SCOPUS 2016

THE MAGAZINE OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
Friends Associations of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Ask the Expert,
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Celebrating
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Academia
VOLUME 63 2016/2017

President
Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson
Rector
Prof. Asher Cohen
Chairman of the Board of Governors
Michael Federmann
Honorary Chairs of the Board of Governors
Charles H. Goodman, Ralph Halbert, Harvey M. Krueger, Barbara Mandel
Vice-President for Advancement & External Relations
Ambassador Yossi Gal
Vice-President for Research & Development
Prof. Isaiah T. Arkin
Vice-President & Director-General
Billy Shapira
Vice-Rectors
Prof. Orna Kupferman, Prof. Oron Shagrir
Comptroller
Zvi Aizenstein
Director, Division for Advancement & External Relations
Ram Semo
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel’s first university, is a multidisciplinary
institution of higher learning and research where intellectual pioneering, cutting-edge
discovery and a passion for learning flourish. It is a center of international repute, with
ties extending to and from the worldwide scientific and academic community and
where teaching and research interact to create innovative approaches that ensure the
broadest of educations for its students.
Ranked among the world’s leading universities, at the Hebrew University Israelis
of all backgrounds receive a university education where excellence is emphasized;
where advanced, postgraduate study and research are encouraged; and where special
programs and conferences attract students and academics from around the world.
At its core, the Hebrew University’s mission is to develop cutting-edge research,
to educate future leaders in all walks of life, and to nurture future generations of
outstanding scientists and scholars in all fields of learning.
LOCATION On six campuses: three in Jerusalem (Mount Scopus, Edmond J. Safra
and Ein Kerem) and in Rehovot, Beit Dagan and Eilat
ENROLLMENT 23,500 students and 200,000 degrees conferred to date
FACULTY 973
RESEARCH 3,600 projects in progress in University departments and some 100
subject-related and interdisciplinary research centers
Save the Date
Highlight of Friends of the Hebrew University 2016/2017
June 23
July 4
September 10
September 15
Edmonton Canadian Friends' Gala honoring Dr. James
Shapiro in support of IMRIC
London British Friends' Annual Tea for 40th anniversary
of Operation Entebbe
Los Angeles American Friends' Bel Air Affaire Students
Scholarship Gala & Humanitarian Torch of Learning
Award Tribute honoring Corie and Michael Koss
New York American Friends' 90th Anniversary Scopus
Award Gala, honoring Marion and Stanley Bergman,
Henry Schein, Inc., and Nancy and Kenneth Stein
September 16-18 Toronto Canadian Friends' Annual General Meeting
September 20
September 25
November 9
November 14
December 12
December 12
2017
January
January 14
May
Geneva Swiss Friends' Scopus Award Dinner honoring
Lord Norman Foster
Washington American Friends' Sponsorship Forum &
Dinner at the U.S. Supreme Court, hosted by Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg
Jerusalem British Friends' 64th Annual Lionel Cohen
lecture with Lord Dyson
Brussels Belgian Friends' Scopus Award Gala Dinner
honoring FranÇois Englert
London UK Brain Circle Inaugural Gala Dinner
New York American Friends' Innovation Conference
Punta del Este Argentinian and Uruguayan Friends'
Summer Symposium
American Friends' Palm Beach Scopus Award Gala
Montreal Canadian Friends' Albert Einstein Awards Gala
in celebration of Montreal's 375th anniversary
Contact your local Friends of the Hebrew University for full listings

The Hebrew University has been fortunate to count women among our ranks
since we first opened our doors in 1925. We are exceedingly proud of the
numerous accomplishments realized by our female faculty, students, and
administrators over the past nine decades. Yet we are not blind to the obstacles
women still face in 2016, particularly for those women attempting to reach the top
echelons of academia.
In our cover story we explore the present – what the University looks like today–
and how we are challenging the current trend in academic institutions across the
industrialized world in which women are found in less than half of the professional
academic positions. With the sincere belief that this phenomenon does not fit the
legacy or the vision of our institution, we are dedicated to investing energy and
resources to advance women at all levels of academia – both for the sake of women
in society and for the sake of maintaining the excellence of our university. As an
institution, we acknowledge our responsibility toward the broader population,
beyond those in our classrooms and labs, and we embrace this responsibility as
we move forward with purpose and vision.
In this edition of Scopus you will have the privilege to meet a few of the remarkable
women of the Hebrew University. They comprise some of the most accomplished
academics in Israel, if not the world; they are our prominent alumni who have
already achieved a high measure of success, and they are our students, who are
brimming with incredible potential. Together these women have pioneered scientific
breakthroughs, enlightened us with astounding discoveries in the social sciences
and the humanities, and been named CEOs at leading Israeli companies.
We will also take you on a tour of our Jerusalem campuses, exploring the artistry
and thoughtfulness of our physical spaces. Finally, we bring your attention to the
new sections in this edition of Scopus including, ‘Bookshelf’, ‘Ask the Expert’,
and ‘Yesterday’s News’.
We are enlightened by the women of today featured in Scopus, and we hope
that through our efforts we can inspire and ensure the success of the coming
generation.
Michael Federmann
Chairman, Board of Governors
Menahem Ben-Sasson
President
2016-2017 1

Contents
4
10
12
18
20
22
26
30
36
38
40
Feature
Cracking the Glass in the Ceiling of the Ivory Tower:
How the women of today are pushing for a brighter tomorrow
What's on Our Minds
Words of Wisdom: Quotes from our faculty
Leading by Example
Profiles of our faculty who are inspiring a generation of academics
Community Scoop
Women at the helm of programs that are improving our lives
A Glimpse of the Future
Student Profiles: Hebrew University's best and brightest offer a peek
at what's to come
Campus Tour
Our Hidden Treasures: Rediscover the beauty of Hebrew University
World of Friends
Photo gallery of our friends and supporters
HUJI Connect
Where Are They Now: Hebrew University alumni who went from
the classroom to the top of their professions
Yesterday's News
A trip down memory lane with Hebrew University
Bookshelf
What we are reading now
Ask the Expert
The academic perspective on international joke telling
2016-2017
2

Editors: Leah Geffen & Shoshana Israel
Assistant Editors: Michal Novetsky & Aviv Harkov
Design & Production: Studio Rami & Jaki
Photography: Nati Shohat Flash90
Printed in Israel ISSN 0334-7591
Published by the Division for Advancement
& External Relations
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mount Scopus, 91905 Jerusalem, Israel
www.support.huji.ac.il
www.facebook.com/HebrewU
Subscribe to our channel:
Hebrew University English Media
2016-2017 3

SPECIAL TOPIC
FEATURE
Cracking the Glass
in the Ceiling of
the Ivory Tower:
How the
Women of
Today are
Pushing for
a Brighter
Tomorrow
When Dr. Sarah Hestrin-Lerner, a brilliant pathologist
at the Hebrew University, won the prestigious Israel
Prize in 1955, she triumphed over all the country’s
male scientists—including her own brother, Hebrew University
biochemist Dr. Shlomo Hestrin, who had to wait patiently for two
more years before winning the nation’s top prize himself.
2016-2017
4

Beyond the personal feat and ultimate
sibling bragging rights, the award
signaled that women could compete—
and win—at the highest levels of academia in
the then nascent State of Israel. This message
matched the trailblazing spirit of the young
country, and particularly that of its premier
educational hub, The Hebrew University.
From the pioneer days of the kibbutz
movement to present-day leading roles for
women in the Israel Defense Forces, Israel’s
most respected and historical institutions have
consistently broken new ground in advancing
the role of women.
As Israel’s leading academic and research
institution, the Hebrew University is
a formidable force in ensuring that
outstanding female candidates can lay claim
to top positions and be on equal footing with
their male colleagues. Yet these gains were
hard-fought, often requiring bursts of creativity
and a readiness to rethink the status quo.
More than anything else, of course, women’s
progress demanded a female champion at every
turn.
The Name Game
From her bright office overlooking The
Edmond J. Safra Campus herbaceous
border, Professor Orna Kupferman reflects
on her tenure as Advisor to the President on
Gender Affairs, before becoming Vice-Rector
in 2013.
A faculty member in the Rachel and Selim
Benin School of Computer Science and
Engineering, she describes her initial surprise
when presented with the research of gender
bias in academia.
“I knew that
women faced an
uphill battle, but I
assumed it would
be more about
balancing research
with motherhood
“Put a woman’s name on and much less about
top of a scientific paper, or gender bias.”
on a CV, or place her name on
a grant application – and she is
significantly more likely to be rejected
or ignored than a man with the exact same
qualifications,” Prof. Kupferman explains.
The prestigious journal, Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America (PNAS), published
an influential study that showed academic
hiring committees were more likely to deny
tenure to an applicant with a female name
than a male one, even if their credentials were
completely identical. And even when they
did choose to hire a woman, they tended to
recommend paying her roughly $4,000 less
per year.
One of the study’s more interesting findings,
however, was that it hardly made a difference if
men or women were making the decision: both
sexes discriminated against women, apparently
without even realizing it.
“I read the research in disbelief,” Prof.
Kupferman recalls. “I knew that women faced
an uphill battle, but I assumed it would be more
about balancing research with motherhood and
much less about gender bias.”
To help address the situation, Prof.
Kupferman called meetings with the deans
of all of HU’s faculties to familiarize them with
the prevalence of this unwitting gender bias.
She also helped draft protocols guaranteeing
that appointment committees are gender
balanced.
Measures such as these certainly helped
clear a path for female professors to begin
receiving equal treatment and opportunities.
But the problem was greater than professors
merely getting in the door.
Prof. Orna Kupferman
2016-2017
5

A New Woman Takes Charge
Billy Shapira, Vice-President and Director-
General of The Hebrew University,
is a key figure in the remarkable
transformation of the gender profile of the
University’s senior administration.
Immediately following her appointment in
2009, Ms. Shapira asked for a report on the
number of women working at all levels of the
administration.
“There were hardly any women in the top
positions,” she says. “It was obvious to me that
we had to do something about that.”
Ms. Shapira made it her personal
responsibility to identify and encourage
women of exceptional talent to push for higher
positions. Her diligent work paid off; now, just
seven years later, there is gender parity across
every level of the administration.
“It’s about giving women more confidence,”
she explains. “I always say you should ‘jump
the bar’ and dare to meet new challenges.”
Yet Ms. Shapira understands that the unique
career challenges faced by women are stubbornly
persistent. She has experienced firsthand the
complexities of juggling demanding jobs and
raising four young children, while struggling
to be present for a husband pursuing his own
professional career. The stark impact
of these realities is plainly visible
in academia.
“It’s about giving
women more
confidence. I always
The Scissors Effect
say you should ‘jump
the bar’ and dare
to meet new
Despite huge advances
challenges.”
in the number of
women earning
doctorates—just over half of
Billy Shapira
the Ph.D candidates at the Hebrew
University today are women—the
statistics reveal a troubling trend. In
universities worldwide, an astonishingly low
percentage of female doctoral students are
pursing academic careers, leading to severe
underrepresentation of women at the senior
faculty level.
The falloff in the number of women
continuing with postdoctoral research and
professor
Masters Degree
children
Ph.D
into faculty positions is so dramatic that it has
earned a title, the “Scissors Effect,ˮ named for
the striking image produced by its graphical
representation (see figure). The situation is
particularly marked in the sciences, where
only 18% of the University’s faculty are
women—and only 10% are full professors;
the humanities is only slightly better with
women comprising 34% of faculty and holding
21% of professorships.
The scissors diagram is replicated by most
major universities in the industrialized world,
visually depicting the toll of global obstacles
to women’s careers in academia. Research
has shown both in Europe and the U.S., that a
woman’s pursuit of an academic career often
comes at the expense of having children.
Recently published data of U.S. academic
institutions indicates that less than half of
all tenured female faculty have children, far
below the national average of women in the
same age groups.
In other words, most women in academia
face a daunting choice: have a career or have
children. It is not hard to see why the scissors
cut the way they do.
postdoc
2016-2017
6

