Biu Aerial photograph of Bar-Ilan University (21004322376)

Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has about 20,000 students and 1,350

faculty Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument) A faculty is a legal in ...

members. Bar-Ilan's mission is to "blend Jewish tradition with modern technologies and scholarship and the university endeavors to ... teach the Jewish heritage to all its students while providing nacademic education."

History

First Graduation at Bar Ilan University - Ogden Reid 1959

Bar-Ilan University has Jewish-American roots: It was conceived in Atlanta in a meeting of the American Mizrahi organization in 1950, and was founded by Professor

Pinkhos Churgin Pinkhos Churgin (Hebrew: ; 1894–1957) was an Israeli scholar who was the first President of Bar-Ilan University. Biography Churgin was born in Pohost, Belorussia, a shtetl near Pinsk. In 1907 he and his parents immigrated to Palestine, and se ...

, an American

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

and educator, who was president from 1955 to 1957 where he was succeeded by

Joseph H. Lookstein Joseph Hyman Lookstein (Hebrew: ; December 25, 1902 – July 13, 1979) was a Russian-born American rabbi who served as spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and was a leader in Orthodox Judaism, ...

who was president from 1957 to 1967. When it was opened in 1955, it was described by ''The New York Times'' "as Cultural Link Between the sraeliRepublic and America". Presidents who followed were

Max Jammer Max Jammer (מקס ימר; born Moshe Jammer, ; April 13, 1915 – December 18, 2010), was an Israeli physicist and philosopher of physics. He was born in Berlin, Germany. He was Rector and Acting President at Bar-Ilan University from 1967 to 1 ...

(1967–77),

Emanuel Rackman Rabbi (Menachem) Emanuel Rackman ( he, מנחם עמנואל רקמן ''Menachem 'immanuel Raqman''; June 24, 1910 in Albany – December 1, 2008) was an American Modern Orthodox Rabbi, president of the RCA, vice-president of Yeshiva University. P ...

(1977–86),

Michael Albeck Michael Albeck (Hebrew: מיכאל אלבק) (born October 1934) is an Israeli organic and bioorganic chemist of tellurium compounds. He was President of Bar-Ilan University from 1986 to 1989. Biography Michael Albeck was born in Berlin, Germ ...

(1986–89), Ernest Krausz (1989), Zvi Arad (1989–92), and Shlomo Eckstein (1992–96). The university was named for Rabbi

Meir Bar-Ilan Meir Bar-Ilan (; – ) was an Orthodox rabbi, author, and Religious Zionist activist, who served as leader of the Mizrachi movement in the United States and Mandatory Palestine. Bar-Ilan University, founded in 1955, was named in his honour. ...

(originally ''Meir Berlin''), a

Religious Zionist Religious Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת דָּתִית, translit. ''Tziyonut Datit'') is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as ''Dati Leumi'' ( "National Religious"), and in Israel, the ...

leader who served as the inspiration for its establishment. Although he was trained in Orthodox seminaries in Berlin, he believed there was a need for an institution providing a dual curriculum of secular academic studies and religious Torah studies. BIU's student population is diverse and includes both Jewish and non-Jewish students. At least ten courses in

Jewish studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (esp ...

are required for graduation. These are available as academic

courses, as well as through more traditional Torah study, offered primarily by the ''Machon HaGavoah LeTorah'', established in the 1970s. The "Machon" operates a kollel / bet midrash for men, and a midrasha for women. The kollel offers traditional yeshiva studies with an emphasis on Talmud and Halakha (Jewish law), while the midrasha offers courses in Tanakh, practical Halakha, and ''Machshavah'' (Jewish philosophy). The midrasha is the largest in Israel. These programs are open to all students free of charge. Yitzhak Rabin's convicted assassin, Yigal Amir, was a student of law and computer science at Bar-Ilan, prompting charges that the university had become a hotbed of political extremism. One of the steps taken by the university following the 1995 assassination was to encourage dialogue between left-wing and

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

students. Under university president

Moshe Kaveh Moshe Kaveh (משה קוה; born 1943) is an Israeli physicist and former President of Bar-Ilan University. Biography Kaveh was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union where his parents sought safety after fleeing from Poland. All of his fathe ...

(1996–2013), Bar-Ilan underwent a major expansion, with new buildings added on the northern side of the

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

. New science programs have been introduced, including a multidisciplinary brain research center and a center for

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

. The university has placed archaeology as one of its priorities, and this includes excavations such as the Tell es-Safi/Gath archaeological excavations and the recently opened Bar-Ilan University/ Weizmann Institute of Science joint program in Archaeological Sciences. Bar-Ilan's Faculty of Law made headlines in 2008 by achieving the highest average Israeli bar exam grade of 81.9 by its graduates.

