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Hebrew University of Jerusalem
האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים
Established	1918
Type:	Public
President:	Menachem Magidor
Vice-Presidents:	Elhanan Hacohen, Carmi Gilon, Hillel Bercovier
Faculty:	1,200
Undergraduates:	12,000
Postgraduates:	10,000
Location	Jerusalem, Israel
Nickname:	Hebrew U, HUJI
Website:	www.huji.ac.il

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Hebrew: האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים‎, Arabic: الجامعة العبرية في القدس) is Israel's oldest and largest university.

The Hebrew University is been ranked as one of the 100 most outstanding academic institutions in the world.^[1] The First Board of Governors included Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber, and Chaim Weizmann. The Hebrew University enjoys a worldwide reputation in many fields. It is home to the world's largest Jewish studies library, and some of the world's most eminent scholars have been faculty members, among them Gershom Scholem, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Daniel Kahneman and Robert Aumann. Four of Israel's prime ministers are alumni of the Hebrew University, including the current prime minister. ^[2]

One of the Zionist movement's dreams was to establish a Hebrew university in the Land of Israel. The establishment of the university was proposed as far back as 1884 in the Kattowitz conference of the Hibbat Zion society. A major supporter of the idea was Albert Einstein, who bequeathed his papers and entire estate to the University.

Frank Sinatra International Student Center, and tree memorialising the student victims of the 31 July 2002 Palestinian bombing.

The cornerstone for the university was laid in 1918, and, seven years later, on April 1, 1925, the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus of Jerusalem was opened at a gala ceremony attended by the leaders of the Jewish world, distinguished scholars and public figures, and British dignitaries, including Lord Arthur James Balfour, Viscount Allenby and Sir Herbert Samuel. The university's first Chancellor was Judah Magnes.

By 1947, the University had grown to become a large, well-established research and teaching institution. It comprised faculties or other units in humanities, science, medicine, education, and agriculture (the last at a campus in Rehovot); the Jewish National Library (later becoming the Jewish National and University Library), a University press; and an adult education center.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Arabs repeatedly attacked the University, located to the northeast of Jerusalem, and convoys moving between the Israeli controlled section of Jerusalem and the University.

After the attack on the Hadassah medical convoy in 1948, the Mount Scopus campus was cut off from the Jewish part of Jerusalem. When the Jordanian government reneged on the 1949 Armistice Agreements and refused Israeli access to the Mount Scopus campus, the University was forced to build a new campus in Givat Ram in western Jerusalem, which was completed in 1953. In the interim, the university rented part of the Terra Sancta building in Rehavia from the Franciscan Custodians of the Latin Holy Places and held classes there. ^[3] A few years later, together with the Hadassah Medical Organization, a medical science campus was built in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Kerem in southwest Jerusalem.

By the beginning of 1967, the students numbered 12,500, spread among the two campuses in Jerusalem and the agricultural faculty in Rehovot.

After the reunification of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of June 1967, the University was able to return to its original campus in Mount Scopus, which had to be reconstructed. In 1981 the construction work was completed, and the Mount Scopus campus again became the main campus of the University.

The university was again touched by conflict on July 31, 2002, when a Palestinian construction worker (a resident of East Jerusalem) exploded a bomb in the university's crowded "Frank Sinatra" cafeteria during lunch time. Nine people — five Israeli citizens, three American citizens, and one citizen of both France and the United States — were killed by the explosion and many more injured. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. World leaders including Kofi Annan, President Bush, and the President of the European Union issued statements of condemnation.[2][3]

The Jewish National and University Library is the central and largest library of Hebrew University and one of the most impressive book and manuscript collections in the world. It is also the oldest section of the university. Founded in 1892 as a world center for the preservation of books relating to Jewish thought and culture, it assumed the additional functions of a general university library in 1920. Its collections of Hebraica and Judaica are the largest in the world. It houses all materials published in Israel, and attempts to acquire all materials published in the world related to the country. It possesses over 5 million books and thousands of items in special sections, many of which are unique. Among these are the Albert Einstein Archives, Hebrew manuscripts department, Eran Laor map collection, Edelstein science collection, Gershom Scholem collection, and a unique collection of Maimonides' manuscripts and early writings. These culturally rich repositories are a destination for tourists, along with the university's students.

