CFHU Connecting (Fall 2015)

ConneCtinG seCtion

volume 14 issue 1 Fall 2015

The National Newsletter of Canadian Friends of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

a Century oF brillianCe

CFhu spearheads Global Celebration oF einstein’s leGaCy “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” – Albert Einstein E =mc2: On November 25, 1915, Albert Einstein set down his famous field Theory of General Relativity, showing that light is at the centre of the very structure of space and time. On the 100th anniversary of the Theory of Relativity, Einstein’s spirit of innovation has never been more relevant. As one of the founding fathers of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), Einstein helped to establish HU as the academic and intellectual centre of Israel, and as an innovation powerhouse that has become the start-up of the start-up nation. That’s why CFHU has spearheaded the Einstein Legacy Project (ELP), a global series of initiatives that align Einstein’s creative spirit with the university he helped found and to whom he bequeathed his estate.

The Einstein Legacy Project encompasses a wide range of initiatives that celebrate the famous physicist’s vision of an expansive world, characterized by possibility, imagination and peace. They include a 3-D book, an IMAX movie, and the first museum devoted solely to Einstein. It also includes the “Next Einstein” contest, conceived by CFHU to nurture the next generation of geniuses and innovators. One of the many high points of the ELP will be the Dinner of the Century: a gathering of the greatest thought leaders, geniuses and influencers of our time, to be held in May 2017.

The Einstein Legacy Project was launched in Toronto on October 21 at the home of Larry and Judy Tanenbaum. Judy is the project’s co-chair, along with Tribal Planet cofounder and CEO Jeff Martin. The inaugural European launch took place in the Netherlands on October 29, in recognition of Albert Einstein’s special relationship with Holland and his professorship at Leiden University in that country. Launches are forthcoming in Vancouver, Montreal, Japan, Tel Aviv and Monaco, among others.

“Our goal is to create and nurture a new generation of Einsteins,” explains CFHU President & CEO Rami Kleinmann: “the young scientists, humanitarians and innovators with a new vision for the world and the creativity and brilliance to solve the problems of the 21st century.”

In 2016, CFHU’s Toronto chapter will host its second Einstein Gala dinner, which will feature journalist Anderson Cooper as a special guest and honour Dr. Naomi Azrieli, Jeff Martin, Dr. Barry Sherman and Shuki Levy with the Jake Eberts Key of Knowledge Award. The 2016 dinner follows on the success of the inaugural Einstein Gala dinner, which featured Chelsea Clinton (see page 3).

(Top) Celebrating Einstein’s legacy: Einstein Legacy Project co-chairs Judy Tanenbaum (l) and Jeff Martin at the project’s Toronto launch.

(Bottom) ELP in the Netherlands: The ELP launched in Holland over two evenings in October, at the residence of Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands and ELP committee member Amb. Haim Divon (l) and his wife, Linda, and at the home of ELP executive committee member Shida Bliek (r) and her husband, Peter.

einstein museum @ heBrew u

genius: 100 visions of the future

The Einstein Museum on the Hebrew University campus will be the first and only museum to celebrate exclusively the legacy and creative spirit of Einstein.

The interactive space, which will house Einstein’s letters, publications, images and theories, will encourage people of all ages to think creatively, push the boundaries of imagination and explore science and the Theory of Relativity in entirely new ways.

The world’s first 3-D printed book, designed by renowned artist Ron Arad, will invite 100 of the greatest icons, leaders and influencers of our time to share their wisdom and visions for the future. A publishing milestone, Genius will be launched at The Dinner of the Century.

einstein: the movie Finally, Einstein’s story is coming to the big screen. Narrated by Academy Award–nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch, this IMAX 3-D movie tells the story of one of the greatest geniuses of all time. Scheduled for release in 2018, the film will be distributed and screened at science museums worldwide, with an expected shelf life of 20 to 30 years.

the next einstein Now in its third year, this online competition seeks to find and empower the world’s next big thinkers, innovators and geniuses. The Next Einstein competition garnered 42 million page views in its first year alone, with submissions from more than 32 countries and write-ups in the Wall Street Journal. In 2016, the Next Einstein competition is going global: watch for details at thenexteinstein.com.

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a messaGe From our leadership

Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University (CFHU) facilitates connections through fundraising, research partnerships and academic exchanges. Founded in 1944, CFHU has raised over half a billion dollars, proudly bestowing academic scholarships to 50,000 Canadian and Israeli students. With communities in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, CFHU’s efforts enrich lives throughout the world through the academic excellence of the Hebrew University inspired by founding father Albert Einstein.

a Catalyst For worldwide ChanGe happy chanukah!

As we write this, Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has just concluded its second Annual General Meeting. Our stakeholders from across Canada gathered in Ottawa for two days devoted to reflection, learning and envisioning the future.

national office

We came away with many lessons and insights from those two days, not to mention a sense of immense possibility. The AGM re-energized CFHU as a national organization and strengthened our commitment to support the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel.

