Gail Asper leads capital campaign, and Max Steinkopf recalls his grandfather being present for opening ceremony
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been a centre of excellence for over a 100th Years. 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 was born. The core land for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus campus was not was purchased in the 1910s from the estate of the British lawyer and traveler Sir John Edward Gray Hiill. The original 1918 university purchase was finalized through the Palestine Office of the World Zionist Organization led by Arthur Ruppin Jerusalem Mayor Ragheb al-Nashashibi owned a historic estate on the slopes of Mount Scopus and also,sold land that fecame part of the Mount Scopus campus.
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 which surrounded the enclave. Because Arab snipers and mines blocked the narrow road leading to Mount Scopus through Sheikh Jarrah, Ben-Gurion and Israeli leadership could not freely access the site. For 19 years, faculty and patients could only reach the isolated campus via UN-escorted convoys that traveled up the mountain twice a month. Because of this dangerous isolation, the university was forced to build alternative facilities in the western part of the city, specifically in Givat Ram.
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 establishment of the university on Mount Scopus as a major cultural victory for the Zionist movement. 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 and , 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 years ago 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. Winnipeg’s Max Steinkopf , a prominent lawyer and business executive , was present at this occasion. The Winnipeg Jewish Review spoke to his grandson and namesake Max Steinkopf who recalled “my grandfather was to go to the ceremony with my grandmother, but my grandmother got sick, and was unable to attend. instead he took with him Dr. Edmund Guthrie Perry (1873–1962) .” Perry was a prominent cleric and Professor of Oriental Languages and Literature, from the University of Manitoba. ‘He knew how to speak Hebrew,” Max notes.
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.”
The Arab response to Lord Balfour’s visit and the opening of the Hebrew University was a widespread , organized campaign of protests, strikes and political boycotts.
Winnipeg media mogul and philanthropist Izzy Asper maintained a strong, decades-long relationship with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In recognition of his international philanthropy and public advocacy, Hebrew University awarded Asper an honorary Doctor of Philosophy in 1999.
Gail Asper is a member of the international Board of Hebrew University, and is leading the University’s centennial billion dollar campaign. As Gail has noted “I have been very involved with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for over 40 years. I am honoured to be asked to play a leadership role, and excited to help secure the resources needed to continue the transformational work happening every day, throughout the University. I am confident that my co-chair Patty Glaser and I, with the help of our outstanding team at the Hebrew U, will reach and exceed our campaign goals!”
Gail Asper, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in June 2014. TheThe 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.
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.
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. ( see 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.”
