HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

The first university established in Israel. The establishment of an institute of higher learning in Ereẓ Israel was first proposed by Hermann *Schapira in 1884 at the Kattowitz Conference of the Ḥovevei Zion, and again at the first Zionist Congress in 1897. A few years later, a group of young Zionists were inspired by Chaim *Weizmann, then a teacher at the University of Geneva, to make the foundation of such an institution a primary aim of the Zionist movement. The group, which included Martin *Buber and Berthold *Feiwel, brought the question before the Congress of 1901, and Herzl submitted a petition to the Ottoman sultan for permission to establish a university in Jerusalem.

The Congress of 1913 appointed a committee, including Weizmann and Judah L. *Magnes of America, to execute the project, but the outbreak of World War i prevented action. While the war with the Turks was still being waged, Weizmann, who had come to Ereẓ Israel as head of the *Zionist Commission after the issue of the *Balfour Declaration, initiated the establishment of the university. On July 24, 1918, 12 foundation stones of the university were laid on Mount Scopus, north of the Old City of Jerusalem. This site, incomparable in beauty and impressiveness, had been acquired before the war by Isaac *Goldberg from the estate of an English lawyer, Sir John Gray-Hill. The view commanded on one side the Holy City and Bethlehem, and on the other the rugged landscape of the Wilderness of Judea, the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea, and the Mountains of Moab. Weizmann, the only speaker at the ceremony, concluded: "Here, out of the misery and the desolation of war, is being created the first germ of a new life.… In this university we have gone beyond restoration; we are creating during the war something which is to serve as symbol of a better future. In the university the wandering soul of Israel will reach its haven."

There was an interval of seven years before any faculty of the university could be opened. The first lecture was given in 1923 by Albert *Einstein on his theory of relativity, and he spoke the first sentences in Hebrew, which was to be the language of teaching. He was dedicated to the university, and had accompanied Weizmann to the United States in 1921 to apprise American Jewry of its significance. It was decided that, before undergraduate teaching was initiated, work should be in postgraduate studies and scientific research. Three tiny institutes of research were opened, in Jewish studies, chemistry, and microbiology. The university was to develop in two directions: on the one hand, it should be the center where the Hebrew tradition would be molded in its original language and in the light of general humanities; on the other, it should be a center of research in the natural and medical sciences, which would help the regeneration of the land. The former development was the work of Magnes, who settled in Jerusalem in 1923, and devoted himself to bringing the university into being. Weizmann and committees in England and the United States launched the effort for scientific research. The university was opened on April 1, 1925, by Arthur *Balfour, at an impressive ceremony attended by the High Commissioner, Sir Herbert *Samuel, General Allenby, Chaim Weizmann, Ḥ.N. *Bialik, *Aḥad Ha-Am, and Chief Rabbi *Kook.

The university did not at that time receive any grant from the Government of Palestine; it was the financial responsibility of the Jews of the world. The supreme governing body included Jews eminent in public or academic life in many countries. Weizmann was chairman of the board, and Magnes chancellor – later president. The university grew quickly. Following the inauguration, new institutions were added: Jewish studies (1924); Oriental studies (1926); mathematics (1927); general humanities (1928): philosophy and history, geography and archaeology, classical literature, English, and other languages; physics (1930); and biological sciences (1931). Demand grew for regular courses of postgraduate studies, leading to a Master's degree. Two faculties were constituted: humanities, and science and mathematics. The first degrees were awarded in 1931. At this stage, however, the authorities were opposed to the opening of professional schools for doctors or lawyers: learning should be acquired for its own sake, and research was the main objective. About half the students were from Palestine, and half from abroad. Some of the teachers now appointed were graduates of the university.

The Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany and their exclusion from institutions of higher learning gave fresh importance to the Hebrew University. It could take its part in the battle for academic freedom, and be a principal place in which exiled scholars and scientists could find a haven. Hebrew remained the language of instruction, and was rapidly adapted to the needs of modern learning and science. Vocabulary, based on biblical and rabbinical Hebrew, multiplied. The library, which was also the Jewish National *Library, grew to half a million books, housed in the principal building on Mount Scopus and containing one of the most valuable collections of Hebraica and Judaica. Before the outbreak of World War ii, medical research was developed in laboratories attached to the university hospital, itself a gift of the *Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization. The hospital and medical center did valuable work for the Allies and the civilian population of the Middle East throughout the war. A school of agriculture at Rehovot was added in 1940. At the end of the war, plans were made for large extensions, and new buildings were started on Mount Scopus.

The years between 1945 and 1948 were troubled. Both Jews and Arabs were in revolt and university progress was halted. The outbreak of riots and fighting at the end of November 1947, which followed the United Nations decision to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, caused temporary suspension of academic work. Teachers and students were engaged in the defense of the National Home; and, in April 1948, an Arab mob attack which murdered a convoy of doctors, nurses, and students to Scopus compelled the evacuation of the Hadassah Hospital and Medical Center, in order to avoid further losses and bloodshed. The fighting during and after the War of Independence involved the university. The buildings were held against Arab attacks, but grave damage was done. During the first cease-fire, the United Nations mediator contrived to obtain agreement for demilitarization of Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives. The university buildings were to remain an Israel enclave, surrounded by Arab land, and were occupied by a small body of Jewish police and caretakers.

The Israel-Jordan *Armistice Agreement, concluded in April 1949, included "an agreement in principle for restoration of the normal functioning of the cultural and humanitarian institutions on Mount Scopus, and free access thereto." An Arab-Jewish committee was to work out details. That, however, was not done, as Jordan refused to nominate representatives to the committee, and the enclave remained inaccessible to teachers and students.

In the summer of 1949 the university resumed its work in western Jerusalem, housed in a number of improvised and unsuitable buildings scattered over the town. The rooms for lectures were bare; there were no laboratories or equipment and very few books. At the same time, the creation of the State of Israel required intensified expansion of the university departments to provide the civil servants, teachers, doctors and lawyers, scientists and agronomists for building rapidly. The pre-faculty of medicine was transformed into a faculty (opened in 1949) for both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. A law faculty was opened in the same year, while the school of agriculture (later, renamed the Levi Eshkol Faculty of Agriculture) and the department of economic and social sciences also became faculties in 1952 and 1953 respectively, and the school of education was opened in 1952. An extensive new campus was dedicated at Givat Ram on a ridge of the Judean Hills in the west of the city. A department of business administration and a school of social work (1958/59) were added; the Institute of Oriental Studies (1926) was developed into a department of Asian and African studies (1962) and the Ben-Zvi Institute for research on the Jewish Communities in the Middle East (founded 1947) was affiliated. Other new departments were the Institute for Contemporary Jewry (1959/60), the institute for research in Jewish Law (1963), and the Library School. A bigger Hadassah University hospital (opened in 1961), a medical school for 500 students, and a dental school for 250 students were built on another site, at Ein Kerem on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Since 1929, the Hebrew University has had its own publishing house, the Magnes Press, which publishes significant work done at the university and produces two important series, Scripta Hierosolymitana and Textus, the latter devoted to Bible studies. The number of students rose from 1,000 in 1947/48 to 5,000 in 1958/59 and over 15,000 in 1969/70. During this period the academic staff increased from 200 to 1,430, many themselves graduates of the university. The National and University Library in 1970 contained 1¾ million books and numerous periodicals.

At Givat Ram, 150 acres of eroded limestone have been transformed into a new university campus with more than 50 buildings. This phoenix-like resurgence was made possible by the combined financial help of the state and of Jewish communities and individuals abroad. Government and Jewish Agency grants cover nearly two-thirds of the maintenance budget, and societies of friends of the university have given the funds for new buildings. The university has not, however, become a state institution. The government attaches no conditions to its contribution, has no administrative control, and nominates only a few lay members to the executive council. The university is open to all students without discrimination of sex, creed, color, or nationality. The number of students from abroad steadily mounted, and there was a large influx of Jewish students, most of them American, after the Six-Day War. In 1970, foreign students totaled 3,200, of whom some 1,200 came from the United States and some 50 were Asian or African. In addition, 205 were Arabs or Druze (45) including some from east Jerusalem and the Israel-held territories in Judea and Samaria.

The board of governors, meeting annually in Jerusalem, elects the president for a four-year term, approves the budget, and decides major issues of policy. Half the board consists of members resident in Israel. The control of the university is maintained by a senate, an academic body presided over by an elected rector, and an executive council, composed of a majority of lay members together with some academics. After Magnes, the presidents were: Selig *Brodetsky (1949–51), Benjamin *Mazar (1953–61), Giulio *Racah (acting; 1961–62), Eliahu *Elath (1962–68), and Avraham *Harman (from 1968). As a result of the Six-Day War, the university's original home on Mount Scopus was recovered, and the former building of the humanities faculty was put to immediate use. Studies were restarted in the Rosenbloom building, dormitories designed for 2,500 students, and a residential center for pre-academic studies opened. The original Hadassah-University hospital was rehabilitated and the Harry S. Truman Research Center, endowed by American Friends of the Hebrew University, has been erected on Scopus as part of the university. The faculty of law was transferred in 1969 to Mount Scopus. The university now has four campuses: Scopus, Givat Ram, and Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, and Reḥovot. It was invited to set the academic standards for the University College in Haifa, and, together with the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Haifa Technion, to do the same for the University of the Negev in Beersheba. In 1958, the Hebrew University opened branches of its law and social sciences faculties in Tel Aviv; but between 1966 and 1969 these were transferred to the University of Tel Aviv. The high quality of research done in Jewish Studies, the humanities and social sciences on one hand, and the natural, physical, and medical sciences on the other, has won encouragement and financial subsidies from U.S. government departments and private foundations in various countries, and has brought the Hebrew University worldwide recognition. It becomes more and more the university of the whole Jewish people.

[Norman Bentwich]

1970s

The decade of the 1970s was marked by expansion and consolidation. Prior to the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the university's student enrollment climbed to a peak of some 18,000 at the height of a period of growth in tertiary education. At the same time, the academic staff was enriched by the immigration to Israel of many scholars from the Western world as well as from the U.S.S.R.

Concurrently, the rebuilding of the campus on Mount Scopus proceeded apace both with regard to premises to house the academic work of the university and student accommodation, in particular that set aside for married students with young children.

Noteworthy in this period of expansion was the growth in the School for Overseas Students, where enrollment climbed to 1,000, with approximately another 1,000 attending the annual summer courses. The school offered courses varying in duration from one to four years, with teaching in English, French, Spanish and Russian, in addition to Hebrew. It now played a key role in strengthening Israel's ties with the younger generation of Diaspora Jewry.

A number of new research institutes came into being in response to fresh needs and possibilities; these were within the areas of Jewish studies, and those for the history and traditions of Jews in the Eastern and Western Diasporas, Slavic language and literature, international affairs, European studies, Soviet and East European research, Israeli society, economics and politics, energy resources; environmental sciences, lasers, marine sciences, agriculture, medicine, and dental medicine.

In line with the university's policy of serving Israel's needs for trained manpower, it also established, in conjunction with Hadassah, the Henrietta Szold-Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Nursing, the Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Occupational Therapy (both granting a bachelor's degree) and the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Community Medicine and Public Health, which gives a master's degree. In 1975, the Institute of Advanced Studies was set up to provide a framework for the encouragement of scientific and scholarly leadership and the advancement of top level research. The institute offers fellowships to Israeli and overseas scholars, initially in the areas of mathematics, Jewish studies and economics.