In addition to the National Library, Hebrew University has numerous subject-related libraries throughout its campuses. They include the following:

Avraham Harman Science Library, Givat Ram; Mathematics and Computer Science Library, Givat Ram; Earth Sciences Library, Givat Ram; Library for Humanities and Social Sciences, Mt. Scopus; Bernard G. Segal Law Library Center, Mt. Scopus; Library of Archaeology, Mt. Scopus; Moses Leavitt Library of Social Work, Mt. Scopus; Zalman Aranne Central Education Library, Mt. Scopus; Library of the Rothberg International School, Mt. Scopus; Muriel and Philip I. Berman National Medical Library, Ein Kerem; Central Library of Agricultural Science, Rehovot; Roberta and Stanley Bogen Library of The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Mt. Scopus

Hebrew University has four campuses, three in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot^[4]. In 2003, it had a student populaton of 23,000.

Mount Scopus campus and tower from the south

Mount Scopus (Hebrew: Har HaTzofim הר הצופים), in the eastern part of Jerusalem, is home to the Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Human Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business Administration, Rothberg International School, Frank Sinatra International Student Center, Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies and the newly established School of Public Policy.

Givat Ram campus

The Givat Ram campus, named for Edmond Safra, contains the scientific departments, as well as The Jewish National and University Library.

The Ein Kerem campus is located in the same complex as the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital. Although the primary focus of the campus is the medical and dental departments of the university, the molecular biology department also finds its home there.

The Faculty of Agriculture and the Veterinary School are located in the city of Rehovot.

• Louis Guttman, social scientist and statistician
• Michael O. Rabin, computer scientist and mathematician, 1976 Turing Award recipient
• Avi Wigderson, computer scientist and mathematician
• Daniel Kahneman, 2002 Nobel Prize laureate for Economics
• Robert Aumann, 2005 Nobel Prize laureate for Economics
• Shaul Shaked, professor of Middle Persian and Pahlavi Language and Literature.^[5]
• Ephraim Halevy, former Director General of Mossad
• Aharon Katzir, chemist
• Gershom Scholem, professor of Jewish mysticism
• Martin Buber, professor of religion
• Hayim Tadmor, professor of assyriology
• Adolf Abraham Halevi Fraenkel, mathematician
• Giulio Racah, physicist
• S. Yizhar, Israeli poet who served as Professor of Education
• Yehuda Bauer, historian of the holocaust
• Jacob Talmon, historian
• Amos Tversky, psychologist
• Zeev Sternhell, professor of political science
• Ruth Lawrence, mathematician
• Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, linguist
• George Mosse, historian
• David Asheri, classical scholar
• Saharon Shelah, mathematician
• Nurit Peled-Elhanan, education
• Mordechai Nisan, social scientist
• Aharon Barak, professor of law and former President of the Supreme Court
• Eliezer Schweid, professor of Jewish philosophy
• Ehud Netzer, archaeologist
• Joshua Prawer, historian
• Yeshayahu Leibowitz, public figure and biochemist
• Shmuel Eisenstadt, sociologist

In 2004, three graduates of the University received the Nobel Prize (David Gross in physics; Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko in chemistry).

• Presidents of Israel: Moshe Katsav, Yitzhak Navon
• Prime Ministers of Israel: Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert
• Deputy Prime Minister of Israel: Yigael Yadin
• Members of the Knesset: Colette Avital, Yael Dayan, Dalia Itzik, Roman Bronfman
• Sports and culture: Yochanan Vollach, Natalie Portman
• Archaeologists: Amihai Mazar, Eilat Mazar, Yigael Yadin
• Activists: Elie Yossef
• Journalists: Khaled Abu Toameh
• Writers: Aharon Appelfeld, Elias Chacour, Yael Dayan, David Grossman, Batya Gur, Shifra Horn, Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, Amnon Jackont, Amalia Kahana-Carmon, Yehoshua Kenaz.
• Academics: Ahron Bregman, Uri Davis, Gerson Goldhaber, Haim Harari, Joshua Jortner, Alexander Levitzki, Efraim Karsh, Asa Kasher, Walter Laqueur, Avishai Margalit, Dana Olmert, Miri Rubin

1. ^ Newsweek International. The Complete List: The Top 100 Global Universities. August 13, 2006, Available: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/
2. ^ Academic Ranking of World Universities. Shanghai Jiao Tong University. 2006. Available: http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2006/ARWU2006_Top100.htm]
3. ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/jermandate.html
4. ^ [1]
5. ^ Department of comparative religions (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

• List of universities in Israel
• Einstein Papers Project
• Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
• Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Hebrew University web site
• The Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies web site
• Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University
• Hebrew University Technology Transfer company - An article
• The British Friends of The Hebrew University (BFHU)
• Hamekasher Jerusalem - a nostalgic website dedicated to a bus company that served the university

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