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Editor:Louise ShalevContributors:Rava Eleasari, Talma Agron,Pauline Reich, Ruti ZivTranslation Services:Sagir Translations, Offiservice

Photography:Development and Public AffairsDivision Photography Department/Michal Roche Ben-Ami,Michal KidronAdditional Photography:ASAP/Israel Talby, Uri Roll,GPO/Avi OhayonIllustration:Pnina Wolinsky-Sissman

Administrative Coordinator:Pauline ReichAdministrative Assistance:Edna GoldbergerGraphic Design:TAU Graphic Design Studio/Michal Semo, Pnina Wolinsky-SissmanPrinting:Eli Meir Printing

Issued by the Publications Officeof the Development andPublic Affairs DivisionTel Aviv UniversityRamat Aviv 69978Tel Aviv, IsraelTel. 03-6414653, 03-6408249Fax 03-6407080E-mail: publicat@post.tau.ac.ilwww.tau.ac.il

NEWSS u m m e r 2 0 0 5

1

StudentsTAU opens its doors tothe first Palestinianstudent fromGaza – p. 18.

On CampusResearchThe first spacecraft ever to land on

icy Titan did so safely due toatmospheric conditions

predicted by a TAUteam – p. 12.

On CampusNewsmakers

Cover: A TAU medical team has introduced the first Israeli genetherapy technique for curing chronic coronary artery disease:Prof. Ran Kornowski (left) and Dr. Shmuel Fuchs (right) withpatient Amos Ben-Yosef – story page 9.Photos: The Department of Medical Photography,Beilinson Hospital; Science Photo LibraryCover design: Pnina Wolinsky-Sissman

18

17

21

23On CampusFriends

9

On CampusA gala concert

conducted by ZubinMehta launches Israel’s

premier music school atTAU – p. 3. 5 Worldscene

The 14th EuropeanRegional Conferenceof the Board ofGovernors took placein Berlin, which isundergoing a Jewishcommunity revival – p. 8.

On CampusImpact

NEWS1Summer 2005

Tel Aviv University Marks Yearof Physics, Einstein’s TheoriesAn international symposium held by the Cohn Institutefor the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideasdebates the connection between cultural norms andscientific developments

Why did modern science –a global enterprise today– develop in Europe at aparticular historical

juncture? Which were the decisivefactors that existed nowhere else? Whydid the Babylonians with theirrecognized mathematical abilities, orthe Greeks with all their theoreticalgenius, stop short of some of the crucialsteps in the direction of athoroughgoing empirical science? Whydidn’t China, with all its technicalingenuity, develop in that direction?

Such questions occupy the attentionof historians and philosophers ofscience, and on the occasion of thecentennial of Albert Einstein’s AnnusMirabilis in 1905, the miraculous yearin which he published threegroundbreaking papers that stood at thefocus of 20th century science, TAU’sCohn Institute for the History and

Philosophy of Science and Ideas andthe Goethe Institute, Tel Aviv, held aninternational conference on “CulturalRelativity and the Scientific Enterprise:Context and Contingency in theDevelopment of Science.” Researchersfrom Germany, Austria, Hungary, theUK, the USA, India and Israelgathered to discuss thecultural dimensions ofscience – the strengthsor weaknesses of certaincultural norms andtraditions, tacit cognitiveand perceptual filtersoperating in favor oragainst the ideal ofmodern science, and themoral implications of science.

Conference organizers were Dr. LeoCorry of the Cohn Institute and Dr. EikeGebhardt, a sociologist of culture fromBerlin.

TAU Rector and physicsprofessor ShimonYankielowicz reflects onthe greatness of Einstein

From about 1750 until the rise of Hitlerand Nazism, the German Jewishcommunity flourished and contributedsignificantly to all aspects of modernEuropean life, producing great writers,poets, musicians, philosophers,political leaders and scientists.Among them one figure stands out asboth the greatest mind and paramounticon of our scientific and technologicalage, a figure whose name has becomesynonymous with genius, and who isone of the 20th century’s mostcompelling personalities: AlbertEinstein.

During 1905, a year we nowremember as his “miraculous year,”Einstein wrote three papers thatchanged science forever. The first wason the photoelectric effect, for whichhe was later to win the Nobel Prize,and the second was on Brownianmotion. However, it was his third paperon the Special Theory of Relativity thatrevolutionized conventional conceptsof time and space. In it, he determinedthat time is relative – in other words,

the rate at whichtime passesdepends on yourframe of reference– while the speedof light isconstant.

He laterwent on topublish his

General Theory of Relativity, whichexplained and tied gravity to thegeometry of space-time and paved theway for space exploration. Albert Einstein’s scientific career wasa constant quest for the universal andimmutable laws that govern thephysical world. His theories spannedthe fundamental elements of nature –from the entire cosmos to subatomicparticles. Einstein was a true theoreticalphysicist. His only true tools were apenetrating and intuitive grasp of theworkings of the universe.

TAU Holds Nationwide Conference for High School StudentsTAU’s Unit for Science-Oriented Youth at the Constantiner School of Education,together with other TAU units and the Ministry of Education, invited advanced highschool students from across the country to a scientific conference marking theEinstein festivities. The students enjoyed 12 lectures by TAU scientists during theday-long event.

Bust of Albert Einstein by TosiaMalamud at the Raymond andBeverly Sackler Faculty of ExactSciences on the TAU campus

2NEWS Summer 2005

Architect David Reznik: Modernist and a Humanist

Porter SchoolActive Nationally,InternationallyPorter School Debates Land RightsLand resources in Israel are extremelyscarce and are constantly threatened bythe pressures of development. Inaddition to their environmentalsignificance, the access to and controlover these resources is fraught withsocial, economic and politicalproblems. To this end, the Porter Schoolof Environmental Studies held a seriesof symposia focusing on the topic ofopen space and land rights in Israel aspart of its activities within theframework of the National Forum of theEnvironment.

The first symposium, “MunicipalBorders,” held together with theMizrahi Democratic Rainbow-NewDiscourse, focused on the allocation ofland to local authorities; “Land, Capitaland Governance,” held jointly with theKnesset Commission for FutureGenerations, discussed the issue of landownership and policy in Israel; and“Environment, Planning and HumanRights in Israel,” held with the IsraelUnion for Environmental Defense, dealtwith planning issues from theperspective of social and human rights,including the right to a decentenvironment. The series was organizedby Dr. Arie Nesher, ProfessionalDirector of the Porter School.

Israeli-Italian EnvironmentalCooperation was thetopic of an event heldby the Italian-IsraeliForum forEnvironmental R&Destablished by thePorter School togetherwith the ItalianMinistry ofEnvironment and Territory and theItalian Embassy in Israel. Guest speakersincluded Israeli Minister of theEnvironment Shalom Simhon; Director-General of the Italian Ministry forEnvironment and Territory Dr. CorradoClini; Head of the School Prof. HagitMesser-Yaron and founder of the PorterSchool, Dame Shirley Porter.

Dr. CorradoClini

The first-ever retrospective of worksby Israeli architect David Reznik

was displayed at TAU’s Genia SchreiberUniversity Art Gallery. A 1995 IsraelPrize laureate, Reznik was one of theforemost architects of Israel’s foundinggeneration. The 20 works featured inthe exhibition were selected for howthey illustrate the development ofReznik’s architectural language andthe unique characteristics of his work –at once modernist and humanistic,said exhibition curator Sophia Dekel-Caspi. “Reznik incorporated stark andclean elements of Modernism in hisdesigns, but never at the expense ofcoherence with the surroundings; or thecomfort and ease of use by people,”she said.

The exhibition was accompanied bya detailed catalogue featuring researchon Reznik that was published by TAU.

Born in Brazil in 1924, Reznikstudied architecture there and workedunder the renowned Modernist architectOscar Niemayer. He immigrated toIsrael with his wife Rachel in 1949 andeventually settled in Jerusalem wherehe opened his own firm.

Among the many distinctive buildingsdesigned by Reznik in Jerusalem are theUniversity Synagogue at the Givat RamCampus of the Hebrew University, theVan Leer Institute, the Israel NationalAcademy of Sciences and the HyattRegency Hotel. His projects overseasinclude the Israeli pavilion at Expo ’67in Montreal, Canada, and the IsraeliEmbassy in Brasilia, Brazil.

The exhibition was selected by theMinistry of Education, Sport and Cultureand the Ministry of Foreign Affairs torepresent Israel at the Biennale in SaoPaulo, Brazil, later this year.

A Reznik design: The School of Education on the Mount Scopus campus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

New Signal Processing and Multimedia Laboratory

The Signal Processing and Multimedia Laboratory was established at the Schoolof Electrical Engineering of TAU’s Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, in

collaboration with Freescale Semiconductor Israel (formerly MotorolaSemiconductor, Israel.) The laboratory, which is equipped with the company’sspecialized signal processing chips, will be used by students and faculty working in

the fields of signal and video processing andcommunications applications. Freescale also

awarded a master’s scholarship at the faculty. At the inauguration ceremony, Ronen

Shtayer, CEO of Freescale Israel, said thatthe laboratory illustrated howcollaboration between industry andacademia benefits all parties concerned. Also attending were President ofFreescale Israel, Israel Kashat; Dean ofEngineering Prof. Touvia Miloh; andacademic head of the new laboratory,Prof. David Burshtein.

From left: Ronen Shtayer, Prof. Touvia Milohand Israel Kashat

NEWS3Summer 2005

Nineteen year-old pianist Tal-Haim Samnon’sperformance of Beethoven’sEmperor Concerto at the

inauguration of TAU’s Buchmann-Mehta School of Music was receivedwith rapturous applause and cries foran encore. Tal symbolizes the type oftalented young musician the newschool aims to train on a world-classlevel.

The school, which unites TAU andthe Israel Philharmonic Orchestra(IPO) under Musical Director ZubinMehta, is being supported by TAUhonorary doctor Josef Buchmann, agreat TAU benefactor, Vice Chairmanof the International Board ofGovernors, and long-time patron ofculture and the IPO.

Honorary President of the School,Zubin Mehta, who has been awarded aprofessorship at TAU, said toBuchmann: “I will say it simply – withall of you in the audience as mywitness, Yossele, I love you.” Hestressed that the school fulfills his long-time dream of “creating a truly

outstanding training program fororchestral players for the IPO and otherorchestras and to prevent the flight ofIsrael’s best young musical talentabroad.” A special program ofexcellence will enable approximately100 talented young musicians toreceive full scholarships, he noted.

The school’s academic standing willbe enhanced by the addition of theSamuel Rubin Musicology Track, whichcurrently has 160 students, of whom 65are on the master’s and PhD level.

Zubin Mehtaconducting theBuchmann-MehtaSymphonyOrchestra

Josef and Bareket Buchmann

New Erain Israeli Musical EducationA gala concert under the baton of Zubin Mehta launches TAU’sBuchmann-Mehta School of Music in cooperation with the IsraelPhilharmonic Orchestra

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent amessage in which he praised “thiswonderful union between JosefBuchmann and Zubin Mehta – bothoutstanding friends of Israel – as onethat will profoundly influence Israel’smusical and cultural life.”

Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa Ron Huldaisaid this was a great moment for thecity and the entire country.

The school sent a powerful messageabout Jewish continuity, TAU PresidentItamar Rabinovich said, in that JosefBuchmann had “survived the sub-human conditions of the concentrationcamps to become an extremelysuccessful businessman and philan-thropist who is committed to Israel.”

The inaugural concert featured theschool’s Symphony Orchestra togetherwith lead players of the IPO in an all-Beethoven program conducted byMehta. Tal-Haim Samnon, the pianosoloist, won a competition at the schoolto play in the concert.

Head of the school Prof. Tomer Levacted as master of ceremonies for theevening.

4NEWS Summer 2005

Room Memorializes Sandra Ways-Spielman

Aseminar room in the Dan David

Building was dedicatedin the memory of SandraWays-Spielman of Paris,France, who passedaway one year ago aftera battle with cancer atthe age of 37. Among

those attending the ceremony wereSandra’s parents Serge and Nadine Ways,brother Jonathan, former husbandLionel Spielman and children Adamand Tanya.

Friends and family membersdonated the room as well asscholarships for students at theuniversity.

TAU Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi told the Ways family, “everytime you visit here, you too will feelpart of the university family. Youwill see your love for Sandra and forIsrael perpetuated through a lively,youthful and outstanding place oflearning.”

Serge Ways said, “Sandra was a personof exceptional beauty, generosity and

Animal AttractionAnimal lovers can now goonline for a live video broadcastof gazelles, birds, bats and othercreatures at TAU’s I. MeierSegals Garden for ZoologicalResearch. The site was set up incollaboration with the IsraelElectric Corporation and theMoked Emun security companyand allows viewers to zoom inon the various groups of animalsin the zoo around the clock.

Academic Director of the zooDr. Arnon Lotem says that the

site “is anexcellent

educationaltool for

children and schools and helpsto strengthen the zoo’srelationship with the public.”

The site will be updatedbased on the seasons and theanimals’ activity, and will soonbe available in an Englishversion. www.tau.ac.il/lifesci/zoolive The late Sandra

Ways-Spielman

From left: Yehiel Ben-Zvi, Tanya Ways-Spielman, Nadine Ways,Adam Ways-Spielman, Jonathan Ways and Serge Ways

intelligence. She was an outstandingmother, daughter, sister, friend, and wife,and it was especially important for us tomemorialize her in Israel. We hope thatSandra’s shining light will illuminate theuniversity in a way that it has illuminatedour lives.”

Sandra Ways-Spielman was the author ofThe French Licensing Market, a book onintellectual property and licensing rights inFrance.

The ceremony was followed by a prayerservice at the Cymbalista Synagogue andJewish Heritage Center.

Internet Studies Gain SponsorIsrael’s largest Internet service provider, Netvision,

has joined forces with TAU in establishing theNetvision Institute for Internet Studies

The social and cultural impact of the Internet is the focus of TAU’s newly inauguratedNetvision Institute, which promotes research in the field through symposia and

conferences for the academic and business communities. It has so far organized 21conferences and seminars, the last of whichaddressed the issue of anti-Semitism on theWeb. The institute has also conducted surveysregarding Internet use in Israel, and hasgranted three research fellowships to doctoralstudents. Academic Director of the institute is Prof.Niv Ahituv, incumbent of the Marko and LucieChaoul Chair for Research in InformationEvaluation at the Faculty of Management—

Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration. The institute’s professionaldirector, Eli Hacohen, initiated and implemented the cooperation between Netvision andTAU.

Netvision CEO Ravit Barniv awarded the three doctoral fellowships to students whostudy the role of the Internet in education and art. Ami Harel, President of DiscountInvestments and Chairman of the Netvision Board of Directors, and TAU President ItamarRabinovich, delivered greetings at the inauguration.

From left: Prof. Niv Ahituv, Prof. ItamarRabinovich, Ravit Barniv and Ami Harel

Enhancing human

resources

The Department of Labor Studiesat the Gordon Faculty of SocialSciences is offering a new one-year executive master’s degree inLabor Studies for experiencedprofessionals in the field ofhuman resource management.The program aims to enhancethe understanding oforganizational processes andhuman resource management inboth the private and publicsectors and is headed by Prof.Gideon Kunda. Graduates willbe awarded a master’s degree inLabor Studies.

NEWS5Summer 2005

German President KöhlerVisits TAU

Köhler requested briefings by TAU think tanksin Middle Eastern affairs

President Carter hosted by Israeli and Palestinian bird loversFormer US President Jimmy Carter (pictured center)released a wryneck bird in the Knesset Gardens inJerusalem, as guest of TAU’s Dr. Yossi Leshem (left),Head of the International Center for the Study of BirdMigration in Latrun. Carter, an ardent birdwatcher,took time off from monitoring the Palestinian Authorityelections while in the region, to learn about the project“Migrating Birds Know No Boundaries,” a researchproject supported by USAID MERC on the migration ofbirds in the region. The project is run by TAU and theSociety for the Protection of Nature in Israel, incooperation with Palestinian and Jordanian wildlifeorganizations. To Carter’s right is Imad Atrash,Executive Director of the Palestine Wildlife Society.

Author Gish Jen VisitsCampus

Gish Jen

Prof. Rabinovich (left) with President Köhler

As part of the visit of the Federal

President of Germany toIsrael this year, HorstKöhler and his delegationspent several hours at TAU.The visit was initiated byPresident Köhler himself,who cited his wish to learnmore about the currentsituation in Israel,specifically with regard to

Israeli-Palestinian ties, as well as local and regional economic, strategic andpolitical issues. President Köhler was accompanied by State Secretary Dr.Michael Jansen, Head of the Federal Foreign Affairs Department Dr. WolfgangSchultheiss, and German Ambassador to Israel Dr. Rudolf Dressler, as well asIsraeli Ambassador to Germany Dr. Shimon Stein.

During the closed-door meeting, President Köhler, an economist and formerpresident of the World Bank, spoke of his growing hope that peace betweenIsrael and the Palestinians could be achieved.

The meeting was organized jointly by TAU’s Jaffee Center for StrategicStudies (JCSS) and Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies,whose members gave presentations on pressing issues in the Middle East.Subjects discussed were Iraq, Islam and Democracy by Dr. Martin Kramer ofthe Dayan Center; European Policies in Regard to the Middle East by JCSSscholar Dr. Mark Heller; The Change in the Situation between Israel and theArab World by JCSS Head Dr. Zvi Stauber; Israel and the Palestinians: Crisis andDialogue by Brigadier General (res.) Shlomo Brom of the JCSS; and the IranianChallenge by Dr. Ephraim Kam of the JCSS.

Chinese-American writer Gish Jen wasguest lecturer of the Yael Levin Writer-in-Residence Program of the Department ofEnglish, Entin Faculty of Humanities. Jen isthe author of Typical American, Mona inthe Promised Land and The Love Wife.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Jenwas a pioneer in the genre of cross-culturalfiction in the United States. Her writingaddresses the two very different worlds shegrew up in – the immigrant world and themainstream world. Jen stresses, however,that she has always been interested not justin capturing the Chinese-Americanexperience, but the entire Americanexperience. “Part of my writing has been aneffort to claim my American-ness in a waythat does not deny my Chinese heritage,”said Jen. “And it doesseem to me that bythe time you askyourself, ‘Well, whatdoes it mean to beIranian-American,Chinese-American,Jewish-American,Irish American?’ youare American becauseit’s not a question thatpeople ask in other parts of the world.”

The program was established by DanielaShamir and Prof. Meir Het of Israel, togetherwith family members, in memory of theiraunt Yael Levin, who was an Englishteacher.

6NEWS Summer 2005

• Mr. William Kristol of the US, Editor andPublisher of The Weekly Standard, delivereda lecture entitled “The Bush Foreign Policyand Neo-Conservative Ideology afterSeptember 11” as guest of the Harold HartogSchool of Government and Policy and theDepartment of Political Science. His talk wasfollowed by a panel discussion featuring Mr.

Dov Weisglass, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister; TAUPresident Itamar Rabinovich; Prof. Peter Berkowitz of GeorgeMason University Law School and the Hoover Institution,Stanford University; and Prof. Yossi Shain, Head of the HartogSchool.

William Kristol Prof. HilaryPutnam

Prof. PeterBodenheimer

• Prof. Ruth Wedgwood of Johns Hopkins University spokeon American democracy and the changing nature of the lawsof war at the first seminar of the Israel Program onConstitutional Government Seminar Series of the HartogSchool of Government and Policy.

• The Mortimer and Raymond SacklerInstitute of Advanced Studies hosted threeguest lecturers: Prof. Hilary Putnam ofHarvard University, a Sackler SeniorProfessor by Special Appointment at TAU’sSchool of Philosophy; Prof. Ulf Hannerz ofthe Department of Sociology andAnthropology of Stockholm University; andProf. Wout Ultee of the Department ofSociology, University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

• Prof. Peter Bodenheimer of the LickObservatory, Santa Cruz, California,delivered the Yuval Ne’emanDistinguished Lecture in Geophysics,Atmospheric and Space Sciencesendowed by Raymond and BeverlySackler.

• Prof. Andrzej Bialas of Jagellonian University, Krakow,Poland, delivered the Emilio Segre Distinguished Lecturein Physics endowed by Raymond and Beverly Sackler.

• The Entin Faculty of Humanities’ School of History and theInstitute for the History and Culture of Latin America hostedProf. Adrian Shubert of York University, Canada. He spoke on“The Bullfighter Takes Off Her Make Up: Gender and Corridain Modern Spain.”

Globalization vs. Nationalism

Argentina after the crisisArgentina’s Minister of the Interior, Dr. AnibalFernandez, lectured on “The Crisis of 2001 andthe Incorporation of Argentina in theInternational Context” at an event organized byTAU’s Institute for Latin American History andCulture. Mr. Atilio Molteni, Ambassador ofArgentina to Israel, gave greetings and Prof.Raanan Rein, Director of the S. Daniel AbrahamCenter for International and Regional Studies,moderated the event.

Parlez-vous Francais?The French Department, Entin Faculty of Humanities, under the directionof Prof. Nadine Kuperty-Tsur, held an International Francophone Daydevoted to the teaching of the French language. The event was opened bythree ambassadors of French-speaking countries, France, Belgium andSwitzerland, and attended by Prof. Tobie Nathan, ethno-psychiatrist andcultural counselor of the French Embassy, which sponsored the event; Prof.Jean Binon of the University of Louvain, Belgium; Prof. Danielle Flament ofParis X-Nanterre; Mrs. Aimee Laure Tancman, Inspector of French at theIsraeli Ministry of Education; and Prof. Elie Barnavi of TAU’s School ofHistory, a former Israeli ambassador to France.