3020 – 3080 Yonge Street, PO Box 65 Toronto, ON M4N 3N1 Phone: 416.485.8000 • Toll-free: 1-888-HEBREW-U Website: www.cfhu.org Donations and Tribute Cards: donations@cfhu.org Student Inquiries: 416.485.1222 • admissions@cfhu.org General Inquiry: info@cfhu.org President & CEO Rami Kleinmann, rkleinmann@cfhu.org Executive Vice President Merle Goldman, mgoldman@cfhu.org Chief Financial Officer Michael Abrams CA, mabrams@cfhu.org National Director, Communications & Marketing Miriam Pilc-Levine, mpilc-levine@cfhu.org

eastern region Executive Director Simon Bensimon, sbensimon@cfhu.org • T: 514.932.2133

montreal chapter mtl@cfhu.org

ottawa chapter ott@cfhu.org • T: 613.829.3150

toronto chapter Executive Director Elan Divon, edivon@cfhu.org • T: 416.485.8000 tor@cfhu.org

winnipeg chapter wpg@cfhu.org • T: 204.942.3085

This year, for example, marks the 90th anniversary of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From the visions of founders that included Martin Buber, Sigmund Freud, Chaim Weizmann and Albert Einstein, the University has grown to encompass six campuses in two cities, ranking among the top hundred universities in the world and first in Israel. It has produced eight Nobel laureates, 14 Wolf Prizes, 93 Rothschild prizes and 277 Israel prizes. Hebrew University researchers have collectively created more than 2,500 inventions and nearly 9,000 patents and 100 spinoff companies, enriching the lives of not only Israelis but the entire world.

2015 also marks the hundredth anniversary of Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. This month, CFHU launched the Einstein Legacy Project (ELP). From the world’s first museum devoted to Einstein to our online search for the next generation of visionaries, to a 3-D film, a 3-D book — Genius: 100 Visions of the Future — and the Dinner of the Century, the ELP celebrates the spirit of genius and innovation that Einstein embodies, and that characterizes the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The ELP also symbolizes CFHU’s expansive vision and mission. From our strong Canadian foundation and national beginnings, we have embraced and defined ourselves as a catalyst and partner for worldwide partnerships, discovery, change and growth. The ongoing and deepening partnerships between Canadian researchers and their counterparts at the Institute for Medical Research IsraelCanada (IMRIC), and the global reach of the ELP are just two examples of the ways in which CFHU continues to take its place on the world stage to inspire change.

We are nearing the final stages of our $50 million IMRIC campaign, which has spawned dozens of highend partnerships in medical research between Hebrew University and Canadian researchers. As the year draws to a close, please consider making a year-end gift to help us reach this milestone in support of medical research. You can donate using the attached envelope, or by visiting cfhu.org/donate-now.

We look forward to the next 90 years!

western region Executive Director Dina Wachtel, dwachtel@cfhu.org • T: 604 .257. 5133

vancouver chapter vanc@cfhu.org

calgary chapter

murray palay

rami kleinmann

National Chair

President & CEO

calgary@cfhu.org • T: 403.297.0605

edmonton chapter edmonton@cfhu.org • T: 780.444.0809

Contents The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada brings together the best minds from the scientific disciplines. Together, our researchers are creating innovative approaches to meet the challenges of medicine in the 21st century.

Email: inquiry@imric.org • www.imric.org

connecting newsletter Managing editor Miriam Pilc-Levine Writing and editing Susan Goldberg, susanlgoldberg.com Graphic design The Metrick System Printing Print Dot Com Inc.

Message from Our Leadership

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Galas: Dazzling Affairs in Toronto, Montreal & Vancouver

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Focus on Philanthropy: The Bloomfield Family

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What’s Happening at HU

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CFHU Across Canada

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Students & Alumni: Challenging Students Across Cultures

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CFHU Partnerships: STOLEN Documents WWII Art Theft

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Board of Governors 2015

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Calendar of Events

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Galas

From Chelsea Clinton to Albert Einstein, from elite IDF veterans to major intellects and analysts, a series of high-profile events in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver this year honoured exemplary Hebrew University supporters and showcased its outstanding scholarship and research.

Top: Keynote speaker Chelsea Clinton (centre) with Einstein Legacy Awards event co-chairs Judy Nathan Bronfman (l) and Karen Simpson-Radomski.

Centre: Roz and Ralph Halbert (third and fourth from l) pose with Clinton and with their children and grandchildren (l to r) Jason, Eden, Perri, Elliot and Madison Kirshenblatt.

Bottom: Hebrew University President Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson, CFHU Toronto President Randy Masters and his wife Risa Masters; Jennifer, Sheila, Robert, Michele, Russell and Cynthia Masters; and Mark Brodlieb with CFHU National Board Chair Murray Palay.

Chelsea Clinton delivers keynote at Toronto’s Einstein Legacy Awards TORONTO – Chelsea Clinton delivered the keynote address at a Toronto gala that honoured a select group of exemplary Canadian philanthropic families who have “demonstrated values, vision, social responsibility and a passion for education.”

