“A Hebrew University! I do not suppose that there is anyone here who can conceive of a University in Jerusalem being other than a Hebrew one. The claim that the University should be a Hebrew one rests upon the values the Jews have transmitted to the world from this land. Here in the presence of adherents of the three great religions of the world, which amid many diversities build their faith upon the Lord who made Himself known unto Moses, before this world which has founded itself on Jewish law, has paid reverence to Hebrew seers, has acknowledged the great mental and spiritual values the Jewish people have given to it, the question is answered. The University is to stimulate the Jewish people to reach further truth. Am I too bold if here to-day in this place among the hills of Ephraim and Judah, I state my conviction that the seers of Israel have not utterly perished, that under the ægis of this University there will be a renaissance of the Divine power of prophetic wisdom that once was ours? The University will be the focus of the rehabilitation of our Jewish consciousness now so tenuous, because it has become so world-diffused. Under the atmospheric pressure of this Mount, our Jewish consciousness can become diffused without becoming feeble, our consciousness will be rekindled and our Jewish youth will be reinvigorated from Jewish sources.
“Since it is to be a Hebrew University, the question hardly arises as to its language. By a strange error, people have regarded Hebrew as one of the dead languages, whilst in fact it has never died off the lips of mankind. True, to many of us Jews it has become a second language, but for thousands of my people Hebrew is and always has been the sacred tongue, and in the streets of Tel Aviv, in the orchards of Rischon and Rechoboth, on the farms of Hulda and Ben Shemen, it has already become the mother tongue. Here in Palestine, amid the Babel of languages, Hebrew stands out as the one language in which every Jew can communicate with every other Jew. Upon the technical difficulties connected with Hebrew instruction it is unnecessary for me to dwell at the moment. We are alive to them; but the experience of our Palestinian schools has already shown to us that these difficulties are surmountable. These are all matters of detail which have been carefully examined and will be dealt with at the appropriate time. I have spoken of the Jewish University where the language will be Hebrew, just as French is used at the Sorbonne, or English at Oxford. Naturally, other languages, ancient and modern, will be taught in the respective faculties; among these languages we may expect that prominent attention will be given to Arabic and other Semitic languages.
“The Hebrew University, though intended primarily for Jews, will, of course, give an affectionate welcome to the members of every race and creed. ‘For my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.’ Besides the usual schools and institutions which go to form a modern University, there will be certain branches of science which it will be peculiarly appropriate to associate with our University. Archæological Research, which has revealed so much of the mysterious past of Egypt and of Greece, has a harvest still to be reaped in Palestine, and our University is destined to play an important part in this field of knowledge.
“The question as to the faculties with which our University may begin its career is limited to some extent by practical considerations. The beginnings of our University are not entirely lacking. We have in Jerusalem the elements of a Pasteur Institute and a Jewish Health Bureau, whence valuable contributions to bacteriology and sanitation have already been issued. There is the school of Technology at Haifa, and the beginning of an agricultural experimental station at Athlit. It is to scientific research and its application that we can confidently look for the banishment of those twin plagues of Palestine, malaria and trachoma; for the eradication of other indigenous diseases; it is to true scientific method that we may look for the full cultivation of this fair and fertile land, now so unproductive. Here, chemistry and bacteriology, geology and climatology, will be required to join forces, so that the great value of the University in the building up of our National Home is apparent. All that again reminds us of the fact which one is likely to forget after four years of a terrible war, with its misapplication of scientific methods, that we must look to science as to the healer of many wounds and the redeemer of many evils. Side by side with scientific research the humanities will occupy a distinguished place. Ancient Jewish learning, the accumulated, half-hidden treasures of our ancient philosophical, religious and juridic literature, are to be brought to light again and freed from the dust of ages. They will be incorporated in the new life now about to develop in this country, and so our past will be linked up with the present.
“May I be allowed, before concluding, to point to one very important aspect of our University? The University, while trying to maintain the highest scientific level, must, at the same time, be rendered accessible to all classes of the people. The Jewish workman and farm labourer must be enabled to find there a possibility of continuing and completing their education in their free hours. The doors of our libraries, lecture rooms, and laboratories, must be opened widely to them all. Thus the University will exercise its beneficial influence on the nation as a whole. The bare nucleus of the library is already in existence here, and very valuable additions to it are at present stored up in Russia and elsewhere. The setting-up of a University library and of a University press are contemplated soon after the war. Manifold are the preparations yet to be made. Some of them are already in progress; some, like the actual building, must necessarily be postponed until the happy day of peace arrives. But from this day the Hebrew University is a reality. Our University, formed by Jewish learning and Jewish energy, will mould itself into an integral part of our national structure which is in process of erection. It will have a centripetal force, attracting all that is noblest in Jewry throughout the world; a unifying centre for our scattered elements. There will go forth, too, inspiration and strength, that shall revivify the powers now latent in our scattered communities. Here the wandering soul of Israel shall reach its haven; its strength no longer consumed in restless and vain wanderings. Israel shall at last remain at peace within itself and with the world. There is a Talmudic legend that tells of the Jewish soul deprived of its body, hovering between heaven and earth. Such is our soul to-day; to-morrow it shall come to rest, in this our sanctuary. That is our faith.”
Dr. Weizmann then read the following message from Mr. Balfour:—
“Please accept my cordial good wishes for the future of the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. May it carry out its noble purpose with ever-increasing success as the years go on. I offer my warm congratulations to all who have laboured so assiduously to found this school of learning, which should be an addition to the forces of progress throughout the world.”
Captain Coulandre, on behalf of the French Government, presented the following message:—
“Le Gouvernement de la République est heureux d’exprimer les sentiments de sympathie avec lesquels il accueille la fondation de l’Université Juive. Il forme des vœux sincères pour que de là rayonnent les grandes pensées de fraternité et d’idéal auxquels le Judaisme s’est si fermement attaché à travers les siècles au cours desquels il a resisté à toutes les persécutions, et pour que dans un monde débarassé des violences engendrées par les ambitions forcenées du régime Prussien les Juifs qui le desireront puissent trouver en Palestine en parfaite entente avec les autres groupements ethniques un foyer à la fois intellectuel et social.”
The whole ceremony was a deeply moving one, and produced an effect which will long remain with those who witnessed it.