Rededication

The buildings of the Institute of Mathematics and the Institute of Physics, donated to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem by the late Philip Wattenberg and by Solomon and Dora Monness Shapiro, in honor of Professor Einstein, will be dedicated on Tuesday. The American Jews who made possible “the Einstein Institute of Mathematics and Physics” on Mount Scopus have perpetuated their names by being associated with that of Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist and humanitarian.

It is to be hoped that the Hebrew University which was created with the aid of Albert Einstein will now be conducted in keeping with the ideals of Albert Einstein, in order that his wholehearted sympathy for and interest in the Hebrew University may be regained.

I recall what Professor Einstein said to me in 1921 when he visited the United States and interested a number of people in the creation of the Hebrew University.

“The establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem would assist enormously in the up building of Palestine”, he said, “for it would become a spiritual center of Jewish education and culture for the Jews in the Holy Land. Later this university would also attract Jewish students from other lands. But, shove all, I consider it most ## that there should exist ## common Jewish cultural enterprise, which is of the utmost significance for all Jews.

“Through my contact with Jewish students in various parts of Europe I have arrived at the decision that such an institution of learning in Palestine is essential.

“I have met the Jewish students of Austria, Hungary and of Russia, who are clamoring to complete their education in European universities. I have seen the difficulties and hardships which these young men and women are experiencing. I have observed the discriminations which have become intensified since the war. Poverty, the economic collapse in Central European countries, have fanned the flames of national hatreds, and the Jewish students have suffered in Germany, in Poland and especially in Hungary. A large number of Jewish students are barred from the universities on religious grounds. I have seen their helplessness, their hardships and their needs. And thus I came to the realization that a Hebrew University in Palestine is an absolute necessity for the Jewish people.

“The traditional respect for knowledge which we Jews have maintained intact for many centuries of severe persecutions makes us feel all the more keenly the present discriminations against so many talented sons and daughters of the Jewish people who are knocking in vain at the doors of the Universities of Eastern and Central Europe. And those who have gained access to the spheres of free research had to do so by undergoing a process of assimilation which has crippled the free and natural character of our people and deprived them of their cultural leaders”.

Dr. Einstein made these remarks thirteen years ago. With prophetic vision he saw the consequences of the process of assimilation and advocated the remedy. The cultural life of the Jewish people in Germany has now been destroyed by the over-whelming tide of chauvinism and bigotry. The Hebrew University in Jerusalem was created with the aid of this modern prophet in Israel and has already taken a high place among the great institutions of learning. It has become the symbol of the regeneration of Jewish culture. It is the most eloquent answer to the enemies of Israel who are seeking to destroy the Jewish spirit. And in order that it may indeed become the most powerful moral fortress in intellectual Jewish life, the Hebrew University should on the occasion of the dedication of the Einstein Institute of Mathematics and Physics rededicate itself to the ideals and the spirit of the intellectual father of the University, Albert Einstein.