Held during the centennial year of Albert Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of relativity, the Einstein Legacy Awards dinner paid tribute to the Appleby, Austin, Dzialoszynski-Waks, Halbert, Lindenberg & Brown, Masters and Mintz-Nyman families. Odette Levy was honoured with the Bronfman Prize for Exemplary Service, and CFHU Vice President Merle Goldman was awarded the Bronfman Prize for Outstanding Professional Commitment.

Clinton, 35, discussed education and the work of her family’s charity. The event, held in May at Toronto’s Liberty Grand, was hosted by one of Clinton’s political peers: Ben Mulroney. To further the University’s scientific legacy, the Azrieli Foundation announced $10M in giving to the Hebrew University, to support both the study of stem cells and genetic research and Israeli doctoral and Canadian postdoctoral students and young research faculty.

“Being the mother of a daughter...made me care much more about the things I already cared about.”

Clinton talked about education and shared personal stories.

“Being the mother of a daughter [eight-month-old Charlotte],” she says, “made me care much more about the things I already cared about.”

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Galas

Vancouver launches grassroots “Student Soldier Scholarship Campaign” VANCOUVER – Several hundred members of the Vancouver community gathered in May to celebrate 90 years of excellence at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The event focused on the experiences of four young Israeli soldiers, members of the IDF’s Duvdevan Elite Unit. Their arresting stories of covert missions and superhuman training stood in sharp contrast to their alter egos as mild-mannered Hebrew University students. The evening served as a scholarship fundraiser for these “soldier-students,” who must strike a balance between their lives as civilians and soldiers, weathering severe financial hardships, interruptions in their studies and the stresses of both military and student life.

The evening also featured presentations by Ambassador Ido Aharoni, Israeli consul general in New York City, who spoke on “The Rise of The New Infosumer,” and Hebrew University geography scholar Noam Shoval, who spoke about the geographic realities of the city of Jerusalem as revealed through his complex GPS study of its inhabitants’ movements (see page 9). Israeli musician and actor — and a former Duvdevan member — Tzachi Halevi provided the evening’s entertainment. Vancouver chapter president Randy Milner described the evening as a “Hebrew U Ted Talk.”

Top (l to r): IDF Duvdevan Elite Unit soldiers Gilad Waldman, Daniel Kolver, Ariel Rubin and Boaz Faschler with musician and former Duvdevan soldier Tzahi Halevy (centre).

Bottom (l to r): CFHU National Vice President Phil Switzer, CFHU past National Chair Nathan Lindenberg and CFHU Vancouver chapter President Randy Milner.

Montreal presents Alvin Segal with Scopus Award MONTREAL – He’s a visionary business leader, an inspirational philanthropist, and an overall mensch. In May, 450 of his family, friends and associates gathered at Montreal’s Congregation Shaar Hashomayim to pay tribute to Alvin Segal, OC, OQ, who received the Scopus Award, the highest honour conferred by the Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Segal is chair and chief executive officer of Peerless Clothing Inc., the largest supplier of men’s fine tailored clothing in North America.

He played a key role in the 1980s negotiations leading to the North American Free Trade Agreement, a fact attested to in a videotaped message from former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Author and guest speaker Jeffrey Goldberg, a staff writer for The Atlantic specializing in the Middle East, warned the audience in his talk that world Jewry — and in particular the Montreal Jewish community — needs to prepare for a possible exodus of Jews from France, where anti-Semitism is on the rise dramatically.

Among the dignitaries at the evening were Hebrew University President Menahem Ben-Sasson, McGill University Principal Suzanne Fortier, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and former Segal Centre executive director Manon Gauthier, now Montreal’s executive committee member responsible for culture.

Proceeds from the dinner benefited two programs at The Hebrew University: brain research at the Institute for Medical Research IsraelCanada and Revivim, a Jewish studies teacher training program.

Top (l to r): Hebrew University President Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson, Emmelle and Alvin Segal, CFHU Montreal chapter President Ari Brojde and CFHU President and CEO Rami Kleinmann.

Bottom (l to r): Alvin Segal celebrates with his sisters Harriet Lazar (l) and Connie Solomon (r).

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FOCUS ON PHILANTHROPY

The Bloomfield family’s lasting impact on the Hebrew University Harry Bloomfield QC and his sister, Evelyn Bloomfield Schachter, pull a letter from the archives of the Eldee Foundation. It’s typewritten, on Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University letterhead, dated October 22, 1969, and it’s signed by CFHU founder Allan Bronfman.

The letter is addressed to the siblings’ father, the late Bernard Bloomfield, then-president of the Eldee Foundation. It’s an appeal for $4 million to build a library on the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The Bloomfield Library for the Humanities and Social Sciences was completed in 1976. Today, it continues to function as a cornerstone for the University’s students and researchers. In 1996, the Eldee Foundation — of which Harry is now president and Evelyn vice president, and which is the vehicle for the Montreal family’s philanthropy — added a media centre to the building in order to allow soldiers to catch up on studies missed during active duty.

