Bar-Ilan University#Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center

File:First Graduation at Bar Ilan University - Ogden Reid 1959.jpg

File:המרכז למבקרים ומצפה לב הקמפוס ע"ש ונגרובסקי (11562183273).jpg

File:PikiWiki Israel 15922 Unity park in Bar-Ilan University.JPG

File:Bar-Ilan University. Machon (17287812905).jpg campus bet midrash and midrasha]]

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.{{cite web|url=https://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=6551&pt=1&pid=988&level=5&cPath=35,983,988 |title=Bar-Ilan Presidents | Bar-Ilan University |publisher=.biu.ac.il |access-date=2020-02-18}} When it was opened in 1955, it was described by The New York Times "as Cultural Link Between the [Israeli] Republic and America".{{cite web |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/General/biu_history.html |title=Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Biu.ac.il |date=May 10, 1955 |access-date=September 29, 2011 |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113151701/http://www.biu.ac.il/General/biu_history.html |url-status=dead }} 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).

The university was named for Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan (originally Meir Berlin), a Religious Zionist leader who served as the inspiration for its establishment. Although he was trained in Orthodox seminaries in Berlin, he believed there was a need for an institution providing a dual curriculum of secular academic studies and religious Torah studies.

BIU's student population is diverse and includes both Jewish and non-Jewish students.

Jewish students must take at least five courses in Jewish studies in order to graduate; non-Jewish students can choose general courses instead.{{Cite web |title=B.A Requirements 2017 and forth {{!}} School for Basic Jewish Studies |url=https://yesod.biu.ac.il/en/node/1970 |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=yesod.biu.ac.il}} 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,[http://www.mgl.org.il/lesson/ בית המדרש ], mgl.org.il and a Midrasha for women.{{Cite web|url=https://midrasha.biu.ac.il/en|title=Midrasha | Bar-Ilan University|website=midrasha.biu.ac.il}} 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.{{cite web|last=Wagner|first=Matthew|title=Bar-Ilan again forced to deal with the extremists in its midst|url=http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=72376|work=Jerusalem Post|access-date=2 October 2013}}{{cite web|last=Kalman|first=Matthew|title=A Bitter Return to Politics at Israel's Bar-Ilan U.|url=http://chronicle.com/article/A-Bitter-Return-to-Politics-at/127097/|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date=12 April 2011 |access-date=2 October 2013}}

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 {{cite web|url=http://www.biu.ac.il/interdis/gondabrain/index_eng.html |title=Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Biu.ac.il |access-date=September 29, 2011}} and a center for nanotechnology.{{cite web|url=http://www.nanocenter.biu.ac.il/php/general/first.php |title=Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Nanocenter.biu.ac.il |access-date=September 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721170333/http://www.nanocenter.biu.ac.il/php/general/first.php |archive-date=July 21, 2011 }} The university has placed archaeology as one of its priorities, and this includes excavations such as the Tell es-Safi/Gath archaeological excavations{{cite web |url=http://www.dig-gath.org |title=The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project |publisher=Dig-gath.org |access-date=September 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://swap.stanford.edu/20090419223353/http://www.dig-gath.org/ |archive-date=April 19, 2009 |url-status=usurped }} and the recently opened Bar-Ilan University/Weizmann Institute of Science joint program in Archaeological Sciences.{{cite web|title=Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science |url=http://www.weizmann.ac.il/kimmel-arch/iuprogram.html |access-date=February 9, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829161256/http://www.weizmann.ac.il/kimmel-arch/iuprogram.html |archive-date=August 29, 2007 }}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.israelbar.org.il/uploadFiles/statistica%20may%202008.pdf |title=Results of the Bar Exam 5.5.08 (Hebrew) |publisher=Israelbar.org.il |access-date=September 29, 2011}} Daniel Hershkowitz was university president from 2013 to 2017.

Arie Zaban was elected as the president of the university in 2017.

In June 2024, the university received a $260 million donation from the estate of an anonymous American donor, the largest bequest in the university's history and the second largest ever to an Israeli university. The donation is earmarked for science and technology, specifically to recruit researchers, build laboratories, and create partnerships.{{cite news |last1=Ilan |first1=Shahar |title=Bar Ilan University receives 1B shekel anonymous donation to promote Deep Tech research |url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1zbm4ina |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=Calcalist |date=2024-06-03}}

Bar-Ilan University has nine faculties: Exact Sciences, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Education, Humanities, Jewish Studies, Medicine, Engineering, and Law. There is also a special Unit of Interdisciplinary Studies. At the undergraduate level, as mentioned, ten courses in Jewish studies related subjects are required from all students.