From left: Prof. Alain Dieckhoff, Prof. Elie Barnaviand Prof. Raanan Rein

Is globalization bringing about the endof nationalism and the nation state?What meaning will the EuropeanConstitution have for traditional nationstates in Europe? These were some ofthe questions raised at a seminarentitled “Nationalism in a ChangingWorld” held by TAU’s S. DanielAbraham Center for International andRegional Studies, in cooperation withCERI-Sciences Po, Paris.

In his keynote address, Prof. AlainDieckhoff of CERI-Sciences Pochallenged the prevailing view thatnationalism is on the decline becauseof globalization. “The basic principle at

the heart of nationalism – selfdetermination – is limitless and can beput forward by various groups thatclaim to be peoples,” said Dieckhoff.“The appeal of nationalism remains apowerful one for all peoples looking forpolitical freedom,” he said.

Dr. Alon Rachamimov of TAU’sSchool of History said that whileinstitutions such as the EuropeanUnion, the United Nations, theInternational Criminal Court and theInternational Monetary Fund had to acertain extent limited the ability ofstates to exercise full sovereignty, noneof these institutions had managed to

create cultural constructs appealingenough to attract the same emotionalfervor as nationalism.

The seminar was organized by Prof.Raanan Rein, Director of the AbrahamCenter, and moderated by Prof. ElieBarnavi, Head of TAU’s Curiel Institutefor European Studies, History, Cultureand International Relations.

NEWS7Summer 2005

Mayor Jerzy Kropiwnicki (left) withVice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi

Campus VisitorsAdelegation from

Lodz, Poland, headedby Mayor Dr. JerzyKropiwnicki, visited thecampus and met withPresident Itamar Rabinovich,Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi and members of the TAUfaculty.

Agroup of attorney generals from the US, guests of the America-Israel Friendship League, visited the campus

and met with Prof. Asher Susser, Director of the Moshe DayanCenter for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and Prof. DinaPorat, Head of the Chaim Rosenberg School of JewishStudies.

Adelegation from CERI-Sciences Po,Paris, headed by Richard Descoings,

was hosted at TAU within the framework of acooperation agreement signed between thetwo institutions. They met with facultymembers and students and were accompaniedon campus by Vice President of the FrenchFriends Association François Heilbronn.

RichardDescoings

Dr. Patrick Boisseau, International Coordinator ofNano2Life, European Network of Excellence, visited

TAU and met with senior researchers in nanoscience andnanotechnology and life sciences. Guest of honor at themeeting was former President of the State of Israel Prof.Ephraim Katzir of TAU.

The American Forum of TAU’s Jaffee Centerfor Strategic Studies hosted the Director of

AIPAC, Howard A. Kohr, at TAU. He met withcenter researchers and spoke on the AIPAClobby and the Bush administration.

Howard Kohr

Adelegation of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research visited TAU and toured facilities that

receive German federal funding, including the Minerva DeadSea Research Institute, the GLOWA Jordan River Project, andresearch labs in cancer research and water technology.

TAU hosted a delegation from the French National Unionof Students (UNEF), who arrived in Israel to strengthen

relations and cooperation between French, Israeli andPalestinian universities. They met with Rector ShimonYankielowicz; Prof. Jonathan Price, Director of Inter-Academic Affairs; and Prof. Elie Barnavi, former Israeliambassador to France.

Hartog School leads mayoral delegation to South AfricaTAU’s Hartog School of Government and Policy led a delegation of twelveJewish and Arab mayors and local government officials to South Africa for astudy visit to examine the role of local government in the consolidation ofdemocracy in that country. Prof. Yossi Shain, Head of the Hartog School,noted that the initiative “both enriched the delegates’ knowledge andcontributed to efforts to improve South Africa-Israel relations.” The group washosted by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) and supportedby the Institute of International Education, the Ford Foundation, the SouthAfrican government and members of the Hartog School’s advisory board,Stanley and Marion Bergman of the USA and David Altschuler of the UK.

• The Goldstein-Goren DiasporaResearch Center heldan internationalconference on“Rethinking EuropeanJewish History,” whichwas the second in aseries of the center’slong-term project,New Perspectives onEuropean Jewry. Theseminar brought together scholars from NorthAmerica, Europe and Israel to reevaluate criticalassumptions and methods in the historical studyof the Jews in Europe, and to forge an agenda forpursuing research of the topic in the 21st century.

The final session entitled “From Europe toAmerica and Back” was co-sponsored by theGoldstein-Goren Center for American JewishHistory at New York University and held in thepresence of family members Alexander andCelina Goldstein-Goren. The conference wasorganized by Prof. Jeremy Cohen, Head of theTAU Goldstein-Goren Center, and Prof. ShulamitVolkov of TAU’s Minerva Institute for GermanHistory.

Howard Gilman Conference Boosts German-Israeli Scientific CollaborationSenior scientists and officials from TAU met with their German counterpartsat four leading Berlin research centers to discuss developments inneuroscience, genetic research and nanoscience, within the framework ofan Israeli-German Science Colloquium sponsored by the Howard GilmanFoundation.

Sessions took place at the Freie University, the Max Planck Institute forMolecular Biology, Humboldt University and the Technical University.Among the participants from TAU were Rector Shimon Yankielowicz andVice President and Dean for Research and Development Prof. Ruth Shalgi.Also attending were scientists from other German research institutions aswell as from India and the Netherlands.

8NEWS Summer 2005

This year’s European boardmeeting was held in Berlin onthe occasion of the 40th

anniversary of diplomaticrelations between Israel and Germany.The conference was hosted by theGerman Friends of TAU and attendedby TAU governors, supporters andguests from Europe, the USA, Canada,Argentina and Australia. Conferencesponsor was the trust company,GrundstückgemeinschaftTauentzienstrasse 13, Berlin.

Representing TAU at the event werePresident Itamar Rabinovich; VicePresident Yehiel Ben-Zvi; RectorShimon Yankielowicz; and

Germany and Israel were exceptionallystrong in the fields of science andresearch and that Tel Aviv Universityhad played a major role in this area.Keynote speaker Dr. Josef Joffe,Publisher and Editor of the Germannewspaper Die Zeit, gave a talk entitled“Spring 2005: The World as Viewedfrom Berlin.”

Europe’s fastest-growing JewishcommunityTAU President Itamar Rabinovich saidthat the German capital holds specialsignificance for Jews. “Pre-war Berlinwas one of the world’s foremost centersof Jewish life, the birthplace of the

university’s oldest and most importantFriends associations and thanked themfor organizing “such a rich andimpressive program and for bringingsome of Germany’s leading intellectualsto stimulate and enrich theconference.”

The academic program comprisedeight lectures in topics ranging fromdevelopments in the Middle East to anoverview of biopharmaceuticalresearch, as well as presentations onthe city’s Jewish heritage, modernarchitecture and art, and on Germany’srole in the world today.

Highlights of the conferenceincluded a visit to the Reichstag, a boattour of the River Spree, a tour of Jewishsites and a viewing of the soon-to-beopened Berlin Holocaust Memorial,including a presentation by Lea Rosh, amajor force behind its establishment.Guests also toured the Berlin MusicalInstruments Museum, the world’slargest collection of instruments datingfrom the 16th century, where they hearda musical performance by the Silver-Garburg Piano Duo, graduates of TAU’sBuchmann-Mehta School of Music.Guests were hosted to Friday nightdinner by the Berlin Jewish community.Vice President Yehiel Ben-

Zvi (center) with Jakob Gutman andhis daughter Rebecca Gutman ofTauentzienstrasse 13

UnitedTogether in

a Reunited CityTAU held its 14th European Regional Conference of

the Board of Governors in Berlin

President’s Award to Reinhart Rath At the BerlinConference, the 2005President’s Award wasbestowed uponReinhart C. Rath inrecognition of hisactivities for the Berlin

Friends of TAU and his service onbehalf of the Kodesz estate, whichhas established medical institutes andscholarships at the university.

Director of the Development andPublic Affairs Division Danny Shapiro.

The conference opened with a galadinner at the historic Kempinski Hotel,which also served as the center forconference activities. TAU HonoraryDoctor Ernst Gerhardt, President of theGerman Friends of TAU, welcomed theparticipants to Berlin. Guest of honorDr. Shimon Stein, Israeli Ambassador toGermany, said that the ties between

Reform and Conservative movements,and a magnet for Jews from all overEurope,” said Rabinovich. “Thatcommunity was, of course, obliteratedin the Holocaust; however, today,Berlin has the fastest-growing Jewishcommunity in Europe and is also one ofthe world’s richest cultural venues,” hesaid.

Prof. Rabinovich praised the GermanFriends of TAU as one of the

NEWS9Summer 2005

In a breakthrough technologicalachievement, a team ofcardiologists led by a TAUprofessor has used gene therapy to

improve the flow of blood to the heartof a patient suffering from coronaryartery disease.

The operation, carried out on a68-year old patient, represents the firststage of a multi-center internationalclinical trial involving more than 10European hospitals and 130 speciallyscreened patients.

The innovative procedure wasdeveloped by Prof. Ran Kornowski ofTAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, whois Director of the Cardiac Catheteri-zation Institute at the TAU-affiliatedCardiology Department of the RabinMedical Center, together with seniorcardiologist Dr. Shmuel Fuchs of theRabin Center.

Prof. Kornowski said this was the firsttime that gene therapy had been usedin the field of cardiology in Israel. “Wehope it will initiate at our center a newinvestigational approach in thetreatment of severe cardiac patients,”he said.

Coronary artery disease affects frombetween 30 to 50 million sufferersworldwide, eight million of whom dieevery year from blocked arteries andheart failure. In Israel alone there areapproximately 10,000 heart eventseach year. While angioplasty can serveto clear blocked arteries in the majorityof sufferers, between 5 to 10 percent ofpatients do not respond adequately tothis treatment or to open-heart surgery.The gene transfer technique is aimed atthese chronic sufferers.

“Although gene therapy has beenconsidered a major challenge forinvestigators in various medical fields,

we followed it with great interest forseveral years before we decided tolaunch this clinical trial whichsynthesizes the cardiology world withthat of gene transfer techniques,” saidProf. Kornowski after successfulcompletion of the first experimentaltreatment.

Growth factor geneThe procedure involves injecting thegene for vascular endolathelial growthfactor (VEGF), which is known tostimulate the growth of blood vessels,directly into the heart of the patient.The compound is produced by theGenVec company, USA. The scientistsuse as a “gene carrier” a deactivatedvirus that has been geneticallyengineered to cause no harm, and thatdelivers the growth factor gene directlyto the relevant sites in the heart. “Thegene should act as a ‘temporary factory’for the production of a substance thatmight improve the flow of blood to theheart and hopefully will improve itscondition when it is at rest and underexertion,” says Prof. Kornowski.

The first procedure was performedon a male patient suffering from severe

Lifeline for the HeartA TAU cardiologist and his colleagues have introduced thefirst Israeli gene therapy procedure for treating severely illheart patients

angina pectoris who previouslyunderwent two open-heart operationsand was not helped by medications.Surgeons used a special catheter and3D mapping devices to deliver thegenes to 12 precise locations in theheart.