But the Bloomfield Library is just one of the many Hebrew University initiatives created or supported by the Bloomfields. They are the driving force behind the Lady Davis Fellowship Trust (LDFT), inspired by the Rhodes Scholarship. Founded in 1973, it offers fellowships at the Hebrew University and at the Technion to visiting professors, postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students. Well over 2,000 academics have benefited from the trust, which is one of the most distinguished and sought-after fellowship programs in the world.

The Eldee Foundation also established Jerusalem’s Bloomfield Science Museum, which was founded by and operates under the Hebrew University and the

Top: Neri and Bernard Bloomfield with Yitzhak Rabin (l) Bottom: Neri Bloomfield (centre) with her daughter Evelyn Bloomfield Schachter (l) and son Harry Bloomfield (r).

It’s a family legacy of support for Israel and its people that goes back more than a century, when Harry and Evelyn’s great grandmother served as a delegate to the second Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1898. “Zionism is in our DNA,” says Harry. His uncle Louis Bloomfield QC was a prominent Canadian lawyer and close friend of Lady Henrietta Davis; together with Bernard, the three established the Eldee Foundation.

The Bloomfield brothers worked tirelessly to solidify and expand the trust, establishing it as one of the most important and effective channels of support for Israel and for its educational and cultural institutions.

“Our family’s legacy is visible all over Israel and in the very foundations of the Hebrew University. We have been there since the beginning of Canadian Friends — our parents saw the very existence of the Hebrew University as part of their responsibility.”

Jerusalem Foundation. It established the Lady Davis Chair in Experimental Medicine and Cancer Research, the Bernard Bloomfield Memorial Endowment Prize and the Harry Bloomfield Endowment for Perpetual Student Aid, and contributed substantially to the Cherrick Center for the Study of Zionism, the Yishuv and the State of Israel. It has supported a wide variety of Hebrew University scholarships, buildings, research projects, funds and other initiatives over the last halfcentury, with literally hundreds of gifts totaling millions of dollars

Bernard’s wife, Neri Bloomfield, succeeded her husband as the chairman of the Eldee Foundation after his death in 1985. Neri, who passed away earlier this year, was a tireless powerhouse in the field of Jewish philanthropy, including the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University. She shattered all kinds of gender and age barriers: not only was she the youngest-ever president of Canadian Hadassah WIZO, but also the first woman to hold the position of national president of the Canadian Zionist Federation, the first female president of the JNF and the first female director of Bank Hapoalim, Canada. She was a member of the Hebrew University’s International Board of Directors for more than 40 years, and — like her husband and brother-in-law — received an honorary doctorate from Hebrew U.

“When the Women’s Lib movement began in the late 1960s,” says Harry, “I remember having no idea what they were talking about because for me it was normal for my mother to be out at an office every day, working her way up the corporate philanthropic ladder, constantly attending meetings, organizing, strategizing about policy with her boards of directors and her officers, who were all her best friends.”

“The philanthropy and vision of the Bloomfield family, beginning with Neri, Bernard and Louis and continuing through to Harry and Evelyn’s generation, has made an indelible impact not only on the Hebrew University but on the State of Israel,” says Hebrew University President Menahem Ben-Sasson. “They have literally helped to build both the University and the country, and through vehicles like the LDFT and other scholarships and fellowships, to nurture and develop its intellectuals. We deeply mourn the recent passing of Neri Bloomfield.”

Today, Harry and Evelyn and their families continue to uphold their family’s tradition of Jewish philanthropy.

“Harry and I are the fourth generation of our family to be involved in Zionist activities,” says Evelyn, who is a past president of the Montreal chapter and a member of the CFHU National Board of Directors. “We are fortunate to have been brought up in an environment steeped in the finest traditions of Judaism, and we consider ourselves privileged to have been exposed to the concept of philanthropy from the earliest age. Our family’s legacy is visible all over Israel and in the very foundations of the Hebrew University. We have been there since the beginning of Canadian Friends — our parents saw the very existence of the Hebrew University as part of their responsibility.”

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What’s Happening at HU

World Science Conference Israel They came from Ecuador and China, Ghana and Norway, Bosnia Herzegovina and Mexico — and, of course Israel and Canada, not to mention another 60+ countries around the world. And for four days this past summer, they transformed Jerusalem and the Hebrew University into a worldwide hotspot for cutting-edge science.

The first World Science Conference Israel (WSCI) brought together not only 400 talented young scientists from across the globe, but also 15 Nobel Prize and Wolf Prize laureates as well as Fields Medal winners from both Israel and abroad. Organized by the Israeli Foreign Ministry with help from the Hebrew University and the Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, the conference exposed science students to the Israeli spirit of innovation, where basic and applied sciences generate trailblazing technologies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the opening address and former Israeli President Shimon Peres also attended the opening ceremonies.