Bar-Ilan offers several special programs, including its international B.A. program,{{cite web|url=http://www.biuinternational.com |title=International B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University | Israel's premier university for Olim and Overseas students!International B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University | Israel's premier university for Olim and Overseas students! |publisher=Biuinternational.com |access-date=2013-10-30}} taught entirely in English, and is the first university in Israel to offer a full undergraduate program taught entirely in English. Currently, students can choose between a B.A. degree in interdisciplinary social sciences,{{cite web |url=http://www.biuinternational.com/academics/social-sciences/ |title=Interdisciplinary Social Sciences – BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Biuinternational.com |access-date=2013-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101121215/http://www.biuinternational.com/academics/social-sciences/ |archive-date=2013-11-01 |url-status=dead }} where students can choose between a macro track in economics, political sciences, and sociology,{{cite web |url=http://www.biuinternational.com/academics/social-sciences/tracks |title=Academic Tracks in the Social Sciences – BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Biuinternational.com |access-date=2013-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103115146/http://www.biuinternational.com/academics/social-sciences/tracks/ |archive-date=2013-11-03 |url-status=dead }} or the Micro Track in Criminology, Psychology, and Sociology, or a major in communications,{{cite web |url=http://www.biuinternational.com/academics/communication |title=International B.A. Program in Communication – BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Biuinternational.com |access-date=2013-10-30 |archive-date=2018-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311205631/http://biuinternational.com/academics/communication/ |url-status=dead }} with a minor in either English literature or political science. The degrees are internationally recognized and are open to students from all over the world.{{cite web |url=http://www1.biu.ac.il |title=Bar-Ilan University |publisher=BIU |access-date=2013-10-30 |archive-date=2009-09-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090915135324/http://www.biu.ac.il/ |url-status=dead }}

In addition, Bar-Ilan offers a preparatory program that readies new immigrants for Israeli colleges. The university also runs a one-year overseas program called Torah Im Derech Eretz Program, which combines traditional Kollel Torah studies in the morning, separate for men and women, as well as co-ed general university studies and Jewish history classes in the afternoon. Many American students enrolled in regular programs of study in the university also take these Jewish history classes to fulfill their Jewish studies requirements.

Bar-Ilan also houses several research institutions such as the above-mentioned Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, focused on neuroscience, which may have their own requirements.

The Bar Ilan Responsa Project was awarded the Israel Prize in 2007.{{cite web|url=http://www.digento.de/titel/105616.html |title=The Bar Ilan Responsa Project (Global Jewish Database) |publisher=Digento.de |date=November 18, 2002 |access-date=September 29, 2011}} The university's Bible project, in danger of being eliminated by continued budget cuts, was saved at the last minute by an anonymous donor.{{cite web|last=Ilani |first=Ofri |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/795573.html |title=Bar-Ilan University Bible project |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=April 2, 2008 |access-date=September 29, 2011}}

In its capacity as a business school, Bar-Ilan was placed as the fourth best business school in Africa and the Middle East in the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report.{{cite web |url=http://www.topmba.com/mba-rankings/top-business-schools-report-2010/regions/top-business-schools-in-africa-and-middle-east |title=Top Business Schools |publisher=TopMBA.com |access-date=September 29, 2011 |archive-date=October 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017024113/http://www.topmba.com/mba-rankings/top-business-schools-report-2010/regions/top-business-schools-in-africa-and-middle-east |url-status=dead }}