The 1973 war was a turning point which marked profound changes within Israel, including severe cuts in public spending for tertiary education, and they affected the Hebrew University, where the stress was on consolidating the growth of past years. The Mount Scopus campus became a residential university city, providing accommodation for over 3,000 students and premises for the Faculty of Law, the School for Overseas Students, the Institute of Archaeology, the School of Education, first-year science studies for all the experimental faculties, the Harry S. Truman Research Institute, the Martin Buber Center for Adult Education and the Joseph Saltiel Center for Pre-Academic Studies. There were new buildings for the Faculty of Social Sciences, for the Faculty of Humanities and an undergraduate library for these faculties. These units moved from Givat Ram to Mount Scopus in the fall of 1981 as scheduled. The physical development of the university was thus virtually completed on all four campuses. Enrollment stood at over 15,000, of whom more than a third were engaged in post-graduate work. This latter figure marked the latest phase in the development of the university, making it the Jewish world's foremost center of advanced study. In addition, university extension courses, both on-campus and throughout the country, brought faculty members to the service of a further 12,000 people each year; while under special arrangements with a number of leading universities, notably in North and South America, the university also aided Jewish studies abroad in staffing and curriculum design and planning. With the growth of local universities in other Israeli cities, the Hebrew University, which had 70% of its student body coming from outside Jerusalem, increasingly served as a national institution.

The university's Authority for Research and Development coordinated the work of some 2,500 research projects underway at the university with funding received from over 500 different granting agencies. Much of this work and of the more than 3,000 books and papers issuing annually from the academic community were of direct practical importance to the State of Israel and its economic, scientific, and social development. Taken as a whole, the research record made the university an international center of scholarship which attracted hundreds of visiting academics from all parts of the world.

At the meeting of the board of governors held in May 1980, it was decided, despite the financial stringency prevailing, to proceed with the completion of the rebuilding of the Mount Scopus campus, in order to carry out the move of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculties from Givat Ram in the spring and summer of 1981. The transfer from Givat Ram to Mount Scopus was completed in the summer of 1981 as scheduled.

[Devorah Getzler]

Developments from 1982

As the university re-established itself in the renovated and greatly expanded campus on Mount Scopus in the early 1980s, the consolidation of units that had been scattered in temporary quarters throughout Jerusalem during the 1948–67 "exile" from Mount Scopus enabled the Givat Ram campus to become primarily the university's science campus, incorporating lecture rooms and laboratories that had been in other locations. As part of this development, the Avraham Harman Science Library was opened at Givat Ram. At Mount Scopus, the Bloomfield Library for Humanities and Social Sciences opened its doors.

As enrollment continued to expand from the early 1980s level of some 16,000 students to close to 23,000 by the mid-1990s, the university sought ways to provide expanded dormitory facilities. This became a matter of high priority not only because of the natural growth in the number of Israeli students, but also because of the influx of immigrant students, particularly from the Soviet Union. The total number of dormitory accommodations has reached approximately 6,500.

A major development project initiated in 1995 was a new home for the Rothberg School for Overseas Students on Mount Scopus. The school had been located since 1971 in the Goldschmidt building on Mount Scopus, a facility which was unable to answer all the needs of a school that is now serving some 4,200 students a year in a multitude of programs geared to meet the specific needs of students from various countries.

In the Faculty of Science, the Belmonte Science Laboratory for Youth, opened in 1990, provides state-of-the-art facilities for use by high school science classes and their teachers – the only such laboratory in Israel built and operated exclusively for this purpose. The laboratory provides science enrichment for youngsters beyond that which would normally be available to them in their own schools.

At the Ein Kerem medical campus, a full story was added to the existing School of Dental Medicine in the mid-1990s. Besides providing needed additional space for the training of a new generation of dental practitioners and researchers, the new story will also contain the world's most advanced laboratory for experimentation and documentation involving dental implantations.

