By
Donald H. Harrison
Jerusalem (Special) -- Students at the Jerusalem College of Technology
have new dorm
rooms to stay in because a San
Diego philanthropist was charmed by the idea that
engineering students also study classic Jewish texts.
The Beverly & Joseph Glickman Dormitory Pavilion at the Jerusalem
College of
Technology--a men’s college with 810 students -- was dedicated in November
during a
ceremony in which the Glickmans were represented by their daughter,
Elaine Galinson of
San Diego.
|
Before the Glickmans’ names were unveiled atop the dormitory
building, the school’s president, Prof. Joseph Bodenheimer, fondly recalled
Joseph Glickman’s first visit to the school.
“It seemed to me from the first that he fell in love with this place,”
Bodenheimer said. “He loved the idea of the combination of a professional
education combined with a commitment to the Jewish heritage. That clicked
with him; that made sense to him. He said, “I want to come back here;
I want to be more deeply involved in this place, and the relationship between
us developed.”About the dormitory pavilion itself, Yehuda Hoffman, a student
from the former Soviet Union, said “it will not be an exaggeration if I
say this building is not only a dormitory but a real home for us. ...I
really do not believe that any of the students who have lived in this dormitory
will forget the rooms because the rooms were a place where they studied
and gave them an opportunity to finish their studies and be successful.” |
Elaine Galinson dedicates dormitory |
When the name of the dormitory at last was unveiled, “tears came to my
eyes,” Elaine
Galinson said later. “What I thought of, I guess, is that I am
seeing this now when they are
alive, but who knows how many more times I will come back there but
they won’t be there
anymore but their names will be there. It was very touching.”
Bodenheimer and other members of the Jerusalem College of Technology
were in San
Diego last week to show the Glickmans a videotape of that ceremony
in Jerusalem and to
present him with a “key” to the dormitory.
As family and friends were gathering for the formal presentation at
the home of Qualcomm
founder Irwin Jacobs and Joan Jacobs, Glickman said he was attracted
to the college
because “it is a high tech university but it also has a stress on Judaism
and Judaic ethics
and morals.
“I think every day they start with an hour of teaching and studying
and arguing about Jewish
ethics and morals and that seemed to me to be a very good combination.”
Bodenheimer stressed the importance of that combination in his speech.
“As technology changes rapidly--changes in dimensions, speed, size, power
requirements--it has to cope with a human being that is essentially unchanged,”
he said.
“That is a major problem. I think this is maybe the reason
why during the last century we
have seen some of the most horrible manifestations of humanity that
humanity has ever
seen....
“It is only if human wisdom can keep up with technological expertise
that we are going to be
able to survive into the millenium,” the JCT president said.
“We have enormous resources to draw upon and those resources are our
Jewish traditions
because Judaism has given to the world some of its most important human
values,”
Bodenheimer continued.
“Monotheism is something that Judaism brought to this world. Before,
people were
worshiping idols. We have the idea of charity, which is something
that Judaism has given
the world. Personal responsibility--the fact that a person is
responsible for his actions.
Even though he may feel that circumstances caused him to do a certain
action, according
to our Jewish ethics a person is always responsible for his actions
and should not blame
his actions on society.”
In the new age of high tech, the JCT president said, “Jewish values
have a lot to give us in
the sense of being able to cope with the challenge of the mismatch
between technology and
the more or less steady state of humanity in its ability, its emotions
and its instincts.”
He expressed pride that 95 percent of the college’s graduates take jobs
in Israel despite the
fact that more lucrative offers come from abroad. He said the
college stresses the values of
loyalty, devotion, commitment, honesty and helping to build the state.
The Israeli government contributes 65 percent of the cost of a college
student’s education,
and “we should not have a brain drain of those precious professionals
whom we have
educated at such a great expense,” he said.
Qualcomm’s Jacobs commented:
“We have an operation in Haifa,
and we are probably about 150 engineers and other
support people there right now. We went originally to Israel-well,
of course, we have quite
an attachment--but also about the time a number of Russians were immigrating
to Israel. It
appeared there would be a surplus of engineers and high tech people
in Israel and given
the shortage here, it was very important to have an operation in Israel
as well.
“I must say that today the shortage there is at least as striking as
it is in the U.S. High-tech
is growing very rapidly in Israel; it is demanding all the graduates
of the technical
universities and colleges, so it seems important to support those universities
and see them
grow. They are now an important part of the economy of Israel.”
|