Can You Have It All?
But what if a woman didn’t have to choose?
That’s a question the Hebrew University
is doggedly trying to answer.
In formulating new initiatives to promote
women into senior academic positions, the
Hebrew University has undertaken to remove
barriers that deter female academics from
starting a family and that grant outstanding
women the same professional opportunities as
their male counterparts. Recognizing the need
to address the scissors effect in academia, the
University is now prioritizing and developing
new forward-thinking initiatives to facilitate
the progress of women moving up the academic
ladder.
Israeli families have an average of three
children—the highest in the industrialized
world. Women in the Hebrew University’s
most senior administrative positions, however,
are on par with the country’s average fertility
rate, suggesting that family-friendly policies
can literally bear fruit.
The PostDoctoral Dilemma
Despite the University’s successes
in fostering a more welcoming
environment for women, too many
women are discouraged from forging ahead
on the academic route. Nowhere is this more
evident than in the acute decline in women
pursing postdoctoral studies in the STEM
subjects (science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics).
The path to senior positions in the STEM
subjects often requires a lengthy postdoc
abroad, entailing a major familial upheaval
with enormous ramifications. These fellowships
abroad, a common waystation on the road to
academic security, put having a family in direct
conflict with pursuing an academic career.
“A male Ph.D graduate may not think twice
about transplanting his family,” explains
Professor Hermona Soreq, the Charlotte
Slesinger Professor of Molecular Neuroscience
and the first woman to have served as Dean of
the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Science.
Women Academic Year 2006/07
100%
Men 2006/07
Women 2011/12
90%
Men 2011/12
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Bachelor’s Degree
Master’s Degree
Doctoral Degree
Lecturer
Senior Lecturer
Junior Professor
Senior Professor
2016-2017
7

Prof. Hermona Soreq
“But female graduates won’t even ask
their spouses to consider such a move.”
Complicating matters, Prof. Soreq
points out that the length of a postdoc
has increased over the years – from the
two years she experienced, to the current
stint of 5-10 years in the life sciences.
Think Out of the Box
Seeing that the postdoc studies
overseas were pushing capable
women away, Prof. Batsheva Kerem,
the current Advisor to the President on
Gender Affairs, formulated an innovative
solution: she developed a program offering
fellowships to women seeking postdocs
abroad who hope to return to senior
academic positions within the Hebrew
University.
The fellowship funds, which come on
top of their regular stipends, help ease
the strain of relocating overseas and
provide some breathing room for spouses
to reconstruct their careers in a new
country. Several female postdocs across
all disciplines have already benefited from
these fellowships, and Prof. Kerem aims
to fund ten additional two-year postdoc
fellowships by 2025.
Additionally, Prof. Kerem, who is a
faculty member of the Department of
Genetics at the Alexander Silberman
Institute of Life Sciences, initiated a
family-friendly dual-location postdoc
program, the first of its kind actually
designed with women in mind.
“The program allows a postdoc to be
based at the Hebrew University but still
gain invaluable experience by working
throughout the summer in a prestigious
laboratory overseas,” explains Prof.
Kerem. This program has already been
implemented with the assistance of outside
philanthropic foundations and will be
implemented directly at the Hebrew
University next year.
“This is an important initiative in
evening out the playing field for women,”
Prof. Kerem says.
Stop the Clock!
Deep in every fresh academic’s
mind, there is a clock. The “tenure
clock” ticks on relentlessly for
seven years, and then it stops: if the new
professor has not published a sufficient
amount of high quality research in those
seven years, in addition to raising research
money, teaching, and training students, he
or she may say goodbye to tenure.
The “tenure clock” puts pressure on
every new academic, but it hits women
with particular force. In most cases,
these years are a woman’s prime years
for bearing children, yet taking time off
after giving birth often seriously disrupts
research and academic output during that
crucial seven-year window. Many women
are reluctant to even ask for an extension,
fearing it will somehow reflect poorly on
their commitment or competence.
Prof. Kupferman somewhat eased
that burden for female academics at the
Hebrew University by helping institute
a mandatory policy to stop the “tenure
clock” for new mothers. Today, female
scholars at the Hebrew University receive
an automatic one-year extension after
having a child.
2016-2017 8

Even without the stress of the tenure clock,
having a baby during one’s studies can be a
serious handicap. Female medical students, for
example, who took the Israeli standard 14-week
maternity leave missed so much coursework
that they used to repeat the entire year. This
made their already lengthy medical studies
far longer.
Now, however, a creative Hebrew University
program enables The Faculty of Medicine to
provide summer courses tailor-made for new
mothers, allowing them to take advantage of
a brief maternity leave without falling a full
year behind.
Beyond these essential programs, the
Hebrew University has enacted − although
it does not yet cover the expenses for − a
mandatory 14 weeks of paid maternity leave
for all doctoral students, a period comparable
to time granted in the Israeli workplace.
Women Supporting Women
Creating equal academic opportunities
for women is not just about removing
a host of impediments. It also means
actively reaching out to women and ensuring
that potential female scholars can find a vibrant
community of mentors and peers.
That’s why each Hebrew University faculty
has enacted regular, informal groups in which
female students at the graduate and doctoral
level can meet and mingle; they discuss
current issues and future ambitions, forming
a supportive community of talented, ambitious
women. These groups also provide a forum for
newly returned postdocs to provide firsthand
feedback about the challenges and adventures
from their research abroad.
The latest group, initiated in the summer
of 2015, is dedicated to women studying
mathematics, computer science, and physics,
departments in which the female students are
notoriously outnumbered.
The monthly meet-up, affiliated with the
Israeli Association for Women in Mathematics,
is a comfortable social space for these women.
It has also begun developing its own outreach
program for girls in high schools. Imagine the
impact of a cadre of talented and passionate
women, all of whom are deeply invested in their
postgraduate studies, who visit high schools
and encourage girls to study mathematics,
computer science, or physics.
This is just one example of how the Hebrew
University can affect change within the
wider community, while also supporting the
community of women on campus.
The University Meets the World
The benefits of adopting policies that help
women pursue careers in academia, aside
from simple fairness, are far-reaching.
“All the research shows that by increasing
diversity, not only do you see greater creativity
and innovation, but the overall functioning of
the organization itself is improved,” explains
Prof. Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi, Dean of the
Faculty of Social Sciences. “These are
benefits that feed very directly into society,
both socially and economically, and I hope
to see the University advance diversity even
more.”
The world doesn’t pause at the
University gates. The Hebrew University is
embedded in the texture of Israeli life and,
consequently, uniquely able to shape its own
surroundings.
As Prof. Tamar Zilber, Director of the
Hebrew University’s Lafer Center for Gender
Studies (see page 19), notes, “Universities
are both a reflection of the conditions
prevailing in society at large and pivotal for
transformational change in societal attitudes
towards women.”
The central role of the Hebrew
University as a catalyst for
change in gender equality, both
within its walls and beyond,
cannot be separated from the
social and economic health of
Israel as a whole. It is a role
that the University has shown
itself willing to embrace.
“We are creating
important
initiatives to
even the playing
field for
women.”
Prof. Batsheva Kerem
2016-2017 9

Profiles
Faculty
“Academia is a good place for women.
Women should seek out all the
help they can from family, pursue
fellowships and stop stressing out because
it doesn’t help.”
“Women in general, and Arab women in particular,
face many obstacles and difficulties integrating
into academia. These barriers must be addressed at
the different levels of society. Despite the challenges,
no women should give up.”
Prof. Mona Khoury-Kassabri, Faculty of The Paul Baerwald School of
Social Work and Social Welfare (see pg 14)
Prof. Mimi Ajzenstadt, Dean of The Paul Baerwald
School of Social Work and Social Welfare (see pg. 12)
“I’m the director of a busy research lab,
a married mother of four, and – you
may be surprised to hear this – a former
professional basketball player. From each of
these experiences I’ve learned that the secret
of success is keeping your team happy, and
earning their support. While every scientist
should be judged on his or her own merits, I
think women – as team members – have the
home-court advantage.”
Dr. Galia Blum Nanoscientist, Faculty of Medicine (see pg. 13)
“It is hard combining motherhood with research
but I’ve never known anything else—I had my
first child when I was in graduate school, and
now we have three sons. My husband and I did our
doctorates and postdocs together; we always split our
family responsibilities equally.”
Prof. Tamar Ziegler, Faculty of Science (see pg. 15)
“In the humanities, women academics are
in the minority, but their presence is very
important. Not only do we serve as role
models for our female students, we open up the
discussion of women’s experience in society –
something that might otherwise be overlooked.”
“The main ̔problem’ faced by
women who make a career
in academics is that we have
very high standards, and demand
excellence in everything – both at
work and at home.”
Dana Reichmann, Faculty of Science (see pg. 16)
“I can’t tell you how many
times I was asked at lectures
ʻare you sure it says that in the
Talmud?’ I don’t think my male
colleagues would be asked the
same question.”
Prof. Elishiva Baumgarten, Faculty of
Humanities (see pg. 13)
“Since becoming head of
the Israel Institute for
Advanced Studies, I’ve
worked hard to promote
women in science – creating
frameworks for young
women to study and advance
together.”
Prof. Michal Linial, Alexander
Silberman Institute of Life Sciences
(see pg. 17)
Prof. Manuela Consonni, Faculty of Humanities (see pg. 16)
2016-2017 10

Words of Wisdom:
Quotes from
Our Faculty
What’s
“When I joined it in 1999, I was one of
only five female members – out of 90 – in
the Faculty of Agriculture. Today, women
comprise 20% of our researchers, but most are
at the beginning of their career, and are not well
represented in the Faculty’s leadership. I tell my
female students not to give up, because as hard
as it is to overcome barriers to advancement,
we’re moving the right direction.”
Prof. Berta Levavi-Sivan, the Robert H. Smith Faculty of
Agriculture, Food and Environment (see pg. 14)
on
our
minds
2016-2017 11

