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Summer 2005

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1 On Campus A gala concert conducted by Zubin Mehta launches Israel’s premier music school at TAU Ð p. 3. 5 Worldscene The 14th European Regional Conference of the Board of Governors took place in Berlin, which is undergoing a Jewish community revival Ð p. 8. On Campus 9 Research The first spacecraft ever to land on icy Titan did so safely due to atmospheric conditions predicted by a TAU 18 team Ð p. 12. Students TAU opens its doors to the first Palestinian student from Gaza Ð p. 18.

Cover: A TAU medical team has introduced the first Israeli gene On Campus therapy technique for curing chronic coronary artery disease: 17 Impact Prof. Ran Kornowski (left) and Dr. Shmuel Fuchs (right) with On Campus patient Amos Ben-Yosef Ð story page 9. 21 Photos: The Department of Medical Photography, Newsmakers Beilinson Hospital; Science Photo Library On Campus Cover design: Pnina Wolinsky-Sissman 23 Friends

Editor: Photography: Administrative Coordinator: Issued by the Publications Office Louise Shalev Development and Public Affairs Pauline Reich of the Development and Contributors: Division Photography Department/ Administrative Assistance: Public Affairs Division Rava Eleasari, Talma Agron, Michal Roche Ben-Ami, Edna Goldberger Tel Aviv University Pauline Reich, Ruti Ziv Michal Kidron Graphic Design: Ramat Aviv 69978 Translation Services: Additional Photography: TAU Graphic Design Studio/ Tel Aviv, Israel Sagir Translations, Offiservice ASAP/Israel Talby, Uri Roll, Michal Semo, Pnina Wolinsky-Sissman Tel. 03-6414653, 03-6408249 GPO/Avi Ohayon Printing: Fax 03-6407080 Illustration: Eli Meir Printing E-mail: [email protected] Pnina Wolinsky-Sissman www.tau.ac.il Bust of Albert Einstein by Tosia Malamud at the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences on the TAU campus

TAU Rector and physics professor Shimon Yankielowicz reflects on the greatness of Einstein

From about 1750 until the rise of Hitler and Nazism, the German Jewish community flourished and contributed significantly to all aspects of modern European life, producing great writers, poets, musicians, philosophers, political leaders and scientists. Tel Aviv University Marks Year Among them one figure stands out as both the greatest mind and paramount of Physics, Einstein’s Theories icon of our scientific and technological age, a figure whose name has become synonymous with genius, and who is An international symposium held by the Cohn Institute one of the 20th century’s most compelling personalities: Albert for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas Einstein. debates the connection between cultural norms and During 1905, a year we now scientific developments remember as his “miraculous year,” Einstein wrote three papers that changed science forever. The first was on the photoelectric effect, for which hy did modern science – Philosophy of Science and Ideas and he was later to win the Nobel Prize, a global enterprise today the Goethe Institute, Tel Aviv, held an and the second was on Brownian – develop in Europe at a international conference on “Cultural motion. However, it was his third paper particular historical Relativity and the Scientific Enterprise: on the Special Theory of Relativity that juncture?W Which were the decisive Context and Contingency in the revolutionized conventional concepts factors that existed nowhere else? Why Development of Science.” Researchers of time and space. In it, he determined did the Babylonians with their from Germany, Austria, Hungary, the that time is relative – in other words, recognized mathematical abilities, or UK, the USA, India and Israel the rate at which the Greeks with all their theoretical gathered to discuss the time passes genius, stop short of some of the crucial cultural dimensions of depends on your steps in the direction of a science – the strengths frame of reference thoroughgoing empirical science? Why or weaknesses of certain – while the speed didn’t China, with all its technical cultural norms and of light is ingenuity, develop in that direction? traditions, tacit cognitive constant. Such questions occupy the attention and perceptual filters He later of historians and philosophers of operating in favor or went on to science, and on the occasion of the against the ideal of publish his centennial of Albert Einstein’s Annus modern science, and the General Theory of Relativity, which Mirabilis in 1905, the miraculous year moral implications of science. explained and tied gravity to the in which he published three Conference organizers were Dr. Leo geometry of space-time and paved the groundbreaking papers that stood at the Corry of the Cohn Institute and Dr. Eike way for space exploration. focus of 20th century science, TAU’s Gebhardt, a sociologist of culture from Albert Einstein’s scientific career was Cohn Institute for the History and Berlin. a constant quest for the universal and immutable laws that govern the physical world. His theories spanned TAU Holds Nationwide Conference for High School Students the fundamental elements of nature – TAU’s Unit for Science-Oriented Youth at the Constantiner School of Education, from the entire cosmos to subatomic together with other TAU units and the Ministry of Education, invited advanced high particles. Einstein was a true theoretical school students from across the country to a scientific conference marking the physicist. His only true tools were a Einstein festivities. The students enjoyed 12 lectures by TAU scientists during the penetrating and intuitive grasp of the day-long event. workings of the universe.

Summer 2005 1 NEWS New Signal Processing and Multimedia Laboratory Porter School he Signal Processing and Multimedia Laboratory was established at the School Active Nationally, Tof Electrical Engineering of TAU’s Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, in Internationally collaboration with Freescale Semiconductor Israel (formerly Motorola Semiconductor, Israel.) The laboratory, which is equipped with the company’s Porter School Debates Land Rights specialized signal processing chips, will be used by students and faculty working in Land resources in Israel are extremely the fields of signal and video processing and scarce and are constantly threatened by communications applications. Freescale also the pressures of development. In awarded a master’s scholarship at the faculty. addition to their environmental At the inauguration ceremony, Ronen significance, the access to and control Shtayer, CEO of Freescale Israel, said that over these resources is fraught with the laboratory illustrated how social, economic and political collaboration between industry and problems. To this end, the Porter School academia benefits all parties concerned. of Environmental Studies held a series Also attending were President of of symposia focusing on the topic of Freescale Israel, Israel Kashat; Dean of open space and land rights in Israel as Engineering Prof. Touvia Miloh; and part of its activities within the From left: Ronen Shtayer, Prof. Touvia Miloh academic head of the new laboratory, framework of the National Forum of the and Israel Kashat Prof. David Burshtein. Environment. The first symposium, “Municipal Borders,” held together with the Architect David Reznik: Modernist and a Humanist Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow-New Discourse, focused on the allocation of he first-ever retrospective of works Born in Brazil in 1924, Reznik land to local authorities; “Land, Capital Tby Israeli architect David Reznik studied architecture there and worked and Governance,” held jointly with the was displayed at TAU’s Genia Schreiber under the renowned Modernist architect Knesset Commission for Future University Art Gallery. A 1995 Israel Oscar Niemayer. He immigrated to Generations, discussed the issue of land Prize laureate, Reznik was one of the Israel with his wife Rachel in 1949 and ownership and policy in Israel; and foremost architects of Israel’s founding eventually settled in Jerusalem where “Environment, Planning and Human generation. The 20 works featured in he opened his own firm. Rights in Israel,” held with the Israel the exhibition were selected for how Among the many distinctive buildings Union for Environmental Defense, dealt they illustrate the development of designed by Reznik in Jerusalem are the with planning issues from the Reznik’s architectural language and University Synagogue at the Givat Ram perspective of social and human rights, the unique characteristics of his work – Campus of the Hebrew University, the including the right to a decent at once modernist and humanistic, Van Leer Institute, the Israel National environment. The series was organized said exhibition curator Sophia Dekel- Academy of Sciences and the Hyatt by Dr. Arie Nesher, Professional Caspi. “Reznik incorporated stark and Regency Hotel. His projects overseas Director of the Porter School. clean elements of Modernism in his include the Israeli pavilion at Expo ’67 Israeli-Italian Environmental designs, but never at the expense of in Montreal, Canada, and the Israeli Cooperation was the coherence with the surroundings; or the Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil. topic of an event held comfort and ease of use by people,” The exhibition was selected by the by the Italian-Israeli she said. Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture Forum for The exhibition was accompanied by and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Environmental R&D a detailed catalogue featuring research represent Israel at the Biennale in Sao established by the on Reznik that was published by TAU. Paulo, Brazil, later this year. Porter School together with the Italian Dr. Corrado Clini Ministry of Environment and Territory and the Italian Embassy in Israel. Guest speakers included Israeli Minister of the Environment Shalom Simhon; Director- General of the Italian Ministry for Environment and Territory Dr. Corrado Clini; Head of the School Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron and founder of the Porter School, Dame Shirley Porter. A Reznik design: The School of Education on the Mount Scopus campus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

NEWS 2 Summer 2005 Zubin Mehta conducting the Buchmann-Mehta Symphony Orchestra New Era in Israeli Musical Education A gala concert under the baton of Zubin Mehta launches TAU’s Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in cooperation with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

ineteen year-old pianist Tal- outstanding training program for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent a Haim Samnon’s orchestral players for the IPO and other message in which he praised “this performance of Beethoven’s orchestras and to prevent the flight of wonderful union between Josef Emperor Concerto at the Israel’s best young musical talent Buchmann and Zubin Mehta – both inaugurationN of TAU’s Buchmann- abroad.” A special program of outstanding friends of Israel – as one Mehta School of Music was received excellence will enable approximately that will profoundly influence Israel’s with rapturous applause and cries for 100 talented young musicians to musical and cultural life.” an encore. Tal symbolizes the type of receive full scholarships, he noted. Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa Ron Huldai talented young musician the new said this was a great moment for the school aims to train on a world-class city and the entire country. level. The school sent a powerful message The school, which unites TAU and about Jewish continuity, TAU President the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Itamar Rabinovich said, in that Josef (IPO) under Musical Director Zubin Buchmann had “survived the sub- Mehta, is being supported by TAU human conditions of the concentration honorary doctor Josef Buchmann, a camps to become an extremely great TAU benefactor, Vice Chairman successful businessman and philan- of the International Board of thropist who is committed to Israel.” Governors, and long-time patron of The inaugural concert featured the culture and the IPO. school’s Symphony Orchestra together Honorary President of the School, with lead players of the IPO in an all- Zubin Mehta, who has been awarded a Josef and Bareket Buchmann Beethoven program conducted by professorship at TAU, said to Mehta. Tal-Haim Samnon, the piano Buchmann: “I will say it simply – with The school’s academic standing will soloist, won a competition at the school all of you in the audience as my be enhanced by the addition of the to play in the concert. witness, Yossele, I love you.” He Samuel Rubin Musicology Track, which Head of the school Prof. Tomer Lev stressed that the school fulfills his long- currently has 160 students, of whom 65 acted as master of ceremonies for the time dream of “creating a truly are on the master’s and PhD level. evening.

