, Givat Ram, established 1892 , Givat Ram. The AHL replaced in 1953 the Hebrew Language Committee, established in 1890.A vision of the
Zionist movement was the establishment of a
Jewish university in the
Land of Israel. Founding a university was proposed as far back as 1884 in the
Kattowitz (Katowice) conference of the
Hovevei Zion society, and by
Hermann Schapira at the
First Zionist Congress of 1897. The
cornerstone for the university was laid on 24 July 1918. Seven years later, on 1 April 1925, the Hebrew University campus on
Mount Scopus was opened at a gala ceremony attended by the leaders of the Jewish world, distinguished scholars and public figures, and British dignitaries, including the
Earl of Balfour, Viscount
Allenby,
Winston Churchill and Sir
Herbert Samuel. The university's first chancellor was
Judah Magnes, who led the school as chancellor from 1924 to 1935. In 1935 to 1948 he led the school as president. The question, what would define the specific Hebrew character of the university did not only regard the choice of an official language but also organizational aspects, as for example the establishment of departments and the definition of their respective research areas, and the outline of its overall academic profile. Therefore, in 1919,
Shmaryahu Levin inquired a number of prominent Jewish European scholars about their opinions on the subject. One of the respondents was
Ignaz Goldziher whose proposals were at least partly implemented: oriental languages, Jewish literature, and archaeology were among the first subjects studied at the university. By 1947, the university had become a large research and teaching institution. Sir
Leon Simon was Acting President from 1948 to 1949, and he was succeeded as president by Professor
Selig Brodetsky, who served from 1949 to 1952. During the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, attacks were carried out against convoys moving between the Israeli-controlled section of Jerusalem and the university. The leader of the Arab forces in Jerusalem,
Abdul Kader Husseini, threatened military action against the university
Hadassah Hospital "if the Jews continued to use them as bases for attacks." After the April 1948
Hadassah medical convoy massacre, in which 79 Jews, including doctors and nurses, were killed, the Mount Scopus campus was cut off from Jerusalem. British soldier
Jack Churchill coordinated the evacuation of 700 Jewish doctors, students and patients from the hospital. When the
Jordanian government denied Israeli access to Mount Scopus, a new campus was built at Givat Ram in western Jerusalem and completed in 1958. In the interim, classes were held in 40 different buildings around the city.
Benjamin Mazar was President of the university from 1953 to 1961,
Giulio Racah was Acting President from 1961 to 1962, and
Eliahu Eilat was president from 1962 to 1968. A few years later, together with the
Hadassah Medical Organization, a medical science campus was built in the south-west Jerusalem neighborhood of
Ein Kerem. By the beginning of 1967, the students numbered 12,500, spread among the two campuses in Jerusalem and the agricultural faculty in
Rehovot. After the unification of Jerusalem, following the
Six-Day War of June 1967, the university was able to return to Mount Scopus, which was rebuilt. According to the
Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, Israel confiscated 568
Dunams of land from the
Palestinian village of
Isawiya for the Hebrew University in 1968. In 1981 the construction work was completed, and Mount Scopus again became the main campus of the university.
Avraham Harman was President of the university from 1968 to 1983,
Don Patinkin from 1983 to 1986,
Amnon Pazy from 1986 to 1990,
Yoram Ben-Porat from 1990 to 1992,
Hanoch Gutfreund from 1992 to 1997, and
Menachem Magidor from 1997 to 2009.
Menachem Ben-Sasson was President of the university from 2009 to 2017, succeeded by
Asher Cohen in 2017. ==Campuses==