Bar Ilan University will confer an honorary doctorate

On Monday, May 18, the University will confer an honorary doctorate upon President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin in tribute to his longstanding efforts to strengthen Israel’s standing as the nation of the Jewish people and cultivate its sovereign symbols, including Jerusalem as its capital, and for his commitment to ensuring equality for all citizens and strengthening unity among people.

Additional honorary doctorate recipients will include former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benjamin (Benny) Gantz, in acknowledgment of his efforts to ensure the security of the people and State of Israel, and singer actor and Israel Prize recipient Yehoram Gaon for enriching Israeli culture through his songs and the myriad characters he has portrayed on screen and stage.

The University will also recognize three individuals for their outstanding efforts to defend the State of Israel: former Foreign Ministry director general Dr. Joseph Ciechanover for combating attempts to undermine Israel’s legitimacy and defend its security policies in UN committtees; Nobel Prize winner Sir Andre Geim, of the UK, for his support of Israeli academic and research in the face of international boycott; and the former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp for his defense of Israel’s security policies and the morality of the IDF before the UN Human Rights Council.

Two outstanding women will be honored for their meaningful contributions to advancing women’s rights within Judaism: US orthodox Jewish feminist leader Blu Greenberg for her pioneering efforts to build bridges between the worlds of feminism and orthodoxy, and for championing solutions to the plight of Agunot; and  Rabbanit Chana Henkin, founder and dean of NISHMAT Seminar, for the «Yoatzot Halakha» program she established, which trains women to address halakhic questions and advances the status of women in religious society.

The University will also recognize South African entrepreneur Raymond Ackerman, owner of the «Pick ‘n Pay” supermarket network with over 1,200 branches throughout South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Australia; Australian Jewish community leader Dr. Sam Alter, Israeli business leaders and philanthropists Tzipora Mizrahi-Carasso & Ariel Carasso; commercial and real estate developer Sergio Grosskopf, of Miami; Rabbi Nachum L. Rabinovitch, the head of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe; global diamond industry leader Lauren Trau; and the Israel-Diaspora Youth Project Taglit-Birthright Israel for initiating Israel experience journeys that strengthen the Jewish identity of men and women around the world and create faithful ambassadors for the State of Israel.

At a 60th anniversary gala opening event the University will confer Presidential Awards of Distinction upon 11 individuals from Israel, the US, Brazil, and Canada, for their outstanding demonstration of leadership in the collective Jewish nation, and their recognition of the importance of higher education in shaping future generations of Jewish leadership. The University will also confer Alumni Achievement Awards upon four of its outstanding alumni, including the Mayor of Netanya, Miriam Feirberg, Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies and consultant to leading Israeli industrial military and security corporations.and Dr. Nigist Mengesha, Director of the Education Division in the Rosh Haayin Municipality, who has been a community activist and advocate for Ethiopian rights since immigrating to Israel in 1984, and Yechezkel Barenholtz, a former member of the Bat Yam Municipality who owns a successful insurance company and has chaired “Shekel,” an association for the development of community services, dealing with some 1,700 people, mostly teenagers with special needs.

Additional events to take place during the University’s 60th anniversary festivities will include the dedication of the Paul E. Feder Family Alzheimer’s Research Laboratory; the Trau Family Research Wing in the School of Engineering; the Picciotto Scholarship Program;the Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz Research Building and the Detroit Jewish Community Library at the University’s School of Medicine in the Galilee, the Beit Hamidrash Ohel Sara in the name of Susy Wengrowsky, and more.