"Torah and light for the whole enlightened world"

Albert Einstein was one of the greatest thinkers of the establishment of the Hebrew University and contributed to its prosperity. On the importance of the university in Einstein's eyes and on his work to establish it

Hanoch Gottfreund | Galileo Magazine

In February 1923, Albert Einstein (1897-1955) arrived with his wife Elsa for a ten-day visit to the Land of Israel. He visited cities and colonies, schools and cultural institutions, industrial and agricultural plants.

Weizmann and Einstein, scientists who were well acquainted with the excellent research and teaching centers in Europe, sought to establish the Hebrew University as a first-class research institution

The culmination of the visit was a lecture he gave in Jerusalem on February 7, on Mount Scopus, where the Hebrew University was opened two years later (the cornerstone for the university was laid in 1918). The high commissioner, officials of the British mandate, heads of the Jewish settlement, representatives of the Christian community and a large crowd were present at the event.

A science house for the whole world

Menachem Osishkin (1941-1863), one of the leaders of the Zionist movement who made his home in Jerusalem from 1919, opened the event. He addressed the audience with emotional words: "Three thousand years ago, King Solomon built a house for the God of the world on Mount Moriah, and his first prayer in this house was that the house would be a house of prayer for all nations. Now that we are building this house, we pray that the house will be a house of science for the whole world. Professor Einstein, get on the stage that has been waiting for you for two thousand years."

Einstein opened his lecture in Hebrew: "I am also happy that I am reading my lecture in Israel, from which came Torah and Ora for the whole enlightened world and in a house that is ready to be a center of wisdom and science for all the peoples of the East." Unfortunately, I don't know how to read my lecture in my own language and I have to switch to a language you all understand, the French language."

A reporter for the newspaper "Davar Hayom" described the lecture the next day in enthusiastic words: "... led his listeners through the paths of the sky, he spoke about movement and the definition of time and the gravity of the lines of light, etc., etc., the main points of his teachings as far as they can be explained to the general public... Even those who did not go into the depth of the lecture were not bored. ... When he finished his lecture, which lasted about an hour and a half, a storm of applause erupted."


The first scientific publication of the university

This lecture by Einstein is considered the first scientific lecture at the Hebrew University, which took place even before its official opening. In the same year, Einstein also honored his prestige for the university's first scientific publication, when he agreed to serve as the editor of the first volume of the "Reports of the University and the Schools in Jerusalem". This volume is a collection of articles in mathematics and physics that were written specifically for publication in this file and have not been published anywhere else.

Each of the articles appears in the original language (German or English) and translated into Hebrew. This was the first attempt to present modern scientific research in the modernizing Hebrew language. In this context, it is interesting to quote the editor's note at the beginning of the file: "Since there is no fixed Hebrew terminology for the exact sciences, we would not be allowed to close the door to the innovations of the translators."

Einstein was not content with the role of editor, but also contributed to this file his article with Jacob Grumer, a young Jewish physicist who worked with him in Berlin. Gromer also translated the article into Hebrew. This article belongs to Einstein's works as part of his search for the unified field theory, which aims to bring gravity and electromagnetic forces into one framework.

It contains notes on an idea presented in those days to the Academy in Berlin by a young scientist named Theodore Kaluza, who proposes to expand Einstein's four-dimensional model of space-time into a five-dimensional model, in which the fifth dimension represents the electric charge. This article, which became famous in a remote and unusual place, is occasionally mentioned in recent years as part of the modern incarnation of Einstein's effort to formulate a theory that unifies all known forces in nature, known as "string theory".

Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann

Four years before the lecture on Mount Scopus, in 1919, Einstein responded positively to the invitation of Chaim Weizmann (1952-1874), who was then the president of the Zionist movement and later the first president of the State of Israel, to join the Zionist movement. In the same year, Einstein gained world fame following the findings of an astronomical expedition of the British Royal Society, which confirmed one of the conclusions of the theory of general relativity, which states that the path of light rays from distant stars curves in the gravitational field of the Sun.

Einstein's standing on the side of the Zionist movement brought it great prestige. A short time later, the Times of London described him as an enthusiastic Zionist, who promised to take part in the initiative to establish a Hebrew university in Jerusalem. Indeed, his participation in the Zionist activity was manifested in a very tangible way in this context.

Einstein referred to the establishment of the Hebrew University as 'the greatest thing that has happened in the Land of Israel since the destruction of the Temple.' He became Weizmann's partner in raising this initiative to a high priority on the agenda of the Zionist movement. He saw the planned university as something on which the creativity of the Jewish people and the values ​​of the Jewish culture of pursuing justice, seeking the truth and studying for his name will be expressed in modern times. This is how Einstein understood the essence of Judaism and thanks to this he was grateful to his fate for belonging to the Jewish people.