Summer 2005 3 NEWS Animal Attraction Internet Studies Gain Sponsor Animal lovers can now go online for a live video broadcast Israel’s largest Internet service provider, Netvision, of gazelles, birds, bats and other has joined forces with TAU in establishing the creatures at TAU’s I. Meier Segals Garden for Zoological Netvision Institute for Internet Studies Research. The site was set up in he social and cultural impact of the Internet is the focus of TAU’s newly inaugurated collaboration with the Israel TNetvision Institute, which promotes research in the field through symposia and Electric Corporation and the conferences for the academic and business communities. It has so far organized 21 Moked Emun security company conferences and seminars, the last of which and allows viewers to zoom in addressed the issue of anti-Semitism on the on the various groups of animals Web. The institute has also conducted surveys in the zoo around the clock. regarding Internet use in Israel, and has Academic Director of the zoo granted three research fellowships to doctoral Dr. Arnon Lotem says that the students. site “is an Academic Director of the institute is Prof. excellent Niv Ahituv, incumbent of the Marko and Lucie educational From left: Prof. Niv Ahituv, Prof. Itamar Chaoul Chair for Research in Information tool for Rabinovich, Ravit Barniv and Ami Harel Evaluation at the Faculty of Management— Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration. The institute’s professional director, Eli Hacohen, initiated and implemented the cooperation between Netvision and TAU. Netvision CEO Ravit Barniv awarded the three doctoral fellowships to students who study the role of the Internet in education and art. Ami Harel, President of Discount Investments and Chairman of the Netvision Board of Directors, and TAU President Itamar Rabinovich, delivered greetings at the inauguration. children and schools and helps Room Memorializes Sandra Ways-Spielman to strengthen the zoo’s relationship with the public.” seminar room in intelligence. She was an outstanding The site will be updated A the Dan David mother, daughter, sister, friend, and wife, based on the seasons and the Building was dedicated and it was especially important for us to animals’ activity, and will soon in the memory of Sandra memorialize her in Israel. We hope that be available in an English Ways-Spielman of Paris, Sandra’s shining light will illuminate the version. www.tau.ac.il/lifesci/ France, who passed university in a way that it has illuminated zoolive The late Sandra away one year ago after our lives.” Ways-Spielman a battle with cancer at Sandra Ways-Spielman was the author of the age of 37. Among The French Licensing Market, a book on Enhancing human those attending the ceremony were intellectual property and licensing rights in Sandra’s parents Serge and Nadine Ways, France. resources brother Jonathan, former husband The Department of Labor Studies Lionel Spielman and children Adam at the Gordon Faculty of Social and Tanya. Sciences is offering a new one- Friends and family members year executive master’s degree in donated the room as well as Labor Studies for experienced scholarships for students at the professionals in the field of university. human resource management. TAU Vice President Yehiel Ben- The program aims to enhance Zvi told the Ways family, “every the understanding of time you visit here, you too will feel organizational processes and part of the university family. You human resource management in will see your love for Sandra and for both the private and public Israel perpetuated through a lively, From left: Yehiel Ben-Zvi, Tanya Ways-Spielman, Nadine Ways, sectors and is headed by Prof. youthful and outstanding place of Adam Ways-Spielman, Jonathan Ways and Serge Ways Gideon Kunda. Graduates will learning.” The ceremony was followed by a prayer be awarded a master’s degree in Serge Ways said, “Sandra was a person service at the Cymbalista Synagogue and Labor Studies. of exceptional beauty, generosity and Jewish Heritage Center.

NEWS 4 Summer 2005 Author Gish Jen Visits German President Köhler Campus

Chinese-American writer Gish Jen was Visits TAU guest lecturer of the Yael Levin Writer-in- Residence Program of the Department of Köhler requested briefings by TAU think tanks English, Entin Faculty of Humanities. Jen is in Middle Eastern affairs the author of Typical American, Mona in the Promised Land and The Love Wife. s part of the visit The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Jen A of the Federal was a pioneer in the genre of cross-cultural President of Germany to fiction in the United States. Her writing Israel this year, Horst addresses the two very different worlds she Köhler and his delegation grew up in – the immigrant world and the spent several hours at TAU. mainstream world. Jen stresses, however, The visit was initiated by that she has always been interested not just President Köhler himself, in capturing the Chinese-American who cited his wish to learn experience, but the entire American more about the current experience. “Part of my writing has been an situation in Israel, effort to claim my American-ness in a way Prof. Rabinovich (left) with President Köhler specifically with regard to that does not deny my Chinese heritage,” Israeli-Palestinian ties, as well as local and regional economic, strategic and said Jen. “And it does political issues. President Köhler was accompanied by State Secretary Dr. seem to me that by Michael Jansen, Head of the Federal Foreign Affairs Department Dr. Wolfgang the time you ask Schultheiss, and German Ambassador to Israel Dr. Rudolf Dressler, as well as yourself, ‘Well, what Israeli Ambassador to Germany Dr. Shimon Stein. does it mean to be During the closed-door meeting, President Köhler, an economist and former Iranian-American, president of the World Bank, spoke of his growing hope that peace between Chinese-American, Israel and the Palestinians could be achieved. Jewish-American, The meeting was organized jointly by TAU’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Irish American?’ you Studies (JCSS) and Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, are American because Gish Jen whose members gave presentations on pressing issues in the Middle East. it’s not a question that Subjects discussed were Iraq, Islam and Democracy by Dr. Martin Kramer of people ask in other parts of the world.” the Dayan Center; European Policies in Regard to the Middle East by JCSS The program was established by Daniela scholar Dr. Mark Heller; The Change in the Situation between Israel and the Shamir and Prof. Meir Het of Israel, together Arab World by JCSS Head Dr. Zvi Stauber; Israel and the Palestinians: Crisis and with family members, in memory of their Dialogue by Brigadier General (res.) Shlomo Brom of the JCSS; and the Iranian aunt Yael Levin, who was an English Challenge by Dr. Ephraim Kam of the JCSS. teacher.

President Carter hosted by Israeli and Palestinian bird lovers

Former US President Jimmy Carter (pictured center) released a wryneck bird in the Knesset Gardens in Jerusalem, as guest of TAU’s Dr. Yossi Leshem (left), Head of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration in Latrun. Carter, an ardent birdwatcher, took time off from monitoring the Palestinian Authority elections while in the region, to learn about the project “Migrating Birds Know No Boundaries,” a research project supported by USAID MERC on the migration of birds in the region. The project is run by TAU and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, in cooperation with Palestinian and Jordanian wildlife organizations. To Carter’s right is Imad Atrash, Executive Director of the Palestine Wildlife Society.

Summer 2005 5 NEWS • Mr. William Kristol of the US, Editor and • The Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Publisher of The Weekly Standard, delivered Institute of Advanced Studies hosted three a lecture entitled “The Bush Foreign Policy guest lecturers: Prof. Hilary Putnam of and Neo-Conservative Ideology after Harvard University, a Sackler Senior September 11” as guest of the Harold Hartog Professor by Special Appointment at TAU’s School of Government and Policy and the School of Philosophy; Prof. Ulf Hannerz of Department of Political Science. His talk was the Department of Sociology and William Kristol followed by a panel discussion featuring Mr. Anthropology of Stockholm University; and Prof. Hilary Dov Weisglass, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister; TAU Prof. Wout Ultee of the Department of Putnam President Itamar Rabinovich; Prof. Peter Berkowitz of George Sociology, University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Mason University Law School and the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; and Prof. Yossi Shain, Head of the Hartog • Prof. Andrzej Bialas of Jagellonian University, Krakow, School. Poland, delivered the Emilio Segre Distinguished Lecture in Physics endowed by Raymond and Beverly Sackler. • Prof. Ruth Wedgwood of Johns Hopkins University spoke on American democracy and the changing nature of the laws of war at the first seminar of the Israel Program on • Prof. Peter Bodenheimer of the Lick Constitutional Government Seminar Series of the Hartog Observatory, Santa Cruz, California, School of Government and Policy. delivered the Yuval Ne’eman Distinguished Lecture in Geophysics, • The Entin Faculty of Humanities’ School of History and the Atmospheric and Space Sciences Institute for the History and Culture of Latin America hosted endowed by Raymond and Beverly Prof. Adrian Shubert of York University, Canada. He spoke on Sackler. Prof. Peter “The Bullfighter Takes Off Her Make Up: Gender and Corrida Bodenheimer in Modern Spain.”

Globalization vs. Nationalism Is globalization bringing about the end the heart of nationalism – self of nationalism and the nation state? determination – is limitless and can be What meaning will the European put forward by various groups that Constitution have for traditional nation claim to be peoples,” said Dieckhoff. states in Europe? These were some of “The appeal of nationalism remains a the questions raised at a seminar powerful one for all peoples looking for From left: Prof. Alain Dieckhoff, Prof. Elie Barnavi entitled “Nationalism in a Changing political freedom,” he said. and Prof. Raanan Rein World” held by TAU’s S. Daniel Dr. Alon Rachamimov of TAU’s create cultural constructs appealing Abraham Center for International and School of History said that while enough to attract the same emotional Regional Studies, in cooperation with institutions such as the European fervor as nationalism. CERI-Sciences Po, Paris. Union, the United Nations, the The seminar was organized by Prof. In his keynote address, Prof. Alain International Criminal Court and the Raanan Rein, Director of the Abraham Dieckhoff of CERI-Sciences Po International Monetary Fund had to a Center, and moderated by Prof. Elie challenged the prevailing view that certain extent limited the ability of Barnavi, Head of TAU’s Curiel Institute nationalism is on the decline because states to exercise full sovereignty, none for European Studies, History, Culture of globalization. “The basic principle at of these institutions had managed to and International Relations.