Awake during the procedure, thepatient experienced no pain and wasdischarged the following day, feelingwell. However, Kornowski stressed thatit would take some time to know theexact effects of the procedure orvalidity of the clinical trial.

The success of the treatment will bemeasured by many factors such as theresults of exercise capacity, nuclearcardiology examinations, severity ofchest pain symptoms, nitroglycerine pilluptake, echocardiography and theoverall improvement in the patient’scondition and well-being, notedKornowski.

Kornowski and Fuchs initiated theidea of gene transplantation seven yearsago, together with a team of researchersin the USA. During this period, theybegan collaborative research withGenVec and Cordis, a Johnson &Johnson company.

10NEWS Summer 2005

and his colleagues at TAU also foundthat the compound acetylene posed adanger to the Huygens probe.“Acetylene under solar irradiation canturn into sticky aerosols in theatmosphere,” notes Bar-Nun. “Whenwe produced these aerosols in ourlaboratory, they were so sticky whenfresh that we feared they would blockthe probe’s instruments and smear thecameras.” Further study revealed thatthe aerosols would spontaneouslyharden like marbles and do no damage,a fact that has been confirmed by thespace mission.

Another of the team’s findings thathas been confirmed by the Cassinimission is the absence of lightningdischarges on Titan. “This settles acontroversy between the Israeli groupof scientists who maintained fordecades that the driving force behindTitan’s atmospheric chemistry was thesun’s irradiation and the French teamwho claimed it was due to lightningdischarges,” says Bar-Nun. “All in all,the chemical composition of Titan’supper atmosphere as found by theCassini spacecraft is very similar towhat we found in our ownexperiments,” says Bar-Nun.

Why study Titan?Titan is the only moon in the solarsystem with a thick gaseous atmospheremade up of methane and nitrogen,explains Bar-Nun. “Titan is a time vault.

A TitanicPredictionA TAU planetary scientistplayed a key role indetermining the atmosphericconditions on Titan, Saturn’slargest moon, prior to thefirst-ever spacecraft landingon its icy surface

An artist’s conception of the descent of the Huygens probe on Titan

From left: Dr. Diana Laufer, Prof. Akiva Bar-Nun, Prof. VasiliDimitrov and Ronen Jacovi.

When the US-Europeanspace probe Huygenslanded safely on Titanearlier this year – with

all three parachutes ejecting safely –TAU planetary scientist Prof. Akiva Bar-Nun breathed a sigh of relief. For somenights previously he had been havingnightmares about parachutes failing toopen. “The most exciting moment waswhen the probe sent out its own radiobeep telling us that it was alive, andthen we all applauded,” said Bar-Nun.“The second one was when we heardthe thud of the landing on the surface.”

Bar-Nun was part of the Cassini-Huygens space mission to exploreSaturn and its moons, a joint effort ofNASA, the European Space Agency andthe Italian Space Agency and one of themost ambitious space projects evermounted. The Cassini orbiter isundertaking a four-year tour of the

Saturnian system. The Huygens probeplunged into Titan’s mysterious andmurky atmosphere on January 25, 2005,landing on a slushy mass of ice andliquid methane.

The historic landing capped threedecades of work for Bar-Nun, an expertin planetary atmospheres and comets atTAU’s Department of Geophysics andPlanetary Sciences, Raymond andBeverly Sackler Faculty of ExactSciences, and a former Director-Generalof the Israel Space Agency.

At the time of the landing, he and hisgroup of mostly Italian scientists werestationed at the European SpaceAgency’s Communications Center inDarmstadt, Germany.

Bar-Nun has spent the past 15 yearsworking with the group that developedexperiments for the Huygens probe andhe contributed significantly to theperformance and durability of the

detectors on board. Hewas chosen to join theteam not as an Israelirepresentative but basedon his expertise on Titan’smake-up.

Making predictionsBar-Nun’s long-heldpredictions regardingTitan’s atmosphere havebeen backed up by spaceexploration, including thediscovery of propane. He

By Louise Shalev

NEWS11Summer 2005

major research project involving the study of comets that isscheduled to land a spacecraft on the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet in 2014.

Prof. Bar-Nun’s research is carried out in cooperation withTAU’s Prof. Vasili Dimitrov of the KAMEA Project, Dr. DianaLaufer, and doctoral student Ronen Jacovi, and is supportedby Israeli research funds, mainly the Israel National ScienceFoundation.

The molecules on its surface have remained undisturbed byturbulence and internal forces such as on other planets likeJupiter and Saturn. Therefore, its unique environment mayresemble that of Earth some several billion years ago andcould be of crucial importance for providing clues as to howlife emerged on Earth,” says Bar-Nun.

He stresses, however, that because of extremely lowtemperatures on Titan of minus 180OC, the water there is onlyin the form of ice, whereas on primitive Earth there wasplenty of liquid water and water vapor, which created theright conditions for the emergence of life. “Titan is a dead endas far as life is concerned,” says Bar-Nun.

So why go there?“For the sheer pleasure, beauty and curiosity of seeing howfar we can go,” says Bar-Nun. “Why did Columbus gowestward and why did Magellan circumvent the globe?”

Prof. Bar-Nun, incumbent of the Gordon Chair of PlanetarySciences at TAU, is a member of the ESA’s Rosetta Mission, a

Titan (right), shrouded by a yellowhaze, as photographed by theCassini spacecraft, and the similarityin color of aerosols produced inProf. Bar-Nun’s laboratory (above).

TAU Experiment onBoard Columbia YieldsImportant Results

Despite the tragic loss of Israeli astronaut Col. IlanRamon and the Columbia space crew on

February 1, 2003, Ramon’s experiment on dustparticles and thunderstorms in the atmosphere hasproved a resounding success. This was the summation

given by TAU geophysicist Prof. Colin Priceat a conference held by TAU’s Raymondand Beverly Sackler Faculty of ExactSciences to mark the secondanniversary since the loss of theColumbia. The conference, entitled

“No Place Is Far Enough,” was held inthe presence of Mrs. Rona Ramon. Guest

speaker was NASA astronaut Dr. MichaelJ. Massimino, who spoke on “Back to the Moon,Onward to Mars: The Future of Space Exploration.”

According to Price, 75% of the data amassed byRamon for the TAU-led MEIDEX experiment wassalvaged and has already led to the publication byTAU faculty of eight academic papers on transientluminous events (TLE’s) in the Earth’s upperatmosphere, also known as sprites, haloes, and bluestreaks. This nighttime component of the MEIDEXresearch is ongoing and has given rise to a newproject named for Ramon, called ILAN, involving therecording of lightning and sprites over the Tel Avivskies.

The main daytime component of MEIDEX hasresulted in a series of case studies of various physicaleffects of dust and smoke in the atmosphere, saidTAU’s Prof. Joachim H. Joseph, MEIDEX principalinvestigator.

Alcohol Drinking and Evil Yeast

Scientists have long suspected that heavy alcohol drinkingincreases the risk of oral cancer, a condition that results in more

deaths each year than skin or cervical cancer. However, sincealcohol is not known to be carcinogenic, the exact link between itand oral cancer has remained unclear.

Now, TAU oral microbiologist Prof. Mel Rosenberg, together withdoctoral student Amir Shuster and Dr. Nir Osher of TAU’s SacklerFaculty of Medicine, have found that alcohol reacts with the yeastthat normally resides in our mouths in a way that might causedisease and even put people at risk for cancer.

The findings of the study, which were published in the journalYeast, confirm previous theories of Finnish researchers who claimthat yeast in the mouth and throat are the cause of oral cancersamong alcohol drinkers.

The TAU researchers found that when activated by alcohol, theyeast oxidizes and produces acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen.This leads the yeast to damage and destroy red blood cells, aprocess that may cause them to grow and proliferate on oralsurfaces.

Rosenberg, a world expert in mouth odors, discovered thedestructive combination of alcohol and yeast while investigating thecause of “alcohol breath.” “The discovery that this process occursonly in the presence of alcohol suggests that the microorganisms inour mouths and digestive tracts may ‘shift gears’ when we drink,”says Rosenberg.

Some fifty percent of the population has yeast in their mouths onan ongoing basis, but the research indicates that some strains aremore capable of causing disease than others. “It might not be thetype or amount of alcohol that increases risk, but the amount andtype of yeast that thrives in an individual’s body,” says Rosenberg.

To date the TAU team has identified the strains of yeast thatdamage and destroy red blood cells. They hope to bring the researchto the point where they can develop a simple test to determinewhether the yeast population in an individual’s mouth is potentiallyharmful, and even cancerous.

12NEWS Summer 2005

In a five-year project, a team led byDr. Dafna Benayahu of TAU’sSackler Faculty of Medicine isworking with 27 other research

groups from throughout Europe torevolutionize medical technology. Theirgoal is to develop the nano-scale toolsneeded to create a “tissue machine” – adevice using stem cells that couldproduce, for the first time, a specificpopulation of cells or tissue needed toheal a variety of ailments.

“Imagine that we could transplantinto a patient’s body new cartilage orbone to reverse spinal cord damage, orheart muscle tissue to repair a damagedheart,” says Dr. Benayahu of theDepartment of Cell and DevelopmentalBiology. “The research we’re doingcould turn that vision into reality.”

CellPROMThe project, being supported by theEuropean Union at a cost of 30 millioneuros, is called “CellPROM,” short for“cell programming.” Scientists alreadyknow how to take individual stem cells,nature’s template cell, and programthem to turn into one or another kind oftissue. CellPROM strives to lay thescientific foundations for acceleratingand automating this process on a largeand industrially viable scale.

The kind of stem cells being studiedare not embryonic, but rather adult stemcells, which are found in bone marrow.“Using the adult type helps us bypassthe ethical issues associated with

embryonic stem cells,” explainsBenayahu. “In addition, growing tissuesbased on a patient’s own stem cellscould significantly lessen the body’srejection of that tissue when it istransplanted back into the patient,” shesays.

A specialist in the biology of stemcells, Benayahu is attempting to developa “lab on a chip” as her part ofCellPROM, together with microsystemsexpert Prof. Yosi Shacham of TAU’sResearch Institute for Nanoscience andNanotechnology.

The chip needs to automate theprocess of identifying stem cells fromamong the widely varied types of cellsfound in bone marrow. This is no easytask, as only one out of 100,000 cells isa stem cell. After it recognizes the rightcells, the chip has to sort and channelthem to a culture dish where they canreach the critical mass point for tissueengineering.

“The next challenge is to identify theconditions whereby a stem cell will turninto each type of required tissue,” saysBenayahu. “The nano-biotechnologicaltools we design will have to mimicnatural processes of cellular signalingand differentiation.”

