The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ranks among the world’s top universities and is home to the largest Jewish studies library in the world. Prime ministers of Israel count among the university’s alumni, and supporters of its founding included Albert Einstein, who also donated his papers to the university archives. But the university also has a turbulent past, as its location on Mount Scopus made it vulnerable to attack during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. The establishment of Hebrew University predates the existence of the Jewish state. The first foundation stone was laid on Mount Scopus in 1918.
The university first opened its doors in 1925, in a ceremony that was attended by Jewish community leaders and foreign dignitaries, including the British officials Herbert Samuel, Viscount Edmund Allenby, and Lord Arthur James Balfour. For more than two decades afterward, growth of the university proceeded smoothly, with the establishment of a medical school in 1947 and a law faculty in 1949. But when war erupted in 1948, the university was repeatedly the target of Arab attacks and had to be evacuated. By the end of the war, Mount Scopus was cut off from Jewish Jerusalem, and the campus was abandoned. For that reason, the campus in Givat Ram was built, which today houses the faculties of the Sciences.
Following Israel’s victory in the Six Day War in 1967, the Mount Scopus campus was regained and now houses the Humanities and Social Sciences faculties of the university. Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture and the School of Veterinary Medicine are located outside of Jerusalem, in Rehovot. Today, Hebrew University is attended by a diverse population of students. Israelis and Israeli Arabs mingle freely in the halls, along with immigrants from countries around the world. The university also has several programs for students from overseas, which are attended by students who are interested in Israel. Not all attendees of these programs are Jewish—some hail from such diverse locations as Germany and Japan.
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