Einstein was Weizmann's ally also in the debate that took place at the time about the nature of the planned university. Many in the Zionist movement, including Ze'ev Jabotinsky (1940-1880), urged the movement's institutions to open the university gates immediately and take in thousands of Jewish students who suffered discrimination in admissions to universities in Europe. In view of the plight of young Jews throughout Europe, Jabotinsky and others were willing to compromise on the academic level of the planned university.

In contrast, Weizmann and Einstein, scientists who were well acquainted with the excellent research and teaching centers in Europe, aspired to establish the Hebrew University as a first-rate research institution, which would attract the best young Jewish researchers to Jerusalem and bring blessing to them and the country, and honor to the entire Jewish world.

In this debate, Weizmann and Einstein had the upper hand. When the Hebrew University was opened, it included several research centers where excellent researchers and doctoral students worked. Studies for the lower degrees gradually appeared in the various departments in later years.

Journey to the "Land of the Dollar"

Albert Einstein's first significant action as part of his commitment to the establishment of the Hebrew University was joining a Zionist delegation headed by Haim Weizmann on a trip to the USA. The members of the delegation visited Jewish communities in the USA for six weeks. When they disembarked from the ship on April 1, 1921 in the port of New York, Chaim Weizman told journalists: "Professor Einstein honors us when he accompanies us to the USA in the matter of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The Zionists have long aspired to establish in Jerusalem a learning center where the Hebrew genius will be fully expressed, which will fulfill its role as a bridge between the world of the East and the West."

Einstein added to these words: "I don't know of a public event that made me as happy as the proposal to establish a Hebrew university in Jerusalem. In light of the Jewish tradition of learning and broadening the mind, which has been preserved for generations and under difficult conditions, it is painful and unfortunate to see how nowadays talented sons of the Jewish people knock in vain on the gates of universities in Central and Eastern Europe", and on another occasion he referred to the establishment of the Hebrew University as "... the greatest thing that has happened in the Land of Israel since Destruction of the Temple."

To appreciate how important the journey was to him, it is worth noting that Einstein had to give up an invitation to participate in the Solvay Conference in order to join this journey. The Solvay conferences were the most prestigious stage on which the new developments and revolutionary ideas of physics were presented and discussed in those days. The conference, which took place in April 1921, was the first after the First World War, and Einstein was the only German physicist who was invited to it. For this reason, Einstein rejected an invitation to a lecture tour at six American universities with generous material conditions.

But, when Kurt Blumenfeld (1963-1884), one of the leaders of the Zionist movement in Germany, offered him on Weizmann's behalf to join the Zionist delegation to the USA, he immediately agreed. In a letter to his friend, the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz (1928-1853), who was the living spirit of the Solvay Conferences, Einstein thanked for the invitation and apologized for not being able to accept it because his Zionist friends are planning to establish a university in Jerusalem and they believe that his presence will influence Jews in the USA to contribute generously to this cause , "... and as strange as it may seem, they are probably right."

Einstein felt it was his duty to help: "This initiative is close to my heart, and as a Jew I feel obligated to contribute as much as I can to its success." Lorenz expressed understanding for this step of Einstein's and wished him success. His friend the renowned physicist Paul Ehrenfest (1933-1880) also encouraged Einstein to travel to the "Land of the Dollar" to promote the establishment of a university in Jerusalem. Einstein's friend and fellow German (the converted Jew), the well-known scientist Fritz Haber (1934-1868), showed less understanding. He criticized Einstein's decision to forgo participation in the Solvay conference using patriotic reasons of commitment to German science and loyalty to his German colleagues. In addition, Haber claimed that this step by Einstein could arouse anti-Semitic feelings against German Jews. Einstein did not hesitate and rejected any claim of disloyalty to his German colleagues.

"In America I discovered the Jewish people"

Einstein's frequent travels as a guest of universities and research institutions brought him to different places in the world. Everywhere he talked about the vision of establishing the Hebrew University

The trip to the USA was of great importance in shaping Einstein's connections with the Jewish world in general and with the Hebrew University in particular. Everywhere he was received as a hero. Thousands of American Jews received him with loud applause, with US flags and the blue and white flags of the Zionist movement and accompanied him in a convoy of cars from the port to the city hall. It was like that everywhere he visited.

On May 25, the New York Times newspaper reported on his visit that "he was received by a sort of riot of fans, a military band and a procession of 200 cars. He was saved from a possible serious injury only due to the great efforts of a battalion of veteran Jewish fighters, who forcibly prevented the mad attempts of the crowd to see him."

Years later, Einstein wrote: "It was in America that I first discovered the Jewish people. I saw countless Jews, but I did not meet the Jewish people either in Berlin or anywhere else in Germany. The Jewish people I met in the US mostly came from Russia, Poland and Eastern Europe. I found in these people an outstanding readiness for self-sacrifice along with creative entrepreneurship."

"For example, they managed in a short period of time to secure the future of the Hebrew University program in Jerusalem, at least as far as the faculty of medicine is concerned." In the last comment, Einstein means a gala dinner of the "Organization of Jewish Doctors in the USA", which was held in his presence at the "Waldorf Astoria" hotel, and where large donations were collected for the establishment of the medical school in Jerusalem.