The majority of participants were not Jewish; for most, the WSCI was their introduction to Israel. And what an introduction it was, with a chance to meet and learn from scientific superstars. Israeli Nobel laureates included Prof. Ada Yonath, a Weizmann Institute crystallographer; Hebrew University mathematician Robert (Yisrael) Aumann; and physician and biologist Aaron Ciechanover.

Rather than simply admiring great scholars from afar, young scientists were able to engage with Nobel laureates on a human scale, in a series of three-toone interviews with their personal and professional heroes. “The opportunity to speak with two laureates, Aaron Ciechanover and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, is an experience that I will never forget,” says Canadian

Connecting with Nobel laureates: Canadian WSCI delegates Brandon Tang (l) and Justin Lessard-Wajcer (far r) and Welsh delegate Cerys Jenkins with Hebrew U Nobel laureate Dr. Aaron Ciechanover (in purple shirt).

delegate Brandon Tang, 23, who is studying medicine at the University of Toronto. Based on his conversations with the Nobel laureates, Tang is writing a reflection piece on balancing passion for one’s work with the pragmatic demands of career advancement, which he plans to submit to the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

In the Eureka! contest, participants collaborated with colleagues from around the world to compete in scientific projects. Israeli innovations and startups — like OrCam, MUV Interactive and Mobileye — were showcased. And just in case anyone was worried that the conference would be all work and no play, the WSCI offered plenty of time for both: more than 400 participants from around the world danced one night away at the Tel Aviv port, and took time to tour the Old City and other significant sites in Jerusalem.

“I had never visited Israel before, and the event completely changed my perspective on Israeli innovation and scientific research,” says Jessie MacAlpine, 19, in her third year of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Toronto. One of the highlights of the trip, she says, was interviewing Nobel laureate Prof. Harry Kroto.

The conference organizers hoped that the participants would act as “scientific ambassadors of goodwill” for Israel. If MacAlpine is any indication, they succeeded.

The WSCI, she says, “was by far one of the best experiences in my life and I truly hope to return to Israel again one day. It is a beautiful country that is completing outstanding research and I look forward to collaborating with all of the future scientists I met at the conference.”

No fridge?

No problem.

Hebrew U invention could help break cycle of rural poverty in the developing world Hebrew University researchers have developed a technology that can extend the life of vegetables for weeks without refrigeration. It’s an innovation that could end the cycle of poverty among rural farmers in the developing world.

Dozens of technologies can help farmers grow healthier, hardier and better-tasting fruits and vegetables. Many of those inventions, like drip irrigation, were developed in Israel. Outside of refrigeration, though, few technologies exist to extend the life of produce once it’s harvested. While some fruits and vegetables can be kept in cold storage for months, others — like leafy vegetables — have to be brought to market within days, before they begin to wilt.

And that’s a problem for farmers, especially in the developing world, says Dr. Rivka Elbaum, from the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences at the Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture at the Hebrew University. Rural growers who have no access to refrigeration — for reasons

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Fresh without the fridge: Both sets of lettuce leaves above have been unrefrigerated for a week. The leaves on the left have been treated with a novel solution developed at the Hebrew University to keep produce fresh.

that include lack of access to electricity, equipment or infrastructure — can’t get their produce to urban markets before it goes bad. That leaves them at the mercy of local wholesalers, who typically pay far less than their crops are worth. It’s a system that perpetuates a cycle of poverty.

Dr. Elbaum is poised to break that cycle. She has formulated a solution that has been shown to keep leafy vegetables fresh for extended periods of time. Thus far, it has delayed wilting and chlorophyll loss in lettuce leaves for up to a month. It will also work with other leafy vegetables, such as celery, spinach, cabbage, kale,

parsley, basil, cauliflower and broccoli. The formulation has been patented in the United States and Israel, and is being commercialized by Yissum, the Hebrew University’s technology transfer company.

“We’ve been speaking to some large organizations, such as food wholesalers, who are very interested in working with us,” says a Yissum spokesperson. “We’re still working on the form of delivery for the solution — possibly as a mist spray in the produce section of the supermarket, with the sprayers using [Dr. Elbaum’s] solution instead of water.”

What’s Happening at HU Way to go, baby!: The birth of Prof. Yaakov Nahmias’s daughter earlier this year sparked an idea that led to a major pharmaceutical breakthrough.

published on the cover of the July edition of Hepatology, they reported that they produced large amounts of functional liver cells from human embryonic and genetically engineered stem cells. “Nobody had thought of mimicking this part of human development before, so that’s exactly what we did,” says Nahmias.

Until this breakthrough, human liver cells — called hepatocytes — could be sourced only from donated organs. That left them in woefully short supply for the researchers and pharmaceutical companies who needed them to test new drugs. As the gatekeeper to the digestive system, the liver is responsible for drug breakdown and is the first organ in the body to be injured or affected by drug overdose or misuse.