Parlez-vous Francais? Argentina after the crisis The French Department, Entin Faculty of Humanities, under the direction Argentina’s Minister of the Interior, Dr. Anibal of Prof. Nadine Kuperty-Tsur, held an International Francophone Day Fernandez, lectured on “The Crisis of 2001 and devoted to the teaching of the French language. The event was opened by the Incorporation of Argentina in the three ambassadors of French-speaking countries, France, Belgium and International Context” at an event organized by Switzerland, and attended by Prof. Tobie Nathan, ethno-psychiatrist and TAU’s Institute for Latin American History and cultural counselor of the French Embassy, which sponsored the event; Prof. Culture. Mr. Atilio Molteni, Ambassador of Jean Binon of the University of Louvain, Belgium; Prof. Danielle Flament of Argentina to Israel, gave greetings and Prof. Paris X-Nanterre; Mrs. Aimee Laure Tancman, Inspector of French at the Raanan Rein, Director of the S. Daniel Abraham Israeli Ministry of Education; and Prof. Elie Barnavi of TAU’s School of Center for International and Regional Studies, History, a former Israeli ambassador to France. moderated the event.

NEWS 6 Summer 2005 • The Goldstein- Howard Gilman Conference Boosts German- Goren Diaspora Israeli Scientific Collaboration Research Center held an international Senior scientists and officials from TAU met with their German counterparts conference on at four leading Berlin research centers to discuss developments in “Rethinking European neuroscience, genetic research and nanoscience, within the framework of Jewish History,” which an Israeli-German Science Colloquium sponsored by the Howard Gilman was the second in a Foundation. series of the center’s Sessions took place at the Freie University, the Max Planck Institute for long-term project, Molecular Biology, Humboldt University and the Technical University. New Perspectives on Among the participants from TAU were Rector Shimon Yankielowicz and European Jewry. The Vice President and Dean for Research and Development Prof. Ruth Shalgi. seminar brought together scholars from North Also attending were scientists from other German research institutions as America, Europe and Israel to reevaluate critical well as from India and the Netherlands. assumptions and methods in the historical study of the Jews in Europe, and to forge an agenda for pursuing research of the topic in the 21st century. Hartog School leads mayoral delegation to South Africa The final session entitled “From Europe to TAU’s Hartog School of Government and Policy led a delegation of twelve America and Back” was co-sponsored by the Jewish and Arab mayors and local government officials to South Africa for a Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish study visit to examine the role of local government in the consolidation of History at New York University and held in the democracy in that country. Prof. Yossi Shain, Head of the Hartog School, presence of family members Alexander and noted that the initiative “both enriched the delegates’ knowledge and Celina Goldstein-Goren. The conference was contributed to efforts to improve South Africa-Israel relations.” The group was organized by Prof. Jeremy Cohen, Head of the hosted by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) and supported TAU Goldstein-Goren Center, and Prof. Shulamit by the Institute of International Education, the Ford Foundation, the South Volkov of TAU’s Minerva Institute for German African government and members of the Hartog School’s advisory board, History. Stanley and Marion Bergman of the USA and David Altschuler of the UK. Campus Visitors

delegation from group of attorney generals from the US, guests of the A Lodz, Poland, headed A America-Israel Friendship League, visited the campus by Mayor Dr. Jerzy and met with Prof. Asher Susser, Director of the Moshe Dayan Kropiwnicki, visited the Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and Prof. Dina campus and met with Porat, Head of the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish President Itamar Rabinovich, Studies. Vice President Yehiel Ben- Zvi and members of the TAU Mayor Jerzy Kropiwnicki (left) with he American Forum of TAU’s Jaffee Center faculty. Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi Tfor Strategic Studies hosted the Director of AIPAC, Howard A. Kohr, at TAU. He met with AU hosted a delegation from the French National Union center researchers and spoke on the AIPAC Tof Students (UNEF), who arrived in Israel to strengthen lobby and the Bush administration. relations and cooperation between French, Israeli and Howard Kohr Palestinian universities. They met with Rector Shimon Yankielowicz; Prof. Jonathan Price, Director of Inter- delegation of the German Federal Ministry for Education Academic Affairs; and Prof. Elie Barnavi, former Israeli A and Research visited TAU and toured facilities that ambassador to France. receive German federal funding, including the Minerva Dead Sea Research Institute, the GLOWA Jordan River Project, and research labs in cancer research and water technology. delegation from CERI-Sciences Po, AParis, headed by Richard Descoings, was hosted at TAU within the framework of a r. Patrick Boisseau, International Coordinator of cooperation agreement signed between the DNano2Life, European Network of Excellence, visited two institutions. They met with faculty TAU and met with senior researchers in nanoscience and members and students and were accompanied nanotechnology and life sciences. Guest of honor at the Richard on campus by Vice President of the French meeting was former President of the State of Israel Prof. Descoings Friends Association François Heilbronn. Ephraim Katzir of TAU.

Summer 2005 7 NEWS United Together in a Reunited City TAU held its 14th European Regional Conference of the Board of Governors in Berlin his year’s European board Germany and Israel were exceptionally university’s oldest and most important meeting was held in Berlin on strong in the fields of science and Friends associations and thanked them the occasion of the 40th research and that Tel Aviv University for organizing “such a rich and anniversary of diplomatic had played a major role in this area. impressive program and for bringing Trelations between Israel and Germany. Keynote speaker Dr. Josef Joffe, some of Germany’s leading intellectuals The conference was hosted by the Publisher and Editor of the German to stimulate and enrich the German Friends of TAU and attended newspaper Die Zeit, gave a talk entitled conference.” by TAU governors, supporters and “Spring 2005: The World as Viewed The academic program comprised guests from Europe, the USA, Canada, from Berlin.” eight lectures in topics ranging from Argentina and Australia. Conference developments in the Middle East to an sponsor was the trust company, Europe’s fastest-growing Jewish overview of biopharmaceutical Grundstückgemeinschaft community research, as well as presentations on Tauentzienstrasse 13, Berlin. TAU President Itamar Rabinovich said the city’s Jewish heritage, modern Representing TAU at the event were that the German capital holds special architecture and art, and on Germany’s President Itamar Rabinovich; Vice significance for Jews. “Pre-war Berlin role in the world today. President Yehiel Ben-Zvi; Rector was one of the world’s foremost centers Highlights of the conference Shimon Yankielowicz; and of Jewish life, the birthplace of the included a visit to the Reichstag, a boat tour of the River Spree, a tour of Jewish sites and a viewing of the soon-to-be opened Berlin Holocaust Memorial, including a presentation by Lea Rosh, a major force behind its establishment. Guests also toured the Berlin Musical Instruments Museum, the world’s largest collection of instruments dating from the 16th century, where they heard a musical performance by the Silver- Garburg Piano Duo, graduates of TAU’s Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. Guests were hosted to Friday night Vice President Yehiel Ben- Zvi (center) with Jakob Gutman and dinner by the Berlin Jewish community. his daughter Rebecca Gutman of Tauentzienstrasse 13 President’s Award to Reinhart Rath At the Berlin Director of the Development and Reform and Conservative movements, Conference, the 2005 Public Affairs Division Danny Shapiro. and a magnet for Jews from all over President’s Award was The conference opened with a gala Europe,” said Rabinovich. “That bestowed upon dinner at the historic Kempinski Hotel, community was, of course, obliterated Reinhart C. Rath in which also served as the center for in the Holocaust; however, today, recognition of his conference activities. TAU Honorary Berlin has the fastest-growing Jewish activities for the Berlin Doctor Ernst Gerhardt, President of the community in Europe and is also one of Friends of TAU and his service on German Friends of TAU, welcomed the the world’s richest cultural venues,” he behalf of the Kodesz estate, which participants to Berlin. Guest of honor said. has established medical institutes and Dr. Shimon Stein, Israeli Ambassador to Prof. Rabinovich praised the German scholarships at the university. Germany, said that the ties between Friends of TAU as one of the

