Partners in Action and Responsibility
After ten years of diligently preparing ‘Human Spirit’ program, and after officially gaining approval by the Israel Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity, as well as the endorsement of Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia, Italy, the ‘Human Spirit’ initiative officially began its journey in March 2015.

The Israel Association For Self Psychology And The Study Of Subjectivity
The Association was founded in 1999 to provide an organizational and professional platform for the research, development, and transmission of Self Psychology, as practiced by Heinz Kohut and his successors around the world and in Israel. One of the Association’s main goals is to establish open relationships with other fields of thought and practice, as it considers Psychoanalytic Self Psychology a philosophical and cultural umbrella under which many psychological and extra psychological bodies of knowledge can come together.
The activities of the Association include, amongst others:
- Self Psychology and the Therapeutic Action: a four-year program for advanced therapists, which takes place at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine’s Program of Psychotherapy, at Tel Aviv University.
- Training Program for the Study of Self Psychology: a three-year psychotherapy program for beginning therapists, which takes place under the Association’s auspices.
- Scientific Meetings: a series of monthly scientific meetings open to the general public.
- Annual day workshops: the relationship between Self Psychology and various areas of culture.
- Beit־Hamidrash ‘Reading Kohut’: A monthly gathering dedicated to reading Kohut’s Chicago Lectures.
- Translation project into Hebrew of Kohut’s writings.
- ‘Ktavim’ [Writings]: publication project of the Israeli contribution to Self Psychology.
- Thinking and Research Groups: application of Self Psychology to the field of child and adolescent treatment, in the matrix of couple therapy, in the social sphere and the educational action
Lama Tzong Khapa Institute – ILTK
Lama Tzong Khapa Institute – ILTK in Pomaia, Italy, is a center for Buddhist study and practice guided by the Tibetan tradition.
The Institute is a member of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition – FPMT, a nonprofit organization founded in 1975 for the purpose of transmission and preservation of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition worldwide, via teaching, meditation, community services, retreats and various educational initiatives. Lama Tzong Khapa Institute is based on the Gelug tradition of Lama Tzong Khapa, a 14th century teacher and a central figure in Tibetan Buddhism, as studied by the founder of the Institute, Lama Thubten Yeshe, and as taught by the current spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Lama Tzong Khapa Institute was established in 1977 and is located in the village of Pomaia, about forty km. south of Pisa in the Tuscany region. Over the years the Institute has hosted the greatest leaders of the Tibetan tradition, including His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
The activities of the Institute include, amongst others:
- Buddhism: an introductory program of fourteen courses, which supplies a basis for advanced understanding of Buddhist study.
- Basic Program: a program that takes place over two-and-a-half-years of residence, or a five-year online program, guided by immersion in an integration of study and meditation practice.
- Masters Program: six-year program which provides a unique opportunity for an intensive and in-depth philosophical study of Buddhist teachings concluded by a one year solitary meditation retreat.
The Human Spirit Program Will Be Accompanied And Guided By Two Institutional Circles Of Responsibility:
- A circle of International Board of Trustees who will provide the program with spiritual and substantial support.
- A circle of the program’s leading institutions, which are in charge of the Training Program.