Prof. Menachem Ben Sasson of the Hebrew University is one of the most powerful in the field of university management in Israel. During his long career in academic management, he has held key positions such as Rector of the University, President of the University, Governor of the University. In addition to these positions, Prof. Ben Sasson was also the chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee (VTT), which is the financial arm of the Council for Higher Education. This committee also constitutes the authority that finances most of the academic activity in the country, and is responsible for the distribution of between ten and 15 billion shekels a year. Responsible for the development and promotion of academia in the country.
Some time ago I presented to Prof. Ben Sasson the idea of establishing a research university in Safed and thereby bring about a double renewal: the first of the city of Safed and the Galilee, the second of the Hebrew University itself, which will open a new campus and formulate a strategic renewal move. I suggested that he meet with the mayor of Safed, Shuki Ohana, and hear about the options available to the city to support the idea of a research university in the city. As far as this sounds far from being realized, one can think of two groups that can generously contribute to advancing the move: First, evangelical groups that support Israel and see the Galilee as an important part of their religious heritage. The second - Jewish communities around the world, which can join in supporting the religious renewal of Safed, which was active hundreds of years ago, has sunk, and now they have the right to join its renewal in the fields of science.
My vision focuses on opening a research branch of the Hebrew University, where it will be possible to see Prof. Itamar Wilner, one of the university's greatest chemists, who was also the vice president of the Israeli Academy of Sciences, transfer his research activities to Safed. Only Prof. Wilner's move will elevate the city to level 2 in the socio-economic rankings. The move of the most sophisticated research laboratories in the world, together with the doctoral and postdoctoral students and all the employees involved in operating Prof. Wilner's laboratory, will lead to huge investments in Safed. The move of a dozen senior scientists from Jerusalem to Safed will lead to a revolution.
The establishment of an active research branch, after the recognition that this is a strategic move, will be led to the renunciation of Tel Aviv University, the Technion and the Weizmann Institute, and they will emerge from the years of structural stagnation they imposed on themselves.
These growth engines for creative thinking will lead to a breakthrough to other peripheral places in the country, bringing in entrepreneurs and related investments that were unparalleled in the periphery.
The result is one of the most powerful moves to improve Israel's face.
To my surprise, Prof. Ben Sasson burst into great laughter when he heard the vision.
To me, it was a tragic laugh of a grave burial to the Galilee flowering vision.
The meeting with the mayor of Safed never took place.
Ben Sasson's opposition was resolute and was done in the usual way: disregard.
A committee of Prof. Aharon Ciechanover is currently being set up to examine the possibility of establishing a new university in the Galilee.
Regardless of the committee's future discussions and conclusions, these will have to rely on generous state funding, that is, the Planning and Budgeting Committee, in order for this to lead to the establishment of a research institution worthy of its name.
There is no doubt that Ben Sasson's tragic laughter will accompany the implementation of the conclusions, which will probably meet with opposition from research universities, which will lead to widespread agreement on the possibility of "board and chalk" studies, while they will strongly oppose any possibility of developing a research university based on natural sciences. .
Unfortunately for all of us, Prof. Ben Sasson's tragic laughter is a reflection of the image of research universities in Israel in recent decades, which have adopted one path: flightless bourgeois conservatism.