Evaluating drug-induced liver injury thus is a critical part of pharmaceutical discovery.

But limited supplies of hepatocytes had represented a major bottleneck and expense for the industry, with pharmaceutical companies spending $1 billion a year on liver cells alone. “Our ability to produce an unlimited supply of functional liver cells from human pluripotent stem cells can change all that,” said Nahmias.

Gut Feelings Hebrew U scientists create functional liver cells from stem cells Newton’s apple. A wayward spore that led to the development of penicillin. Archimedes’s Eureka! moment. More often than we realize, scientific inspiration comes from seemingly chance encounters.

For Hebrew University Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, the birth of his daughter earlier this year was such an encounter. And it’s led to a breakthrough that will have staggeringly positive effects for research and development in the pharmaceutical industry.

“I watched her feeding just moments after birth, and realized this is the first time her liver started working,” said Nahmias. That insight allowed him and his team to overcome a major obstacle in drug development: creating functional liver cells in the lab.

“A … revolution for pharmaceutical drug discovery.”

Nahmias and his team discovered that the bacteria populating the infant gut moments after birth produce vitamin K2 and bile acids that activate the fetal liver’s dormant drug metabolism program. In research

Call your Bubbie and Zaidy!

Hebrew U study shows teens who are close with grandparents do better

Other groups have been able to produce liver cells, notes Nahmias, but “their cells showed little functional activity, and could not be reliably used for drug discovery. In fact, up until now stem cell–derived hepatocytes showed little ability to predict clinical outcome.”

The groundbreaking work further demonstrated that liver cells produced from either embryonic stem cells or genetically engineered skin cells can detect the toxic effect of over a dozen drugs with greater than 97% accuracy. “This is quite a revolution for pharmaceutical drug discovery,” said Nahmias.

“The implications for liver biology and drug discovery are quite staggering,” said Prof. Oren Shibolet, Head of the Liver Unit at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, who was not involved in this study. “The method provides access to unlimited amounts of functional liver cells and is likely to critically improve our ability to predict drug toxicity, which was previously limited by the unavailability of liver cells.”

warm relationships with their grandparents. For teens with average emotional closeness to their parents, contact with their closest grandparent was linked with significantly reduced difficulties, though the reduction was moderate. For teens with very close parental relationships, the closest grandparent played an even stronger role in reducing adjustment difficulties.

What’s more, benefits to teenagers were even greater when they had strong relationships with both a parent and that parent’s parent.

It’s a given that warm emotional relationships with parents are a key factor in their teenagers’ well-being.

But a recent study by Dr. Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz, a senior researcher at the Hebrew University’s School of Social Work and Social Welfare, suggests that we need to take a stronger look at the role grandparents play in their teenaged grandchildren’s lives.

What makes grandparental involvement so significant?

Although Dr. Attar-Schwartz’s study didn’t ask teens the reasons why they benefited from spending time with grandparents, she says that the results are in line with other research on grandparents and their grandchildren.

Dr. Attar-Schwartz and her team surveyed 1,405 Israeli teens between the ages of 12 and 18 about difficulties in their lives, including hyperactivity, excessive worrying, social skills, fighting and bullying. They found that teens who had close, loving relationships with both their parents and grandparents had the fewest problems. The research was published online in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.

“In other studies, adolescents have told us that spending time with their grandparents was an opportunity for relaxation and treats, but also time where they received attention and could share their thoughts and problems with a committed adult, and get advice. Some young people reported that it was easier to open up to their grandparents than to their parents, often because grandparents had shown themselves to be better listeners and more sensitive to the young person’s concerns in the past.”

Grandparents are often seen as a useful buffer when teens and parents don’t see eye to eye. Interestingly, however, Dr. Attar-Schwartz’s study showed that teens who were not close to their parents didn’t benefit from

Dr. Attar-Schwartz is currently spending her sabbatical year as a visiting professor at the Factor-Inwentash Department of Social Work at the University of Toronto.

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CFHU Across SECTIONCanada Montreal

Water, water everywhere One Drop CEO outlines partnership model at Einstein Business Forum “There are more cellphones in the world than toilets,” points out Catherine Bachand, chief executive officer of the One Drop Foundation.

It’s a graphic example, but it underscores the dramatic worldwide inequalities around access to clean drinking water. Eight hundred million people do not have access to safe water, and 2.5 billion have no sanitation, says Bachand, who spoke in January at CFHU Montreal’s Albert Einstein Business Forum.

One Drop, created by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, believes that adequate clean water is key to improving health and alleviating poverty. The foundation doesn’t simply go into countries and dig wells or build infrastructure, Bachand explained, but rather seeks to make people self-sufficient. It does this by co-operating with like-minded NGOs, universities and corporations.

Suitably, One Drop is exploring possibilities for collaboration with the Hebrew University’s Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine; Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment; and the Glocal Community Development Studies program, all of which help train people from the developing world who want to improve food security, water and sanitation.

