Editing Bar-Ilan University (section)

==History==
[[File:First Graduation at Bar Ilan University - Ogden Reid 1959.jpg|thumb|150px|Bar-Ilan's first graduation ceremony in 1959]]
[[File:המרכז למבקרים ומצפה לב הקמפוס ע"ש ונגרובסקי (11562183273).jpg|thumb|Wengrowsky Family Lookout and Visitors' Center {{aka}} ''Lev HaCampus'' ({{lit}} heart of the campus)]]
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 15922 Unity park in Bar-Ilan University.JPG|thumb|Bar-Ilan Faculty of engineering]]
[[File:Bar-Ilan University. Machon (17287812905).jpg|right|thumb|[[:he: המכון הגבוה לתורה|HaMachon HaGavoah LeTorah]] campus [[bet midrash]] and [[midrasha]]]]
Bar-Ilan University has Jewish-American roots: It was conceived in [[Atlanta]] in a meeting of the [[Mizrachi (religious Zionism)#In the United States|American Mizrahi organization]] in 1950, and was founded by Professor [[Pinkhos Churgin]], an American [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] [[rabbi]] and educator, who was president from 1955 to 1957 where he was succeeded by [[Joseph H. Lookstein]] who was president from 1957 to 1967.<ref name="autogeneratedil">{{cite web|url=https://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=6551&pt=1&pid=988&level=5&cPath=35,983,988 |title=Bar-Ilan Presidents &#124; Bar-Ilan University |publisher=.biu.ac.il |access-date=2020-02-18}}</ref> When it was opened in 1955, it was described by ''The New York Times'' "as Cultural Link Between the [Israeli] Republic and America".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/General/biu_history.html |title=Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Biu.ac.il |date=May 10, 1955 |access-date=September 29, 2011 |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113151701/http://www.biu.ac.il/General/biu_history.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Presidents who followed were [[Max Jammer]] (1967–77), [[Emanuel Rackman]] (1977–86), [[Michael Albeck]] (1986–89), [[Ernest Krausz]] (1989), [[Zvi Arad]] (1989–92), and [[Shlomo Eckstein]] (1992–96).<ref name="autogeneratedil"/>

The university was named for Rabbi [[Meir Bar-Ilan]] (originally ''Meir Berlin''), a [[Religious Zionist]] leader who served as the inspiration for its establishment. Although he was trained in Orthodox seminaries in Berlin, he believed there was a need for an institution providing a dual curriculum of secular [[academic]] studies and religious [[Torah]] studies.

BIU's student population is diverse and includes both Jewish and non-Jewish students.

Jewish students must take at least five courses in [[Jewish studies]] in order to graduate; non-Jewish students can choose general courses instead.<ref>{{Cite web |title=B.A Requirements 2017 and forth {{!}} School for Basic Jewish Studies |url=https://yesod.biu.ac.il/en/node/1970 |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=yesod.biu.ac.il}}</ref> These are available as academic [[Jewish studies]] courses, as well as through more traditional [[Torah study]], offered primarily by the [[:he: המכון הגבוה לתורה|''Machon HaGavoah LeTorah'']], established in the 1970s. The "Machon" operates a [[Kollel]] / [[Bet midrash]] for men,<ref>[http://www.mgl.org.il/lesson/ בית המדרש ], mgl.org.il</ref> and a [[Midrasha]] for women.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://midrasha.biu.ac.il/en|title=Midrasha &#124; Bar-Ilan University|website=midrasha.biu.ac.il}}</ref> The Kollel offers traditional [[yeshiva]] studies with an emphasis on [[Talmud]] and [[Halakha]] (Jewish law), while the midrasha offers courses in "[[Tanakh|Tanakh" (The Bible)]], practical Halakha, and [[Jewish thought|''Machshavah'']] (Jewish philosophy). The Midrasha is the largest in Israel. These programs are open to all students free of charge.

[[Yitzhak Rabin|Yitzhak Rabin's]] convicted assassin, [[Yigal Amir]], was a student of law and computer science at Bar-Ilan, prompting charges that the university had become a hotbed of political [[extremism]]. One of the steps taken by the university following the 1995 assassination was to encourage dialogue between [[Israeli left-wing politics|left-wing]] and [[Israeli right-wing politics|right-wing]] students.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wagner|first=Matthew|title=Bar-Ilan again forced to deal with the extremists in its midst|url=http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=72376|work=Jerusalem Post|access-date=2 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Kalman|first=Matthew|title=A Bitter Return to Politics at Israel's Bar-Ilan U.|url=http://chronicle.com/article/A-Bitter-Return-to-Politics-at/127097/|work=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]|date=12 April 2011 |access-date=2 October 2013}}</ref>

Under university president [[Moshe Kaveh]] (1996–2013), Bar-Ilan underwent a major expansion, with new buildings added on the northern side of the [[campus]]. New science programs have been introduced, including a multidisciplinary brain research center <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biu.ac.il/interdis/gondabrain/index_eng.html |title=Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Biu.ac.il |access-date=September 29, 2011}}</ref> and a center for [[nanotechnology]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nanocenter.biu.ac.il/php/general/first.php |title=Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. Bar-Ilan University |publisher=Nanocenter.biu.ac.il |access-date=September 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721170333/http://www.nanocenter.biu.ac.il/php/general/first.php |archive-date=July 21, 2011 }}</ref> The university has placed [[archaeology]] as one of its priorities, and this includes excavations such as the [[Tell es-Safi#National park|Tell es-Safi/Gath archaeological excavations]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dig-gath.org |title=The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project |publisher=Dig-gath.org |access-date=September 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://swap.stanford.edu/20090419223353/http://www.dig-gath.org/ |archive-date=April 19, 2009 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> and the recently opened Bar-Ilan University/[[Weizmann Institute of Science]] joint program in Archaeological Sciences.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science |url=http://www.weizmann.ac.il/kimmel-arch/iuprogram.html |access-date=February 9, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829161256/http://www.weizmann.ac.il/kimmel-arch/iuprogram.html |archive-date=August 29, 2007 }}</ref>

Bar-Ilan's Faculty of Law made headlines in 2008 by achieving the highest average Israeli bar exam grade of 81.9 by its graduates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.israelbar.org.il/uploadFiles/statistica%20may%202008.pdf |title=Results of the Bar Exam 5.5.08 (Hebrew) |publisher=Israelbar.org.il |access-date=September 29, 2011}}</ref> [[Daniel Hershkowitz]] was university president from 2013 to 2017.<ref name="autogeneratedil"/>

[[Arie Zaban]] was elected as the president of the university in 2017.<ref name="autogeneratedil"/>

In June 2024, the university received a $260 million donation from the estate of an anonymous American donor, the largest bequest in the university's history and the second largest ever to an Israeli university. The donation is earmarked for science and technology, specifically to recruit researchers, build laboratories, and create partnerships.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ilan |first1=Shahar |title=Bar Ilan University receives 1B shekel anonymous donation to promote Deep Tech research |url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1zbm4ina |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=[[Calcalist]] |date=2024-06-03}}</ref>