This year we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The idea of a Hebrew University was initially conceived at the first Zionist Congress in Basil, Switzerland, in 1897.
The Hebrew University‘s Mount Scopus Campus was founded in 1925, 23 years before the modern State of Israel. The Mount Scopus campus is within the original borders of Israel, as recognized by the United Nations in the 1947 Partition Plan, and has been included in the State of Israel in various peace plans (i.e. Oslo Accords, the Clinton parameters backed by Ehud barak, the plan proposed by Ehud Olmert) . When the Mufti of Jerusalem and surrounding Arab States rejected the UN partition plan and tried to destroy the nascent state of Israel, the Hebrew University Mount Scopus was practically inaccessible to Israel due to the violent hostility of the Jordanian government.
A second Hebrew University Givat Ram campus was built in Western Jerusalem beginning in 1953 and was completed in 1960. Today, Hebrew University has consistently ranked among the top institutions of higher learning in the world. Hebrew University is home not only to Jewish students but many Muslim students
The founders of Hebrew University (HU) were a prestigious group. Two of the most prominent persons who were founders of Hebrew University were Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who became Israel’s first president, and internationally renowned physicist Albert Einstein. The idea of a Hebrew University was also embraced by other major Jewish scholars and leaders of the early 20th century, including Otto Warburg, Sigmund Freud, each of whom helped develop and rally support for the idea..Ruth Dayan, the first wife of General Moshe Dayan told me when I interviewed her in tel-Aviv when she was in her nineties how her father Tzvi Schwartz, a prominent lawyer, was a founder of the Hebrew University Law School
On April 1, 1925, Dr. Weizmann laid stones for Hebrew University’s foundation and addressed the audience of prominent people including Chief Rabbi of Palestine Abraham Isaac Kook, British representative Lord Balfour, High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel; the British General Allenby, and poet Chaim Nachman Bialik. I understand Winnipegger Maitland Steinkopf was present at this occasion.
Einstein himself was not able to attend but sent a handwritten manuscript of his Theory of Relativity, which is now in the Einstein Archive, along with his other papers at Hebrew University. In a 1921 interview with the New York Times, he declared, “There has been no event in my life that gave me greater satisfaction than the initiative to establish the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.”
I attended the one year Rothberg International school of Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in 1985- 86. That year changed my life. I was fascinated by the sights and sounds of Jerusalem and became captivated with Israeli history and politics, after taking some courses at Hebrew University (The truth is I didn’t compete all my courses as I decided to spend my time meandering around Jerusalem and the West Bank, such that technically I am a ‘flunkee’ of Hebrew University). I lived in the Resnick Dormitories in French Hill, and painted scenes of Jerusalem from that vantage point. That year resonated with me so much that I am still painting scenes of Jerusalem.
While at Hebrew U ,I remember I went with another Canadian student and an Israeli friend to the Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem, to choose a Bedouin made carpet for my dorm room. What is so remarkable in retrospect is that we simply walked from Mount Scopus (near where the Dan Hotel is) through Arab East Jerusalem to Damascus Gate of the Old City without thinking twice about —it was a different time then before the first intifada. I recall walking from Mount Scopus to the Jewish quarter of the Old City, where we saw a giant Channukiah being lit near the Western Wall during Chanukah. I have memories of having small cups of Turkish coffee in the shops near Salah-Al Din, the main artery of Arab East Jerusalem which leads to Damascus gate. I took a bus from the East Jerusalem bus station to somewhere in the West bank (I can no longer recall the exact location) with a male blonde Jewish Canadian friend. We were the only foreigners on the bus which was made up of Palestinian Arab men—people stared at us a little, but were friendly on the whole. Often when the two of us, both Diaspora Canadian Jews, travelled together, we were mistaken for German tourists. One of my most unique memories of my year at Hebrew University was going to nearby Bethlehem on Christmas.
Gail Asper is a member of the international Board of Hebrew University. The Asper Foundation first established the I.H. Asper Hebrew University of Jerusalem Travel Scholarship Fund to give Manitobans and Canadians of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to broaden their post-secondary education by studying in Israel. Today the Asper-Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) Innovate – The Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (2021) promotes the Hebrew University as a supportive environment for innovation. Over one-quarter of the student body participates in HUJI Innovate’s events and courses.
Murray Palay was a national Chair of the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University. In the Spring of 2011 Rabbi Dr. Bryan Schwartz, Asper Professor of International Law at the University of Manitoba, founded the Mishpatim Program of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem -an exchange where law students from UM visit the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus Campus and learn about Israeli law.This successful program, whose participants have been primarily non-Jewish, and has been successfully delivered for over 13 years. The program has received extremely positive feedback. ( s ee Israel and International Law – Mishpatim ("The Law") Program – Bryan P. Schwartz (bryan-schwartz.com)
In 2013, Brent Schachter received the IMRIC (Institute for Medical Research in Israel-Canada) award and was honoured at a gala.In 2014 Moe Levy, who was then the Executive Director of the Asper Foundation receiving the Scopus Award, which is the Hebrew University's highest honour, due to his dedication to human rights and fostering entrepreneurship.at a gala on May 13,2014.
In a June 5, 1998, in an ad in the Detroit Jewish News, President Bill Clinton stated: “We look at Hebrew University and see David Ben-Gurion’s dream coming to life.”
