JEWISH UNIVERSITY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3714, 19 May 1925, Page 4

JEWISH UNIVERSITY.

WHAT LORD BALFOUR INAUGURATED. WORKING OUT A GREAT IDEA. The Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, which the Earl of Balfour opened on April I, is still in its early stages (writes Mr H. Sacher in tho Manchester Guardian). For definite practical reasons the founders of the university have decided that it shall begin as a research institution for postgraduate work, and that the undergraduate side of the university shall develop later. It is believed that the first necessity is to establish a very high standard, and this can be set through a research institution. The departments are being organised successively as means are available. At present there is a Micro-biological institute arid a Chemical Institute, constituting the first stages of the medical and science faculties, and an institute of Jewish studies (in connection with which a section of Arabio_ literature and civilisation is being organised), constituting ihe first department of _ the Faculty of Arts. Research institutes in physiology, physics, and mathematics are in process of organisation, and the development of the humaner studies will be pursued parallel with the development of medicine and natural science. In deciding to begin with the Micro-bio-logical Institute and the Chemical Institute and an Institute for Jewish Studies, the founders of the university have been guid by the special needs and character of the country. The public health problems of Palestine present a host of problems in bacteriology, serology, immunity, and experimental medicines generally, in the solution of which the university can play an important part, and this is a branch of scientific research for which outside the university there is very little provision. The Micro-biological Institute is largely the creation of the American Jewish Physcians’ Committee which has raised the funds for the purchase of land, for the erection of laboratories, for an endowment, and for the provision of residences for the staff. It is intended to develop it ultimately into a full medical school, with which the Rothschild Hospital in Jerusalem will be associated as the University Hospital. The Chemical Institute is divided into a department for general chemistry, synthetic and analytical, and a bio-chemical department, including bio-colloid chemistry and bio-physical chemistry. _ Apart from general research work, the institute will have special regard to the problems of economic and scientific interest in Palestine, and the particular requirements of the country. All sections of the university contemplate the issue of learned publications. The language of instruction throughout is Hebrew. Professor Fodor, of the University r,f Haller, is in charge of the Chemical Inst ifcut*,. ana ho has several assistants under him. A director of the Micro-biological Institute will be appointed soon; other members cf tile staff are already at, work. In the Institute of Jewish Studies four professors have already been appointed, assisted by several research associates. TIIE NATIONAL LIBRARY. The University Library will incorporate the Jewish National Library. It contains already 70,000 volumes, and is receiving numerous gifts from various libraries, Governments, and private benefactors. Tho library of tho late Professor l.oldzieher, who was in his day tho greatest authority on Oriental studies, has been acquired, and in this particular department tho library ahould ultimately become authoritative. The late David Wolfsnhn, who succeeded flerzi os the President of the Zionist Organisation, ieft his estate for the provision of a library and it is hoped within two years to have ready and equipped a library building worthy of the University. In Dr Hugo Bergmanil the library has tho services of a scholar and a man of letters. - A formal constitution of the University is being shaped, but the present arrangements are provisional. There is a Central Board, among the members of which are Professor Einstein. Sir Alfred Monel Mr James do Rochsoluld Mr Poliv Wnrburg, Dr Weizmann, Mr Sokolow, Mr Bialik (the greatest of living Hebrew poets), Achad Ha’am (tjie most distinguished of eontem. porary Hebrew philosophers), and Dr Magnes. There is also a local commiltee in Palestine.

THE SITE. A lovelier site than that which has been chosen for the University could not be conceived. It embraces some 50 acres of land on the summit of Mount Scopus. On one side all Jerusalem lies at its feet, on the other the wilderness of Judea, the Valley if the Jordan, and the blue waters of the Dead Sea. Such a site deserves a building worthy of it, and Professor Geddes and Mr Meers have prepared a general plan of a comprehensive University building finely and magnificently conceived. The present home of the University cannot be said to constitute a part of the Geddes-Meers scheme. On the site purchased from the executors of the late Sir John Grey Hill there already stood a large villa, which has been adapted and extended by a new wing. The directors of the University will have to decide before further building is undertaken either to adopt the GeddesMeers scheme or some other comprehensive scheme after public competition, but in any case to subordinate all building to some general scheme. The Hebrew University has from the early days of the Jewish National Movement been a project dear to the Jewish heart. In lfioi the Fifth Zionist Congress instructed the Zionist executive to take the matter in hand, but under Turkish rule realisation was impossible. When, shortly after the capture of Jerusalem, the Zionist Commission was sent out to Palestine, it was authorised by the British Government to lay the foundation stone of the University. This was done in 1018, in the presence of Lord Allenby and the representatives of all committees. The profound instinct of the Jewish people has taught it that the whole venture of a Jewish national home will have to justify itself by the specific contribution it makes to civilisation. The Hebrew society which is growing lip iu Palestine with a rapidity astonishing even to the optimistic will have its heart in the Hebrew University. Like every other university worthy of the name, the academy now arising on Mount Scopus will be open to all without distinction of ra e or creed, and in the pursuit of knowledge will take truth only as its guiding star. But the multifarious energies of the. Jewish soul, its special and peculiar genius in thought and art, will be concentrated there, and there, if anywhere, the Jewish spirit will make its own contribution to the world. It would be venturesome to attempt to give a definition to this Hebrew genius, and to think of the University as the synthesis of Occident and Orient is only partially to apprehend its character. In this land of Palestine and in sight of the Mount of Scopus prophets walked, the psalmists sang, there were born to spread throughout, the world certain fundamental truths. It is the profound conviction of those who are bringing the Hebrew University into being rliat the creative Hebrew spirit is not dead, that its mission is not exhausted, that here, in direct contact with Palestine, and notably through the Hebrew University it will recover its ancient vigour. Therefore, the foundation of !he Hebrew University will, it is hoped, mean not merely the addition of another lo thd"Wug list of seats of learning, but the public return to its place and to its task of an ancient redeemed, and once more unfettered national genius.