Leading by Example
Meet the women who are inspiring the next generation of academics
PROF. MIMI AJZENSTADT: A THOUSAND
POINTS OF LIGHT
HU’s Dean of social work
is changing how we impact
society
“One thousand points of daily contact
with the city of Jerusalem,” is how Prof.
Mimi Ajzenstadt, Dean of Hebrew
University’s The Paul Baerwald School of
Social Work and Social Welfare, describes
the noteworthy influence her students
are having on Jerusalem’s residents. She
reflects proudly that at any given time her
students are training in the city’s many
neighborhoods, deeply embedded in all
the various social services.
“Social workers assist with all sorts of
populations at many different points in
the life cycle, not only with the neediest
populations,” she explains. Besides the
traditional welfare services, they are
called upon to act in the public health
system, the court system, community
administration and nongovernmental
advocacy such as supporting the rights
of the disabled.
“We train our students to become social
entrepreneurs,” Ajzenstadt says. Social
work has long been dominated by women
practitioners serving a predominately
female population of clients. Ajzenstadt,
notes, however, a marked improvement
in recent years in the number of women
serving in the top echelons of welfare
services and at times serving as experts
for social institutions and government
committees where they lead the decision
making process on major social issues.
As Dean, Ajzenstadt has focused on
forging new connections between social
work and other relevant disciplines such
as criminology, gender studies, law, and
NGO management as well increasing the
international reach of the School, both
through academic conferences and student
exchange programs.
As a successful woman in academia,
Ajzenstadt says that she never felt “held
back” in her career; however, she did
experience the subtle sting of not being
able to take her family on sabbaticals
abroad much the way her male colleagues
did. “My husband couldn’t leave his job,
so in my entire career I only went on one
sabbatical alone with my daughter for half
a year. I missed having the experience of
sabbatical as a family,” she laments.
Reflecting on her own successes,
Ajzenstadt believes that an academic
career has many advantages for women.
Despite some of the limitations, it offers
women flexible hours and the opportunity
to enjoy themselves by doing something
they love.
2016-2017 12

PROF. ELISHEVA BAUMGARTEN:
UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF MEDIEVAL
JEWISH HISTORY
This social historian explains
why the narrative of our past
is relevant to today
In her research on Jewish life in Christian
Europe during the Middle Ages, social
historian Prof. Elisheva Baumgarten’s
mission is to tell the lesser-known stories
of the “common folk”—to reveal the
everyday life of Jews, men, women,
and children in 1100-1350 Northern
Europe. “The medieval period was a
very formative one for Jewish history,”
she says, adding that “People often don’t
realize that women played an active part
in the dialogue that shaped Judaism and
many of the customs and practices we
have today.”
Combining her passions for Jewish
history and gender studies, Baumgarten,
the Yitzhak Becker Professor of Jewish
Studies in the Department of History, has
published books about medieval family
life, everyday religious practice, and
is currently writing a social history of
medieval Jewish marriage. Baumgarten
relies upon original rabbinic writings,
Jewish and Christian legal textbooks,
city records, tax lists, archaeological
artifacts, tombstones and economic
documents to bring medieval practices
to life. The European Research Council
recently awarded Baumgarten one of
its prestigious grants with the goal of
enabling her to establish a research team
to further her work.
In the course of her career, Baumgarten
has seen women make marked progress in
the field of Jewish studies. “When I was a
student I had no female professors, while
today about one third of the professors
are women,” she says. More telling is
that today her female students can read
the Jewish texts that are central in her
research, whereas two decades ago,
only men had the appropriate training
to analyze them. “I am proud that my
female students are so accomplished and
combine traditional textual skills with the
languages and methods used by medieval
historians at large.”
DR. GALIA BLUM: TARGETING CANCER
An ERC grant is helping this
nanoscientist to improve our
understanding of tumors
Dr. Galia Blum, a Senior Lecturer in
the Faculty of Medicine’s Institute
of Drug Research, hopes to stop
cancer before it starts. The prestigious
European Research Council recently
awarded Blum one of its highly sought
after scientific grants of 1.5 million
Euros for her design of a series of CT
contrast probes that identify and target the
processes that lead to tumor formation.
Applying the most advanced
nanotechnology, Blum developed a
fluorescent probe that lights up when
activated by an enzyme associated with
primary tumor inflammation and earlystage
metastasis. She also developed
a second probe that tags a cancerassociated
enzyme with a molecule that
– when exposed to an external source
of light – triggers cell death. Blum’s
work has implications for cardiac
health as well, drawing on chemical and
biological methodologies to improve
our understanding of how our arteries
harden.
Using the European funds, she is
currently designing a new generation of
probes that will enable real-time imaging
of enzyme activation using hospital CT
scanners rather than specialized laboratory
equipment, an important step toward
eventual trials in human patients. Blum’s
lab is part of the Center for Transformative
Nanomedicine, a newly-established
research partnership between Hebrew
University and the Cleveland Clinic, a
leading multi-specialty academic center
in the United States.
2016-2017 13

PROF. BERTA LEVAVI-SIVAN: FISHING FOR
SUSTAINABLE FOOD SOURCES
Prof. Levavi-Sivan’s
groundbreaking research is
providing African villagers
with the nutrition they need to
survive
A
recent grant from the US-AID
attests to the nutritional impact
that Prof. Berta Levavi-Sivan
has had on the African villagers living
around Lake Victoria in Uganda. An
expert in fish endocrinology, Levavi-
Sivan from the Robert H. Smith Faculty
of Agriculture, Food and Environment
has successfully established a thriving
pond based “aquaculture” for breeding
and harvesting carp. As a result of her
research, the carp are now the main source
of protein for the African villagers, and
especially their children.
Continuing her decade-long mission
to provide sustainable food sources to
the villages bordering the lake, Levavi-
Sivan has shifted her focus to adding
Nile Perch as a viable food source for the
villagers as well. With the cooperation
of her Ugandan partners, she recently
studied the key markers that play a
critical role in establishing Nile Perch
as an aquaculture-based food source.
Ironically, the Nile Perch – which
can grow as large as 100 kg – is the
predatory species that decimated the
carp population when it was artificially
introduced into Lake Victoria 50 years
ago.
In other nutrition-based activism,
Levavi-Sivan serves as a volunteer
consultant for Engineers Without
Borders, in a project that trains Ethiopian
students in modern agricultural methods,
and has significantly increased crop
yields.
PROF. MONA KHOURY-KASSABRI: A
CHAMPION OF THE MINORITY
One of only two female
Arab faculty members, Prof.
Khoury-Kassabri is on a
dual mission to defend our
children and to broaden the
University’s Arab presence
Prof. Mona Khoury-Kassabri, is
director of the MSW program at
the Paul Baerwald School of Social
Work and Social Welfare, and an expert
in juvenile delinquency. She researches
youth involvement in delinquency, school
violence, cyber bullying, and the effect of
parental discipline methods on children’s
well-being. “Most of the literature on
school violence is about violence between
children, or by children against teachers,”
explains Khoury-Kassabri. “My studies
on teacher violence towards students are
among the few in Israel and the world
that focus on this subject.”
Alongside her own career success, as
one of only 11 Arab faculty members at the
Hebrew University, of whom only two are
women, Prof. Khoury-Kassabri serves as
the advisor on Arab affairs to University
President, Menahem Ben-Sasson.
Together with the Council for Higher
Education, they aim to raise the number
of Arab students at the University, lower
the dropout rate, increase the numbers of
Arab faculty members and administrative
staff, and to provide cultural competence
training for University staff.
“In addition to my academic role, this
is a social mission,” she says.
Earlier this year, Prof. Khoury-Kassabri
was selected for membership in the
Global Young Academy, recognizing her
outstanding track record as a successful
scientist and her commitment to improving
conditions for young scientists around the
world.
2016-2017
14

PROF. TAMAR ZIEGLER: ADDING IT ALL UP
This mathematician is
integrating numbers into our
world
AHebrew University trained
mathematician, Prof. Tamar
Ziegler’s research focuses on the
interaction between Number Theory, the
study of integers, and Ergodic Theory,
the study of long-term behavior of
dynamical systems. Using ideas from
Ergodic Ramsey Theory, Ziegler has
made new discoveries about distribution
properties of special patterns in the prime
numbers.
After completing her doctorate, Ziegler
spent five years abroad, first at Ohio
State University, then at the Institute
of Advanced Study at Princeton, and
finally, at the University of Michigan.
After returning to Israel in 2007 together
with her children and husband – also a
mathematician – Ziegler joined the faculty
of the Technion. In 2013, she returned to
her alma mater, accepting an appointment
to Hebrew University’s Einstein Institute
of Mathematics.
DR. AYELET LANDAU: PAYING
ATTENTION TO THE BRAIN
This innovative researcher is
broadening our understanding
of the brain
When the director of a Jerusalembased
camp for aspiring young
hackers invited Dr. Ayelet
Landau to lecture to its young charges,
he wanted its students to be inspired by
her success as a female scientist. However,
he and Landau soon realized that there
were almost no young girls—their target
audience – in attendance at the camp.
But there were young 10-year-old
girls attending a nearby martial arts and
leadership camp—all of whom were
recruited to the lecture. As Landau recalls,
“Instead of just being a role model for
the few girls interested in science at the
hackers camp, I ended up speaking to a
mixed group of bright inquisitive girls
and boys who are going to be leaders
of the future – it was a worthwhile and
interesting interaction!”
A native Jerusalemite who is dedicated
to public outreach, Landau is a veteran
speaker of the prestigious TEDx talks and
of Hebrew University’s own Professors in
Slippers speaker series. She completed her
BA and MA at the Hebrew University and
returned as a researcher to the Departments
of Psychology and Cognitive Science after
a decade of advanced studies abroad: a
Ph.D from the University of California,
Berkeley, and as a postdoctoral scientist
at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI)
for Neuroscience in cooperation with
The Max Planck Society in Frankfurt,
Germany.
Landau uses brain imaging techniques
and behavioral studies to examine how
people select relevant stimuli from the
environment and ignore distraction –
essentially how we pay attention.
“The breadth of cognitive neuroscience
research and the intellectual community
at Hebrew University is unmatched,” she
explains. As a faculty member in two of
the university’s stronger departments,
she feels a special responsibility to offer
women students opportunities to succeed.
“I tell young female academics to be
optimistic, think big, and plan big.”
2016-2017 15

