This book
describes the urban, academic, and political causes that led to the
establishment of Tel Aviv University and to its consolidation as a research
university before the independence of the state of Israel and during the first
two decades after its independence. The attempts to establish a stable academic
framework to the residents of Tel Aviv and its surroundings took shape when
Chaim Levanon, the Mayor of Tel Aviv, announced the establishment of Tel Aviv
University on 1 June 1956. This included the merger of three academic
institutions that acted in the city: the University Institute for Natural
Sciences, which replaced the Biological-Pedagogical Institute under the
management of Dr. Heinrich Mendelssohn and Dr. Yaacov Galil, the Institute for
the Israeli Culture under the management of Professor Israel Efrat who was
appointed Rector of the University, and The School for Law and Economics of Tel
Aviv which was managed by Dr. Augusto Levi and Judge Ze’ev Zeltner. In time
there would be a discussion whether to determine the day of the establishment
of the University as the date when the Urban University was formed or when it
became an independent institute with the appointment of George Wize as
President of the University in 1963. An expression for that could be found in
the words of Professor Shlomo Simonsohn, the Rector of the University between
1971 and 1977:
“It is
inconceivable [to understand] the development of the university in its second
decade without the infrastructure of the first decade and even of the period
beforehand. The academic and public breakthrough which was achieved then
entailed much work by the founders of the university. Despite
this, there is no doubt that in the second decade the pace of development of
the university was accelerated compared to the first decade.”
Tel Aviv University was constructed as a ‘bottoms-up university’ – a local university that grew out of urban entrepreneurship with civil characteristics, which had to conduct a long struggle in order to achieve academic and state-wide legitimacy. This struggle led the academic personnel, including academics that were still in their early stages of their academic career, to become more involved in the management of the institute, involvement which led to dramatic decisions and moves, including the removal of the first Rector, Professor Israel Efrat. The leading academic personnel included Ben-Zion Katz, Zvi Yavetz, Shlomo Simonsohn, Meshulam Grol, Andre De Vries, Chaim Sheba, Heinrich Mendelssohn, Yaacov Galil, Alfred Klopstock, Joshua Jortner, and Yuval Ne’eman. These intellectuals were the creators, distributors and those that implemented the academic culture that developed in the new institute, as well as those who struggled for legitimacy from the Israeli political establishment.