World Curiosity in Hebrew University Life

World-wide interest in what is being done at the Hebrew University at Jerusalem has developed in such measure during the past year that no less than thirty countries, from Argentine to Australia and from Sweden to South Africa, are represented on the mailing list of its publicity service. Almost a hundred newspapers, journals and organizations receive its bulletins.

But perhaps the most interesting feature of the service is that three languages are used, these being the most common tongues in vogue among the circles in which Hebrew University news is avidly perused. They are Hebrew, English, and German. Jews throughout the world are usually conversant with one of these three languages.

What sustains international Jewish and non-Jewish interest in the great scholastic and scientific institution on Mount Scopus, standing in the exact center of the two distinct Mediterranean and desert regions, is the fact that not only is it advancing the cause of Jewish learning and letters, but it is also making valuable contributions to science and research generally. Many of the important problems being studied in the university laboratories will have a far-reaching effect upon health conditions in the Near and Middle East when they are completed.

There are many factors which tend to make the Hebrew University one of the most unique institutions in the world. Not least among them is the diversity of nationalities represented among the two hundred students who are majoring or pursuing post-graduate and research studies in the arts and sciences. These men and women—and some of them are beyond the regulation age for other universities—come from almost as many countries as there are in the Diaspora. Their previous education, statistics show, was completed in nearly twenty different lands.

In fact, the student body at the Hebrew University is so cosmopolitan in character that it has been called “The Redemption on a Small Scale”, since many of the Jewish men and women are returning to their ancient motherland to complete their studies amid the calm and tranquil surroundings of an all-Hebrew campus.