DR. DANA REICHMANN: PIONEERING
NEW SOLUTIONS FOR AGE-OLD
PROBLEMS
Worried about wrinkles?
More serious issues like
Alzheimer’s? Dr. Dana
Reichmann’s research may
eventually solve some of
the discomforts and more
distressing diseases of old age
as well as new drugs to treat parasitic
diseases like sleeping sickness.
Reichman joined HU in 2012 after
completing her Ph.D and postdoc at the
Weizmann Institute, followed by four
years at the University of Michigan doing
another postdoc as a Human Frontiers
Research Scholar.
“My field hasn’t yet been fully
developed,” she notes enthusiastically.
“It’s a new niche that I discovered during
my postdoc in Michigan, along with very
advanced techniques that I brought back
with me. My lab is a pioneer in Israel.”
Reichmann’s commitment to her work
was recognized earlier this year with the
Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific
Research. And her enthusiasm comes
across loud and clear in her advice to
women wondering about their futures:
“When younger women ask whether it’s
possible for a female research scientist
to live a balanced life, I always say: It’s
difficult, but don’t let that stop you!”
Dr. Reichmann, who heads a lab in
the Alexander Silberman Institute
of Life Sciences, focuses parts
of her research on protein oxidation and
maintenance of “healthy” and active
proteins. She also studies “intrinsically
disordered chaperones,” a complex
chain of proteins that enables cells to
cope and recover from environmental
stresses. Down the line, her findings may
well bring us improved diagnostics for
neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s
PROF. MANUELA CONSONNI:
EXPLAINING THE HOLOCAUST THEN
AND NOW
Prof. Consonni is examining
the legacy of the Holocaust
on modern Europe and
understanding its impact
on emerging anti-Jewish
prejudices
Prof. Manuela Consonni is a noted
expert in the cultural and intellectual
history of modern Europe, with a
particular focus on Italian and Holocaust
studies. A faculty member in the School of
History, she is also the newly appointed
head of Hebrew University’s Vidal Sassoon
Center for the Study of Antisemitism.
She focuses the Vidal Sassoon Center’s
academic programming on anti-Jewish
prejudice, examining the ever-present
bias from a variety of different disciplines
and perspectives.
Her most recent work, L’eclisse
dell’antifascismo. Resistenza, questione
ebraica e cultura politica in Italia 1943-
1989 examines the conciousness of Italy’s
post-war national ethos, with respect to
both Italian society’s uneasy relationship
to its history of fascism and its role in
the persecution and extermination of
Italy’s Jews. Looking at the modern-day
implications of the Holocaust’s legacy,
Consonni explores how both personal
and collective trauma have contributed
to ethnic and pan-European cultural
identities. Notably, she demonstartes
how the absent Jewish population plays
a pivitol ideological role in forming these
identities.
She is currently working on a project
that applies our understanding of
Holocaust-era Jewish victimization to
the emerging European attitudes toward
Muslim immigrants and refugees.
2016-2017 16

PROF. RUTH GAVISON: A FEARLESS
PIONEER FOR CITIZEN’S RIGHTS
A leading human rights
advocate, Prof. Gavison has
used her brilliant legal mind to
shape Israeli society
Professor Emerita Ruth Gavison
is a world-renowned expert
in jurisprudence, a brilliant
philosopher, and a pivotal figure in the
Israeli public discourse on the relationships
between law and morality, politics and
religions. A leading voice for human rights
and Israeli democracy, she founded and
served as president of Israel’s largest civil
rights organization, the Association for
Civil Rights in Israel. “My whole public
life I have been raising my voice for a
humanistic, liberal, Zionist Israel,” she
reflects.
Gavison, an Israel Prize laureate for
legal research, was first appointed as an
instructor at the Faculty of Law in 1969,
and went on to many prestigious academic
appointments both in Israel and abroad
long before the initial struggles of the
feminist movement left their mark on
Israeli society. She gained recognition for
her notable research on the right to privacy,
freedom of expression and equality
before the law, through her courageous
positions and indefatigable commitment
to excellence. “I never thought that as
a woman more was demanded of me,”
she explains. “The women who were my
colleagues competed as equals. We had
to be good and achieve.”
Her academic work and her public
work, in Israel and abroad, taught her
the urgency, the critical importance, and
the complexities of promoting women’s
equality in modern societies, struggling
between modernity and tradition.
Case in point: In her induction speech
at the Israel Academy of Sciences and
Humanities last December, Gavison took
the unorthodox step of referring to nonspecific
practitioners of law and science
in the feminine, challenging the Hebrew
language’s choice of the male plural as
the default form including both genders.
“My decision to speak in this way reflects
a big difference in the academic and
legal world since I went to school and
became a professor,” she says. “Today
there are men and women players at the
highest levels. This should be reflected
through our language. Such language in
its turn may help increase the presence
of qualified women in them.”
PROF. MICHAL LINIAL: SETTING THE
STANDARD HIGH
An innovator in computational
biology, Prof. Linial’s research
is enabling life-changing
treatments
When asked to name her
proudest accomplishment,
Prof. Michal Linial, Director
of the University’s Sudarsky Center for
Computational Biology, does not point to
her appointment as President of the Israeli
Institute for Advanced Studies (2012) —
although she is the first woman to hold
this position in the Institute’s 40-year
history. Instead, she recalls the moment
over a decade ago, when she introduced
methods to determine the molecular “age”
of neural tissue and hidden function of
active molecules in the brain and the
immune system. Her technique enabled
her colleague Prof. Marta Weinstock-
Rosin, from the School of Pharmacy, to
test a drug that has the potential to improve
our ability to learn.
During the course of her career, Linial,
a world-renowned expert in neurobiology
and bioinformatics, has created a number
of advanced procedures to understand
the protein-based “signatures” behind
biological functions such as neural
development, neurodegeneration, and even
weight gain associated with diabetes.
Her methodology – which employs
machine learning to classify large amounts
of data – uncovers data points that can
serve as highly accurate predictors for
important biological conditions. For
example, Linial’s systems can help
identify the impact of a drug treatment on
particular patients, or reveal the function
of related families in organisms such
as insects – contributing real value to
both the field of agriculture and disease
control.
2016-2017
17

COMMUNITY
PROGRAM
COMMUNITY SCOOP:
Shluchei Tzibur: Opportunity Through Community By Shoshana London Sapir
This unique academic program offers a valuable education to ultra-Orthodox students
The growing visibility of ultra-
Orthodox students with their
distinct modest dress code on the
Hebrew University campuses is part
of a quiet revolution: members of this
significant and growing minority are
reaching beyond the boundaries of
their insular community and integrating
into the larger Israeli society. Shluchei
Tzibur, an academic training program
for haredi (Hebrew for ultra-Orthodox)
leaders at the Hebrew University, is
supporting that process by providing
a select group of mid-career haredi
community leaders with the tools,
skills, and support necessary both
to succeed in acquiring an academic
education and to increase their impact
on their community.
Program mastermind, Naomi Perl,
says the ultimate goal is to realize
economic self-sufficiency within haredi
society. Herself a haredi woman and
mother of ten, Perl sees the haredi
community, which is approximately
10% of the Israeli population, as a
large and growing untapped resource
that has the ability to benefit the whole
country. “We have great people but we
don’t have the tools and the language
we need to realize our potential,” she
said.
The program is in its fifth year,
having recruited and trained a group
of 20 haredi men and women each
year and supported them through
mostly graduate degrees in numerous
departments of the University:
economics, medicine, political science,
and genetics. The standard recruit
is in his or her thirties, works in the
community, is raising a family, has
a strong religious education, and has
an idea for a project that will aid the
community.
As director of the Mandel Programs
for Leadership Development in the
Haredi Community at the Mandel
Leadership Institute in Jerusalem,
Perl designed Shluchei Tzibur to fill
in the gaps of a religious education,
familiarize participants with various
aspects of Israeli society, and teach
them leadership skills. Perl’s studies
at the Mandel School for Educational
Leadership helped her cultivate her
vision of leadership and dialogue
for the program. “I have learned
to appreciate how essential these
attributes, along with the investment in
the right people, are for the future of
Israeli society,” she says.
“I explain to applicants that the
program is not to improve your
ability to make a living. It is not to
promote self-realization. It is not to
help you make connections and raise
your income. All of those things will
happen, but that is not the purpose.
The goal is for every dollar invested
in you to return tenfold to the haredi
community,” Perl explains. She says
the program’s 90 participants and
alumni are already making significant
contributions in the haredi community,
from encouraging a greater openness
in the community towards prenatal
genetic testing to revitalizing the
history curriculum in the network of
haredi girls' schools.
Naomi Perl: In tune with the
community
Perl was born in Jerusalem
to “open-minded” Orthodox
European parents. Her mother
was a Holocaust survivor whose own
schooling was cut short by the war,
and who was fiercely determined to
give her daughter the music education
she never had. “She decided to get
a piano for me before I was even
born,” Perl says. Perl continued her
music studies, acquiring bachelors and
masters degrees, and becoming one of
the founders of the first haredi musical
conservatory. Currently a doctoral
student at Hebrew University in the
sociology of education, Perl sees her
situation as similar to that of other
women who work and raise families.
“We as women do our best and always
feel guilty,” she says, even as she
acknowledges her extremely helpful
husband and children.
2016-2017 18

WOMEN AT THE HELM
The Lafer Center for Women and Gender Studies: Advancing Equality By Michal Novetsky*
The first of its kind in Israel, the Center represents women on
campus and beyond
The Lafer Center for Women and
Gender Studies is dedicated to the
advancement of gender studies
within the Hebrew University. Building
on critical feminist thinking, it strives
to use this knowledge to advance
gender equality within both academia
and greater Israeli society.
The first of its kind in Israel,
the Center was established in 1990
by Hebrew University Professors,
Galia Golan and Amia Leiblich,
who envisioned bringing together
feminist academics and social activists
within the formal framework of the
University. Golan and Leiblich had
previously tested the waters a decade
earlier when they launched their
interdisciplinary graduate seminar,
“Women in the Modern World,” with
an ulterior motive: to establish whether
the time was right to initiate a fullscale
women’s studies program. The
overwhelmingly positive feedback
from the seminar proved that there was
indeed a niche at HU waiting to be
filled.
Almost thirty years later, the Center
has had a palpable impact within and
beyond the walls of the University. It
offers introductory BA courses, and
a program in Gender Studies for MA
students, supported by competitive
scholarships. Its courses are taught
by professors specializing in a multidisciplinary
range from the humanities
and social sciences including history,
psychology, and medicine among
others. Prof. Tamar Zilber, one of the
Center’s first scholarship recipients and
now its acting director, explains that
“gender is relevant to every field of
study, as it enriches our understanding
of any individual and collective level
dynamics and processes.” Striving to
put gender and feminist theory into
practice, she is often called upon by
the University to represent the Center
during policy-making processes.
Social Impact
The Center runs conferences
each year that are open to the
public and respond to current
events through a collaborative multidisciplinary
effort. A recent conference
focused on surrogacy – a much
talked about topic in the Israeli media
following the Nepal earthquake in
April 2015.
In recognition of its eminence
in its field, the Council for Higher
Education of Israel and the Planning
and Budgeting Committee recently
awarded the Center a grant to
develop an online course as part of
the Council’s initiative to expand
higher education via technology. Prof.
Zilber will develop and teach the
“Introduction to Feminism,” course as
the Center proves that the time is right
to expand its mission even beyond the
vision of its founders.
* Michal Novetsky is currently completing
her degree at the Hebrew University’s
Faculty of Law.
“I myself was not a scholar of women’s studies (my
own field was Soviet foreign policy); it was purely as a
feminist activist that I undertook this venture… It seems
to me that scholarship on women and gender-related
issues go hand in hand with activism. The academy
offers resources, research, and information, as well as a
platform for activism.”
Galia Golan, Co-Founder of the Lafer Center, Women’s Studies
Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 3/4 Vol. 27, No. 3/4, Fall – Winter, 1999
2016-2017 19

Profiles
Students
A Glimpse
of the Future
Galit Agmon
Process this: This Ph.D candidate is uncovering
how our brain understands language
Galit Agmon grew up surrounded by academics
in the hard sciences – her father, grandfather,
and uncles were all professors of either math
or physics. Driven by a keen interest in linguistics and
cognitive science, Agmon pursued her studies on the
Hebrew University’s Mt. Scopus Campus. It was only
later in her academic career, when she was giving a talk to
high school girls, that Agmon realized how preconceived
social norms and gender stereotypes had discouraged
her – and other women – from perusing the sciences.
Now as a Ph.D candidate at the Edmond and Lily Safra
Center for Brain Sciences, Agmon researches how the
human brain processes linguistic quantifiers – words
such as: ̔few’, ̔many’, ̔more’, and ̔less’. Using behavioral
techniques, Agmon and her advisors demonstrate the
cognitive importance of specific logical properties in the
processing of natural language quantifiers. In the future,
Agmon hopes to link this phenomenon to specific regions
in the brain using fMRI-based studies. Relating to her own
experience, she has founded ̔Common Ground’, a studentrun
organization that provides gender education workshops
to raise awareness of gender stereotypes.
Shirin Lotfi
An Iranian native and aspiring diplomat flourishes
in multi-cultural Jerusalem
Shirin Lotfi, a graduate student at Hebrew University’s
Rothberg International School, is an aspiring
diplomat whose ambition is to bridge the gaps
between the West and the Middle East. Born in Tehran,
Lotfi and her family moved back and forth between Tehran
and the U.S. before finally settling in California.
Familiar with five languages and fluent in three of them,
Lotfi is of mixed Jewish and Moslem heritage, she earned
her BA in political science and international security at
the University of Washington. “I always wanted to attend
Hebrew University,” she says, “because where better
to study Middle Eastern Studies than Jerusalem? I can
practice my Arabic while improving my Hebrew. I can go
to church on Sundays, mosque on Fridays, and synagogue
on Saturdays and mingle with the locals.”
2016-2017
20

Students maximizing
their potential
Estefania Brasil
Originally from South America, this Glocal student is
now helping asylum seekers in Tel Aviv get on their feet
Estefania Brasil, an MA student originally from
Uruguay, knew little about Israel when she moved
here and selected the Hebrew University’s Glocal
Community-Development Studies program to add a
second degree to her BA in economics. Calling Glocal’s
MA program “the most practical academic program there
is,” Brasil jumped at the chance to work in different
environments with a diverse groups of peers while
developing skills from Glocal that aim to improve and
save lives around the world.
Her studies at Glocal opened up a job with Microfy, an
NGO in south Tel Aviv that helps African asylum seekers
in Israel become self-supporting by offering refugees
business training, consultations, and small loans.
Brasil is eager to continue her studies when she
graduates from Glocal this year. She dreams of getting a
Ph.D in economics at the Hebrew University — “with a
scholarship,” she adds hopefully — and one day working
with the Israeli government to improve life in Israel.
Moriyah Rosenfeld
A Schulich Leader is inspiring young scientists to
reach for the moon
Within the span of one month, Moriya Rosenfeld
finished her Israeli army service, married, and
began her studies in electrical engineering at the
Hebrew University. A high school physics major and a tech
specialist in one of the IDF’s Intelligence units, Rosenfeld
found herself as one of only 16 women among over a
hundred students in her department.
A recipient of one of the competitive Schulich
Leadership Scholarships, Rosenfeld was obligated to
volunteer in the local community as a requirement for
her scholarship. In 2007, Google launched Lunar X, an
international competition challenging private entities
to launch a satellite to the moon. Rosenfeld joined the
education initiative of SpaceIL — the Israeli affiliate
of Lunar X — hoping to spark the imaginations of
schoolchildren and inspire their interest in science.
Rosenfeld notes that women role models are essential in
creating gender equality in her field. “This year we had two
female teaching assistants,” she says enthusiastically. “My
female classmates and I realized that these are the classes
where we are the most focused and involved. The women
teaching assistants make us feel like it is possible to juggle
it all.”
2016-2017 21

CAMPUS
AROUND TOWN
Campus Tour:
Our Hidden Treasures
1
6
2
Mount Scopus Campus
by Shoshana London Sapir
Nobody knows the nooks, crannies, and secret spaces on
Hebrew University’s six campuses quite like University
Curator Michal Mor. With over 2,000 pieces of university
art to showcase, she is constantly on the lookout for areas
that can be transformed to reflect on the University’s history
and to illuminate its profound connections: art to science;
the past to the present; and the campus to the surrounding
community.
“I use art to create unexpected connections, to tell the
untold stories and to give new perspectives to the familiar ones,” she explains.
Drawing on her 20 years’ experience as a curator and informal educator at the Israel
Museum, she has facilitated a number of exhibits that highlight the contributions of
women to the University, Israeli science, and culture.
Tucked into the corridors among the oversized pictures of our finest researchers, donor plaques, and our beloved images of
University founder Albert Einstein – Mor explores with us the lesser-known treasures that pay homage to the University’s great
women: Come and join the tour!
2016-2017 22

The Leah Goldberg Corner
This is one of my favorite corners at the University
– set up to commemorate the 100th birthday of
renowned poet Leah Goldberg (1911-1970), one of
Israel’s most prolific Hebrew-language poets, authors,
playwrights, literary translators, and comparative literary
researchers. Prof. Leah Goldberg was a faculty member
at the Hebrew University for twenty years, where she
established and headed the Department of Comparative
Literature for over a decade. A small lounge honoring
her life’s works sits at the entrance to the Bloomfield
Library for The Humanities and Social Sciences. Three
book-shaped wall panels display pages from her diary,
correspondences with friends and acquaintances, as well
as pictures that give visitors a chronological glimpse into
the distinct periods of her life: her childhood in Lithuania,
her life as a bohemian in Tel Aviv, and finally, her calmer
days as a professor at Hebrew University.
Also featured are recordings of Goldberg’s most famous
poems – read by Goldberg and set to music – along
with recordings of well-known Israeli songs composed
to her lyrics.
1
Leah Goldberg in
her younger years;
Photo: Douglas
Gordon
The display incorporates original books and copies of her
manuscripts as well as actual items from her office at the
University: chairs, a desk and a bookcase
Photo: Douglas Gordon
Bina Gvirtz Stekelis Display
Our next exhibition is dedicated to the groundbreaking
and delightful collection of Bina Gvirtz Stekelis,
famed children’s illustrator. Gvirtz illustrated
more than 300 books, including her most celebrated
drawings for the textbook series Alfoni and Al Ha’arnevet
by Israeli National Poet Hayim Nahman Bialik. Situated
at the entrance to the Seymour Fox School of Education,
the exhibition presents a collection of her illustrations on
the Holocaust, Zionism and settlement, Israel’s wars, and
heroes of the Bible. Gvirtz captured reality alongside a
world of fantasy in illustrations that have long charmed
young viewers and adults alike, and are considered integral
to the collective memory of the Israeli childhood.
Born in Poland, Gvirtz studied art in Germany and
moved to Jerusalem with her parents and sister in 1935.
Initially, she illustrated fairy tales and translated literature
(from European languages) in a restrained European
style. After her marriage in 1939 to Prof. Moshe Stekelis,
researcher and director of the Institute of Archaeology at
the Hebrew University, she molded her works to reflect
the life and culture of Israeli society.
2
Gvirtz used a variety of techniques to create her images. Before
technological advances in computer-generated printing led to a
shift in her creative style, she used many layers of paper to create
her visual richness. Photo: Guy Yechiely
2016-2017
23

3
Henry Moore: Draped Seated Woman, 1958
The open spaces of the Edmond J. Safra campus allow for the
display of more dominant structures like Henry Moore’s massive
bronze sculpture of a “draped seated woman” that welcomes
visitors to the campus’s main lawn. A noted English sculptor, Moore
is known for his semi-abstract monumental figures that typically
depict a mother and child or reclining figures. Draped Seated Woman
features a 1.6 ton female with a small head and undefined facial
features to merge the effect between actual representation and an
abstraction of the female body. The shape of the sculpture invites
its viewers to recline in the statue’s embrace.
The figure’s reclining position was inspired by a pre-Columbian
sculpture that Moore saw in Paris in 1925, and its drapery – designed
to convey femininity – was inspired by classic Greek sculpture
form. The Hebrew University owns one of the seven casts that
were made from the sculpture.
Photo: Vered Singer
The figure has a fountain which flows from her belly
button, referring to her connection to the womb, and
the ̔endless’ loop of life. Photo: Flash 90
4
Sigalit Landau: Standing on a
Watermelon, 2009
Standing on a
Watermelon, by
3 4
Sigalit Landau,
hides in the Anna Freud
Garden not far from
5
Moore’s draped woman
on the Safra Campus. I
find the piece especially
moving because Landau
dedicated the statue to her mother,
and donated it to the University in her
memory. Landau’s father, Simcha Landau, is Prof. Emeritus of
Criminology and her sister, Dr. Ayelet Landau (see page 15), is a
researcher at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience.
It was important for Landau – who grew up playing on the campus
with her brother and sister (often all over Moore’s piece) – that
her mother also have her own place on the campus. The statue
is appropriately located in the garden named after her mother’s
childhood friend, Anna, daughter of famed psychiatrist Sigmund
Freud.
Landau is a contemporary Israeli artist, specializing in works
that bridge opposite concepts such as “the past to the future; the
west to the east; the private with the collective.” The daughter of
Viennese refugees, her work has been displayed in many prestigious
international galleries including the Israel Museum, the Pompidou
Center in Paris, and the New York Museum of Modern Art.
2016-2017
24

Artist in Residence: Nivi Alroy
Our next stop is not a specific piece, but rather the artist
herself. Nivi Alroy is this year’s artist in residence in an
unexpected place: The Faculty of Science. The Faculty
hosts artists as part of the campus vision to create interdisciplinary
collaborations and encourage breakthroughs in both art and
science. “We hope to encourage scientists to ̔think outside
of the box’ and to introduce artists to new materials such as
nanotechnology and other far-reaching ideas that will allow them
to expand their artistic pursuits,” Prof. Idan Segev, a neuroscientist
in ELSC, explains.
Alroy is a multidisciplinary artist who combines drawing,
sculpture, architectural structures, video, and animation. She is
the third artist and the first woman in the program. Working from
a studio on the Safra campus, she explains, “I am fascinated by
attempts to mold time and turn it into a nonlinear dimension.” A
graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, Alroy has won
many awards for her work, including the Ahuvi Most Promising
Artist award, the Frida E. Issiccoff Alumni award, the Mifal Hapais
grant, the Rabinovich grant, Tel Aviv Special Projects grant, and
a Two Trees studio
grant. “Since my
work explores
boundaries,
invasion, infiltration,
and expansion, I
would love to create
more two-way diffusion
between the laboratories
and the studio,” she
says.
Edmond J. Safra Campus
5
6
Multi-disciplinary artwork by Alroy
Motherhood: Alberto de la Vega, 1958
Finally, we make our way back to Mt. Scopus where we find
Motherhood, by Mexican artist Alberto de la Vega perched
on a terrace of the campus's outer wall and overlooking
the breathtaking panorama of Jerusalem. The black granite
sculpture, inspired both by sculptor Henry Moore and local
Mexican folk art, the massive piece contains no hollow spaces
and encompasses a mother embracing her son in a single rounded
representation of a reclining woman’s body. The image represents
the soft Mother Earth that embraces her baby and the spectator
as a single unit.
Photo: Guy Yechiely
To see more of our campuses, please contact our
Visitor's Center at huvisitors@savion.huji.ac.il
2016-2017
25

