Efforts to open wider the doors of the Hebrew University in Palestine to professors and intellectuals who were ousted from Germany have been increased as a result of the plea sounded by Sir Herbert Samuel, leader of the Liberal Party in England, at a dinner given in his honor by the American Friends of the Hebrew University Tuesday night. About $30,000 has been pledged toward meeting the budget of the University, after the dinner.
Couching his plea in the language that revealed his concern with affairs in the Holy Land, Sir Herbert spoke with feeling of the “principles of barbarism which have been adopted by Germany.” He urged his listeners to make place for professors and research workers expelled from the Reich in the Hebrew University.
“Where could they go rather than to Palestine, where there is a great Jewish university,” said Sir Herbert. “I commend this cause to you. It has been said that the Jews are a somewhat sordid people, essentially money-getting and nothing more. But that is not true.
“The greatest activity of the Jews throughout the ages have been in the sphere of intellect and the spirit. Do what you can to strengthen this side of the life of Jewry, and to help this great enterprise. The purpose is to give moral strength to the Jews in all lands, so that bent backs may be strengthened and harassed minds assuaged.”
From economic and cultural points of view Palestine offers great possibilities, continued Sir Herbert, who was the first High Commissioner of the Holy Land under the British Mandate, when the Hebrew University was dedicated by Lord Balfour on Mount Scopus in April, 1925. He is a member of its board of governors.
Other speakers were Maurice Wertheim, treasurer of the American Friends of the Hebrew University and Felix M. Warburg, who with Judge Irving Lehman arranged the dinner in behalf of the American Friends of the Hebrew University.
On October 12 Sir Herbert will be guest of honor at a dinner arranged by the American Friends of the Hebrew University in Philadelphia. His tour through the United States has been arranged by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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