NEWS 8 Summer 2005 n a breakthrough technological achievement, a team of cardiologists led by a TAU professor has used gene therapy to Iimprove the flow of blood to the heart of a patient suffering from coronary artery disease. The operation, carried out on a 68-year old patient, represents the first stage of a multi-center international clinical trial involving more than 10 European hospitals and 130 specially screened patients. The innovative procedure was developed by Prof. Ran Kornowski of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, who is Director of the Cardiac Catheteri- zation Institute at the TAU-affiliated Cardiology Department of the Rabin Medical Center, together with senior cardiologist Dr. Shmuel Fuchs of the Lifeline for the Heart Rabin Center. Prof. Kornowski said this was the first A TAU cardiologist and his colleagues have introduced the time that gene therapy had been used in the field of cardiology in Israel. “We first Israeli gene therapy procedure for treating severely ill hope it will initiate at our center a new heart patients investigational approach in the treatment of severe cardiac patients,” we followed it with great interest for angina pectoris who previously he said. several years before we decided to underwent two open-heart operations launch this clinical trial which and was not helped by medications. synthesizes the cardiology world with Surgeons used a special catheter and that of gene transfer techniques,” said 3D mapping devices to deliver the Prof. Kornowski after successful genes to 12 precise locations in the completion of the first experimental heart. treatment. Awake during the procedure, the patient experienced no pain and was Growth factor gene discharged the following day, feeling The procedure involves injecting the well. However, Kornowski stressed that gene for vascular endolathelial growth it would take some time to know the factor (VEGF), which is known to exact effects of the procedure or stimulate the growth of blood vessels, validity of the clinical trial. Coronary artery disease affects from directly into the heart of the patient. The success of the treatment will be between 30 to 50 million sufferers The compound is produced by the measured by many factors such as the worldwide, eight million of whom die GenVec company, USA. The scientists results of exercise capacity, nuclear every year from blocked arteries and use as a “gene carrier” a deactivated cardiology examinations, severity of heart failure. In Israel alone there are virus that has been genetically chest pain symptoms, nitroglycerine pill approximately 10,000 heart events engineered to cause no harm, and that uptake, echocardiography and the each year. While angioplasty can serve delivers the growth factor gene directly overall improvement in the patient’s to clear blocked arteries in the majority to the relevant sites in the heart. “The condition and well-being, noted of sufferers, between 5 to 10 percent of gene should act as a ‘temporary factory’ Kornowski. patients do not respond adequately to for the production of a substance that Kornowski and Fuchs initiated the this treatment or to open-heart surgery. might improve the flow of blood to the idea of gene transplantation seven years The gene transfer technique is aimed at heart and hopefully will improve its ago, together with a team of researchers these chronic sufferers. condition when it is at rest and under in the USA. During this period, they “Although gene therapy has been exertion,” says Prof. Kornowski. began collaborative research with considered a major challenge for The first procedure was performed GenVec and Cordis, a Johnson & investigators in various medical fields, on a male patient suffering from severe Johnson company.

Summer 2005 9 NEWS A Titanic Prediction

A TAU planetary scientist played a key role in determining the atmospheric conditions on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, prior to the first-ever spacecraft landing on its icy surface

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

hen the US-European Saturnian system. The Huygens probe and his colleagues at TAU also found space probe Huygens plunged into Titan’s mysterious and that the compound acetylene posed a landed safely on Titan murky atmosphere on January 25, 2005, danger to the Huygens probe. earlier this year – with landing on a slushy mass of ice and “Acetylene under solar irradiation can Wall three parachutes ejecting safely – liquid methane. turn into sticky aerosols in the TAU planetary scientist Prof. Akiva Bar- The historic landing capped three atmosphere,” notes Bar-Nun. “When Nun breathed a sigh of relief. For some decades of work for Bar-Nun, an expert we produced these aerosols in our nights previously he had been having in planetary atmospheres and comets at laboratory, they were so sticky when nightmares about parachutes failing to TAU’s Department of Geophysics and fresh that we feared they would block open. “The most exciting moment was Planetary Sciences, Raymond and the probe’s instruments and smear the when the probe sent out its own radio Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact cameras.” Further study revealed that beep telling us that it was alive, and Sciences, and a former Director-General the aerosols would spontaneously then we all applauded,” said Bar-Nun. of the Israel Space Agency. harden like marbles and do no damage, “The second one was when we heard At the time of the landing, he and his a fact that has been confirmed by the the thud of the landing on the surface.” group of mostly Italian scientists were space mission. Bar-Nun was part of the Cassini- stationed at the European Space Another of the team’s findings that Huygens space mission to explore Agency’s Communications Center in has been confirmed by the Cassini Saturn and its moons, a joint effort of Darmstadt, Germany. mission is the absence of lightning NASA, the European Space Agency and Bar-Nun has spent the past 15 years discharges on Titan. “This settles a the Italian Space Agency and one of the working with the group that developed controversy between the Israeli group most ambitious space projects ever experiments for the Huygens probe and of scientists who maintained for mounted. The Cassini orbiter is he contributed significantly to the decades that the driving force behind undertaking a four-year tour of the performance and durability of the Titan’s atmospheric chemistry was the detectors on board. He sun’s irradiation and the French team was chosen to join the who claimed it was due to lightning team not as an Israeli discharges,” says Bar-Nun. “All in all, representative but based the chemical composition of Titan’s on his expertise on Titan’s upper atmosphere as found by the make-up. Cassini spacecraft is very similar to what we found in our own Making predictions experiments,” says Bar-Nun. Bar-Nun’s long-held predictions regarding Why study Titan? Titan’s atmosphere have Titan is the only moon in the solar been backed up by space system with a thick gaseous atmosphere From left: Dr. Diana Laufer, Prof. Akiva Bar-Nun, Prof. Vasili exploration, including the made up of methane and nitrogen, Dimitrov and Ronen Jacovi. discovery of propane. He explains Bar-Nun. “Titan is a time vault.

NEWS 10 Summer 2005 The molecules on its surface have remained undisturbed by turbulence and internal forces such as on other planets like Jupiter and Saturn. Therefore, its unique environment may resemble that of Earth some several billion years ago and could be of crucial importance for providing clues as to how life emerged on Earth,” says Bar-Nun. He stresses, however, that because of extremely low Titan (right), shrouded by a yellow haze, as photographed by the O temperatures on Titan of minus 180 C, the water there is only Cassini spacecraft, and the similarity in the form of ice, whereas on primitive Earth there was in color of aerosols produced in plenty of liquid water and water vapor, which created the Prof. Bar-Nun’s laboratory (above). right conditions for the emergence of life. “Titan is a dead end as far as life is concerned,” says Bar-Nun. major research project involving the study of comets that is scheduled to land a spacecraft on the Churyumov- So why go there? Gerasimenko comet in 2014. “For the sheer pleasure, beauty and curiosity of seeing how Prof. Bar-Nun’s research is carried out in cooperation with far we can go,” says Bar-Nun. “Why did Columbus go TAU’s Prof. Vasili Dimitrov of the KAMEA Project, Dr. Diana westward and why did Magellan circumvent the globe?” Laufer, and doctoral student Ronen Jacovi, and is supported Prof. Bar-Nun, incumbent of the Gordon Chair of Planetary by Israeli research funds, mainly the Israel National Science Sciences at TAU, is a member of the ESA’s Rosetta Mission, a Foundation.

TAU Experiment on Alcohol Drinking and Evil Yeast Board Columbia Yields cientists have long suspected that heavy alcohol drinking Important Results Sincreases the risk of oral cancer, a condition that results in more deaths each year than skin or cervical cancer. However, since espite the tragic loss of Israeli astronaut Col. Ilan alcohol is not known to be carcinogenic, the exact link between it DRamon and the Columbia space crew on and oral cancer has remained unclear. February 1, 2003, Ramon’s experiment on dust Now, TAU oral microbiologist Prof. Mel Rosenberg, together with particles and thunderstorms in the atmosphere has doctoral student Amir Shuster and Dr. Nir Osher of TAU’s Sackler proved a resounding success. This was the summation Faculty of Medicine, have found that alcohol reacts with the yeast given by TAU geophysicist Prof. Colin Price that normally resides in our mouths in a way that might cause at a conference held by TAU’s Raymond disease and even put people at risk for cancer. and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact The findings of the study, which were published in the journal Sciences to mark the second Yeast, confirm previous theories of Finnish researchers who claim anniversary since the loss of the that yeast in the mouth and throat are the cause of oral cancers Columbia. The conference, entitled among alcohol drinkers. “No Place Is Far Enough,” was held in The TAU researchers found that when activated by alcohol, the the presence of Mrs. Rona Ramon. Guest yeast oxidizes and produces acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen. speaker was NASA astronaut Dr. Michael This leads the yeast to damage and destroy red blood cells, a J. Massimino, who spoke on “Back to the Moon, process that may cause them to grow and proliferate on oral Onward to Mars: The Future of Space Exploration.” surfaces. According to Price, 75% of the data amassed by Rosenberg, a world expert in mouth odors, discovered the Ramon for the TAU-led MEIDEX experiment was destructive combination of alcohol and yeast while investigating the salvaged and has already led to the publication by cause of “alcohol breath.” “The discovery that this process occurs TAU faculty of eight academic papers on transient only in the presence of alcohol suggests that the microorganisms in luminous events (TLE’s) in the Earth’s upper our mouths and digestive tracts may ‘shift gears’ when we drink,” atmosphere, also known as sprites, haloes, and blue says Rosenberg. streaks. This nighttime component of the MEIDEX Some fifty percent of the population has yeast in their mouths on research is ongoing and has given rise to a new an ongoing basis, but the research indicates that some strains are project named for Ramon, called ILAN, involving the more capable of causing disease than others. “It might not be the recording of lightning and sprites over the Tel Aviv type or amount of alcohol that increases risk, but the amount and skies. type of yeast that thrives in an individual’s body,” says Rosenberg. The main daytime component of MEIDEX has To date the TAU team has identified the strains of yeast that resulted in a series of case studies of various physical damage and destroy red blood cells. They hope to bring the research effects of dust and smoke in the atmosphere, said to the point where they can develop a simple test to determine TAU’s Prof. Joachim H. Joseph, MEIDEX principal whether the yeast population in an individual’s mouth is potentially investigator. harmful, and even cancerous.