Benayahu points out themultidisciplinary nature of the project.Biologists are investigating differenttypes of cells and cellular mechanisms;engineers are designing the chips; andphysicists and chemists are working onthe interface between biology andnano-mechanics. Every three monthsthe research teams meet for a day-longsymposium to share their findings, andoccasionally one or a few partners willhold a smaller gathering.

“By the end of the project we hope tobuild a prototype of the tissue machine,or at least parts of it,” says Benayahu.“There is tremendous interest by thebiomedical industry in this technology,which could improve the quality oflife of hundreds of thousands ofpatients the world over,” she says.

TAU: Major partner in Nano2LifeIn addition to its participation inCellPROM, Tel Aviv University is the

only Israeli institution affiliated withanother major pan-European initiative –the Nano2Life European Network ofExcellence in Nanobiotechnology. Thedriving force behind TAU’s joining thenetwork were Prof. Shacham; Dr. YairSharan, Director of the InterdisciplinaryCenter for Technological Analysis andForecasting (ICTAF); and Dr. RonMaron, Managing Director of theInstitute for Nanoscience andNanotechnology.

A four-year project, Nano2Lifeprovides a framework forcollaborative thinking among200 researchers from 23institutions in the fields ofbiology, medicine andnanotechnology. “Themain objective ofNano2Life is to promoteresearch andapplications in thehottest nanobiotechfields, such assensing devices,drug delivery andfabrication ofnew materialslikenanowires,”

says Prof. Rafi Korenstein, a biophysicistat the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, thehead of the Marion Gertner Institute for

Bringing Nanotec

Dr. Dafna Benayahu

Bringing Nanotec

NEWS13Summer 2005

Sciences, heads the nanoscaleassemblies group; and Dr. MiraMarcus-Kalish, Senior Researcher atICTAF, leads the convergingtechnologies group. Other researchtopics range from nano-imaging andimprovement of biochips tonanotechnology and cancer.

Dr. Marcus-Kalish also coordinatesthe joint research activities of the entireNano2Life network. This includesdetermining the focus of the 10 researchareas, arranging for exchanges betweenstudents and faculty members, bringingscientists together for meetings and forwriting joint grant proposals, andenabling researchers to gain access tofacilities and equipment. Two gatheringshave been held on the TAU campus,and the network’s one-year anniversaryconference was held recently inGermany.

“We’re hoping to evolve into apermanent European Institute ofNanobiotechnology,” notes Marcus-Kalish. Along with overseeing research,this body would also tackle ethics andregulatory issues, conduct short andlong-term health risk assessments, andmanage technology transfer. Nano2Lifeis already working closely with morethan 20 industrial partners to developnew nanobiotechnological instrumentsand materials for health care, theenvironment, security, and food safety.

Toward convergenceA specialist in biological modeling,Marcus-Kalish is enthusiastic about thepossibilities inherent in the nano-biointerface. “Nano is the language of thebody. If you want to speak thislanguage, you have to work on the nanoscale,” she says.

In the converging technologies area,which Marcus-Kalish leads,nanotechnology experts and engineers

chnologies to LifeA chip for powering a “tissue machine” that could reverse heart, liver ornerve damage is just one of the futuristic nano-scale biotechnologies beingdeveloped at TAU in collaboration with European research consortia

are working with biologists, medicaldoctors and cognitive science specialiststo provide all-encompassing, holisticsolutions for treating diseases orenhancing the physical and mentalcapabilities of the human body.

“More than describing any specificproduct or process, the term‘converging technologies’ represents acall to action,” says Marcus-Kalish. “Thenew trend in the scientific world is tosee a person – body, psychology andcognition – as inextricably connected toenvironment and society as a whole. Ifyou want to solve a problem, you needto address every angle of itsimultaneously, and to find new ways ofintegrating and exploiting existing andnew knowledge,” she says.

“For example, when designing adrug, you need to take into account thepatient’s individual biology, state ofmind, eating habits, and environmentaland cultural context,” Marcus-Kalishsays.

Widening the effortProf. Korenstein believes that “nano isthe last visible frontier of science –miniaturization on the atomic andmolecular level.”

“If you can implant a nano device inthe body and operate it, you may beable to repair single cells or parts ofcells,” he says. Likewise, new materialsfabricated on the nano scale could bemore reliable, stronger and of multipleuses.

Korenstein would like to recruit morescientists across the campus tointerdisciplinary research activity innanoscience and nanotechnology, “butwe need more resources,” he says.“We’ve got the people with the talent,imagination and multidisciplinaryapproach – TAU has tremendous nanopotential.”

MedicalNanosystems, and

the coordinator ofTAU activity in

Nano2Life.“TAU has

recognized strengths inthese fields,” says

Korenstein. “We’re a majorpartner in the network in

terms of both the scope andquality of the research we’re

initiating.”Out of 10 strategic

research areas identified byNano2Life, three are led by TAU

faculty members. Prof. Korensteinheads nano-based drug delivery;

Prof. Ehud Gazit of the Department ofMolecular Microbiology andBiotechnology, Wise Faculty of Life

chnologies to Life

By Rava Eleasari

14NEWS Summer 2005

By Louise Shalev

In 2000, a group of prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis issued an edictbanning their communities fromusing the Internet. The Internet,

said the rabbis, posed a danger onethousand times greater than televisionand was liable to “bring ruin anddestruction upon all of Israel.” Surfingthe Web detracts from studyingreligious law and may lead to forbiddentemptations such as pornography,gambling, games and music, theywarned.

Despite the ban, the Internet haspenetrated the ultra-Orthodox – alsoknown as Haredi – community in waysunforeseen by the rabbis, finds a studyconducted by TAU husband and wife

team Prof. Gad Barzilai of theDepartment of Political Science and co-director of the law, politics and societyprogram, and Dr. Karine Barzilai-Nahon of the University of Washington,Seattle, USA.

The study, entitled “CulturedTechnology: Internet and ReligiousFundamentalism,” is the firstcomprehensive profile of how Haredisurfers adapt the technology to theirculture and needs – a process theBarzilais term “cultured technology.”The aim of the research was to examinehow the community handles theconflict between social discipline andlimited personal freedom on the onehand, and the secular values embodiedby modern telecommunicationstechnology on the other.

Accessing the dataSelf-contained religious groups rarelyvolunteer information to outsiders.However, the researchers were able todraw on an unusually large and reliablesource of data. An Israeli Internetservice provider, Hevre, allowed themto examine surfing patterns among its686,000 customers, of whom about14,000 were identified as ultra-Orthodox.

While the Internet symbolizesindividual freedom, inclusiveness,equality and openness, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population lives inisolation from the outside world in acommunity ruled by strict disciplineand a patriarchal hierarchy. “In the caseof the Haredi leadership,” found theresearchers, “they have adopted thetechnology for their own purpose ofsocializing and mobilizing communitymembers.

“The spiritual leadership is able toenforce and strengthen communalvalues online by offering its membersvirtual services such as E-prayers andonline consultations with higherreligious authorities that werepreviously only available in person, aswell as by countering arguments raisedby opponents of the community,” theysay.

With an average of six children andonly one wage earner per family, theHaredi community is the poorestpopulation group among Jews in Israel.Recognizing this, the rabbis made aspecial dispensation permitting use ofthe Web for business and workpurposes. However, they offerguidelines for its use such as placingthe computer in a place in the homewhere the screen is visible to all andfiltering E-mail.

Ultra-Orthodox JewsGo OnlineDespite rabbinical prohibitions, over one third ofIsrael’s ultra-Orthodox Jews are surfing the Internet,finds a TAU study

Dr. Karine Barzilai-Nahon andProf. Gad Barzilai

NEWS15Summer 2005

Gender gapJust 35% of Haredi users are women,although more females than males holdjobs (husbands generally pursue full-time religious study). “The women usethe Net to voice disputes and to bypasssomewhat the limitations imposedupon them in their personal and publiclife,” say the researchers. Women areengaging in biblical and Talmudicstudy, a practice often restricted insidethe Orthodox community, for example.

The study found that Haredis wereless likely than their secular counterpartsto use E-mail, for fear of interactingwith the outside world, but were morelikely to take part in online forums andchat groups. It also revealed a growinggroup of young Haredis who surf theWeb from public places like Internetcafés. “It is precisely this group therabbis are worried about,” note theBarzilais.

These users can exploit theanonymity of the Internet to criticizetheir rabbis’ decisions. Yet, despiteoccasional scandals and libel suits,most of the ultra-Orthodox use theInternet for exchanging informationabout community events, religious lawand national affairs, found theresearchers.

Web censorshipThe research showed that censorship isa major means by which the communityleadership controls the informationflow. Censorship is imposed by filteringand blocking sites and by inflictingpunishments on transgressors. However,even under the harshest conditions ofcommunal surveillance, individualsfind ways to circumvent censorship andaccess forbidden material that mightchallenge the community’s basicprinciples, say the Barzilais.

Although the Internet is changing thenormal boundaries of communicationamong ultra-Orthodox Israelis, thecommunity is maintaining its basicpatterns of norms, beliefs, identities andbehavior, conclude the Barzilais.“Paradoxically, the technology isstrengthening the community at thesame time as it threatens the group’scohesiveness,” they say.

The study was published in thejournal,The Information Society.

15

T his year some 7,500 Jewish settlers are to be evacuated from theGaza Strip under the government’s disengagement plan. If thewithdrawal is implemented as planned, the settlers will be relocatedeither in existing communities in Israel or to brand new ones that will be

especially built for them. But how can the settlers come to terms with the traumathey feel at losing their homes and land? How will they integrate into Israelisociety after the upheaval?

In an interdisciplinary study prepared by TAU’s Prof. Itzhak Schnell of theDepartment of Geography and Human Environment and Prof. Shaoul Mishal ofthe Department of Political Science, the researchers argue that the Gaza settlers’opposition to the withdrawal is largely based on the feeling that they will losetheir elite social status and self-image as pioneers within Israeli society.

Many of the approximately 7,500 Jewish settlers who reside in the Gaza Strip– also known as Gush Katif – originally come from Israel’s underprivilegedsouthern development towns and border settlements, the TAU study points out.These towns absorbed immigrants from North African and Arab-speakingcountries in the 1950s, but have to this day remained at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. The settlers moved to Gaza in search of a higher standard ofliving and the promise of generous government loans and subsidies.

Social mobilityMore importantly, stress the researchers, the move to Gaza promised the settlerssocial and economic mobility away from the margins of Israeli society to the veryheart of the space identified with the new Zionist ethos. “Gaza was a place ofself-fulfillment for them.”

For the first time, these people experienced being part of the elite of Israelisociety. They saw themselves as the third generation of Zionist pioneers,replacing the first generation that founded the State and second generation of

A CollectiveDisplacementThe Jewish settlers slated for evacuation from the GazaStrip should be offered an alternative pioneering challengewithin Israel’s pre-1967 borders, suggests a TAU study

By Louise Shalev

Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif

15 NEWS

16NEWS Summer 2005

Prof. Itzhak Schnell

native Israelis who ensured its survival.“This reinforced their sense of self-esteem and upgraded them in Israelisociety – at least in their eyes,” saySchnell and Mishal. “Disengagementthreatens to return the Gaza settlers totheir former marginal status in Israelisociety.”