CAMPUS
World of Friends
WORLD OF FRIENDS
Dear Friends,
The Hebrew University’s
Supporters and Friends
Associations across the
globe have been integral
partners in its development
since its founding. In these
pages you will meet the
individuals who actively
support the University and its
mission across six different
continents.
In following with the
theme of this year’s Scopus
magazine, we especially
want to recognize the
impressive women who
have brought strength, vigor,
and grace to the Hebrew
University.
We are indebted to all of
our supporters for their
volunteerism, longstanding
generosity, and unswerving
advocacy of our mission to
help ensure that the Hebrew
University continues to
thrive and to contribute to
a better Israeli society and
global community.
Ambassador Yossi Gal
Vice President for Advancement
and External Relations
The American Friends of The Hebrew University:
Annual Leadership Education Forum the
American Friends’ Annual Leadership Education
Forum in Palm Beach showcased recent University
achievements and innovations. University faculty and
other leading experts discussed Middle East affairs,
national security, and recent medical and scientific
breakthroughs.
From left: Stanley
Bogen, University
Governor and
American Friends’
Honorary President
and Honorary
Chairman,
Ambassador Yossi
Gal, University Vice
President for Advancement and External Relations;
and Ambassador Stuart Bernstein.
Capehart Photography
The Palm Beach Scopus Award Gala honoring
Michelle and Joseph Jacobs
University Benefactors Joseph and Michelle Jacobs
(center) accepted American Friends’ National Scopus
Award from University President Professor Menahem
Ben-Sasson (left), and American Friends’ National
Chairman, Michael Kurtz (right), during a festive
night in the desertthemed
gala in
Palm Beach. Funds
raised benefited
the construction
of the Palm Beach
Courtyard at
the University’s
Edmond and Lily
Safra Center for
Brain Sciences.
Capehart Photography
2016-2017 26

The Bel Air Affaire and Humanitarian Torch of
Learning Award Tribute
Leading real estate developer Albert Sweet received the
Humanitarian Torch of Learning Award at the American
Friends’ annual Bel Air Affaire scholarship fundraiser in
Los Angeles. The dazzling event was supported for the
eighth consecutive year by Brindell Gottlieb, University
Benefactor, Associate Governor and Honorary Doctorate
recipient, and American Friends’ National Board Member
and Western Region President.
From left: Albert Sweet with business partner, Craig
Darian.
The Harvey L. Silbert Torch of Learning Award Dinner
honoring Jonathan Anschell and Dick Volpert
During a celebratory dinner in Beverly Hills, the American
Friends presented the Harvey L. Silbert Torch of Learning
Award to attorneys Jonathan Anschell, Executive VP and
General Counsel of CBS Television and Friends’ Western
Region Board Member, and Dick Volpert, Senior Partner
at Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP. The
evening’s proceeds went toward the University’s Faculty
of Law.
Below: Jonathan Anschell
Robert Lurie
Below: Renae Jacobs-Anson, University Governor,
Western Region Vice President and event Co-Chair,
Brindell Gottlieb and Helen Jacobs-Lepor, National and
Western Region Board Member and event Co-Chair.
Robert Lurie
Robert Lurie Robert Lurie
Below: Mr. Volpert’s children and Zev Yaroslavsky
(center) accept the award on Mr. Volpert’s behalf
2016-2017 27

The European Friends of The Hebrew University:
The new Vice President
of the Hebrew University,
former Israeli Ambassador
to France, Yossi Gal, returns
to Paris for an intimate
dinner hosted by Anne Marie
Mitterand and the Board of
the French Friends of the
Hebrew University.
The British Friends of The Hebrew University:
Sam Leek QC,
member of the BFHU
legal committee,
received a limited
edition Zadok Ben-
David statuette of
Albert Einstein,
presented by
Committee chair,
Lord Pannick QC.
The Australian Friends of The Hebrew University:
Marcel
Landesmann,
the new
President of
the Austrian
Friends of
The Hebrew
University,
hosted
the friends’ dinner gala with keynote Speaker Josef
Ostermayer, the Austrian Minister of Culture.
The 9 th European Conference of the The Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, “Explorers of Knowledge for the Benefit
of Humanity”
was held in
Berlin in
April, bringing
together
175 friends
from across
Europe. The
participants
gathered to
learn more about the ongoing collaborations between HU
and their European counterparts on important topics such
as Feeding the World, Healing the World and Innovation
for Progress.
Professor Shy Arkin, Vice President for Research and
Development at the Hebrew University, presented the
prestigious Torch of Learning to The Hon Julie Bishop MP,
Australia’s Minister
for Foreign Affairs.
Minister Bishop
received the award
in recognition of her
role in supporting
Israel in the UN
and in denouncing
unequivocally those
who support boycotts of Israel.
From left: Australian Friends’ State President for NSW
Michael Dunkel, Prof. Arkin, The Hon Julie Bishop MP, Mr
Harry Triguboff AO PhD (Hon) HU, and Australian Friends’
Federal President and University Honorary Fellow, Robert
Simons OAM.
A boardroom lunch
was hosted for
members of the
Australian Friends
in Victoria in
honor of the visit
of Professor Shy
Arkin, Vice President
for Research and
Development at the
Hebrew University.
From left: Australian Friends’ Executive Director for
Victoria Eitan Drori, Australia’s Minister for Industry,
Innovation and Science The Hon Christopher Pyne MP,
Victorian Friends’ Patron Lady Anna Cowen, Prof. Arkin
and Victorian Friends’ President Grahame Leonard AM.
2016-2017 28

The Canadian Friends of The Hebrew University:
Chelsea Clinton delivered
the keynote address at the
Einstein Legacy Awards, a
gala hosted by the Canadian
Friends’ Toronto chapter
in honor of a select group
of exemplary Canadian
philanthropic families who
have “demonstrated values,
vision, social responsibility
and a passion for education.”
From left: Einstein Legacy
Awards event Co-Chair Judy
Nathan Bronfman, keynote speaker Chelsea Clinton, and
event Co-Chair Karen Simpson-Radomski.
Canadian Friends’
Montreal chapter
presented the
Scopus Award to
Alvin Segal OC,
OQ. Proceeds
from the dinner
benefited brain
research at
The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, and
Revivim, a Jewish Studies teacher training program.
From left: Hebrew University President Menahem Ben-
Sasson, Emmelle and Alvin Segal, CFHU Montreal chapter
President Ari Brojde, and CFHU President & CEO Rami
Kleinmann.
Several hundred
members of the
Canadian Friends’
Vancouver
community
gathered in May to
celebrate 90 years
of excellence
at the Hebrew
University and to raise scholarship funds for its “soldierstudents
from IDF's Duvdevan Elite Unit.”
From left: CFHU National Vice President Phil Switzer,
CFHU past National Chair Nathan Lindenberg, and CFHU
Vancouver chapter President Randy Milner.
The Latin American Friends of The Hebrew
University:
The twenty-eighth annual
Punta del Este Symposium
organized by the
University’s Argentinian
and Uruguayan Friends
was hosted one more time
by Mr. James Shasha, University benefactor and Honorary
recipient at the Grand Hotel.
From left to right: Mrs. Vail Shasha; Dr. Emilio Cárdenas;
Mr. James Shasha; Ambassador Yossi Gal and
Dr. Isidoro Kepel, President of the Argentinian Friends.
The Brazilian Friends
honored Brazilian Minister
Nelson Jobim, for his ties
to the Brazilian Jewish
community and for his
personal and political
efforts in defense of the Jewish people.
From left: Mr. Edu Pollak, Director of Advancement and
Public Relations for Latin America, Spain and Portugal;
Minister Nelson Jobim; Prof. Ronnie Friedman, Ron
Barbaro Chair in Veterinary Medicine at the Hebrew
University, and Mr. Jayme Blay, President of the Brazilian
Friends.
Israeli Friends of The Hebrew University
The Israeli Friends of the
Hebrew University hosted
the “Alumni Lead the Path
to a New Reality” event.
Standing from right:
Professor Shy Arkin, Vice President for Research and
Development at the Hebrew University, Prof. Ronnie
Friedman, Rector Asher Cohen, President Menahem
Ben-Sasson, Vice-President and Director-General, Billy
Shapira, Member of Knesset (MK) Manuel Trajtenberg.
Sitting from right: MK Abraham Nagosa, MK Kasnya
Savtlova, MK Benny Begin, Israel’s Ambassador to the
United Nations Danny Danon, and MK Omer Barlev.
The Neuman Prize for
Hebrew Literature was
awarded to poet Meir
Wieseltier for his life’s
work.
2016-2017 29

ALUMNI
PROFILES
Our Alumni
Where Аre They Now?
Tamar Yassur, Vice-President
& Head of Digital Banking,
Bank Leumi
A
silver sculpture of two willowy
ballerinas is poised on a wide
shelf in Tamar Yassur’s office
at Bank Leumi. Yassur is the first
Executive Vice President and Head of
the Digital Banking Division at Bank
Leumi as well as Chairperson of the
Board of Leumi Card. Twice a week
she briefly escapes from her relentless
daily schedule to dance – classical
ballet infused with modern elements –
“a style created by the world-renowned
Rina Schenfeld,” explains Yassur.
Still exuberating energy and
enthusiasm near the end of a long
work day, she describes her present
roles within Bank Leumi, as “a daily
learning curve requiring critical
decisions to be made at every
meeting.” At the moment, she is
spearheading an initiative to develop a
full digital bank by the end of 2016
The digital future, she explains,
provides the possibility for “nanopersonalization”
of products: “the right
product, in the right place, at the right
time, at the right price.”
She is the clear voice of a marketing
professional, a career that she has been
engaged in since graduating from the
Hebrew University with an MBA.
Prior to enrolling at HU, Yassur had no
interest in entering commerce. “I had
thought I’d be a scientist...a chemist or
microbiologist, but when I heard that
the University was initiating a new
double major that sounded exciting, I
changed tracks,” she explains.
In 1991 she became the first woman
CEO of the Jerusalem-based Kol Ha’ir
newspaper. From there she has climbed
the corporate ladder, never feeling
that she encountered any difficulties
by being a woman in what used to be
a male-dominated environment. That
said, she notes that “for the past ten
years, banking has become completely
open to women,” and this, she feels,
has been an important development
“because of the diversity and balance
women bring to an organization.”
2016-2017
30