Summer 2005 11 NEWS BringingBringing NanoteNanotecc

n a five-year project, a team led by embryonic stem cells,” explains only Israeli institution affiliated with Dr. Dafna Benayahu of TAU’s Benayahu. “In addition, growing tissues another major pan-European initiative – Sackler Faculty of Medicine is based on a patient’s own stem cells the Nano2Life European Network of working with 27 other research could significantly lessen the body’s Excellence in Nanobiotechnology. The Igroups from throughout Europe to rejection of that tissue when it is driving force behind TAU’s joining the revolutionize medical technology. Their transplanted back into the patient,” she network were Prof. Shacham; Dr. Yair goal is to develop the nano-scale tools says. Sharan, Director of the Interdisciplinary needed to create a “tissue machine” – a A specialist in the biology of stem Center for Technological Analysis and device using stem cells that could cells, Benayahu is attempting to develop Forecasting (ICTAF); and Dr. Ron produce, for the first time, a specific a “lab on a chip” as her part of Maron, Managing Director of the population of cells or tissue needed to CellPROM, together with microsystems Institute for Nanoscience and heal a variety of ailments. expert Prof. Yosi Shacham of TAU’s Nanotechnology. “Imagine that we could transplant Research Institute for Nanoscience and A four-year project, Nano2Life into a patient’s body new cartilage or Nanotechnology. provides a framework for bone to reverse spinal cord damage, or The chip needs to automate the collaborative thinking among heart muscle tissue to repair a damaged process of identifying stem cells from 200 researchers from 23 heart,” says Dr. Benayahu of the among the widely varied types of cells institutions in the fields of Department of Cell and Developmental found in bone marrow. This is no easy biology, medicine and Biology. “The research we’re doing task, as only one out of 100,000 cells is nanotechnology. “The could turn that vision into reality.” a stem cell. After it recognizes the right main objective of cells, the chip has to sort and channel Nano2Life is to promote them to a culture dish where they can research and reach the critical mass point for tissue applications in the engineering. hottest nanobiotech “The next challenge is to identify the fields, such as conditions whereby a stem cell will turn sensing devices, into each type of required tissue,” says drug delivery and Benayahu. “The nano-biotechnological fabrication of tools we design will have to mimic new materials natural processes of cellular signaling like and differentiation.” nanowires,” Benayahu points out the multidisciplinary nature of the project. Biologists are investigating different types of cells and cellular mechanisms; engineers are designing the chips; and Dr. Dafna Benayahu physicists and chemists are working on the interface between biology and CellPROM nano-mechanics. Every three months The project, being supported by the the research teams meet for a day-long European Union at a cost of 30 million symposium to share their findings, and euros, is called “CellPROM,” short for occasionally one or a few partners will “cell programming.” Scientists already hold a smaller gathering. know how to take individual stem cells, “By the end of the project we hope to nature’s template cell, and program build a prototype of the tissue machine, them to turn into one or another kind of or at least parts of it,” says Benayahu. tissue. CellPROM strives to lay the “There is tremendous interest by the scientific foundations for accelerating biomedical industry in this technology, and automating this process on a large which could improve the quality of and industrially viable scale. life of hundreds of thousands of The kind of stem cells being studied patients the world over,” she says. are not embryonic, but rather adult stem cells, which are found in bone marrow. TAU: Major partner in Nano2Life says Prof. Rafi Korenstein, a biophysicist “Using the adult type helps us bypass In addition to its participation in at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the the ethical issues associated with CellPROM, Tel Aviv University is the head of the Marion Gertner Institute for

NEWS 12 Summer 2005 cchnologieshnologies toto LifeLife

A chip for powering a “tissue machine” that could reverse heart, liver or nerve damage is just one of the futuristic nano-scale biotechnologies being developed at TAU in collaboration with European research consortia

By Rava Eleasari

Sciences, heads the nanoscale are working with biologists, medical assemblies group; and Dr. Mira doctors and cognitive science specialists Marcus-Kalish, Senior Researcher at to provide all-encompassing, holistic ICTAF, leads the converging solutions for treating diseases or technologies group. Other research enhancing the physical and mental topics range from nano-imaging and capabilities of the human body. improvement of biochips to “More than describing any specific nanotechnology and cancer. product or process, the term Dr. Marcus-Kalish also coordinates ‘converging technologies’ represents a the joint research activities of the entire call to action,” says Marcus-Kalish. “The Nano2Life network. This includes new trend in the scientific world is to determining the focus of the 10 research see a person – body, psychology and areas, arranging for exchanges between cognition – as inextricably connected to students and faculty members, bringing environment and society as a whole. If scientists together for meetings and for you want to solve a problem, you need writing joint grant proposals, and to address every angle of it enabling researchers to gain access to simultaneously, and to find new ways of facilities and equipment. Two gatherings integrating and exploiting existing and have been held on the TAU campus, new knowledge,” she says. and the network’s one-year anniversary “For example, when designing a conference was held recently in drug, you need to take into account the Germany. patient’s individual biology, state of “We’re hoping to evolve into a mind, eating habits, and environmental permanent European Institute of and cultural context,” Marcus-Kalish Nanobiotechnology,” notes Marcus- says. Kalish. Along with overseeing research, Medical this body would also tackle ethics and Widening the effort Nanosystems, and regulatory issues, conduct short and Prof. Korenstein believes that “nano is the coordinator of long-term health risk assessments, and the last visible frontier of science – TAU activity in manage technology transfer. Nano2Life miniaturization on the atomic and Nano2Life. is already working closely with more molecular level.” “TAU has than 20 industrial partners to develop “If you can implant a nano device in recognized strengths in new nanobiotechnological instruments the body and operate it, you may be these fields,” says and materials for health care, the able to repair single cells or parts of Korenstein. “We’re a major environment, security, and food safety. cells,” he says. Likewise, new materials partner in the network in fabricated on the nano scale could be terms of both the scope and Toward convergence more reliable, stronger and of multiple quality of the research we’re A specialist in biological modeling, uses. initiating.” Marcus-Kalish is enthusiastic about the Korenstein would like to recruit more Out of 10 strategic possibilities inherent in the nano-bio scientists across the campus to research areas identified by interface. “Nano is the language of the interdisciplinary research activity in Nano2Life, three are led by TAU body. If you want to speak this nanoscience and nanotechnology, “but faculty members. Prof. Korenstein language, you have to work on the nano we need more resources,” he says. heads nano-based drug delivery; scale,” she says. “We’ve got the people with the talent, Prof. Ehud Gazit of the Department of In the converging technologies area, imagination and multidisciplinary Molecular Microbiology and which Marcus-Kalish leads, approach – TAU has tremendous nano Biotechnology, Wise Faculty of Life nanotechnology experts and engineers potential.”

Summer 2005 13 NEWS team Prof. Gad Barzilai of the By Louise Shalev Department of Political Science and co- n 2000, a group of prominent ultra- director of the law, politics and society Orthodox rabbis issued an edict program, and Dr. Karine Barzilai- banning their communities from Nahon of the University of Washington, using the Internet. The Internet, Seattle, USA. Isaid the rabbis, posed a danger one The study, entitled “Cultured thousand times greater than television Technology: Internet and Religious and was liable to “bring ruin and Fundamentalism,” is the first destruction upon all of Israel.” Surfing comprehensive profile of how Haredi the Web detracts from studying surfers adapt the technology to their Dr. Karine Barzilai-Nahon and Prof. Gad Barzilai religious law and may lead to forbidden culture and needs – a process the temptations such as pornography, Barzilais term “cultured technology.” Accessing the data gambling, games and music, they The aim of the research was to examine Self-contained religious groups rarely warned. how the community handles the volunteer information to outsiders. Despite the ban, the Internet has conflict between social discipline and However, the researchers were able to penetrated the ultra-Orthodox – also limited personal freedom on the one draw on an unusually large and reliable known as Haredi – community in ways hand, and the secular values embodied source of data. An Israeli Internet unforeseen by the rabbis, finds a study by modern telecommunications service provider, Hevre, allowed them conducted by TAU husband and wife technology on the other. to examine surfing patterns among its 686,000 customers, of whom about 14,000 were identified as ultra- Orthodox. While the Internet symbolizes individual freedom, inclusiveness, equality and openness, the ultra- Orthodox Jewish population lives in isolation from the outside world in a community ruled by strict discipline and a patriarchal hierarchy. “In the case of the Haredi leadership,” found the researchers, “they have adopted the technology for their own purpose of socializing and mobilizing community members. “The spiritual leadership is able to enforce and strengthen communal values online by offering its members virtual services such as E-prayers and online consultations with higher religious authorities that were previously only available in person, as well as by countering arguments raised by opponents of the community,” they say. With an average of six children and only one wage earner per family, the Haredi community is the poorest Ultra-Orthodox Jews population group among Jews in Israel. Recognizing this, the rabbis made a special dispensation permitting use of Go Online the Web for business and work purposes. However, they offer Despite rabbinical prohibitions, over one third of guidelines for its use such as placing the computer in a place in the home Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews are surfing the Internet, where the screen is visible to all and finds a TAU study filtering E-mail.

NEWS 14 Summer 2005 Gender gap Just 35% of Haredi users are women, although more females than males hold jobs (husbands generally pursue full- time religious study). “The women use the Net to voice disputes and to bypass somewhat the limitations imposed upon them in their personal and public life,” say the researchers. Women are engaging in biblical and Talmudic study, a practice often restricted inside the Orthodox community, for example. The study found that Haredis were Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif less likely than their secular counterparts to use E-mail, for fear of interacting with the outside world, but were more likely to take part in online forums and chat groups. It also revealed a growing A Collective group of young Haredis who surf the Web from public places like Internet cafés. “It is precisely this group the Displacement rabbis are worried about,” note the Barzilais. The Jewish settlers slated for evacuation from the Gaza These users can exploit the anonymity of the Internet to criticize Strip should be offered an alternative pioneering challenge their rabbis’ decisions. Yet, despite within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, suggests a TAU study occasional scandals and libel suits, most of the ultra-Orthodox use the Internet for exchanging information By Louise Shalev about community events, religious law and national affairs, found the his year some 7,500 Jewish settlers are to be evacuated from the researchers. Gaza Strip under the government’s disengagement plan. If the withdrawal is implemented as planned, the settlers will be relocated Web censorship either in existing communities in Israel or to brand new ones that will be The research showed that censorship is especiallyT built for them. But how can the settlers come to terms with the trauma a major means by which the community they feel at losing their homes and land? How will they integrate into Israeli leadership controls the information society after the upheaval? flow. Censorship is imposed by filtering In an interdisciplinary study prepared by TAU’s Prof. Itzhak Schnell of the and blocking sites and by inflicting Department of Geography and Human Environment and Prof. Shaoul Mishal of punishments on transgressors. However, the Department of Political Science, the researchers argue that the Gaza settlers’ even under the harshest conditions of opposition to the withdrawal is largely based on the feeling that they will lose communal surveillance, individuals their elite social status and self-image as pioneers within Israeli society. find ways to circumvent censorship and Many of the approximately 7,500 Jewish settlers who reside in the Gaza Strip access forbidden material that might – also known as Gush Katif – originally come from Israel’s underprivileged challenge the community’s basic southern development towns and border settlements, the TAU study points out. principles, say the Barzilais. These towns absorbed immigrants from North African and Arab-speaking Although the Internet is changing the countries in the 1950s, but have to this day remained at the bottom of the socio- normal boundaries of communication economic ladder. The settlers moved to Gaza in search of a higher standard of among ultra-Orthodox Israelis, the living and the promise of generous government loans and subsidies. community is maintaining its basic patterns of norms, beliefs, identities and Social mobility behavior, conclude the Barzilais. More importantly, stress the researchers, the move to Gaza promised the settlers “Paradoxically, the technology is social and economic mobility away from the margins of Israeli society to the very strengthening the community at the heart of the space identified with the new Zionist ethos. “Gaza was a place of same time as it threatens the group’s self-fulfillment for them.” cohesiveness,” they say. For the first time, these people experienced being part of the elite of Israeli The study was published in the society. They saw themselves as the third generation of Zionist pioneers, journal,The Information Society. replacing the first generation that founded the State and second generation of