Montreal chapter president Ari Brojde said the mission statements of One Drop and the Hebrew University are similar. “Hebrew University is developing innovative research to best serve humankind. Both organizations are working for a better world.”

Toronto

Ottawa

CFHU March Ottawa hosts AGM Madness expands its brand

On the weekend before the federal election, executive members and stakeholders from across Canada gathered in our national capital for “Looking to the Future,” Canadian Friends’ second Annual General Meeting.

At the age of 21, CFHU’s annual Online March Madness College Basketball Tournament continues to expand its reach. What started as a Toronto-based alumni initiative is now a Canada-wide event that raised more than $80,000 this year in support of the Bernard Persiko & Darren Kendal Merit Student Scholarship Fund at the Hebrew University. Over the past three years, March Madness basketball has raised more than $250,000 and awarded 20+ scholarships to Canadian students studying at Hebrew U. But the Madness isn’t just about basketball any more.

In April 2015, much to the delight of hockey fans across the country, co-chairs Lorne Persiko and David Kendal and their committee launched a very successful Playoff Hockey Madness. In September 2015, the brand scored another touchdown with the launch of the inaugural Football Madness Online Tournament. Funds raised from all three Madness events support the PersikoKendal scholarships.

From a tour of the Parliament building to our engaging conversations and speakers, the weekend was filled with learning, strategizing and socializing, with panels on “The Multifaceted Prism of Philanthropy,” “Canada/Israel Partnerships” and emerging trends in philanthropy. Hebrew University researcher Yaacov (Koby) Nahmias gave a lecture, hosted by Dorothy Nadolny, on “Inspiring the Next Generation of Medical Innovation” (see more about Prof. Nahmias’s innovative research on page 7).

Other special guests included Israeli Ambassador to Canada Rafael Barak and his wife, Miriam Barak, and Ambassador Yossi Gal, Hebrew University VicePresident of Advancement & External Affairs.

The AGM was also the occasion to say goodbye to two long-time CFHU team members. Ottawa and Winnipeg chapter Executive Directors Shelli Kimmel and Sharon Zalik are moving on to new adventures. We thank them both for their hard work and dedication over the years, and look forward to seeing them at CFHU events.

“We realized that expanding our sports repertoire would allow us to engage with a younger demographic and connect them with the Hebrew University,” says Persiko.

The Madness team is also thrilled to announce that alumni of the Pi Lambda Phi Canada Kappa Chapter have established the Pi Lambda Phi Student Scholarship Fund, which will support University of Toronto students taking summer courses at the Hebrew University.

Persiko and Kendal extend congratulations to the 2015 March Madness Basketball winners Jack Rose, Craig Walters, Allen Abbott, Michael Schacter, Eric Moncik, Paul Litman, Allan Katchky and Stephen Victor, and extend a hearty thanks to their Madness committee members: Ben Babins, Sylvia Babins, Max Benudiz, Stuart Clapham, Harvey Hazan, Shawn Kendal, Amy Kerbel, Michael Konikoff, Sam Kopmar, Stewart Laszlo and Lauren Wise.

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03 01 TORONTO They Scored!: Madness co-chairs David Kendal (l) and Lorne Persiko (r) are all smiles as they present the prize cheque to Max, Justin and Jamie Benuditz (centre, l to r), the winners of CFHU’s first annual Playoff Hockey Madness Online Tournament.

The event raised more than $15,000 in its first year.

02 MONTREAL One Drop: The CFHU Montreal Albert Einstein Business Forum hosted Catherine Bachand (centre), CEO of the ONE DROP Foundation.

03 OTTAWA AGM Canada/Israel Partnerships panel: Moderator Stephen Victor; CFHU National Board Chair Murray Palay; Dr. Thomas Hudson, President and Scientific Director, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research; Dylan Hanley, Associate Director, Government Relations and University Outreach, CIJA; His Excellency Ambassador Raphael Barak.

04 OTTAWA AGM Outside Parliament: Robert Gabor (Winnipeg); Debbie and Howard Sniderman (Edmonton); Michael Abrams (Toronto); Shelli Kimmel (Ottawa); Bryant and Lillian Shiller, Carol Koffler and Danielle Pollock (Montreal); Cheryl and Randy Milner (Vancouver); Neil Hazan (Montreal).

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CFHU Across SECTIONCanada Winnipeg & Edmonton

Vancouver

HU prof gives down-to-earth talk on “heavenly” city

Gropper law faculty exchange continues to thrive

Hebrew University geography professor Noam Shoval has a whole new way of looking at the ways people live, work and play in the Holy City. In two fascinating lectures, delivered to the Winnipeg and Edmonton CFHU chapters in May, he outlined some of the results and implications of his research.

Hebrew U law professor Moshe Hirsch is the fifth Israeli professor to participate in what is emerging as a highlight for the Jewish and wider legal communities in Vancouver.