Sense of placeIn interviews conducted among thesettlers about the impendingwithdrawal, the researchers found thatthe vast majority was most concernedabout existential questions to do withloss of livelihood, land and personalsurvival. Surrounded by one and a halfmillion Palestinians, the Gaza settlersformed an enclave that was unitedaround isolation and the need forsecurity, say Schnell and Mishal.

The researchers found that the Gazasettlers’ attachment to the landstemmed more from love of its pastoralatmosphere and coastal scenery thanfrom the messianic belief in settling theLand of Israel that drives theircounterparts in Judea and Samaria.

“Whereas the ideology of Yesha (TheCouncil of Jewish Settlements in Judea,Samaria and the Gaza Strip)emphasizes the sacredness of settlingthe land above all else, the Gaza

settlers aremotivated byconnection tohome andcommunity,” saythe researchers. The studyfound that theGaza settlersform a distinctsub-group within

the larger settlement movement asrepresented by the Yesha Council.Although the majority are religious,they are not part of the predominantlyAshkenazi elite of the settlementestablishment.

Different discoursesThis distinction has been evident in theanti-withdrawal rhetoric emerging fromboth groups note the researchers. Whilethe Yesha rabbis’ rulings on

disengagement frequently step outsidethe boundaries of law and democracy –such as advocating the use of violentmeans of protest and refusal to obeyIDF orders to evacuate settlers — theGaza rabbis have been careful tooppose the withdrawal by democraticmeans. “The Gaza settlers wish toremain within the mainstreamconsensus,” say Schnell and Mishal.“They seek sympathy and legitimacyfrom the public and speak of preservingthe unity of the nation.”

“When resettling these people,”conclude Schnell and Mishal, “it isextremely important to preserve theirsense of community, keep themtogether, and provide them with analternative pioneering challenge withinIsraeli society. It is not good enough toreturn them to development towns. Thegovernment must enable them to leavethe Gaza Strip honorably,” they believe.

The research, commissioned by theFloersheimer Institute of PolicyResearch, was carried out with TAUgraduate students Netta Slavi andNoa Gempel.

Women as Keepers of MemoryFiction written by second-generation Holocaustsurvivors uses the female voice to pass onremembrance to the next generation, finds aTAU studyThe literature of second-generation Holocaust survivors in Israel, amongthem Michal Govrin, Savion Liebrecht and David Grossman,perpetuates the traumatic memory through the female voice as a way ofovercoming the masculine tendency to repress the past, suggests a TAU study. The study,conducted by Talila Kosh-Zohar, a doctoral student in Hebrew literature, is the first of its kind toexamine Holocaust remembrance in Israeli literature employing gender-based distinctions.

In most of the works Kosh examined, she found clear differences between the female andmale survivors’ ways of coping with the past and perceiving the present. While male survivorsconsciously decide to remain silent about the past and create new lives for themselves, femalesurvivors assume the role of the “keepers of memories,” says Kosh.

“The male characters in the works perceive the passing on of memory as ‘unmanly’ and atodds with masculine norms of rationalism, restraint and self-control,” she says. The women, onthe other hand, object to this approach and prefer to pick up their lives from the moment ofdisaster, rather begin anew.

Kosh believes that the feminine characters in the works are presented as “moral witnesses,”driven by a need to describe the evil and the suffering so as to provide better insight into thepast, present and future. “By assigning the role of keeper of memories to the female or maternalvoice,” says Kosh, “the authors aim to enhance moral sensitivity in Israeli society, to help healthe trauma and to pave the way for recuperation and redemption.”

Talila Kosh-Zohar

Courtesy of Yad Vashem – TheHolocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’Remembrance Authority

NEWS17Summer 2005

Free Parents Hotline forthe CommunityThe Psychological Services Unit of theRuth and Allen Ziegler StudentServices Division has launched a newParents Hotline – a free telephonecounseling service for parents ofpreschool children. The hotline wasestablished with the generous help ofa donor from Australia who is deeplycommitted to the welfare of children.Callers can receive discreet andprofessional help by experts in mentalhealth and child development whoare under the supervision of theDepartment of Psychology. Thehotline is part of the unit’s campaignto extend its services beyond theuniversity to the wider community.

High school pupils from throughoutIsrael will now have a say in

choosing the fields of specializationand nominees for the annual DanDavid Prize administered by TAUthrough an essay competition, “NameYour Hero.” The competition wasinitiated by the Dan David Foundationin cooperation with the Philippe WahlFund for Young Scientists and the Unitfor Science Oriented Youth of TAU’sConstantiner School of Education.

Placing Violence in the National Spotlight

A new TAU project seeks solutions for the growingviolence in Israeli society

Increasing violent behavior in schools, the family, the political arena and amongethnic and religious groups is the issue of utmost concern to the Israeli public,

surpassing even the economic crisis and the security situation, according to asurvey conducted by TAU’s Hartog School of Government and Policy. Moreover,the public expects the government to take effective action to combat thephenomenon, finds the survey.

The Hartog School, headed by Prof. Yossi Shain, has established a committee tostudy the issue of violence in Israeli society and to recommend solutions forreducing it. In the latest survey, conducted during November 2004, 65% ofrespondents found the government’s handling of the problem to be unsatisfactory,and pointed to the lack of moral education in schools and homes as the mainreason for its spread. The bodies perceived as most effective in dealing with theissue were youth movements, non-profit organizations and the IDF.

The data was presented at a conference held by the school that broughttogether representatives of the legal, political, educational and mediaestablishments.

The committee is chaired by former police commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki,and comprises legal professionals, police personnel, community leaders andresearchers in criminology, education, psychology, social work and medicine.

The Violence Index is supported by the Stanley and Marion Bergman CharitableTrust of the USA and Moshe Gerstenhaber of the UK.

TAU Hosts DevelopmentTown ChildrenAbout 500 kindergarten children fromthe southern development town ofSderot visited TAU as part of a fun dayin science and technology organized bythe Center for Science and TechnologyEducation of TAU’s Constantiner Schoolof Education. The tiny visitors weregiven guided tours of TAU’s BotanicGardens and I. Meier Segals Garden forZoological Research, lunch, andsurprise party bags containingeducational material.

Prof. Jacob Garty, Director of the BotanicGardens, reveals the secrets of pollination tothe kindergarten children.

Student competitors at TAU

Name Your HeroIsraeli high school pupils take part in the selection process

for the International Dan David Prize

The visit was initiated by Dr. RuthStrul-Novik, Director of Scientific andTechnological Literacy at the centerafter one of the many missile attacks onSderot. The visit was funded by leadingIsraeli companies.The competition is aimed at students

who “wish to make a difference” andwhose suggestions can be backed bydetailed supporting arguments.Winning proposals will be announcedduring this year’s Dan David PrizeAward Ceremony and will be taken intoconsideration by the prize committeewhen selecting fields and nominees forthe year 2006. This year, 500 proposals weresubmitted, of which 50 were selected

for the final stage of thecompetition at theuniversity. The fieldsproposed by the studentsinclude green energy andecology; architecture; videoand computer games;genetic aspects ofembryology; social justice;and HolocaustRemembrance.

18NEWS Summer 2005

As a TAU master’s studentspecializing in the teaching ofEnglish as a foreign language,Sobhi Bahloul has to engage

in some mental gymnastics while takingnotes in class. The language ofinstruction is Hebrew, the subject beingtaught is English, but Bahloul’s nativelanguage is Arabic. Moreover, forBahloul, there is the added challenge ofbeing the only Palestinian student toattend TAU from the Gaza Strip.

His enrollment in the university’sConstantiner School of Education wasmade possible due to the dedication ofa group of faculty members, and

through scholarships granted by theTAU President’s Office and the Dean ofHumanities.

Three days a week Bahloul makesthe arduous journey from his hometownof Rafiah to Tel Aviv. Even though hehas the required permits to enter Israel,

arranged for him by the university, thecheckpoint crossing can take hours. Itall depends on the situation that day, hesays.

Bahloul is not complaining, however.He savors every minute of his timestudying at TAU. He does not worrywhat people might say about him eitherin Gaza or in Israel. Bahloul is a well-known Hebrew teacher in Gaza andone of only five authorized notaries inHebrew in the entire Strip. “Peopleknow me as the ‘Hebrew expert,’” hesays. “They recognize my special statusas a teacher and educator and respectme for it.”

Required permitsBahloul’s enrollment at TAU wasinitiated by Professors Anat Biletzkiand Anat Matar of the Department ofPhilosophy, well-known peace andhuman rights activists, as well asProf. Elana Shohamy of theConstantiner School. Once acceptedat the school, it took nearly a year toobtain the required permits from theIsrael Defense Forces for him tostudy in Israel.

Bahloul’s love of foreignlanguages comes from his home. Hebegan learning English as a youngchild and has always been curiousabout foreign cultures andlanguages. His sister is an Englishteacher and one of his five childrenis studying to become an Englishteacher at Khan Yunis University inGaza. Balhoul first met Biletzki and Matar

in the late 1990s when a delegation ofstudents and faculty from TAU andother universities traveled to Gaza toengage in joint encounters. He used toteach the group Arabic. He is a strong

supporter of inter-group dialogue andteaches Arabic and Hebrew at theIbrahim Center in Gaza – an institutionthat aims to promote Palestinian-Israeliunderstanding. “I believe that languagelearning is a tool for strengthening tiesbetween the two peoples and spreadingpeace,” says Bahloul.

Prof. Anat Biletzki says the“importance and value of Sobhi’sstudies at TAU cannot be overstated –for both partners. He is a teacher,student and a colleague, but moreimportantly, he is a friend. Such uniquefriendships and collaborations can onlymultiply with progress in the peaceprocess.”

Between two worldsBahloul feels completely at home in TelAviv. He fondly remembers bringing hisfamily to Tel Aviv for a three-dayholiday by the beach in 1997. “I amattracted to Israelis and have a lot offriends here. I understand the language,culture and mentality,” he says. “Wehave much more in common than not.”Of course switching back and forthbetween both worlds – Gaza and Israel– is not easy. “I have to constantly makean instant adjustment to two completelydifferent worlds,” he says.

With Israel’s disengagement fromGaza slated for this year, Bahloul isoptimistic for the future of Gaza and thepeace process. “The situation hascalmed down; people are nowbreathing a sigh of relief on both sides,”he says.

“Whatever happens we will remaineconomically dependent on Israel so weneed to maintain good relations. Theremust be cooperation. We will need a lotof help to stand on our own feet.”

Bahloul believes that he has a majorpart to play in the future scheme ofthings. “Here at the university they callme ‘the Palestinian Ambassador,’” hesays. The label has stuck and even thesoldiers at the checkpoint jokingly callhim the “The Ambassador” he says.

