President of Tel Aviv University Itamar Rabinovitch "We do not use the word genius or genius freely, but regarding Jubilee it is allowed" * Words from the funeral ceremony for Jubilee Neman, Tel Aviv University, 27/4/2006
Avi Blizovsky
The words of Tel Aviv University President Prof. Itamar Rabinovitch
"It is no coincidence that the funeral ceremony takes place from here (St. Tel Aviv University area, AB). The university was for many years Yuval's home and it is no coincidence that he is leaving the university that was his home and he played a decisive part in its construction. I would like to start with a sentence that I heard in a documentary program about the fascinating episode of the Enigma - the cracking of the German code in World War II (Wiebel was also a senior intelligence officer) I interviewed a senior scientist from Cambridge who worked at the place where the Enigma was developed, and he talked about Alan Turing, the genius mathematician, my father the computer. He said: In Bletchley Park there were a lot of smart, talented people. There were a lot of discussions. Every now and then someone would utter a very clever sentence and I would say to myself oh, why didn't I say that clever thing, but when Alan Turing would say that clever sentence, I wouldn't say that clever sentence to myself because I knew that only Alan Turing could say that sentence because Alan was a true genius.' We don't use the terms genius or genius freely, but regarding Yuval it is allowed. Yuval was a genius in science first of all. In our opinion, his scientific contribution did not receive the full recognition it deserved, but it was considerable. All over the world it was possible to meet physicists who knew who Yuval Naman was, what his contribution to physics was, what his contribution to science was. He was a Renaissance man in the full sense of the word. First of all a scientist, a man with enormous and surprising areas of interest. Very deep knowledge in all those areas, with the ability to put together essays. As much as you could hear Yuval talking about physics, you could hear him talking about Abala and its antiquities in northern Syria and you knew that the words were reliable, qualified, always fascinating, always original. He was a man of action. We know the phenomenon of very talented people, who are disconnected from the real world. Yuval was not like that. Throughout his career - from the defense, through the intelligence, the planning department, politics, the university itself, demonstrated how well he knew how to harness his talents also in the field of very, very practical work.
All this was important for a university that started its journey exactly fifty years ago. This year, next month will be the fiftieth anniversary of Tel Aviv University, of which Yuval was the second president, and left a deep mark on it. He founded first of all the department and then the school of physics and together with partners the faculty of exact sciences and the entire university and developed it in the spirit of his talents, his flight, he left his mark and set the standards. The university was lucky, but Yuval was also the president of the university. He laid extensive infrastructure. He established very good relationships with donors. We all know that the Sackler family is the university's largest donor family. The connection with the Sackler family began during Yuval's time. The Sackler family called the university because Yuval was its president. A person calls the university, he is looking for the value, the depth, the scientific impetus. Yuval represented everything that heavyweight long-term donors were looking for and so the university's donor infrastructure was largely guided by Yuval.
Yuval was a source of inspiration. The university has about 1,100 professors. In a certain respect, everyone is equal, but the university is meritocratic. The positioning of the Kitah University was determined by those few pioneers, who tower above us all and Yuval outlined his record. In this respect, he was a buffer that pulled us forward, marked us with a line of elevation at a high altitude, and even when he retired from the presidency and then formally retired from the university, he continued to have a profound effect on us.
Yuval was a renaissance man but he was also a man of courage and vision. He saw far. He saw an original. Things that seemed imaginary to many people, perhaps to the consensus at a certain point, did not seem so to Yuval. I would like to mention a few areas: immigration from the Soviet Union. He led the fight for the opening of the gates to the Jews of the Soviet Union and especially for scientists from the Soviet Union when the Soviet Union seemed to be at the height of its power. It seemed like a distant dream. He believed it and acted. We know the full extent of the story. We know that Tel Aviv University itself benefited from the scientists who came thanks to Yuval.
Space - what would seem more detached from reality than a dream of Israel in space, a satellite. Those who heard the news two days ago about the Israeli intelligence satellite know how far Yuval saw quite far. There are dreams or visions Yuval had that did not come true. the canal of the seas Last Thursday we met for our last meeting. We also talked about day-to-day things, but also about other things, and Yuval pointed out with disappointment that the vision of the canal of the seas that he was so identified with has not yet been realized and we regretfully determined that there are things that still have to wait for.
I can end my obituary with the words that we will not pay.
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