Machshavot

Machshavot was a Hebrew journal of ideas and science published by IBM Israel. What began in 1961 as a corporate publication intended to support IBM’s commercial activity gradually became a distinctive Israeli forum for philosophy, science, literature and public intellectual life. Through interviews, conversations and essays, it brought the work of leading researchers and cultural figures to readers well beyond academic circles.

From a corporate bulletin to a journal of ideas

The first issue of Machshavot appeared in 1961. In its early years, the publication had a clear marketing and commercial purpose: it presented IBM’s activities in Israel. Aaron Levin edited the first four issues, followed by Dennis Shifrin, who edited issues 5 through 15. From issue 16 onward, the journal was edited by Zvi Yanai, whose leadership shaped its later character.

The title reflected IBM’s intellectual branding. Thomas Watson had required IBM workplaces to display signs bearing the word Think. The company’s English magazine also carried that name, and its Hebrew adaptation became Machshavot, meaning “thoughts.” Over time, the title came to signify more than a corporate slogan: it represented an invitation to engage with difficult questions and new knowledge.

Zvi Yanai and the widening of the journal’s scope

Beginning with issue 18, at Yanai’s initiative and with the encouragement of David Cohen, Machshavot began to move away from its original commercial role. It developed into a journal devoted to science, philosophy, society and culture. Dr. Ilan Amit served as co-editor for several issues.

The journal’s interviews and conversations were particularly important. They made complex ideas accessible without removing them from their intellectual context. Among those interviewed were professors Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Michel Revel, Asa Kasher, Michael Rabin, Israel Aumann and Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, as well as prominent cultural figures including Haim Gouri and Dahlia Ravikovitch. Published mainly during the 1970s and 1980s, these conversations brought the thinking of major Israeli scholars and writers to a broad readership.

Machshavot created a meeting place between fields that were often kept apart: mathematics and computer science alongside philosophy; scientific research alongside literature and public culture; and professional expertise alongside clear writing for non-specialists. Its pages offer a valuable record of Israeli intellectual life during a period of rapid scientific, technological and cultural change.

Collections, public meetings and access to knowledge

The journal appeared irregularly, generally once or twice a year. In 1978, a five-volume collection of articles from Machshavot was published, demonstrating both the scale of the project and the demand for its contents. The volumes gave the journal’s essays and conversations a life beyond the individual issues in which they first appeared.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Yanai organized a series of events called Machshavot Ba’al Peh—“Thoughts Aloud”—at the Tel Aviv Museum. Lectures from these gatherings were later published in the journal. This created a productive link between live public discussion and a lasting written record, expanding Machshavot from a periodical into a setting for direct encounters between the public, researchers and thinkers.

The journal was not sold in bookstores. It was distributed free of charge to IBM Israel employees and clients, and was also sent to people who contacted the editorial office to request it. This distribution model enabled readers from many backgrounds to encounter ideas that they might not otherwise have met through academic or commercial channels.

Publication ends, the archive continues

After 68 issues, Machshavot ceased regular publication in 1996. In 2000, a special volume was issued to mark IBM Israel’s jubilee: The Jubilee Collection for IBM Israel, 50 Years, 1949–1999. It continued the publication’s practice of documenting the company’s history and presence in Israel.

In June 2015, all issues of Machshavot were placed online by Dalia Hochberg, Zvi Yanai’s partner, and made freely available for viewing. Digitization gave the journal a new public life. Material originally distributed mainly to employees, clients and individual requesters became accessible to researchers, students and readers everywhere. The online collection preserves not only the history of a distinctive Israeli publication, but also a wide range of voices and ideas that illuminate the country’s scientific and cultural development.

Why this legacy belongs in Moreshet

Machshavot merits a place in the archive because it documents an unusual and influential effort to connect technological enterprise with science, philosophy and Hebrew culture. Across 68 issues, it introduced readers to leading Israeli researchers and writers and helped make specialized knowledge and philosophical inquiry part of a wider public conversation.

Its importance also lies in its method. The journal combined essays with interviews, lectures and public events; linked academic expertise with accessible writing; and preserved these encounters first in print and later in an open digital archive. For Moreshet, Machshavot is an important record of Israeli intellectual, scientific and cultural life in the second half of the twentieth century. Through Moreshet.com, its pages remain a bridge between contemporary readers and the people, questions and ideas that helped shape modern Jewish and Israeli thought.