Bar-Ilan University has Jewish-American roots; it was conceived in
Atlanta in a meeting of the
American Mizrahi organization in 1950, and was founded by Professor
Pinkhos Churgin, an American
Orthodox rabbi and educator, who was president from 1955 to 1957 where he was succeeded by
Joseph H. Lookstein who was president from 1957 to 1967. When it was opened in 1955, it was described by
The New York Times "as Cultural Link Between the [Israeli] Republic and America". Presidents who followed were
Max Jammer (1967–77),
Emanuel Rackman (1977–86),
Michael Albeck (1986–89),
Ernest Krausz (1989),
Zvi Arad (1989–92), and
Shlomo Eckstein (1992–96). These are available as academic
Jewish studies courses, as well as through more traditional
Torah study, offered primarily by the
Machon HaGavoah LeTorah, established in the 1970s. The "Machon" operates a
Kollel /
Bet midrash for men, and a
Midrasha for women. The Kollel offers traditional
yeshiva studies with an emphasis on
Talmud and
Halakha (Jewish law), while the midrasha offers courses in "
Tanakh" (The Bible), practical Halakha, and
Machshavah (Jewish philosophy). The Midrasha is the largest in Israel. These programs are open to all students free of charge.
Yitzhak Rabin's convicted assassin,
Yigal Amir, was a student of law and computer science at Bar-Ilan, prompting charges that the university had become a hotbed of political
extremism. One of the steps taken by the university following the 1995 assassination was to encourage dialogue between
left-wing and
right-wing students. Under university president
Moshe Kaveh (1996–2013), Bar-Ilan underwent a major expansion, with new buildings added on the northern side of the
campus. New science programs have been introduced, including a multidisciplinary brain research center and a center for
nanotechnology. The university has placed
archaeology as one of its priorities, and this includes excavations such as the
Tell es-Safi/Gath archaeological excavations and the recently opened Bar-Ilan University/
Weizmann Institute of Science joint program in Archaeological Sciences. Bar-Ilan's Faculty of Law made headlines in 2008 by achieving the highest average Israeli bar exam grade of 81.9 by its graduates.
Daniel Hershkowitz was university president from 2013 to 2017. In June 2025, the
Israel National Institute for Energy Storage was established at the university at a dedicated energy complex, at the direction of the
Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, in academic collaboration with the
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. File:First Graduation at Bar Ilan University - Ogden Reid 1959.jpg|Bar-Ilan's first graduation ceremony in 1959 File:המרכז למבקרים ומצפה לב הקמפוס ע"ש ונגרובסקי (11562183273).jpg|Wengrowsky Family Lookout and Visitors' Center
Lev HaCampus ( heart of the campus) File:Bar-Ilan University. Machon (17287812905).jpg|
HaMachon HaGavoah LeTorah campus
bet midrash and
midrasha ==Academics==