Anat Levine, Director of
Finance, Clal Insurance
Back in 1989, as a young mother
with an MBA in hand, Anat
Levine dreamed of making a
big name for herself in Israeli finance.
Today, as second to the CEO of the
Clal Insurance Company and the
Head of the Division for Investments,
Funding, and Finance – it’s Levine’s
reality.
Levine received both her BA and
MBA at the Hebrew University before
entering the finance industry. She
credits the University with giving her
the professional language that she still
employs to this day. “I learned not to
settle for the simple solutions,” she
says, “but to search for the creative and
harder to execute, but more worthwhile
answers.” Most importantly, however,
Levine experienced genuine lifework
balance at HU where she found
both intellectual fulfillments and an
incredibly supportive group of friends
(including her husband).
As second-in-command to the CEO,
Levine inspires and manages teams
of hundreds of employees. To young
women looking to emulate her success,
she offers the following, “I’d give
them the same advice I would give
anyone at the beginning of their career;
choose your mentors well, and work in
a place where failure doesn’t stop you
but drives you forward. Always try to
bring creative thinking to the table and
always do the best you can do without
compromising.”
Charlotte Parker, Public
Relations Specialist
Today, Charlotte Parker is
considered one of the premiere
public relations specialists in
the United States, but in 1968 she
was Charlotte Adler and was looking
forward with anticipation to spending
her junior year abroad at the Hebrew
University. It did not disappoint.
“Hebrew University introduced
me to people from all over the world
and helped me embark on a lifelong
love affair with Israel,” Parker says.
She returned to HU for a master’s
program in 1973, and despite tragically
losing her cousin that year in the Yom
Kippur War, she has maintained a close
connection to Israel.
Parker now serves as President of
Parker Public Relations, a firm that
specializes in image making and public
relations crisis management where
she finds “every day is an adventure.”
Adventure is no stranger to Parker, who
hitchhiked through Israel with a friend
and her guitar on her back in 1969.
“I use the skills acquired from my
experiences at Hebrew University, both
in the classroom and beyond, virtually
every day. More than anything, HU
helped give me the confidence to
express my personality through my
work. I made friends there that remain
among my closest to this day.”
Parker began her career in motion
picture publicity, where she was
noticed early on for her talent and
intuition. Profiled in The Columbia
Journalism Review, she has appeared
as a media image analyst on CNN,
MSNBC and the E! Channel. Parker
specializes in creating media profiles
and public images for her clients, both
corporate and personal, which have
included Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Planet Hollywood, and Fitness
Publisher and icon Joe Weider. In
addition to her professional work,
she serves on the boards of two
philanthropic organizations: the Bruce
Lee Foundation and Operation Unity,
which sends inner city kids to spend
time in Israel.
“A lot of college-age women ask
me for career advice. I tell them:
be genuinely interested in other
people. Everyone is important. Have
confidence, but don’t forget to treat
everyone as a human being. When
someone is at their lowest point,
that’s the time to show support.”
2016-2017 31

Dr. Judith Richter,
CEO Medinol Ltd.
At the northeastern reaches of
Tel Aviv, on the top floor of the
highest tower block, are the
offices of Medinol – Israel’s largest
privately-owned medical device
company, and a world-leader in the
field of coronary stents, devices used
for treating coronary heart disease.
There, CEO Dr. Judith Richter has a
view from the Mediterranean Sea to
the hills of Jerusalem, situating her,
physically and emotionally, in the heart
of Israel.
Born in Czechoslovakia to
Holocaust survivors, Richter arrived
in Israel with her parents and grew
up in an immigrant neighborhood of
Tel Aviv, where “having parents with
numbers tattooed on their arms was
the norm,” she says. Being raised as
the daughter of survivors shaped her
worldview from an early age, and
influenced by her parent’s dictum that
“what you have studied, no one can
take away from you,” she excelled in
her education.
While serving as an officer in the
Israeli Air Force, she met Kobi, her
future husband and business partner.
She chose to study psychology at
the Hebrew University, subsequently
completing her Masters’ program there
under the supervision of 2002 Nobel
Prize laureate, Daniel Kahneman. In
parallel, she served in the Israeli Air
Force for several years (civilian rank
Major) where she first developed the
selection procedure for air cadets, and
then initiated and headed the unit for
managerial development of pilots and
air crews.
After completing her Ph.D in
organizational psychology at Boston
University, Dr. Richter pursued her
academic career in the Graduate
School of Business Administration.
In 1992 she founded Medinol
and Medcon, companies engaged in
the development of cardiovascular
intervention systems, and since then
has been an active board member of
several medical device companies. “I
have always felt that the struggle for
everything I wanted to achieve was not
as a woman, but as a person,” she adds.
Dr. Judith Richter and her family
sponsor a variety of activities in the
arts and humanities, sports, music and
women in Israel.
For Richter, her extensive charitable
work, and the products manufactured
by her company are the daily
fulfillment of her parents’ vision, “We
always need to find ways to make the
world better.”
Dr. Richter is a
member of
Executive
Committee
of the
Board of
Governors.
Maxine Fassberg,
CEO Intel Israel
In 2014, the State of Israel recognized
Maxine Fassberg’s extraordinary
accomplishments by selecting her
for one of the country’s major honors
— lighting a beacon at the national
Independence Day ceremony. As
the CEO of Intel Israel, Fassberg is
the woman behind the technological
breakthroughs of the company, which
designs and manufactures chips that
power smartphones, tablets, and
laptops around the globe. “Our offices
here are considered one of Intel’s best
in research and development,” she
says, “and I’m very proud to lead Intel
in Israel.”
Fassberg graduated from the
Hebrew University in 1978 with a
BSc in Physics and Chemistry and
an MSc in Applied Chemistry.
Today she runs the Hebrew
University’s Alumni Association,
and she credits the University for
providing her with the knowledge
base that was fundamental to
2016-2017 32

her career trajectory. After working as
a teacher for several years, she sought
to expand her professional horizons.
Confident that her education had
prepared her for the rigorous demands
of engineering, industry, and business
management, Fassberg sent her resume
to Intel.
That was thirty years ago when
women were still a rarity in the world
of hi-tech. When Intel sent her to the
U.S. for initial training, one of her
fellow engineers politely asked her
whose wife she was; her mother-inlaw
was concerned that she wouldn’t
be home to cook dinner every night.
Nevertheless, Fassberg has been
a sterling success at juggling her
personal and professional lives. At
the same time, as Intel’s CEO she is
constantly aware of the need to forge
new opportunities for women in the
world of hi-tech.
“Intel actively tries to recruit
new female talent,” she points out.
“Corporations are slowly starting
to wake up to the fact that they are
missing out on female talent. They’re
adapting their thinking to mine
at Intel.” Which is to say, what’s
important to the company is not how
many hours a woman works at her job,
but what she accomplishes when she’s
there.
“As a female CEO,” she admits,
“I am one of very few in my field.”
To get as far as she’s gotten, to leave
a feminist mark on the business
and science culture of Israel, she
knows well that any woman must be
extremely determined, “But,” she
adds, “that doesn’t mean you have to
sacrifice your family life.”
Maxine Fassberg has sat on the Board
of Governors for the past six years,
and she is Chairperson of the Alumni
Association.
Zeruya Shalev, Internationally
Acclaimed Author
Zeruya Shalev’s earliest childhood
memories are of her father
reading her nightly bedtime
stories from the Hebrew Bible. Forever
bonded to its narratives, Shalev went
on to earn her BA and MA in Bible
Studies from The Hebrew University.
Today, the beauty of the Hebrew
Bible’s language and its compelling
storylines inform the very essence
of Shalev’s present-day writings.
An internationally acclaimed author,
Shalev’s books explore the intimacies
and emotional complexities of human
relationships – “a fusion of present
experience and traditional stories,”
explains Shalev.
Although Shalev’s novels have been
translated into 25 languages, it is in
Hebrew that she finds her authentic
voice. “It is compelling to be writing
in this ancient, holy language, with the
knowledge that King David could have
read what I have written,” she explains.
For Shalev, who was named after the
sister of this iconic Jewish king, the
link feels almost familial.
Love Life, the first of Shalev’s six
novels, was published within a decade
of her finishing her studies, to much
international acclaim and awards. It
was ranked one of the 20 best novels
in the past 40 years by the German
newspaper, Der Spiegel and it spent
four months as Israel’s best-selling
novel. Other highly celebrated books
exploring universal truths about
the human condition soon followed
including, Thera and The Remains of
Love, which won France’s prestigious
literary Femina Prize in 2014.
Shalev’s most recent novel, Pain,
published just last year, poignantly
follows the survivor of a terrorist
bombing, something with which
Shalev is all too familiar. She was
caught in the blast and carnage of
the Egged #19 bus that was blown
up in 2004 by a suicide bomber in
Jerusalem’s Rechavia neighborhood.
Injured and confined to her bed for
many months, the experience haunted
her and she found herself unable to
write. Pain ultimately offers catharsis
for her protagonists, her readers, and
even Shalev herself. Shalev’s global
readership is testimony to her powerful
understanding of human behavior,
and her ability to unleash emotional
experiences that transcend culture and
history.
2016-2017 33

Pamela Nadler Emmerich,
Humanitarian & Benefactor
When Pamela Nadler Emmerich
first decided to attend Hebrew
University as a freshman in
1974, as part of a first year program
abroad, she didn’t know what she
wanted to study, but she did recall
that the principal of her Orthodox day
school had warned her against taking
courses in Bible or archaeology at
a secular university. “So naturally, I
veered towards those classes,” she
admits. “Having the opportunity to
study Jewish philosophy with David
Hartman, the history and archaeology
of Jerusalem with Lee Levine, biblical
texts with Nechama Leibowitz, and
the history of the First and Second
Temple Periods with Isaiah Gafni,
changed my perception of Judaism and
my appreciation of what it means to be
Jewish,” she explains.
Crediting her professors at the
Hebrew University with fostering
her curiosity and teaching her to trust
her intellectual instincts, Pamela
notes, “During the course of the year
I learned how to think for myself,
and gained a sense of academic selfconfidence.
As a Jew, I learned to
appreciate our history, scholarship and
accomplishments. The existence of the
Hebrew University is a testament to the
will of the Jewish people to learn, and
to the power of the human mind and
spirit. I’m proud that for one year I was
privileged to call it my home.”
A magical piece of Pamela’s
experience was walking around the
Mount Scopus campus as it was
literally being built around her.
“Watching the campus go up, on
the very mountain from which Titus
commenced the siege of Jerusalem
2000 years earlier, was extremely
symbolic—a cornerstone of modern
Jewish history for me,” she recalls. The
impact of her studies at Hebrew was
lasting and she went on to complete
her undergraduate degree at McGill
University in Jewish Studies.
Pamela continued onto law school,
and became a corporate tax lawyer
on Wall Street. After the birth of her
second child, however, she left the
practice of law. Since then, Pamela
has graciously spent over 20 years
making many important contributions
to the wellbeing of the Hebrew
University. She is the National
Secretary of The American Friends
of the Hebrew University, serves on
the National Board, and is a member
of the Management and Executive
Committees. She currently serves
on HU’s Board of Governors and
is President Emeritus of the AFHU
Northeast Region Board and is the
former National Campaign Chair.
She and her husband made a naming
gift for the office of the chair of the
University’s Bible Department.
On a trip to the university a few
years ago, Pamela met with Yair
Zakovitch, the Father Takeji Otsuki
Professor of Bible Studies Chair.
“Listening to him describe his
research, I felt a pang of jealousy – his
work just sounded so fascinating,”
she recalls. That conversation sparked
her decision to return to academia
and Pamela is currently working
towards her Master’s degree in Bible
at the Jewish Theological Seminary’s
graduate school. “I’ve come full circle,
returning to the studies I began on
Mount Scopus over 40 years ago. It’s a
dream come true,” she says.
For women beginning their careers,
Pamela advises them to “shoot for the
stars, but be realistic,” adding “success
isn’t necessarily measured by the
size of a paycheck or the number of
children you may or may not ultimately
bear. Let your dreams and goals be
fluid. If you manage to fulfill even part
of them – you’re ahead of the game.”
2016-2017 34