Also at Ein Kerem, the Faculty of Medicine proceeded with plans for a significant expansion of its facilities. A new building, the National and International Institute of Health, provided an improved infrastructure, enabling the faculty to increase its intake of new students and provide them with optimal learning conditions. It also provided more opportunities in teaching and research for talented Israeli scientists who have been compelled to seek adequate conditions abroad.

A major addition to the cultural life of Jerusalem took place on the Givat Ram campus with the development in the 1980s of the Jerusalem and University Botanical Garden, a facility open to the general public which provides a showcase of plant life from all over the world. The garden also included a Visitors Center in the Hank Greenspan Plaza. Another public attraction in Givat Ram are the windows by the artist Mordecai Ardon, dedicated in 1984. The windows, located in the Jewish National and University Library, conceptualize the prophet Isaiah's vision of peace.

Another development project was the opening in 1987 of the Astrid and Henry Montor Outdoor Sports and Recreation Center of the Mount Scopus campus. The first phase of this center is tennis courts. A soccer field, swimming pool, and track and field facilities were also planned.

new academic programs

An innovation in Israeli higher education was taken in 1985 with the opening of the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine at the Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot – the country's first-ever school in this discipline. The school, along with the university's Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Rishon Lezion – the largest facility of its type in the Middle East – provide an opportunity for students who formerly were forced to go abroad to study this branch of medical science.

Another innovation in Israeli higher education came in the 1990s with the establishment of Israel's first B.A. programs in communications and journalism and in hotel studies. Israel's first Institute for European Studies was also established during this decade at the university.

Rapid expansion took place, in terms of equipment and numbers of students and faculty, in computer science. This trend was given further impetus due to the large influx of talented students from the former Soviet Union. The growth resulted in the creation of a separate Institute of Computer Science.

East Asian studies gained greatly in popularity among students at the university, bringing with it an expansion of staff and subject matter. In addition to Japanese and Chinese, the study of other East Asian languages and cultures was initiated, including courses in the Vietnamese, Thai, and Mongol languages.

In the area of programs for students from abroad, the Rothberg School for Overseas Students made great efforts to respond to the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union. Besides offering courses taught in Russian, the school also initiated a special training program for Hebrew Ulpan teachers to provide a cadre of instructors to the large influx of new immigrants both within the university and elsewhere. Another service to the community was the formation of a special training program to prepare immigrant scientists as teachers of mathematics and science in Israeli high schools.

The Rothberg School for Overseas Students, in cooperation with the faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences, began offering in the mid-1990s new programs taught in English for graduate students around the world. An M.A. degree can now be earned in this manner.

An outreach to the public is the university program of adult education. This program offers a wide range of courses, taught in Hebrew, English, and Arabic, to those who find themselves with increasing leisure hours and a desire to expand their educational/cultural scope of knowledge.

Interdisciplinary study gained impetus throughout the 1980s and 1990s as the pursuit of knowledge and the development of new technologies began to erase old, increasingly artificial definitions of areas of expertise. A prominent example of this was the decision by the university to open a Department of Biotechnology in 1984, a unit jointly administered by the faculties of Science, Medicine, and Agriculture. Another area of interdisciplinary studies and research that gained increasing emphasis in the 1990s was that of environmental studies.

As an institution which has always stressed research (approximately one-third of the total student body is in graduate studies), the university began in the mid-1980s to institute programs designed to attract the most outstanding students and young researchers to its rolls. This was accomplished though the institution of special scholarships and individualized programs of study. One especially significant vehicle for furthering this goal was the establishment of the Golda Meir Fellowship Fund which, since 1984, has granted many hundreds of fellowships to outstanding graduate students, post-graduates, and young lecturers from Israel and abroad.

Close to 40 percent of all civilian research carried out in the country is conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the closing decades of the 20^th century, the university placed increasing emphasis on its role in the development of the Israel high-tech industry. The university's Yissum Research Development Company has grown over the years. The university is also a partner in the encouragement of new high-tech firms through a "scientific incubator" company.

