The Hebrew University will face difficulty in securing members for its faculty of Jewish Studies and Humenities since “the well of Jewish tradition in Central and Eastern Europe has been totally destroyed,” Dr. Chaim Weizmann said in a message sent to the annual meeting of the Friends of the Hebrew University, which he was unable to attend because of illness.
“While it will be comparatively easy to find scientists in the Angle-Saxon countries,” Dr. Weizmann said, “philosophers of Judaism and Hebrew poets and litterateurs will be unavailable.” Pointing out that it is just in this field that the university is preeminent, Dr. Weizmann added: “The flame is not out, but it has sunk very low. The most important task facing us is to nurse it back to life and brilliance,”
Prof. Norman Bentwich, former Attorney-General of Palestine and a member of the Hebrew University’s faculty, who has just returned from Palestine, outlined the institution’s post-war program, indicating that it hopes to accommodate 2,000 students. He warned that it would be necessary to raise faculty salaries, since “some professors now earn less than a bus driver.”
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
