Fifty Years Later ...

More than one third of the alumni from the Hebrew University’s first yearlong international program are returning for a fifty year reunion on June 8. Ten former students, together with their spouses, will meet for six days of activities, culminating in a gala dinner with the Board of Governors on June 13. Many of these alumni have not seen each other since they were students at the Hebrew University. “Some people thought of having the reunion in New York, but I wanted to bring it to Israel,” explains Dr. David Blumenfeld, chairman of the alumni reunion committee. “In New York, we would just be some old-timers shooting the breeze, but in Israel, we can join in solidarity with the Board of  Governors. We want to raise the profile of the international program. We were the pioneers, and now we are returning fifty years later with hope for a successful future.”

The program for the reunion will allow the former students and their spouses to reacquaint themselves with Jerusalem and, specifically, become acquainted with the Rothberg International School, which did not exist in 1955.

On June 8, there will be an RIS dinner for alumni at the Inbal Hotel with the RIS provost, vice provost and academic directors. In addition, three distinguished former teachers of the group, Prof. Haim Beinart, Prof. Dov Noy and Prof. Shemaryahu Talmon, will be present. On June 12, the group will tour the RIS and meet with current department heads, senior lecturers, and students, visit classrooms and watch a presentation of new Hebrew multimedia programs. In the afternoon, the alumni will meet with former teachers and tour the Boyar Building.

Blumenfeld, along with many other alumni, credit the year with adding an important dimension to their lives. “Aside from becoming a rabbi, I received a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Literature and Language because of my year at the Hebrew University. It very much influenced me,” he asserts.

David L. Kline remembers turning 20 in Israel. To him, the year was eventful, memorable and influential. “Adapting to a world beyond the protection of home and college left me more secure and open to fresh possibilities,” he recalls. “The atmosphere at the Hebrew University reversed my sophomore blues and the Bible teachers there, [Shemaryahu] Talmon, [Menahem] Haran, and [Nechama] Leibowitz, introduced me to what became a lifelong interest.”

For Frieda (Lustig) Roseman Resnick, the reunion is practically in her backyard. She is one of two members of her class to make aliyah, and she credits her aliyah to the year spent at the ebrew University. “I’m coming to the reunion in order to reacquaint myself with my former classmates and find out about their lives in the last 50 years,” she says. “It’s hard to realize that the year of 1955 really belonged to another world – another century – and another era – as compared to 2006.”