Summer 2005 15 NEWS native Israelis who ensured its survival. “Whereas the ideology of Yesha (The disengagement frequently step outside “This reinforced their sense of self- Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, the boundaries of law and democracy – esteem and upgraded them in Israeli Samaria and the Gaza Strip) such as advocating the use of violent society – at least in their eyes,” say emphasizes the sacredness of settling means of protest and refusal to obey Schnell and Mishal. “Disengagement the land above all else, the Gaza IDF orders to evacuate settlers — the threatens to return the Gaza settlers to settlers are Gaza rabbis have been careful to their former marginal status in Israeli motivated by oppose the withdrawal by democratic society.” connection to means. “The Gaza settlers wish to home and remain within the mainstream Sense of place community,” say consensus,” say Schnell and Mishal. In interviews conducted among the the researchers. “They seek sympathy and legitimacy settlers about the impending The study from the public and speak of preserving withdrawal, the researchers found that found that the the unity of the nation.” the vast majority was most concerned Gaza settlers “When resettling these people,” about existential questions to do with Prof. Itzhak Schnell form a distinct conclude Schnell and Mishal, “it is loss of livelihood, land and personal sub-group within extremely important to preserve their survival. Surrounded by one and a half the larger settlement movement as sense of community, keep them million Palestinians, the Gaza settlers represented by the Yesha Council. together, and provide them with an formed an enclave that was united Although the majority are religious, alternative pioneering challenge within around isolation and the need for they are not part of the predominantly Israeli society. It is not good enough to security, say Schnell and Mishal. Ashkenazi elite of the settlement return them to development towns. The The researchers found that the Gaza establishment. government must enable them to leave settlers’ attachment to the land the Gaza Strip honorably,” they believe. stemmed more from love of its pastoral Different discourses The research, commissioned by the atmosphere and coastal scenery than This distinction has been evident in the Floersheimer Institute of Policy from the messianic belief in settling the anti-withdrawal rhetoric emerging from Research, was carried out with TAU Land of Israel that drives their both groups note the researchers. While graduate students Netta Slavi and counterparts in Judea and Samaria. the Yesha rabbis’ rulings on Noa Gempel.

Women as Keepers of Memory Fiction written by second-generation Holocaust survivors uses the female voice to pass on remembrance to the next generation, finds a TAU study The literature of second-generation Holocaust survivors in Israel, among them Michal Govrin, Savion Liebrecht and David Grossman, Talila Kosh-Zohar perpetuates the traumatic memory through the female voice as a way of overcoming 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 to examine Holocaust remembrance in Israeli literature employing gender-based distinctions. In most of the works Kosh examined, she found clear differences between the female and male survivors’ ways of coping with the past and perceiving the present. While male survivors consciously decide to remain silent about the past and create new lives for themselves, female survivors 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 at odds with masculine norms of rationalism, restraint and self-control,” she says. The women, on the other hand, object to this approach and prefer to pick up their lives from the moment of disaster, 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 the Courtesy of Yad Vashem – The past, present and future. “By assigning the role of keeper of memories to the female or maternal Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ voice,” says Kosh, “the authors aim to enhance moral sensitivity in Israeli society, to help heal Remembrance Authority the trauma and to pave the way for recuperation and redemption.”

NEWS 16 Summer 2005 Placing Violence in the National Spotlight TAU Hosts Development Town Children A new TAU project seeks solutions for the growing About 500 kindergarten children from violence in Israeli society the southern development town of Sderot visited TAU as part of a fun day ncreasing violent behavior in schools, the family, the political arena and among in science and technology organized by Iethnic and religious groups is the issue of utmost concern to the Israeli public, the Center for Science and Technology surpassing even the economic crisis and the security situation, according to a Education of TAU’s Constantiner School survey conducted by TAU’s Hartog School of Government and Policy. Moreover, of Education. The tiny visitors were the public expects the government to take effective action to combat the given guided tours of TAU’s Botanic phenomenon, finds the survey. Gardens and I. Meier Segals Garden for The Hartog School, headed by Prof. Yossi Shain, has established a committee to Zoological Research, lunch, and study the issue of violence in Israeli society and to recommend solutions for surprise party bags containing reducing it. In the latest survey, conducted during November 2004, 65% of educational material. respondents 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 main reason for its spread. The bodies perceived as most effective in dealing with the issue were youth movements, non-profit organizations and the IDF. The data was presented at a conference held by the school that brought together representatives of the legal, political, educational and media establishments. The committee is chaired by former police commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki, and comprises legal professionals, police personnel, community leaders and researchers in criminology, education, psychology, social work and medicine. The Violence Index is supported by the Stanley and Marion Bergman Charitable Trust of the USA and Moshe Gerstenhaber of the UK. Prof. Jacob Garty, Director of the Botanic Gardens, reveals the secrets of pollination to the kindergarten children. The visit was initiated by Dr. Ruth Name Your Hero Strul-Novik, Director of Scientific and Israeli high school pupils take part in the selection process Technological Literacy at the center after one of the many missile attacks on for the International Dan David Prize Sderot. The visit was funded by leading igh school pupils from throughout The competition is aimed at students Israeli companies. HIsrael will now have a say in who “wish to make a difference” and choosing the fields of specialization whose suggestions can be backed by Free Parents Hotline for and nominees for the annual Dan detailed supporting arguments. David Prize administered by TAU Winning proposals will be announced the Community through an essay competition, “Name during this year’s Dan David Prize The Psychological Services Unit of the Your Hero.” The competition was Award Ceremony and will be taken into Ruth and Allen Ziegler Student initiated by the Dan David Foundation consideration by the prize committee Services Division has launched a new in cooperation with the Philippe Wahl when selecting fields and nominees for Parents Hotline – a free telephone Fund for Young Scientists and the Unit the year 2006. counseling service for parents of for Science Oriented Youth of TAU’s This year, 500 proposals were preschool children. The hotline was Constantiner School of Education. submitted, of which 50 were selected established with the generous help of for the final stage of the a donor from Australia who is deeply competition at the committed to the welfare of children. university. The fields Callers can receive discreet and proposed by the students professional help by experts in mental include green energy and health and child development who ecology; architecture; video are under the supervision of the and computer games; Department of Psychology. The genetic aspects of hotline is part of the unit’s campaign embryology; social justice; to extend its services beyond the and Holocaust university to the wider community. Student competitors at TAU Remembrance.

Summer 2005 17 NEWS s a TAU master’s student arranged for him by the university, the supporter of inter-group dialogue and specializing in the teaching of checkpoint crossing can take hours. It teaches Arabic and Hebrew at the English as a foreign language, all depends on the situation that day, he Ibrahim Center in Gaza – an institution Sobhi Bahloul has to engage says. that aims to promote Palestinian-Israeli inA some mental gymnastics while taking Bahloul is not complaining, however. understanding. “I believe that language notes in class. The language of He savors every minute of his time learning is a tool for strengthening ties instruction is Hebrew, the subject being studying at TAU. He does not worry between the two peoples and spreading taught is English, but Bahloul’s native what people might say about him either peace,” says Bahloul. language is Arabic. Moreover, for in Gaza or in Israel. Bahloul is a well- Prof. Anat Biletzki says the Bahloul, there is the added challenge of known Hebrew teacher in Gaza and “importance and value of Sobhi’s being the only Palestinian student to one of only five authorized notaries in studies at TAU cannot be overstated – attend TAU from the Gaza Strip. Hebrew in the entire Strip. “People for both partners. He is a teacher, His enrollment in the university’s know me as the ‘Hebrew expert,’” he student and a colleague, but more Constantiner School of Education was says. “They recognize my special status importantly, he is a friend. Such unique made possible due to the dedication of as a teacher and educator and respect friendships and collaborations can only a group of faculty members, and me for it.” multiply with progress in the peace process.”