Daniel Hershkowitz Daniel Hershkowitz ( he, דניאל הרשקוביץ; born 2 January 1953 in Haifa, Israel) is an Israeli politician, mathematician, and Orthodox rabbi. Since 2018, he has headed the . He is professor emeritus of mathematics at the Technion, an ...

was university president from 2013 to 2017.

Arie Zaban Arie Zaban (Hebrew: ; born in 1961) is an Israeli professor of chemistry. He is President of Bar-Ilan University. Biography Arie Zaban was born in Israel. He served in the Israel Air Force as a Phantom pilot. He earned a B.Sc. in Chemistry and a ...

became the president of the university in 2017.

Academics

Bar-Ilan University has nine faculties:

Exact Sciences The exact sciences, sometimes called the exact mathematical sciences, are those sciences "which admit of absolute precision in their results"; especially the mathematical sciences. Examples of the exact sciences are mathematics, optics, astron ...

Life Sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...

, Social Sciences, Education, Humanities,

Jewish Studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (esp ...

, Medicine, Engineering, and Law. There is also a special Unit of Interdisciplinary Studies. At the undergraduate level, as mentioned, ten courses in Jewish studies related subjects are required from all students. Bar-Ilan offers several special programs, including its international B.A. program, taught entirely in English, and is the first university in Israel to offer a full undergraduate program taught entirely in English. Currently students can choose between a B.A. degree in interdisciplinary social sciences, where students can choose between a macro track in economics, political sciences, and sociology, or the Micro Track in Criminology, Psychology, and Sociology, or a major in communications, with a minor in either

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

or political science. The degrees are internationally recognized and are open to students from all over the world. In addition, Bar-Ilan offers a preparatory program that readies new immigrants for Israeli colleges. The university also runs a one-year overseas program called ''Tochnit Torah Im Derech Eretz'', which combines traditional kollel Torah studies in the morning, separate for men and women, as well as co-ed general university studies and Jewish history classes in the afternoon. Many American students enrolled in regular programs of study in the university also take these Jewish history classes to fulfill their

requirements. Bar-Ilan also houses several research institutions such as the above-mentioned

Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center (Hebrew: המרכז הרב תחומי לחקר המוח ע″ש לסלי וסוזן גונדה) is a multidisciplinary neuroscience institution, housed at Bar-Ilan University. The ...

, focused on neuroscience, which may have their own requirements.

Awards and recognition

The

Bar Ilan Responsa Project The Bar Ilan Responsa Project (the ''Global Jewish Database'') is a collection of Jewish texts in Hebrew, sold on CD and more recently on USB flash-drive by Bar-Ilan University (in Ramat Gan, Israel). Background The database consists of one of ...

was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

in 2007. The university's Bible project, in danger of being eliminated by continued budget cuts, was saved at the last minute by an anonymous donor. In its capacity as a

business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...

, Bar-Ilan was placed as the fourth best business school in Africa and the Middle East in the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report.

Notable alumni

* Zvi Arad (1942–2018) – mathematician, acting president of Bar-Ilan University, president of

Netanya Academic College Netanya Academic College ( he, האקדמית נתניה, ''HaAkademit Netanya'') is a private college based in Netanya, Israel. Established in 1994 by a team from Bar-Ilan University, it has an enrolment of around 4,000 undergraduate students. It ...

* Ami Ayalon – former head of the Shin Bet and member of the Knesset for the Labor Party. * Michael Ben-Ari – Israeli politician and formerly a member of the Knesset for the

National Union Party National Union may refer to: Political organisations *National Union (Chad), a political party *National Union (Chile), an alliance during the Government Junta of Chile (1924) *National Union Movement, a pro-Pinochet political party from 1983 to 1 ...

. *

Kotel Da-Don Kotel Dadon ( he, כותל דדון; born December 12, 1967) is Croatian rabbi of the Bet Israel community in Zagreb. Da-Don, who was born and educated in Israel, settled in Zagreb in 1998. He was the chief rabbi of Croatia from 1998 to 2006. Ea ...

– Croatian

rabbi of the Bet Israel community in Zagreb. * Avi Dichter – former minister of home front defence. Former Shin Bet director. *

Yuval Diskin Yuval Diskin ( he, יובל דיסקין; born June 11, 1956) was the 12th Director of the Israeli Internal Security Service Shabak (frequently referred to in English as the "Shin Bet") from 2005 to 2011. He was appointed by Prime Minister Ariel ...

