would have to give expression to our Jewish identity and values. Louis Kahn’s thought and works, intuitively informed as they were by Jewish belief and philosophy, merit the most careful study here today.