Joking aside, Bahloul’s ambitions forthe future include becoming the firstPalestinian Ambassador to Israel. Untilthen, he is concentrating on finishinghis master’s degree and then wants tomove straight on to his PhD studies.

Sobhi Bahloul

Languageas a Means to Peace

TAU’s first ever Palestinian student from the Gaza Striphopes to become an official emissary to Israel

By Louise Shalev

NEWS19Summer 2005

Omer Tamuz, 26, a third-year undergraduate studentat TAU, always knew hewanted to be an

astrophysicist. Even at a young age, hewas fascinated by how the universeworks and the idea that there could beother solar systems.

Omer is one of 35 outstandingundergraduate students selectedannually for recognition by the TAURector’s Office from all departments oncampus. He also made the Dean’s List

of the Raymond and Beverly SacklerFaculty of Exact Sciences and isenrolled in the faculty’s Program forOutstanding Students.

Omer is studying the field of extra-solar planets at the School of Physicsand Astronomy. His intense curiosity,dedication and originality have alreadyled to the discovery, together with TAUphysicists Prof. Tsevi Mazeh and Dr.Shay Zucker, of a mathematical

Prof. Tsevi Mazeh (left) with Omer Tamuz

algorithm that could help scientistsconfirm the existence of extra-solarplanets that are not normally visible bytelescope or other means.

The research has resulted in thepublication of a joint research article,together with Prof. Mazeh and Dr.Zucker, in the Monthly Notices of theRoyal Astronomical Society, in whichOmer is cited as principal investigator.

“Omer is one of the best students Iever met and it is a pleasure to workwith him,” says Prof. Mazeh, Head of

TAU’s Raymondand Beverly SacklerInstitute ofAstronomy. “Herepresents thecaliber of studentthat we want to seegoing on to pursueadvanced degreesat the university.” Prof. Mazeh hasbeen researchingextra-solar planetsand objects foryears and was partof a team thatidentified a brown

dwarf in 1989 – a small star that doesnot emit light and that could have beena planet.

Hard to detectThe first extra-solar planet was onlydiscovered in 1995, and since thenabout 100 more have been added tothe list. “When you look at the stars inthe sky, you see either planets in oursolar system like Mars, Venus and

Jupiter, or stars like our sun,” saysOmer. “However, the problem withidentifying planets around other stars isthat they are not visible by any meanssince the little light they emit is lost inthe light of the much brighter star theyorbit,” he says.

One method of determining theexistence of the planet is known as thetransit method and involves observingthe decrease in the apparent brightnessof the host star that occurs when theplanet passes in front of it.

Eliminating noiseThe transit method allows scientists tomonitor changes in stars’ brightness insearch of those that periodicallybecome slightly dimmer. However,detecting periodic dimming in a star isvery difficult, notes Omer, since itsapparent brightness can change due toother factors such as atmosphericeffects or passing clouds. “Thealgorithm we developed eliminatesmany of these tiny discrepancies –known as noise – so that the variationstemming from planetary transitsbecomes easier to detect,” he says.

Omer says he was lucky to havebeen inspired both by his physics highschool teacher while attending schoolin Vienna where his father served in theForeign Ministry, and by Prof. Mazehat TAU, who invited him, while still afirst year student, to participate in aspecial research project. He hopes togo on to pursue doctoral studies at TAUtogether with Prof. Mazeh and histeam, and then, “who knows? The sky’sthe limit!”

Exploring Beyondthe StarsA prize-winning undergraduate student at TAU’sSchool of Physics and Astronomy is alreadypenning his name to important research articles

By Louise Shalev

20NEWS Summer 2005

2005 Wallenberg PrizeLior Ben David, a master’s student inhistory and a graduate of TAU’sBuchmann Faculty of Law, was awardedthe Raoul Wallenberg Prize for his thesis,“Civilized, Semi-Civilized and Savages:Indians in the Criminal Law of Peru,1924-1950.” At the award ceremony,Prof. Raanan Rein, Director of TAU’s S.Daniel Abraham Center for Internationaland Regional Studies, said Lior hadcompleted a “unique study that combineshistory, criminal law, and a deep concernfor the rights of the indigenous

populations of LatinAmerica.” Natan Eilenberg,Chairman of the Israel-Sweden Friendship League;Mr. Robert Rydberg,Ambassador of Sweden;and Prof. Dina Porat, Headof the Rosenberg School of

Jewish Studies and Roth Institute for theStudy of Contemporary Anti-Semitism andRacism, attended the ceremony. Theprize, which is donated by the SwedishFriends of TAU, is awarded annually toyoung researchers in contemporary anti-Semitism or human rights.

TAU HOSTS JEWISH STUDENT FAIRSome 1,200 Jewish students from around the world gathered at TAU for a“Global Israel Showcase” sponsored by the Jewish Agency. The event launchedProject Masa (“Journey”), a joint initiative of the government and the JewishAgency that aims to bring thousands of young Jews from around the world tostudy in Israel for long-term periods. The students were addressed by TAUPresident Itamar Rabinovich; Director-General of the Jewish Agency’s Jewish-Zionist Education Department, Alan Hoffman; and President of the HillelFoundation, Avraham Infeld.

Ambassador Rydberg(left) and Lior Ben David

Legal largesseTAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law awardedscholarships for the second year runningto 60 students requiring financial aid thatwere donated by several leading Israelilaw firms. The scholarships werepresented by Law Dean Ariel Porat at aceremony attended by representatives ofthe firms. Yellin Scholarships

Thirty TAU students were awardedscholarships by the Solly Yellin Fund,which supports 180 scholarshipsannually to gifted but needy students atall of Israel’s institutions of higherlearning, with preference to newimmigrants and students in the northernborder settlements.

Solly Yellin was born in Vilna in 1911.After his family was almost completelyannihilated in the Holocaust, he went toSouth Africa and led a successful lifethere as a businessman and Jewishcommunity leader. He immigrated toIsrael in 1999 at the age of 88 andestablished the fund in 2002. The fundrequires the universities to match half theamount of each scholarship granted.

Information wizardLior Fink, a doctoral student ininformation systems at TAU’s Facultyof Management—Leon RecanatiGraduate School of BusinessAdministration, was one of 40students selected from around theworld to participate in the DoctoralConsortium of the InternationalConference on Information Systems(ICIS), which took place inWashington, DC. The consortiumprovides students with an opportunityto share and develop their researchideas, to explore issues related toacademic careers in the field, and tobuild relationships with PhD studentsfrom other countries. Lior’s supervisorat TAU is Prof. Seev Neumann.

Rosenfeld PrizeLev Drucker, a doctoral student from the former Soviet Union at TAU’s BerglasSchool of Economics, received the annual Yoram Rosenfeld Prize for Innovationand Entrepreneurship granted by TAU’s Faculty of Management—Leon RecanatiGraduate School of Business Administration. He won the prize for his research on“Funding Research and Development in Israel: A Source of Inspiration?”

Gutwirth Scholarships in diabetesHendrik andIrene GutwirthScholarships inDiabetesResearch wereawarded to sixstudents of the

Sackler Faculty of Medicine at aceremony held in the presence of Mrs.Vivien Zimmet of Melbourne, Australia,daughter of the late Gutwirths and a TAUGovernor. Greetings at the ceremonywere given by Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi; Dean of Medicine Prof. DovLichtenberg; and Vice Dean of ClinicalAffairs, Prof. Abraham Karasik.

From left: Yehiel Ben-Zvi, Prof. DovLichtenberg and Vivien Zimmet

NEWS21Summer 2005

Four TAU Professors Receive2005 Israel Prize

Prof. Aron Dotan, Humanities – Israel Prize for Hebrew LinguisticsAmong the Israel Prize Committee considerations:

• Prof. Dotan’s scientific work – exceptional in its quality, scope, and impact on Hebrew linguistics andJewish studies – has made an important contribution to the understanding of Hebrew culture.

• His fields of research include medieval Hebrew linguistics; the Masora, a field in which his works havebecome classics; the beginning of grammatical and lexicographical theory and practice; and biblicalaccentuation, a field which he transformed into an academic discipline.

• Prof. Dotan is an outstanding teacher, and serves as a member of the Hebrew Language Academy.• Prof. Dotan has contributed to the community as founding director of the Cymbalista Jewish Heritage

Center at TAU.

Prof. Ben-Ami Scharfstein, Humanities – Israel Prize for PhilosophyAmong the Israel Prize Committee considerations:

• Prof. Scharfstein’s scholarship journeys through different philosophical cultures and investigates theentire range of viewpoints. The scope and clarity of his work have earned him renown both nationallyand internationally.

• His studies elucidate the deep structure of human thinking in all its facets, focusing on aesthetics, thestudy of mysticism, comparative philosophy, and philosophy in psychological and social contexts.

• Prof. Scharfstein is being recognized for his profound and comprehensive philosophical writings, andfor his unique contribution to the teaching and research of philosophy in Israel.

Prof. Rina Zaizov Marx, Medicine – Israel Prize for MedicineAmong the Israel Prize Committee considerations:

• Prof. Zaizov is a pediatric hematology oncologist whose acclaimed research has raised internationalstandards of patient care.

• She pioneered the field of children’s oncology in Israel, including founding and directing the OncologyUnit at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center.

• Prof. Zaizov has dedicated her life to promoting a comprehensive curative approach for childrensuffering from cancer and to improving the quality of life of both patients and their families.

• Prof. Zaizov has nurtured a generation of excellent doctors and researchers who will continue herwork.

Prof. Sasson Somekh, Humanities – Israel Prize for Research of the Middle EastAmong the Israel Prize Committee considerations:

• One of the greatest scholars of Arabic literature of our generation, Prof. Sasson Somekh is broadlyrecognized for his academic study of Egyptian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Moroccan and Palestinian writers.

• Prof. Somekh believes it is vitally important to make Arabic prose and poetry available to Hebrewreaders, and his translations have earned extensive praise.

• Prof. Somekh labors to foster ties between Jewish and Arab academic figures and writers.• Prof. Somekh is one of the founders of TAU’s Department of Arabic Language and Literature, and he has

nurtured many students who continue in his footsteps in research and teaching.

22NEWS Summer 2005

Prof. Dov Lichtenberg(left), Dean of the SacklerFaculty of Medicine,incumbent of the Lady DavisChair of Biochemistry, andProf. Yoel Kloog, Dean ofthe Wise Faculty of LifeSciences, incumbent of theJack H. Skirball Chair inApplied Neurobiology, havebeen elected joint Heads ofthe Albert and Elba CuencaInstitute for Anti-AgingTherapy Research.

