WIM no. 17 Spring 2020

מכון ויצמן למדע The leaders of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel established educational institutions for the children of the settlement long before there was a country here. They did so with the same attention and concern with which they invested in the livelihood of the inhabitants and the pioneers of the Aliya. They invested in building the infrastructure of higher education, culture and research, with the same concern they had when establishing communities, developing dairy farms, and planting agricultural crops. They understood that basic needs are also dependent on fulfilling spiritual needs. They realized that a nation is not built along one linear line, but in parallel. And it is precisely here the Weizmann Institute which for many years has been known as—and rightly so—“The MIT of the Middle East,” that I want to remind us all that the economic future, as well as the social strength and security, of the State of Israel, lies in its capacity to realize its scientific and technological potential. That investment in higher education, in science and research, is an essential component of building the national home in Israel, the construction of which is not yet complete. And meanwhile, the State of Israel must promote and nurture the humanities, which are—and which Professor Nussbaum, who wrote a book about it, will testify—a necessary and irreplaceable piece of the infrastructure for every culture, for every country, for the social strength and vitality of every society. The spiritual treasures of the Jewish people— and Rabbi Steinsaltz will undoubtedly explain this better than I—are the wind beneath our wings. It is thanks to them that we have been able to maintain an unbroken dynasty of generations. Without them we would not have survived for thousands of years as a people without a home. Without them, we would not have been able to establish a state, and turn it into the prosperous country that it is. “If there is no flour, there is no Torah. And if there is no Torah there is no flour.” Without literature, the Bible, and history, no matter how many study units of mathematics and science are taught in schools, this will not be the worthy society that our Zionist fathers and mothers dreamed of establishing. This will not be the worthy society that we want to bequeath to our children. I thank you for the honor you have bestowed on me, both for the title itself, and for receiving this alongside such wonderful men and women. God bless you all. Honoring Dita and Yehuda Bronicki A t the 71 st Annual General Meeting of the International Board, the Weizmann Institute of Science celebrated the friendship and generosity of Dita and Yehuda Bronicki of Israel who gave given to a large range of scientific and educational projecs at the Institute, including the Davidson Institute of Science Education, the reserach of Prof. Nahum Ulanovsky in the Department of Neurobiology, as well as nanoscience, energy research, and experimental physics. g L to R: Prof. Daniel Zajfman, Dita Bronicki and Yehuda Bronicki Weizmann MAGAZINE Special Section