The university was a pioneer in establishing contacts with Palestinian scholars as well as researchers from Arab countries even before the political movement towards peace began in the early 1990s. University units such as the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, the Sanford F. Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases and the Faculty of Agriculture were leaders in contacts with their Arab counterparts, much of which earned the financial support of Western governments and institutions. These contacts focused on joint research projects involving such topics as regional economics, water usage, environmental quality, education for tolerance, political solutions, and the overcoming of animal and human diseases endemic to the region.

In 2005 the university included eight faculties: Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Medicine, Dental Medicine, Law, Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. The university had 15 schools: Applied Science, Business Administration, Dental Medicine, Education, Engineering and Computer Sciences, the Rothberg School for Overseas Students, Librarianship, Archive and Information Administration, the Medical School, the Nursing School, Food Sciences, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Public and Community Medicine, Social Work, and Veterinary Medicine. Around 1,200 faculty members teach over 24,000 students, of which about half study in postgraduate programs. University alumni number about 90,000. On the university campuses there are 11 professional libraries in addition to the National Library. The university has 100 research centers. In 2001 university research facilities had sales of $12 million to industry. In 2005 the president of the university was Menahem Megidor and the chancellor was Haim D. Rabinowich.

[Jerry Barasch /

Shaked Gilboa (2^nd ed.)]

bibliography:

N. Bentwich, Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1918–1960 (1961); L. Levenson, Vision and Fulfillment (1950); C. Weizmann, Trial and Error (1966), index; H. Parzen in jss (July 1970), 187–213; Hebrew University, Calendar (1925–68), Scopus – a periodical magazine (1946– ). Research Reports (1965–69), Report by the President (1953– ). website: www.huji.ac.il.

HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

Israeli university.

The creation of a Jewish university in Jerusalem that would teach subjects in Hebrew was a major cultural goal of Zionism. In 1914 land was purchased on Mount Scopus, and the cornerstone for the university was laid in 1918 by Chaim Weizmann. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened on 1 April 1925 in a ceremony attended by major Jewish figures and British officials. Chaim Weizmann is considered its founding father; the first chancellor was Judah Magnes. By 1947 the campus had more than 1,000 students and 200 faculty.

The 1948 Arab–Israel War left the Mount Scopus campus on the Jordanian side of divided Jerusalem. A new campus was established at Givʿat Ram in western Jerusalem. Additional campuses include the Hadassah medical school at Ein Kerem in southwest Jerusalem and an agricultural school in Rehovot. After the 1967 Arab–Israel War the Mount Scopus campus was rebuilt and expanded as the university's main campus. A full range of advanced degree programs is offered, and in 2003 nearly 23,000 students—including Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel as well as international students—attended the four campuses, taught by 1,200 tenured faculty. The multicultural makeup of the Mount Scopus campus was evidenced in the casualties from the bombing of the student cafeteria on 31 July 2002, which killed nine and wounded several dozen. Approximately 40 percent of all civilian scientific research in Israel is conducted at Hebrew University.

See also magnes, judah; weizmann, chaim.

Bibliography

Gilbert, Martin. Israel: A History. New York: Morrow, 1998.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "About the University: History." Available from <http://www.huji.ac.il/huji/eng>.

pierre m. atlas

HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

Israeli university. Opened in 1925 on Mount Scopus, the university's creation as a Jewish institution teaching in Hebrew was considered a major cultural accomplishment among Zionists. By 1947 over a thousand students were enrolled. After the Arab-Israel War of 1948, the Mount Scopus campus was on the Jordanian side of a divided Jerusalem and a new campus was created at Givat Ram in western Jerusalem; other campuses were later added, including the Hadassah medical school at Ein Kerem. After the 1967 War, the Mount Scopus campus was rebuilt as the university's main campus. On 31 July 2002 a bombing of the student cafeteria killed nine and wounded several dozen others. In 2003 nearly 23,000 students, including both Arab and Jewish Israelis, were enrolled in a range of advanced degree programs.

SEE ALSO Arab-Israel War (1967).