Between two worlds Language Bahloul feels completely at home in Tel Aviv. He fondly remembers bringing his family to Tel Aviv for a three-day as a Means to Peace holiday by the beach in 1997. “I am attracted to Israelis and have a lot of TAU’s first ever Palestinian student from the Gaza Strip friends here. I understand the language, hopes to become an official emissary to Israel culture and mentality,” he says. “We have much more in common than not.” By Louise Shalev Of course switching back and forth between both worlds – Gaza and Israel Required permits – is not easy. “I have to constantly make Bahloul’s enrollment at TAU was an instant adjustment to two completely initiated by Professors Anat Biletzki different worlds,” he says. and Anat Matar of the Department of With Israel’s disengagement from Philosophy, well-known peace and Gaza slated for this year, Bahloul is human rights activists, as well as optimistic for the future of Gaza and the Prof. Elana Shohamy of the peace process. “The situation has Constantiner School. Once accepted calmed down; people are now at the school, it took nearly a year to breathing a sigh of relief on both sides,” obtain the required permits from the he says. Israel Defense Forces for him to “Whatever happens we will remain study in Israel. economically dependent on Israel so we Bahloul’s love of foreign need to maintain good relations. There languages comes from his home. He must be cooperation. We will need a lot began learning English as a young of help to stand on our own feet.” child and has always been curious Bahloul believes that he has a major about foreign cultures and part to play in the future scheme of languages. His sister is an English things. “Here at the university they call teacher and one of his five children me ‘the Palestinian Ambassador,’” he Sobhi Bahloul is studying to become an English says. The label has stuck and even the teacher at Khan Yunis University in soldiers at the checkpoint jokingly call through scholarships granted by the Gaza. him the “The Ambassador” he says. TAU President’s Office and the Dean of Balhoul first met Biletzki and Matar Joking aside, Bahloul’s ambitions for Humanities. in the late 1990s when a delegation of the future include becoming the first Three days a week Bahloul makes students and faculty from TAU and Palestinian Ambassador to Israel. Until the arduous journey from his hometown other universities traveled to Gaza to then, he is concentrating on finishing of Rafiah to Tel Aviv. Even though he engage in joint encounters. He used to his master’s degree and then wants to has the required permits to enter Israel, teach the group Arabic. He is a strong move straight on to his PhD studies.

NEWS 18 Summer 2005 Exploring Beyond the Stars

A prize-winning undergraduate student at TAU’s School of Physics and Astronomy is already penning his name to important research articles

By Louise Shalev

mer Tamuz, 26, a third- algorithm that could help scientists Jupiter, or stars like our sun,” says year undergraduate student confirm the existence of extra-solar Omer. “However, the problem with at TAU, always knew he planets that are not normally visible by identifying planets around other stars is wanted to be an telescope or other means. that they are not visible by any means Oastrophysicist. Even at a young age, he The research has resulted in the since the little light they emit is lost in was fascinated by how the universe publication of a joint research article, the light of the much brighter star they works and the idea that there could be together with Prof. Mazeh and Dr. orbit,” he says. other solar systems. Zucker, in the Monthly Notices of the One method of determining the Omer is one of 35 outstanding Royal Astronomical Society, in which existence of the planet is known as the undergraduate students selected Omer is cited as principal investigator. transit method and involves observing annually for recognition by the TAU “Omer is one of the best students I the decrease in the apparent brightness Rector’s Office from all departments on ever met and it is a pleasure to work of the host star that occurs when the campus. He also made the Dean’s List with him,” says Prof. Mazeh, Head of planet passes in front of it. TAU’s Raymond and Beverly Sackler Eliminating noise Institute of The transit method allows scientists to Astronomy. “He monitor changes in stars’ brightness in represents the search of those that periodically caliber of student become slightly dimmer. However, that we want to see detecting periodic dimming in a star is going on to pursue very difficult, notes Omer, since its advanced degrees apparent brightness can change due to at the university.” other factors such as atmospheric Prof. Mazeh has effects or passing clouds. “The been researching algorithm we developed eliminates extra-solar planets many of these tiny discrepancies – and objects for known as noise – so that the variation years and was part stemming from planetary transits of a team that becomes easier to detect,” he says. Prof. Tsevi Mazeh (left) with Omer Tamuz identified a brown Omer says he was lucky to have of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler dwarf in 1989 – a small star that does been inspired both by his physics high Faculty of Exact Sciences and is not emit light and that could have been school teacher while attending school enrolled in the faculty’s Program for a planet. in Vienna where his father served in the Outstanding Students. Foreign Ministry, and by Prof. Mazeh Omer is studying the field of extra- Hard to detect at TAU, who invited him, while still a solar planets at the School of Physics The first extra-solar planet was only first year student, to participate in a and Astronomy. His intense curiosity, discovered in 1995, and since then special research project. He hopes to dedication and originality have already about 100 more have been added to go on to pursue doctoral studies at TAU led to the discovery, together with TAU the list. “When you look at the stars in together with Prof. Mazeh and his physicists Prof. Tsevi Mazeh and Dr. the sky, you see either planets in our team, and then, “who knows? The sky’s Shay Zucker, of a mathematical solar system like Mars, Venus and the limit!”

Summer 2005 19 NEWS 2005 Wallenberg Prize Lior Ben David, a master’s student in history and a graduate of TAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law, was awarded the 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 International and Regional Studies, said Lior had completed a “unique study that combines history, criminal law, and a deep concern for the rights of the indigenous populations of Latin America.” Natan Eilenberg, Chairman of the Israel- Sweden Friendship League; Mr. Robert Rydberg, Ambassador of Sweden; Ambassador Rydberg and Prof. Dina Porat, Head TAU HOSTS JEWISH STUDENT FAIR (left) and Lior Ben David of the Rosenberg School of Some 1,200 Jewish students from around the world gathered at TAU for a Jewish Studies and Roth Institute for the “Global Israel Showcase” sponsored by the Jewish Agency. The event launched Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Project Masa (“Journey”), a joint initiative of the government and the Jewish Racism, attended the ceremony. The Agency that aims to bring thousands of young Jews from around the world to prize, which is donated by the Swedish study in Israel for long-term periods. The students were addressed by TAU Friends of TAU, is awarded annually to President Itamar Rabinovich; Director-General of the Jewish Agency’s Jewish- young researchers in contemporary anti- Zionist Education Department, Alan Hoffman; and President of the Hillel Semitism or human rights. Foundation, Avraham Infeld. Legal largesse TAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law awarded Rosenfeld Prize scholarships for the second year running Lev Drucker, a doctoral student from the former Soviet Union at TAU’s Berglas to 60 students requiring financial aid that School of Economics, received the annual Yoram Rosenfeld Prize for Innovation were donated by several leading Israeli and Entrepreneurship granted by TAU’s Faculty of Management—Leon Recanati law firms. The scholarships were Graduate School of Business Administration. He won the prize for his research on presented by Law Dean Ariel Porat at a “Funding Research and Development in Israel: A Source of Inspiration?” ceremony attended by representatives of the firms. Information wizard Yellin Scholarships Lior Fink, a doctoral student in Thirty TAU students were awarded Gutwirth Scholarships in diabetes information systems at TAU’s Faculty scholarships by the Solly Yellin Fund, Hendrik and of Management—Leon Recanati which supports 180 scholarships Irene Gutwirth Graduate School of Business annually to gifted but needy students at Scholarships in Administration, was one of 40 all of Israel’s institutions of higher Diabetes students selected from around the learning, with preference to new Research were world to participate in the Doctoral immigrants and students in the northern From left: Yehiel Ben-Zvi, Prof. Dov awarded to six Consortium of the International border settlements. Lichtenberg and Vivien Zimmet students of the Conference on Information Systems Solly Yellin was born in Vilna in 1911. Sackler Faculty of Medicine at a (ICIS), which took place in After his family was almost completely ceremony held in the presence of Mrs. Washington, DC. The consortium annihilated in the Holocaust, he went to Vivien Zimmet of Melbourne, Australia, provides students with an opportunity South Africa and led a successful life daughter of the late Gutwirths and a TAU to share and develop their research there as a businessman and Jewish Governor. Greetings at the ceremony ideas, to explore issues related to community leader. He immigrated to were given by Vice President Yehiel Ben- academic careers in the field, and to Israel in 1999 at the age of 88 and Zvi; Dean of Medicine Prof. Dov build relationships with PhD students established the fund in 2002. The fund Lichtenberg; and Vice Dean of Clinical from other countries. Lior’s supervisor requires the universities to match half the Affairs, Prof. Abraham Karasik. at TAU is Prof. Seev Neumann. amount of each scholarship granted.

NEWS 20 Summer 2005 Four TAU Professors Receive 2005 Israel Prize

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

• Prof. Dotan’s scientific work – exceptional in its quality, scope, and impact on Hebrew linguistics and Jewish 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 have become classics; the beginning of grammatical and lexicographical theory and practice; and biblical accentuation, 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 Philosophy Among the Israel Prize Committee considerations:

• Prof. Scharfstein’s scholarship journeys through different philosophical cultures and investigates the entire range of viewpoints. The scope and clarity of his work have earned him renown both nationally and internationally. • His studies elucidate the deep structure of human thinking in all its facets, focusing on aesthetics, the study of mysticism, comparative philosophy, and philosophy in psychological and social contexts. • Prof. Scharfstein is being recognized for his profound and comprehensive philosophical writings, and for his unique contribution to the teaching and research of philosophy in Israel.

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

• Prof. Zaizov is a pediatric hematology oncologist whose acclaimed research has raised international standards of patient care. • She pioneered the field of children’s oncology in Israel, including founding and directing the Oncology Unit at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center. • Prof. Zaizov has dedicated her life to promoting a comprehensive curative approach for children suffering 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 her work.

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

• One of the greatest scholars of Arabic literature of our generation, Prof. Sasson Somekh is broadly recognized 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 Hebrew readers, 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.

Summer 2005 21 NEWS Dr. Zvi Stauber, Prof. Avraham Prof. Leonard Bliden, Humanities, former Weizman, Medicine, Medicine, has been Israeli Ambassador to incumbent of the Robert elected incumbent of the UK, has been and Martha Härdén the Adler Chair for elected Director of Chair in Mental and Pediatric Cardiology. TAU’s Jaffee Center for Neurological Diseases, Strategic Studies. has been elected Head of TAU’s Felsenstein Medical Research Center.

Prof. Mordechai Prof. Nadav Na’aman, Tamarkin, Humanities, Humanities, has been has been elected elected incumbent of Director of the Tami the Kaplan Chair in the Steinmetz Center for History of Egypt and Peace Research. Israel.