2005 Ewald W. Busse Research Award in the Social Behavioral Sciences, Dr. Hava Golander, Medicine 2005 RobertE. Horton Medalist of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Prof. Gedeon Dagan, Engineering 2004 Prize for BestForeign Book on Cinema by the French Association of Cinema Critics, Prof. Shlomo Sand, Humanities Zalman ShazarAward for Research of Jewish History, Prof. Anita Shapira, Humanities Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics, Prof.Ariel Rubinstein, Social Sciences Goldstein-Goren Book Award of the Goldstein-Goren International Center for JewishThought, Prof. Mordechai Akiva Friedman, Humanities Appointed Israeli representative to the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for Dialogue between Cultures, Prof. Irad Malkin, Humanities Bahat Prize for 2005 for herbook, The Cognitive Turn: The Birth and Rise of New Semantics, Dr. Tamar Sovran, Humanities Marguerite StolzResearch Fellowship for Junior Faculty in Medicine and Health Professions, Dr. Nir Osherov, Medicine

Dr. Zvi Stauber,Humanities, formerIsraeli Ambassador tothe UK, has beenelected Director ofTAU’s Jaffee Center forStrategic Studies.

Prof. AvrahamWeizman, Medicine,incumbent of the Robertand Martha HärdénChair in Mental andNeurological Diseases,has been elected Headof TAU’s FelsensteinMedical Research Center.

Prof. Nadav Na’aman,Humanities, has beenelected incumbent ofthe Kaplan Chair in theHistory of Egypt andIsrael.

Prof. MordechaiTamarkin, Humanities,has been electedDirector of the TamiSteinmetz Center forPeace Research.

Prof. Yosef Rosenwaks,Engineering, has beenelected Director of theWolfson Center forApplied MaterialsResearch.

Prof. Jacob Garty, LifeSciences, has beenelected Head of theBotanic Gardens.

Prof. Leonard Bliden,Medicine, has beenelected incumbent ofthe Adler Chair forPediatric Cardiology.

A C H I E V E M E N T S

Prof. David Schmeidler,Management, incumbentof the Chair of Decisionsand Game Theory, hasbeen awarded anhonorary doctorate fromthe University of Torinoin Italy.

Danny Shapiro hasbeen appointedDirector of TAU’sDevelopment andPublic Affairs Division.

NEWS23Summer 2005

ISRAEL

• The English Speaking Friends hostedProf. Asher Susser, Director of TAU’sMoshe Dayan Center for MiddleEastern and African Studies, who spokeon “Between Iraq and the Palestinians –Israel’s Fateful Choices”; RuthAbraham, a lecturer from Beit BerlCollege, who discussed “When WordsHave Lost Their Meaning – Art andAlzheimer’s”; and Prof. Linda Ben-Zviof TAU’s Department of Theater Artswhose lecture was entitled “PioneerSpirit: Susan Glaspell – The FirstAmerican Avant-Garde.”

• Within the framework of theInternational Forum, chaired by Prof.Aharon Klieman, Ambassador of JapanMr. Jun Yokota lectured on “Japan’sMiddle East Policy”; and Ambassador ofNigeria Dr. Manzo George Anthonyspoke on “Nigeria’s African Role andGlobal Agenda.”

AUSTRALIA

Melbourne

• Over 160 people attended the 2005 Annual Oration organized by the VictoriaChapter of the Australian Friends Association. This year’s oration, dedicated to thelate William (Bill) Boyar, founding member of the Friends and past Vice President,was delivered by Prof. George Hampel QC, professor of law at Monash Universityand a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and Judge Felicity Hampel, a

barrister, part-time Law ReformCommissioner, and an adjunct professor oflaw at Monash University. They spoke on“Prevention, Preemption and Protection –Reflections on Domestic and InternationalCrime and Punishment.” Prof. (Emeritus)Louis Waller introduced the guests of honorand the participants included Sir Zelmanand Lady Anna Cowen, Mr. and Mrs.Walter Jona, Justice Howard Nathan, Mrs.Bella Shannon, Mrs. Sara Weis, and Mr.and Mrs. Alan Selwyn.

• TAU Prof. Dina Porat, Head of the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studiesand of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism andRacism, was guest of honor at a boardroom luncheon at the law offices of ArnoldBloch Leibler and afternoon tea organized by the Melbourne Friends at the home ofAda and Jack Tenen.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Uruguay and Argentina: The Argentinean FriendsAssociation headed by Mrs. Polly Deutsch, together withthe Friends in Uruguay led by Dr. Henri Cohen, organizedthe traditional annual meeting in Punta del Este, whichwas attended by more than 1,300 people.

The main academic event was an internationalsymposium entitled “Should We Abandon the Hope forPeace in the Middle East?” Guest of honor was former USAmbassador Martin Indyk, head of the Saban Center forMiddle Eastern Policy at the Brookings Institution, USA.Members of the panel included TAU Honorary DoctorMarcos Aguinis, an internationally renowned writer,psychiatrist, and former Argentinean Minister of Culture.Dr. Ramiro Rodriguez Villamir, journalist, political analystand director of the Uruguayan Television Authority,moderated the event, and opening remarks were deliveredby Polly Deutsch; TAU Vice President for Latin Americaand Spain Ilana Ben Ami; and Israeli Ambassadors JoelSalpak (Uruguay) and Rafael Eldad (Argentina). AdolfoSmolarz, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors, andhis wife Miriam hosted a reception.

From left: Judge Felicity Hampel, SirZelman Cowen, Lady Anna Cowen andProf. the Hon. George Hampel QC

France: The TAU French Friends Association organized adinner hosted by new member Dominique Romano.Proceeds of the event, which was attended by VicePresident Yehiel Ben Zvi and Dean of Students Prof.Thalma Lobel, will benefit student scholarships at TAU.

From left (back row): Dominique Romano, Prof. Elie Barnavi,François Heilbronn, and Prof. Jean Robert Pitte. From left (frontrow): Yehiel Ben-Zvi, President of the French Friends HugoRamniceanu; Prof. Thalma Lobel, and David Birène.

24NEWS Summer 2005

USA

Northeast Region

• Stanley Bergman (pictured), a memberof the International Board of Trustees ofTAU’s Hartog School of Government andPolicy, and Dr. Marion Bergman hostedan event in New York City in support ofthe school. Ambassador Terje Roed-Larsen, former UN Special Coordinatorfor the Middle East Peace Process, wasthe guest speaker for the evening. He

shared his perspective on the peace process since Oslo anddiscussed the importance of a constructive relationshipbetween the United Nations and Israel. Prof. Yossi Shain,Head of the school, attended the event.

Southeast Region

• Mel Taub, ViceChairman of the TAUBoard of Governors, andhis wife Carol, a TAUGovernor, hosted a groupof friends at their home inBoca Raton, Florida, tohear a talk by Prof.Abraham Katzir,incumbent of the Caroland Melvin S. Taub Chairin Applied MedicalPhysics at TAU’s Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty ofExact Sciences. Prof. Katzir discussed his research on lasersand optic fibers.

• Prof. Raanan Rein, Director of the S. Daniel AbrahamCenter for International and Regional Studies, addressed theGreater Miami Jewish Federation Division of Commerce andProfessions and International Division. He spoke on “LatinAmerica’s Incomplete Transition to Democracy: The Clashbetween the Economic and Political Processes.” Ariel andDaphna Bentata hosted an evening reception for many LatinAmerican friends at their home to hear an address by Prof.Rein in Spanish and learn about Tel Aviv University.

• Mark Tanenbaum, member ofthe Board of Directors of TAU:ACand of the International Board ofOverseers of the Moshe DayanCenter for Middle Eastern andAfrican Studies, hosted a dinnerand briefing by Prof. AsherSusser, Director of the center, onFisher Island. Participants

included Dayan Center board members, TAU supporters andfriends.

• Prof. Susser also spoke at two events organized byTAU:AC. More than 225 members of the Life Long LearningSociety of Florida Atlantic University, John D. MacArthurCampus, Jupiter, Florida, heard Prof. Susser speak on theMiddle East in the post-Arafat and post-Saddam era. Prof.Susser also addressed 550 members of the Florida Society forMiddle East Studies at Florida Atlantic University in BocaRaton. Paul Cutler, President of the Society, chaired thelecture.

Western Region

• Ruth Singer (pictured) has been namedChairperson of the Western Region of theTAU American Council. A ferventsupporter of Israel, Ms. Singer hastraveled to Israel over 30 times and lednumerous missions to Israel as themissions chairperson of the JewishFederation of Los Angeles. As a formernational officer of AIPAC, the pro-Israellobby, she worked directly with members of Congress andtheir staff to ensure that US-Israel relations remain a toppriority. “Ruth Singer leads by example. Her national andinternational work on behalf of Israel is phenomenal and weare fortunate to welcome her into the leadership ranks of ourorganization,” commented TAU:AC President, Sam Witkin.

• Prof. Yossi Shain, Head of the Hartog School ofGovernment and Policy, and Dr. Gary Sussman, Director ofResearch and Program Development at the school, werehosted by TAU Governor Dan Bochner and Dr. ZippiWilliams at their home in Los Angeles.

Mel Taub (left) with Prof. AbrahamKatzir

Mark Tanenbaum (left) andProf. Asher Susser Dr. Gary Sussman, Dan Bochner, Dr. Zippi Williams, and Prof. Yossi Shain

NEWS25Summer 2005

Tel Aviv University deeply mourns the loss of Sir Leslie Porter (1921-2005), of theUK and Israel, Chancellor of the university, Honorary Doctor, and former

Chairman of the TAU Board of Governors.Sir Leslie Porter served as Chairman of the Board from 1985 to 1989, and as

Honorary Chairman from 1989 to 1993. He was awarded an honorary doctorate fromTAU in 1974 for his “munificent dedication to Jewish causes in Britain alongside hiswholehearted involvement with the life of Israel, and for his ardent and generoussupport for higher education in Israel, especially for Tel Aviv University.” He waselected Chancellor in 1993.

Sir Leslie and his wife, Dame Shirley, have played a top leadership role at TAUover the years and have actively supported the university’s growth and development.They have endowed diverse projects including the Cohen-Porter Family SwimmingPool, the Cohen-Porter United Kingdom Building of Life Sciences, the Shirley andLeslie Porter Chair in Literary Theory and Poetics, the Porter Institute of Poetics andSemiotics, the Shirley and Leslie Porter School of Cultural Studies, the Sir Leslie andDame Shirley Porter Library Fund, and the Porter School of Environmental Studies.

“Sir Leslie will be remembered not only for his generosity and vision, butalso for his warmth, good humor and gentlemanly ways,” said TAU President ItamarRabinovich.

Born and raised in London, Sir Leslie served in the British army throughout WorldWar II, taking part in many key battles in Greece, Italy and North Africa, including ElAlamein. Despite being wounded several times, and being taken prisoner by theGermans, Sir Leslie managed to rejoin his brothers-in-arms in the final assaults againstthe Nazis.

Sir Leslie Porter was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1983, and awarded theOrder of St. John in 1992. He was the past President and Chairman of Tesco Plc.A longstanding benefactor of the Council for a Beautiful Israel, the United JewishAppeal, and Boys’ Town, Jerusalem, Sir Leslie and his family also founded the DanielAmichai Center for Rowing and Nautical Studies Tel Aviv in commemoration of thePorters’ late grandson.

Sir Leslie PorterLeader and magnanimous supporter

of countless university projects