– 12th director of the Israeli Internal Security Service Shin Bet. *

Esther Farbstein Esther Farbstein ( he, אסתר פרבשטיין, born 1946) is an Israeli historian, researcher, author, and lecturer. Considered the leading Haredi Judaism, Haredi scholar of the The Holocaust, Holocaust, she focuses on the spiritual responses ...

– Holocaust scholar * Baruch Fischer - Professor Emeritus in the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technion * Tzipi Hotovely – Israeli diplomat and former politician who serves as the current

ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom The Ambassador from Israel to the United Kingdom is Israel's foremost Diplomat, diplomatic representative in the United Kingdom. The Ambassador is based in the Embassy of Israel, London. Ambassadors *1949–1950: Mordechai Ali'ash *1950–1959: ...

. Formerly deputy minister of foreign affairs, minister of diaspora affairs, minister of settlement affairs, and as a member of the Knesset for the Likud Party * Gila Gamliel – Israeli politician for the Likud Party. Formerly minister for social equality, and minister of environmental protection *

Anat Guetta Anat Guetta (Hebrew: ענת גואטה; born 1967) is an Israeli economist and public official. Since 2018, she has served as chair of the Israel Securities Authority (ISA). Education In 1993, Guetta received a bachelor's degree in political s ...

– chair of the

Israel Securities Authority The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) is the national securities regulator of Israel. Established by law in 1968, the Israel Securities Authority sees its mandate as a way to ensure an efficient capital market based on transparency and fairness. ...

(ISA) since 2018 * Michael Harris – named the best Israeli in the field of academics, as one of "The 10 Most Successful Israelis in 10 Different Fields in the World" by '' Maariv'' in April 2012. *

Joseph Klafter use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...

– chemical physics professor, the eighth president of Tel Aviv University *

Joshua Kulp Joshua Kulp (born July 16, 1970) is an American-Israeli Talmudic scholar. Early life and education Kulp was born on July 16, 1970, in the United States and grew up in Margate, New Jersey. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University ...

– Talmudic scholar * Norman Lebrecht (born 1948) – British commentator on music and cultural affairs, and novelist * Tzipi Livni – Israeli lawyer and politician, head of the Opposition from 2009 to 2012. Formerly minister of justice, and in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians * Gadeer Mreeh (born 1984) – first woman of

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

descent to become a member of the Knesset * Orit Peleg – professor of biophysics at the University of Colorado *

Avi Weinroth Avraham Weinroth (born 1963) is the owner and founder of Avi Weinroth & Co. Law firm which specializes in litigation, real estate and commercial law. Weinroth was a senior partner for 25 years in the office of Jacob Weinroth (his brother) and ...

– lawyer represents corporations in Israel and governmental companies.

Notable faculty

Doron Aurbach Doron Aurbach ( he, דורון אורבך; born 3 September 1952) is an Israeli electrochemist, materials and surface scientist. Biography Doron Aurbach was born in 1952 in Israel to parents who survived the Holocaust and fought the 1948 Arab� ...

Nathan Aviezer 250px, Nathan Aviezer, November 2014 Nathan Aviezer is an American-Israeli physicist who writes on Torah and science, especially on evolution and cosmology from an Orthodox Jewish perspective. He is a Professor of Physics and former Chairman of th ...

* Moshe Bar *

Avi Bell Abraham (Avi) Bell is an Israeli Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law and at Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law. Bell received his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Chicago, and his S.J.D. from Harvard. He interned ...

* Cyril Domb * Shlomo Eckstein * Adam Ferziger * Jonathan Fox * Hillel Furstenberg *

Ruth Halperin-Kaddari Ruth Halperin-Kaddari (born 15 May 1966; he, רות הלפרין-קדרי) is an Israeli legal scholar and international women's rights advocate who is known for her work on family law, feminist legal theory, women's rights in international law, ...

* Oren Harman *

Shlomo Havlin Shlomo Havlin (born July 21, 1942) is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. He served as President of the Israel Physical Society (1996–1999), Dean of Faculty of Exact Sciences (1999–2001), Chairma ...

Arye L. Hillman Arye L. (Laib or Leo) Hillman is an Israeli economist whose career has been at Bar Ilan University in Israel where he has been William Gittes Chair and Professor of Economics. His main research focus is on political economy, or the study of publ ...

