The Hebrew University

The Hebrew University is Israel’s oldest and most prominent university. Spread over six campuses, the Hebrew University offers more than 5,000 courses to more than 20,000 students. Its faculty and graduates won 8 Nobel Prizes, 14 Wolf Prizes, a Turing Award, and the Fields Medal in Mathematics.

Schocken’s relationship with the Hebrew University began in 1925, when he was invited to attend its inauguration ceremony, held in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem. In 1934, Chaim Weizmann, then president of the Zionist organization, and Albert Einstein asked Schocken to take over the university’s administration. With centers of Jewish science and culture being destroyed one by one in Europe, Schocken felt that destiny had called him to build the “greatest Jewish scientific institution in existence.”

In his position as acting CEO, Schocken raised money, oversaw a rapid growth in the university departments, and launched an extensive physical expansion program. He retained his protégé brilliant architect – Erich Mendelsohn – to design some of the university’s key buildings, like the Hadassah Medical Center on Mount Scopus. The university also benefited from Schocken’s philanthropy. Among other gifts, he gave the institution one of his most prized possessions: a 46-page handwritten treatise by Albert Einstein, describing his general theory of relativity.

Many members of the Schocken family are graduates of the Hebrew University.