{{see also|Category:Bar-Ilan University alumni}}

• Zvi Arad (1942–2018) – mathematician, former president of Bar-Ilan University and of the Netanya Academic College
• Ami Ayalon – former head of the Shin Bet and member of the Knesset for the Labor Party.
• Michael Ben-Ari – Israeli politician and formerly a member of the Knesset for the National Union Party.
• Kotel Da-Don – Croatian Orthodox rabbi of the Bet Israel community in Zagreb.
• Avi Dichter – former minister of home front defence. Former Shin Bet director.
• Yuval Diskin – 12th director of the Israeli Internal Security Service Shin Bet.
• Esther Farbstein – Holocaust scholar
• Baruch Fischer - Professor Emeritus in the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technion
• Tzipi Hotovely – Israeli diplomat and former politician who serves as the current ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom. Formerly deputy minister of foreign affairs, minister of diaspora affairs, minister of settlement affairs, and as a member of the Knesset for the Likud Party
• Gila Gamliel – Israeli politician for the Likud Party. Formerly minister for social equality, and minister of environmental protection
• Anat Guetta – chair of the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) since 2018{{Cite web |title=ISA :: Ms.Anat Guetta |url=https://www.isa.gov.il/sites/ISAEng/ABOUT/Commissioners%20of%20the%20ISA/Pages/Anat-Guetta.aspx |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=www.isa.gov.il}}
• Michael Harris – named the best Israeli in the field of academics, as one of "The 10 Most Successful Israelis in 10 Different Fields in the World" by Maariv in April 2012.[http://www.iuk.edu/chancellor/assets/pdf/Maarivarticle.pdf]{{dead link|date=October 2013}}
• Joseph Klafter – chemical physics professor, the eighth president of Tel Aviv University
• Joshua Kulp – Talmudic scholar
• Norman Lebrecht (born 1948) – British commentator on music and cultural affairs, and novelist
• Tzipi Livni – Israeli lawyer and politician, head of the Opposition from 2009 to 2012. Formerly minister of justice, and in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians
• Gadeer Mreeh (born 1984) – first woman of Druze descent to become a member of the Knesset
• Orit Peleg – professor of biophysics at the University of Colorado
• Zehorit Sorek (born 1975) – LGBTQ rights activist

{{see also|Category:Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University}}

{{div col}}

• Doron Aurbach
• Nathan Aviezer
• Moshe Bar
• Avi Bell
• Pinkhos Churgin
• Cyril Domb
• Shlomo Eckstein
• Avraham Faust
• Adam Ferziger
• Jonathan Fox
• Hillel Furstenberg
• Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
• Oren Harman
• Shlomo Havlin
• Arye L. Hillman
• Max Jammer
• Efraim Karsh
• Mordechai Kedar
• Sarit Kraus
• Ernest Krausz
• Baruch Kurzweil
• Aren Maeir
• Nina Pinto-Abecasis
• Arie Reich
• Tamar Ross{{cite web |title=Tamar Ross |url=https://biu.academia.edu/tamarross |website=Academia.edu |access-date=20 December 2021}}
• Mary Schaps
• Daniel Sperber
• Avraham Trahtman
• Eli Vakil
• Zeev Zalevsky

{{div col end}}

File:Bar-Ilan University. Engineering (11908490355).jpg|Faculty of engineering

File:(המרכז לחקר המוח ע"ש לסלי וסוזאן גונדה (גולדשמיד (11795483624).jpg|Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center

File:בית הרב יעקובוביץ - מרכז סמי שמעון ללימודי פילוסופיה אתיקה ומחשבת ישראל (11908099463).jpg|Centre for the study of philosophy, ethics and Jewish thought

File:הטריפלקס לננוטכנולוגיה ע"ש לסלי וסוזן גונדה גולדשמיד (11513855913).jpg|Nanotechnology building

File:הפקולטה_לרפואה_(15472290024).jpg|Bar-Ilan Faculty of Medicine

File:PXL 20240221 141928029.jpg|Bar-Ilan Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science

• List of universities in Israel
• Ashkelon Academic College
• Kinneret College

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• {{official website|http://www.biu.ac.il/index_eng.shtml}}
• [http://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=980&pt=1&pid=35&level=3&cPath=35,980 BIU History]
• [http://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=90&pt=4&pid=30&level=2&cPath=90 Bar-Ilan University – Study Programs for Olim/Foreign Students]
• [https://whed.net/detail_institution.php?Jzo2MF0sMzBVLTBgYApgCg Bar-Ilan University details in WHED (World Higher Education Database) Website (IAU-001455)]
• [http://www.judaismshop.com/Bar-Ilan-Responsa/ Bar-Ilan responsa website]
• [http://medicine.biu.ac.il/en Bar-Ilan Faculty of Medicine]
• [http://nano.biu.ac.il/ Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (BINA)]
• [http://law.biu.ac.il/en Bar-Ilan Faculty of Law]
• {{in lang|he}} [http://www.bis.org.il Bar-Ilan Students Union]
• {{in lang|es}} [http://www.alubi.org Amigos Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Bar-Ilan]

{{Universities in Israel}}

{{Religious Zionism}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Universities and colleges established in 1955

Category:Orthodox Jewish universities and colleges

Category:Buildings and structures in Ramat Gan

Category:Religious Zionism

Category:Research institutes in Israel

Category:Universities in Israel

Category:Education in Tel Aviv District

Category:1955 establishments in Israel

Category:Law schools in Israel