* Efraim Karsh *

Mordechai Kedar Mordechai Kedar ( he, מרדכי קידר; born November 25, 1952) is an Israeli scholar of Arab culture and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, and the vice president of NEWSRAEL. Biography Mordechai Kedar was born in Tel Aviv. L'Chayim (2015): '' ...

Sarit Kraus Sarit Kraus ( he, שרית קראוס; born 1960) is a professor of computer science at the Bar-Ilan University in Israel. She was named the 2020-2021 ACM Athena Lecturer recognising her contributions to artificial intelligence, notably to multi ...

* Ernest Krausz *

Baruch Kurzweil Baruch Kurzweil (1907–1972) (Hebrew: ברוך קורצווייל) was a pioneer of Israeli literary criticism. Biography Kurzweil was born in Brtnice, Moravia (now Czechoslovakia) in 1907, to an Orthodox Jewish family. He studied at Solomon ...

* Aren Maeir *

Arie Reich Arie Reich ( he, אריה רייך; born September 23, 1959) is an Israeli legal scholar specializing in international trade law and European Union Law. He is a full professor at the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law, and serves as the Vice Rector ...

Tamar Ross Tamar Ross (Hebrew: תמר רוס) is a professor of Jewish philosophy at Bar-Ilan University and a specialist of religious feminist philosophy. Work Ross makes a vital contribution to philosophical questions around gender in Judaism by arguin ...

Mary Schaps Mary Elizabeth Schaps (; born August 6, 1948), also known as Malka Elisheva Schaps, is an Israeli-American mathematician. She is Professor of Mathematics and Dean of the Faculty of Exact Sciences at Bar Ilan University. She received her Ph.D. fro ...

* Daniel Sperber *

Avraham Trahtman Avraham Naumovich Trahtman (Trakhtman) (russian: Абрам Наумович Трахтман; b. 1944, USSR) is a mathematician at Bar-Ilan University (Israel). In 2007, Trahtman solved a problem in combinatorics that had been open for 37 years, ...

Eli Vakil Eli Vakil () (born March 4, 1953) is an Israeli clinical neuropsychologist. Vakil is a professor emeritus and former departmental chairman of the Department of Psychology, and the head of the Memory and Amnesia Lab at the Gonda (Goldschmied) M ...

* Zeev Zalevsky

Gallery

File:Bar-Ilan University. Engineering (11908490355).jpg, Faculty of engineering File:(המרכז לחקר המוח ע"ש לסלי וסוזאן גונדה (גולדשמיד (11795483624).jpg, Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center File:בית הרב יעקובוביץ - מרכז סמי שמעון ללימודי פילוסופיה אתיקה ומחשבת ישראל (11908099463).jpg, Centre for the study of philosophy, ethics and

Jewish thought Jewish thought ( he, מחשבת ישראל, ''Machshevet Yisrael'', or ''machshavah''), also known as Judaic thought or Hebraic thought, is a field of Jewish studies that deals with the products of Jewish thought and culture throughout the ages, an ...

File:בנין פסיכולוגיה ע'ש אנה ומקס ווב ומשפחתם (11795059335) - fixed.jpg, Anna & Max Webb and Family Psychology Building at the Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel File:המרכז למבקרים ומצפה לב הקמפוס ע"ש ונגרובסקי (11562183273).jpg, Wengerovsky Center at Bar-Ilan University File:הטריפלקס לננוטכנולוגיה ע"ש לסלי וסוזן גונדה גולדשמיד (11513855913).jpg, Nanotechnology building File:הפקולטה_לרפואה_(15472290024).jpg, Bar-Ilan Faculty of Medicine File:מרכז המחשבים והמתמטיקה ע"ש עוזיאל שפיגל יד עוזיאל (11530019123).jpg, Bar-Ilan Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science File:Bar-Ilan University. Machon (17287812905).jpg, ''Machon HaGevoah LaTorah''

References

External links

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BIU History

Bar-Ilan University – Study Programs for Olim/Foreign Students

Bar Ilan details in WHED (World Higher Education Database) Website (IAU-001455)Bar-Ilan responsa website

Bar-Ilan Faculty of Medicine

Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (BINA)

Bar-Ilan Faculty of Law
*
Bar-Ilan Students Union
*
Amigos Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Bar Ilan
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1955 Orthodox Jewish universities and colleges Buildings and structures in Ramat Gan Religious Zionism Research institutes in Israel Universities in Israel Education in Tel Aviv District 1955 establishments in Israel Law schools in Israel