"The mission of our university"

Einstein's frequent travels in the years 1925-1921 as a guest of universities and research institutions brought him to different places in the world. Everywhere he talked about the vision of establishing the Hebrew University. Weizmann urged him to mobilize aid for the enterprise of establishing the university in distant places such as Singapore. In 1922, when he stopped briefly in Singapore on his way to Japan, he raised funds for the university. Addressing the Jewish community there, he said: "It may be asked why we need a Jewish university? Science is international, but its success is based on national institutions. So far, as individuals, we have contributed as much as possible to human civilization. It would only be fair to ourselves if now, as a people, we contribute to the general culture through our own institutions."

In that speech he claimed, as he did on many other occasions, that a Jewish university is a vital need at a time when many European universities limit the acceptance of Jewish students or block their access to various fields of study. After the visit to Singapore, Einstein came to lectures at Japanese universities. Already on the first day of the visit, he told the journalists that after Japan he intends to visit Palestine, the land of his ancestors, where a Hebrew university will be established in the near future.

On the opening day of the university, on April 1, 1925, Einstein published a pamphlet under the title "The mission of our university". This pamphlet was published in the Jewish press in various countries and aroused excitement in the Jewish world and interest in the academic world. In this manifesto, Einstein wrote: "A university is a place where the universality of the human spirit is expressed", and expressed the wish that "...our university will soon develop into a great spiritual center that will awaken the appreciation of human culture throughout the world".

As a person committed to universal values, he almost apologized for the national nature of the university: "Jewish nationalism is today a reality necessity because only by consolidating our national life can we burn the conflicts from which the Jews are suffering at this time."

Einstein and the Hebrew University after 1925

In the first years of the university, Einstein was a member of the board of trustees and chairman of its academic council. Soon sharp differences of opinion developed between him and the governor of the university, Yehuda Magnes (1948-1877). This was not only a dispute between two people of strong character and different backgrounds, but also a conflict between the European and American views on the nature and way of managing a university institution.
Our university will soon develop into a great spiritual center that will awaken the appreciation of human culture throughout the world"

Einstein could not put up with Magnes's centralized control over all the affairs of the university, both in the academic affairs and with the influence of wealthy people in the USA on everything that is done there. During this period he often expressed personal disappointment and harsh criticism of what was happening at the university and of its leader.

These disagreements led to Einstein's resignation from all positions at the university in 1928. A committee appointed by the Board of Trustees to discuss Einstein's claims eventually accepted his opinion, and in 1933 recommended far-reaching changes in the management methods of the Hebrew University.


At that time, Einstein was already putting down roots in Princeton after being forced to leave Germany following the rise of the Nazis to power. But his commitment to the Hebrew University remained as firm as it had been in the past, and he resumed his official activity in its affairs in 1935. Officials and representatives of the university continued to consult him in writing on various issues, especially regarding academic appointments. This correspondence indicates a careful and punctual attention that could only have been the fruit of much thought and deep concern. He expressed his opinion on the importance of the university on various occasions in writing and orally. In the midst of the World War, in April 1941, he wrote: "Our construction plant in Palestine.... He created institutions of utmost importance not only for our work there but also for the entire Jewish people. In this context, the Hebrew University is at the forefront."

Einstein contributed to the expansion of the university in the years after the World War and helped to collect funds to finance its operations, when he served as the chairman of the National Council of the University's supporters in 1947 and as its honorary president in 1951. Professors of the Hebrew University who went on fundraising trips for her carried personal letters of recommendation from him.

Immediately after the establishment of the State of Israel, in November 1948, he expressed his opinion that "Political independence is not possible, in the long term, without intellectual independence... A Jewish community that does not place learning as one of its fundamental goals is not acceptable in my opinion. Therefore, supporting the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and maintaining its high level is of crucial importance." The Hebrew University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1949.

About the archive of Einstein's writings at the Hebrew University in the next article

The writer is a professor of physics, was rector and president of the Hebrew University, today is responsible for the university's part in exhibitions about Einstein around the world.

for further reading

• Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions, editor: Issachar Ona, Magnes Publishing House, 2005
• Walter Isaacson, His Life and Universe, Simon&Schuster, 2007 (currently in Hebrew translation, expected to appear in the spring of 2009 by the Attic Books, Yedioth Ahronoth Publishing)
• David Boudanis, E=MC^2: The Story of the Greatest Discovery in History, from English: Yaniv Parkash, Keter, 2002.
• Jeremy Bernstein, Albert Einstein and the Frontiers of Physics, from English: Amos Carmel, Mishkal, 2000.
• Walter S. Mee, Albert Einstein: His Life and Teachings, from English: Oded Ziv, Yavne, 2002.
• Nigel Colder, The Universe According to Einstein, from English: Adam Dvir, Masada, 1983.