Solidarity Visit of US Academics

A delegation of nearly 20 Jewish studies researchers from US universities met with members of Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Jewish Studies to express solidarity in Israel’s time of crisis.

The meeting focused on the impact of the October 7 war on Bar-Ilan University. Shiri Himelfarb, a student in the Department of Talmud and Oral Law, discussed her experience, volunteering as an ambulance driver in the Gaza Envelope. Prof. Aren Maeir, from the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, presented a series of videos focusing on his visit to various locations where the massacre occurred. One of those videos went viral on X (formerly Twitter) when it was tweeted by the Israeli Embassy in the United States.

Bar-Ilan University President Prof. Arie Zaban, Rector Prof. Amnon Albeck, and Faculty of Jewish Studies Dean Prof. Shmuel Refael delivered opening greetings. The organizers of the event, Prof. Barak Cohen, Head of the Department of Talmud and Oral Law, and Prof. Arnon Atzmon, Head of the Multidisciplinary Department of Jewish Studies, explained that beyond the research-academic aspect, the scholars’ visit was an unequivocal expression of the strong alliance between researchers of Jewish Studies in Israel and abroad.

"The visit of a US delegation of researchers in the midst of the battle is comparable to a US destroyer ship in docking in the territorial waters of the universities in Israel." said Prof. Shmuel Refael, Dean of the Faculty of Jewish Studies.