hujiconnect.com
Hebrew University’s Alumni Network
Join today and be a part of the Hebrew University alumni community:
• Connect with alumni from all over the world
• Find job opportunities
• Receive information about the latest HU
news, videos, and events near you
• Participate in online groups
• Network with classmates past and present
• Receive alumni perks including discount
packages at local businesses in select areas*
HUJI Connect allows you to re-connect with old classmates and as enables you to utilize the
trusted Hebrew University environment to expand your professional network.
By fully integrating with social networks, and cultivating a culture of helping and giving
back, you will be amazed at how vibrant your Hebrew University community is!
* Hebrew University alumni can enjoy a variety of benefits both in Israel and in the United States. Benefits in Israel can be
found here: http://alumni.huji.ac.il; benefits for alumni residing in or visiting the U.S. are listed here: alumni.afhu.org
Contact: alumnifriends@savion.huji.ac.il
2016-2017
35

HISTORY
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
Student Life:
“The opening of the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem is of immense interest to large
groups of people all over the world and
in a peculiar degree to those who have
borne a part in opening university education
to women. For it seems to me certain that this
modern University, to be opened on Mount
Scopus in April, will from its inception open
its classes to women. The most ancient of
races, in a cultural sense, will also be the most
modern in its conception of the position and
the opportunities which should be open to
women. The Jewish women who already have
the magnificent heritage of descent from
Isaiah, will have in addition the broad outlook
given by modern science and learning.
An inheritance like this, an experience like
this, make me feel perfectly certain that when
Hebrew University becomes an actual reality
it will tolerate none of the foolish restrictions
that have marred the universities of the
Occident for so many centuries.
”
Millicent Fawcet, “Educating the Youth, Palestine Jewry’s
Foremost Concern” The New Palestine March 27, 1925 (334-5);
Fawcet was a British Union leader and known suffragist.
2016-2017 36

The Early Days (1920s-1940s)
Unlike other historic academic
institutions, women were a natural part
of the student body at The Hebrew
University from its very first days.
In its initial years, the Hebrew University was
a research institution that did not offer any
bachelors degree programs until the 1950s.
The first students were studying for advanced
degrees or simply attending classes to broaden
their horizons and be a part of a recognized
historical moment. Almost all of the first
students were immigrants and held degrees
from their countries of origin.
In the first few years, almost a quarter of the
student body was made up of women, and that
number increased to about 30% at the time of
the establishment of the State.
The early years at the Hebrew University were
interrupted by frequent outbreaks of war. When
the British army drafted many of the male
students to fight in World War II, the number of
female students jumped to 40% of the student
body, allowing them to contribute substantially
to the university culture. Nevertheless, many
prominent women who were studying and
researching at the Hebrew University left their
studies to fight valiantly alongside their male
counterparts in the 1948 War of Independence.
“The original plan of an institute for
higher research in which a small group
of men might pursue their studies in
seminar fashion was clearly in need
of modification... And what an interesting
conglomeration of types were included in
our student body! From Yeshivah Buchrim to
Gymnasium girls – scholars, Chalutzim, selftaught
students – native Palestinians and
recent arrivals.
”
Isidore B. Hoffman, “In the Beginning, From a Student’s
Notebook” The New Palestine March 27, 1925 (365-6)
Photos from the Hebrew University Archive.
2016-2017 37

REVIEW LITERATURE
Bookshelf
Feminist Theory Across Disciplines:
Feminist Community and American
Women’s Poetry
Shira Wolosky, Professor of American Studies and
English Literature, Faculty of Humanities
Defying traditional, gendered
definitions of public and
private, this study traverses
a multitude of disciplines —
anthropology, psychology, history,
political theory, religion and others
— to broaden the discussion of
American women’s poetry from the
17th to the late 20th centuries. Prof.
Wolosky explores how women’s
writing emerges from and shapes
a woman’s selfhood in terms of
personal relationships and of
communal commitments. Poetry,
she concludes, is where the arenas
of human experience interact,
and this is where women, directly
or through structural means, are
able to define and articulate their
particular forms of selfhood.
A Well-Worn Tallis for a New
Ceremony: Trends in Israeli Haredi
Culture
Dr. Nurit Stadler, Associate Professor, Sociology &
Anthropology
A
Well-Worn Tallis for a New
Ceremony is a study of
contemporary haredi (ultra-
Orthodox) observance in Israel.
Despite long-standing efforts to
buttress this community, the forces
of modernity, secularization,
consumerism, feminism, technology
and the military are profoundly
impacting the yeshiva world. Dr.
Stadler’s extensive research sheds
light on significant changes in several
key areas, among them religious life,
family structure, and the community’s
interaction with government authorities
and other Israelis.
The International Monetary Fund
and Latin America: The Argentine
Puzzle in Context
Dr. Claudia Kedar, Head of the Iberian and Latin
American Section, Department of Romance and Latin
American Studies & School of History
Dr. Claudia Kedar presents
an atypical and revisionist
approach to the relations
between Latin America and the
International Monetary Fund between
1944 and the present, demonstrating
that economics play but a small part
in these relationships. She posits that
the routine and near ritual interactions
between IMF technocrats and local
economists have become characteristic
of these relationships even when the
local economies are not borrowing
from the Fund.
2016-2017 38

Alternative and Bio-Medicine in
Israel: Boundaries and Bridges
Judith Shuval, Louis & Pearl Rose Professor
(Emerita) of Medical Sociology, Dr. Emma
Averbuch, researcher, Faculty of Medicine
Networks for Learning and
Knowledge Creation in
Biotechnology
Amalya Oliver-Lumermann, George S. Wise
Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences
Hard-Core Romance:
Fifty Shades of Grey,
Best-sellers, and Society
Eva Illouz, Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Social
Sciences
As alternative medicine
increasingly co-exists with
conventional medicine in many
societies, Israel’s heterogeneous
population makes it possible to explore
different cultural attitudes toward
alternative health care. Starting with
the historical background, the book
deals with current health policies and
provides an in-depth analysis of healthcare
practitioners who have added
alternative medicine to their repertoire
of conventional professional skills in
practice settings located in hospitals
and community clinics in Israel.
Scientists in the biotechnology
sector have developed a vast
array of products in the areas
of drugs, diagnostics, agricultural,
waste management and veterinary
medicine. The various intra and
inter collaborations between the
academic and knowledge intensive
firms have helped to foster these
innovations. Prof. Oliver-Lumerman
demonstrates how, in many respects,
the organizational structure of this
sector parallels one of its most
important innovations – recombinant
DNA (rDNA). She shows how
the concept of recombination can
be used to explain a number of
organizational constructs, including
dedicated biotechnology firms,
university-based spin-offs, scientific
entrepreneurship, and trust in
learning
collaborations
and networks.
The result is
a stimulating
account of
how multiple
theoretical
perspectives
can be
used to
understand the
structure of the
biotechnology
sector.
This book about modern
relationships and contemporary
women’s literature scrutinizes
the global popularity of L. James’
erotic novel, Fifty Shades of Grey
and its two sequels. Placing the
trilogy in the context of bestseller
publishing, Prof.Eva Illouz
investigates how the reading
pleasure it provides resonates
with the structure of male-female
relationships today. Fifty Shades,
Illouz argues, is a contemporary
gothic romance, wherein sexuality
both divides men and women and
orchestrates their reconciliation.
2016-2017 39

COLUMN
ADVICE
Ask The Expert
Practical advice from Associate
Professor Limor Shifman on the
art of international joke telling.
Aspiring comedians want
to know: Am I funny all
over the world?
When we think of globalization,
we tend to picture the American
brand, Coca Cola, but according to
Associate Professor Limor Shifman of
the Department of Communication and
Journalism, punchlines are getting their
passports stamped across the globe as
well.
It’s one thing for friends and
family to think you are funny, but it
is another layer of comedy altogether
for strangers on the other side of the
globe to find you funny in a completely
different language.
In her article “Internet Jokes: The
Secret Agents of Globalization,”
Shifman and her colleagues from the
Hebrew University and the UK, Hadar
Levy and Mike Thelwall, explore what
it takes for jokes to make it around the
world and whether you’d recognize
them after their journey.
Ask The Expert:
Uniting the World,
One Punchline at a Time
By Aviv Harkov*
What is the topic of your
joke?
Shifman and her colleagues found that
jokes about technology, consumerism,
gender differences and popular
American brands are commonly
translated into other languages, while
jokes based on American domestic
politics and regional stereotypes get
held up at the border.
What country is your joke
now calling home?
In her research, Shifman examined the
translation of 100 jokes from English
into the other nine most commonly
spoken languages on the Internet:
Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, French,
German, Portuguese, Korean, Arabic,
and Russian.
“Americanization” can be found
on Facebook pages and around dinner
tables as the high quantity of jokes
translated from English both reflects
the dominance of American culture and
helps to substantiate it. The greatest
number of jokes are translated into
Portuguese and then the other Latin
and European languages, while the
fewest number are translated into Asian
languages. Researchers believe that
this is not just because of linguistic
differences, but because it reflects
wider cultural gaps and natural bonds
between the U.S. and non-Western
regions.
Congratulations. Your
joke has made it to a
foreign country! How does
it integrate into its new
home?
Like any immigrant, for your joke to
be considered a local it has to lose any
lingering signs from the “old country.”
For instance, Bob from your original
joke might become Yung Ju in Korea.
Your dollars will be converted into
pesos in Mexico and the New York
Yankees will turn into Manchester
United in Great Britain. If your joke is
sexual it may need a PG rating in some
languages, while dark humor might
become pitch black in others.
How will my joke be funny
all over the world?
Based on Shifman’s research, the best
way to earn your joke frequent flyer
miles is to keep the theme universal,
limit the reference to domestic politics,
and, of course, make sure it is actually
funny.
By perfecting your international
humor, you may advance globalization
processes and bridge the gaps between
us one laugh at a time.
*Aviv Harkov is a Hebrew University
student ambassador and is currently
studying for a dual degree in business
and Asian studies.
2016-2017 40