This year we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The idea of a Hebrew University was initially conceived at the first Zionist Congress in Basil, Switzerland, in 1897.
The Hebrew University‘s Mount Scopus Campus was founded in 1925, 23 years before the modern State of Israel. The Hebrew U Mount Scopus is within the original borders of Israel, as recognized by the United Nations in the 1947 Partition Plan, and has been included in the State of Israel in various peace plans (i.e. Oslo Accords, the Clinton parameters backed by Ehud barak, the plan proposed by Ehud Olmert) . When the Mufti of Jerusalem and surrounding Arab States rejected the UN partition plan and tried to destroy the nascent state of Israel, the Hebrew University Mount Scopus was practically inaccessible to Israel due to the violent hostility of the Jordanian government. Hebrew University is home not only to Jewish students but many Muslim students.
A second Hebrew University Givat Ram campus was built in Western Jerusalem beginning in 1953 and was completed in 1960. Today, Hebrew University has consistently ranked among the top institutions of higher learning in the world. Hebrew University is home not only to Jewish students but many Muslim students
The founders of Hebrew University (HU) were a prestigious group. Two of the most prominent persons who were founders of Hebrew University were Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who became Israel’s first president, and internationally renowned physicist Albert Einstein. Ruth Dayan told me how her father Tzvi Schwartz, a prominent lawyer, was a founder of the Hebrew University Law School. The idea of a Hebrew University was also embraced by other major Jewish scholars and leaders of the early 20th century, including Otto Warburg, Sigmund Freud, each of whom helped develop and rally support for the idea.).
On April 1, 1925, Dr. Weizmann laid stones for Hebrew University’s foundation and addressed the audience of prominent people including Chief Rabbi of Palestine Abraham Isaac Kook, British representative Lord Balfour, High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel; the British General Allenby, and poet Chaim Nachman Bialik. I understand Winnipegger Maitland Steinkopf was present at this occasion.
Einstein himself was not able to attend but sent a handwritten manuscript of his Theory of Relativity, which is now in the Einstein Archive, along with his other papers at Hebrew University. In a 1921 interview with the New York Times, he declared, “There has been no event in my life that gave me greater satisfaction than the initiative to establish the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.”
I attended the one year Rothberg International school of Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in 1985- 86. That year changed my life. I was fascinated by the sights and sounds of Jerusalem and became captivated with Israeli history and politics, after taking some courses at Hebrew University (The truth is I didn’t compete all my courses as I decided to spend my time meandering around Jerusalem and the West Bank, such that technically I am a ‘flunkee’ of Hebrew University). I lived in the Resnick Dormitories in French Hill, and painted scenes of Jerusalem from that vantage point. That year resonated with me so much that I am still painting scenes of Jerusalem.
I remember I went with another Canadian student and an Israeli friend to the Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem, to choose a Bedouin made carpet for my dorm room. What is so remarkable in retrospect is that we simply walked from Mount Scopus (near where the Dan Hotel is) through Arab East Jerusalem to Damascus Gate of the Old City without thinking twice about —it was a different time then before the first intifada. I recall walking from Mount Scopus to the Jewish quarter of the Old City, where we saw a giant Channukiah being lit near the Western Wall during Chanukah. I have memories of having small cups of Turkish coffee in the shops near Salah-Al Din, the main artery of Arab East Jerusalem which leads to Damascus gate. I took a bus from the East Jerusalem bus station to somewhere in the West bank (I can no longer recall the exact location) with a male blonde Jewish Canadian friend. We were the only foreigners on the bus which was made up of Palestinian Arab men—people stared at us a little, but were friendly on the whole. Often when the two of us, both Diaspora Canadian Jews, travelled together, we were mistaken for German tourists. One of my most unique memories of my year at Hebrew University was going to nearby Bethlehem on Christmas.
Gail Asper is a member of the international Board of Hebrew University. The Asper Foundation first established the I.H. Asper Hebrew University of Jerusalem Travel Scholarship Fund to give Manitobans and Canadians of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to broaden their post-secondary education by studying in Israel. Today the Asper-Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) Innovate – The Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (2021) promotes the Hebrew University as a supportive environment for innovation. Over one-quarter of the student body participates in HUJI Innovate’s events and courses.
Murray Palay was a national Chair of the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University.
In the Spring of 2011 Rabbi Dr. Bryan Schwartz, Asper Professor of International Law at the University of Manitoba, founded the Mishpatim Program of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem -an exchange where law students from UM visit the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus Campus and learn about Israeli law.
This successful program, whose participants have been primarily non-Jewish, and has been successfully delivered for over 13 years. The program has received extremely positive feedback. ( s ee Israel and International Law – Mishpatim ("The Law") Program – Bryan P. Schwartz (bryan-schwartz.com)
In 2013, Brent Schachter received the IMRIC (Institute for Medical Research in Israel-Canada) award and was honoured at a gala.
In 2014 Moe Levy, who was then the Executive Director of the Asper Foundation receiving the Scopus Award, which is the Hebrew University's highest honour, due to his dedication to human rights and fostering entrepreneurship.at a gala on May 13,2014.
In a June 5, 1998, in an ad in the Detroit Jewish News, President Bill Clinton stated: “We look at Hebrew University and see David Ben-Gurion’s dream coming to life.”
