Founding of Hebrew University

Hebrew University of Jerusalem was founded amid a history of Jews being banned from attending academic institutes in other lands. Learn about how Israel’s first public university was established by Chaim Weizmann, Albert Einstein and others to be a beacon of education for a persecuted people and for students of all backgrounds.

Hear excerpts from Rabbi Hermann Schapira, a mathematician who first proposed a “Jewish university” at the World Zionist Congress and excerpts from Martin Buber’s Eine Jüdische Hochschule. From the cornerstone laying ceremony in 1918 on what was then called the Gray Hill Estate on Mount Scopus, to the dramatic grand opening in 1925 attended by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Lord Balfour, General Allenby, Judah Magnes and others who celebrated the establishment of what was to become a leading institute with Nobel Prize winning professors.

Plus learn about the founding of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, the Wissotzky tea company, Harvard University’s numerus clausus and other fun facts along the path to higher education in the State of Israel.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook speaking at the Hebrew University grand opening, 1925.

Lord Arthur Balfour, author of the Balfour Declaration speaking at the Hebrew University opening in 1925.

Cornerstone on Har HaTzofim (Mount Scopus) in 1918.

The Hacham Bashi of Jaffa, Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel signs the University’s founding charter.

Dr. Chaim Weizmann, Lord Arthur Balfour and other dignitaries at the Hebrew University cornerstone ceremony.

Arab residents display black flags in protest of Hebrew University’s grand opening, 1925. Credit: US Library of Congress

In Arab neighborhoods and cities, shops were closed and black flags were raised in protest against Hebrew University. Credit: The Middle East Between the World Wars by Hagai Erlich

Mural at Hebrew University depicts Hermann Schapira, Chaim Weizmann, and Albert Einstein.

NOTES:

• From the Heights of Mount Scopus - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• The inauguration of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• VIDEO: Hebrew University opening 1925

• VIDEO: Lord Balfour opens new Jewish University

• Arthur Ruppin Purchases Land for Hebrew University

• Eine Jüdische Hochschule by Martin Buber, 1902 (full text)

• Technion - 100 Years of Research and Education

• From Technion to Tech Nation

• History of Jews and Universities

• Dr. Hermann Schapira letter proposing a Jewish university 1882

• Hebrew University Opens 1925

• First Stone of Einstein Institute at Hebrew University Opening, The Jewish Independent 1925

• Palestine Moslems Will Not Be Able to Withstand the Lure of the Jerusalem Hebrew University - JTA 1924

• Impressive Ceremonies Mark Opening of Institute for Jewish Studies at Hebrew University - JTA 1924

• Dr. Judah L. Magnes speech at Hebrew University 1925

• Chaim Nachman Bialik speech at Hebrew University 1925

• Hebrew University and the Zionist Dream

• The Opening of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem