“If you’re a Hartman, you have a mission.”

Growing up as the youngest child of the late Rabbi David Hartman, the founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Ranan says that he learned two important lessons.

“One, you can actually change the world. Two, there is no value in complaining about the problems of the Jewish people. Step up and try to fix what’s wrong,” he said.

If he has not yet changed the world, Hartman, who founded Ono Academic College 25 years ago at age 26, has undoubtedly changed the face of higher education in Israel, and is attempting to affect social, societal, and educational change in this country.

Hartman graduated from Bar-Ilan University’s School of Law in 1995, but after seeing large numbers of Israeli students not getting accepted to Israeli institutions and having to travel abroad to study law — particularly England — he was inspired to open a school of his own.

Hartman acknowledges that he received assistance along the way.

“I had a lot of help from family and friends, from people who were working with my family for many, many years, and felt it important to support the educational process that I’m talking about,” he recalled.

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