Prof. Yosef Rosenwaks, Prof. Dov Lichtenberg Prof. David Schmeidler, Engineering, has been (left), Dean of the Sackler Management, incumbent elected Director of the Faculty of Medicine, of the Chair of Decisions Wolfson Center for incumbent of the Lady Davis and Game Theory, has Applied Materials Chair of Biochemistry, and been awarded an Research. Prof. Yoel Kloog, Dean of honorary doctorate from the Wise Faculty of Life the University of Torino Sciences, incumbent of the in Italy. Jack H. Skirball Chair in Applied Neurobiology, have Prof. Jacob Garty, Life been elected joint Heads of Danny Shapiro has Sciences, has been the Albert and Elba Cuenca been appointed elected Head of the Institute for Anti-Aging Director of TAU’s Botanic Gardens. Therapy Research. Development and Public Affairs Division.

A CHIEVEMENTS

2005 Ewald W. Busse Research Award in the Social Behavioral Sciences, Dr. Hava Golander, Medicine 2005 Robert E. Horton Medalist of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Prof. Gedeon Dagan, Engineering 2004 Prize for Best Foreign Book on Cinema by the French Association of Cinema Critics, Prof. Shlomo Sand, Humanities Zalman Shazar Award 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 Jewish Thought, 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 her book, The Cognitive Turn: The Birth and Rise of New Semantics, Dr. Tamar Sovran, Humanities Marguerite Stolz Research Fellowship for Junior Faculty in Medicine and Health Professions, Dr. Nir Osherov, Medicine

NEWS 22 Summer 2005 AUSTRALIA ISRAEL

Melbourne • The English Speaking Friends hosted Prof. Asher Susser, Director of TAU’s • Over 160 people attended the 2005 Annual Oration organized by the Victoria Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Chapter of the Australian Friends Association. This year’s oration, dedicated to the Eastern and African Studies, who spoke late William (Bill) Boyar, founding member of the Friends and past Vice President, on “Between Iraq and the Palestinians – was delivered by Prof. George Hampel QC, professor of law at Monash University Israel’s Fateful Choices”; Ruth and a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and Judge Felicity Hampel, a Abraham, a lecturer from Beit Berl barrister, part-time Law Reform College, who discussed “When Words Commissioner, and an adjunct professor of Have Lost Their Meaning – Art and law at Monash University. They spoke on Alzheimer’s”; and Prof. Linda Ben-Zvi “Prevention, Preemption and Protection – of TAU’s Department of Theater Arts Reflections on Domestic and International whose lecture was entitled “Pioneer Crime and Punishment.” Prof. (Emeritus) Spirit: Susan Glaspell – The First Louis Waller introduced the guests of honor American Avant-Garde.” and the participants included Sir Zelman and Lady Anna Cowen, Mr. and Mrs. • Within the framework of the Walter Jona, Justice Howard Nathan, Mrs. International Forum, chaired by Prof. From left: Judge Felicity Hampel, Sir Bella Shannon, Mrs. Sara Weis, and Mr. Aharon Klieman, Ambassador of Japan Zelman Cowen, Lady Anna Cowen and Mr. Jun Yokota lectured on “Japan’s Prof. the Hon. George Hampel QC and Mrs. Alan Selwyn. Middle East Policy”; and Ambassador of • TAU Prof. Dina Porat, Head of the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies Nigeria Dr. Manzo George Anthony and of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and spoke on “Nigeria’s African Role and Racism, was guest of honor at a boardroom luncheon at the law offices of Arnold Global Agenda.” Bloch Leibler and afternoon tea organized by the Melbourne Friends at the home of Ada and Jack Tenen.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Uruguay and Argentina: The Argentinean Friends France: The TAU French Friends Association organized a Association headed by Mrs. Polly Deutsch, together with dinner hosted by new member Dominique Romano. the Friends in Uruguay led by Dr. Henri Cohen, organized Proceeds of the event, which was attended by Vice the traditional annual meeting in Punta del Este, which President Yehiel Ben Zvi and Dean of Students Prof. was attended by more than 1,300 people. Thalma Lobel, will benefit student scholarships at TAU. The main academic event was an international symposium entitled “Should We Abandon the Hope for Peace in the Middle East?” Guest of honor was former US Ambassador Martin Indyk, head of the Saban Center for Middle Eastern Policy at the Brookings Institution, USA. Members of the panel included TAU Honorary Doctor Marcos Aguinis, an internationally renowned writer, psychiatrist, and former Argentinean Minister of Culture. Dr. Ramiro Rodriguez Villamir, journalist, political analyst and director of the Uruguayan Television Authority, moderated the event, and opening remarks were delivered by Polly Deutsch; TAU Vice President for Latin America and Spain Ilana Ben Ami; and Israeli Ambassadors Joel Salpak (Uruguay) and Rafael Eldad (Argentina). Adolfo Smolarz, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors, and From left (back row): Dominique Romano, Prof. Elie Barnavi, François Heilbronn, and Prof. Jean Robert Pitte. From left (front his wife Miriam hosted a reception. row): Yehiel Ben-Zvi, President of the French Friends Hugo Ramniceanu; Prof. Thalma Lobel, and David Birène.

Summer 2005 23 NEWS included Dayan Center board members, TAU supporters and USA friends.

Northeast Region • Prof. Susser also spoke at two events organized by TAU:AC. More than 225 members of the Life Long Learning • Stanley Bergman (pictured), a member Society of Florida Atlantic University, John D. MacArthur of the International Board of Trustees of Campus, Jupiter, Florida, heard Prof. Susser speak on the TAU’s Hartog School of Government and Middle East in the post-Arafat and post-Saddam era. Prof. Policy, and Dr. Marion Bergman hosted Susser also addressed 550 members of the Florida Society for an event in New York City in support of Middle East Studies at Florida Atlantic University in Boca the school. Ambassador Terje Roed- Raton. Paul Cutler, President of the Society, chaired the Larsen, former UN Special Coordinator lecture. for the Middle East Peace Process, was the guest speaker for the evening. He shared his perspective on the peace process since Oslo and Western Region discussed the importance of a constructive relationship between the United Nations and Israel. Prof. Yossi Shain, • Ruth Singer (pictured) has been named Head of the school, attended the event. Chairperson of the Western Region of the TAU American Council. A fervent supporter of Israel, Ms. Singer has Southeast Region traveled to Israel over 30 times and led numerous missions to Israel as the • Mel Taub, Vice missions chairperson of the Jewish Chairman of the TAU Federation of Los Angeles. As a former Board of Governors, and national officer of AIPAC, the pro-Israel his wife Carol, a TAU lobby, she worked directly with members of Congress and Governor, hosted a group their staff to ensure that US-Israel relations remain a top of friends at their home in priority. “Ruth Singer leads by example. Her national and Boca Raton, Florida, to international work on behalf of Israel is phenomenal and we hear a talk by Prof. are fortunate to welcome her into the leadership ranks of our Abraham Katzir, organization,” commented TAU:AC President, Sam Witkin. incumbent of the Carol and Melvin S. Taub Chair Mel Taub (left) with Prof. Abraham • Prof. Yossi Shain, Head of the Hartog School of in Applied Medical Katzir Government and Policy, and Dr. Gary Sussman, Director of Physics at TAU’s Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Research and Program Development at the school, were Exact Sciences. Prof. Katzir discussed his research on lasers hosted by TAU Governor Dan Bochner and Dr. Zippi and optic fibers. Williams at their home in Los Angeles.

• Prof. Raanan Rein, Director of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for International and Regional Studies, addressed the Greater Miami Jewish Federation Division of Commerce and Professions and International Division. He spoke on “Latin America’s Incomplete Transition to Democracy: The Clash between the Economic and Political Processes.” Ariel and Daphna Bentata hosted an evening reception for many Latin American friends at their home to hear an address by Prof. Rein in Spanish and learn about Tel Aviv University.

• Mark Tanenbaum, member of the Board of Directors of TAU:AC and of the International Board of Overseers of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, hosted a dinner and briefing by Prof. Asher Susser, Director of the center, on Mark Tanenbaum (left) and Prof. Asher Susser Fisher Island. Participants Dr. Gary Sussman, Dan Bochner, Dr. Zippi Williams, and Prof. Yossi Shain

NEWS 24 Summer 2005 Sir Leslie Porter Leader and magnanimous supporter of countless university projects

el Aviv University deeply mourns the loss of Sir Leslie Porter (1921-2005), of the TUK 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 from TAU in 1974 for his “munificent dedication to Jewish causes in Britain alongside his wholehearted involvement with the life of Israel, and for his ardent and generous support for higher education in Israel, especially for Tel Aviv University.” He was elected Chancellor in 1993. Sir Leslie and his wife, Dame Shirley, have played a top leadership role at TAU over the years and have actively supported the university’s growth and development. They have endowed diverse projects including the Cohen-Porter Family Swimming Pool, the Cohen-Porter United Kingdom Building of Life Sciences, the Shirley and Leslie Porter Chair in Literary Theory and Poetics, the Porter Institute of Poetics and Semiotics, the Shirley and Leslie Porter School of Cultural Studies, the Sir Leslie and Dame Shirley Porter Library Fund, and the Porter School of Environmental Studies. “Sir Leslie will be remembered not only for his generosity and vision, but also for his warmth, good humor and gentlemanly ways,” said TAU President Itamar Rabinovich. Born and raised in London, Sir Leslie served in the British army throughout World War II, taking part in many key battles in Greece, Italy and North Africa, including El Alamein. Despite being wounded several times, and being taken prisoner by the Germans, Sir Leslie managed to rejoin his brothers-in-arms in the final assaults against the Nazis. Sir Leslie Porter was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1983, and awarded the Order 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 Jewish Appeal, and Boys’ Town, Jerusalem, Sir Leslie and his family also founded the Daniel Amichai Center for Rowing and Nautical Studies Tel Aviv in commemoration of the Porters’ late grandson.

Summer 2005 25 NEWS