An Open Jerusalem Legal Eagles

Shoval drew on his studies using GPS tracking technology to see how both residents (Israeli and Arab) and tourists spend time in Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, tourists tend to cluster in the Old City and the area of Yad Vashem/Har Herzl. More interestingly, Prof.

Shoval’s research characterizes Jerusalem as an “open” city: both Jewish and Arab residents spend significant amounts in “each others’” traditional neighbourhoods.

The entire city, Shoval pointed out, is used by the entire population.

This finding has key implications in several policy areas, Shoval said, not the least of which are the difficulties in dividing Jerusalem as part of any proposed two-state solution. For his part, Shoval does not see the division of Jerusalem as a viable option in any future diplomatic settlement.

“Divisions will just make things worse. Cities are divided as a result of war, not in an effort to make peace.

Stakeholders need to understand that Jerusalem is a living city like any other living city,” he said.

Shoval spoke before large crowds at Winnipeg’s Asper Campus on May 4, at a program co-sponsored by CFHU, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. In Edmonton, Professor Shoval spoke at the Beth Shalom Synagogue.

The Mitchell H. Gropper QC Law Faculty Exchange allows law students at the Hebrew University and the University British Columbia to benefit from the expertise of faculty at both schools. Each September, UBC law students study with a visiting professor from Hebrew U; the following spring, a member of the UBC faculty travels to Jerusalem to teach a course to Hebrew University students.

Prof. Hirsch, whose focus is international relations, taught a graduate seminar on developing countries in the world trading system. “Issues relating to developing countries involve some of the most acute problems in the contemporary international system,” he said at the course’s outset. “Dilemmas discussed in this course may help students to better understand the complex realities of economic development and international trade law in this sphere.”

Prof. Hirsch was pleasantly surprised at the diversity of his students, of whom fully half come from outside Canada. He was also happy to return to Vancouver, which he has visited twice before as part of a multinational research group led by UBC law professor Pitman Potter.

During his stay in Vancouver, Prof. Hirsch gave a lunchtime lecture — called “Why are some countries rich and others poor?” — to an over-capacity crowd of lawyers and academics, hosted by Mitchell Gropper at his law office. UBC professors Cristie Ford, David Duff and Dennis Pavlich, all alumni of the exchange program, attended the talk, as did the new UBC Dean of Law, Prof.

Catherine Dauverge, who thanked CFHU for continuing to support the faculty exchange, citing its many benefits for students, faculty and research collaborations.

Alberta

Israel-Alberta Neuroscience Symposium Symposium fuels, strengthens international relationships “Today, breakthroughs in science aren’t a one-man show. They’re about teams co-operating.”

With those words, Israeli Ambassador to Canada Rafael Barak summed up the spirit of the Israel-Alberta Neuroscience Symposium, a three-day event in June that brought together researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with their colleagues from the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology and the universities of Alberta, Calgary and Lethbridge. The event was designed to promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas and to foster collaboration between top neuroscience research institutes in Israel and Alberta.

The Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) and Campus Alberta Neuroscience (CAN) partnered to host the scientific exchange, which followed closely on the heels of the announcement of the Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program, a $35 million funding scheme for Canadian and Israeli researchers working in biomedicine, with an initial focus on neuroscience.

More than 50 researchers, trainees and dignitaries attended the symposium, including Amb. Barack, the Hon. Michelle Rempel, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification; and Cam Westhead, MLA for BanffCochrane. HBI director Dr. Samuel Weiss described the event as a “kick-start towards the goal of nurturing mutual interests into meaningful collaborations.”

Speakers at the neuroscience symposium showcased a variety of topics, including movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, neural circuitry, neurodegeneration, neurotechnology and more. Smaller breakout sessions identified potential research collaborations. “This is about identifying interesting, viable and impactful neuroscience collaborations that can be developed by these five incredible institutions,” said Grant McIntyre, PhD, CAN’s executive director.

Eager to share ideas with one another, researchers made the most of this opportunity to interact.

“We have all the elements to develop really fruitful collaborations,” commented Tamir Ben-Hur, MD-PhD, professor of neuroscience and Israel S. Wechsler Chair of Neurology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“The people here have common interests, the same level of great science, and good chemistry.”

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05 ALBERTA: Rafael Barak, Ambassador of Israel to Canada, speaks of the importance of international collaborations to achieve scientific breakthroughs at the Israel-Alberta Neuroscience Symposium’s opening reception.

06 VANCOUVER Law Faculty Exchange: Prof. Moshe Hirsch (l) with Mitchell H. Gropper, QC. 07 ALBERTA Collaborating across countries to further neuroscience: (l to r) Anthony Phillips, CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction; University of Calgary President Elizabeth Cannon; Samuel Weiss, Hotchkiss Brain Institute; the Hon. Michelle Rempel, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification; Cam Westhead, MLA for Banff-Cochrane; Cam Westhead and Ambassador Rafael Barak at the opening reception of the Israel-Alberta Neuroscience Symposium.

08 WINNIPEG & EDMONTON GPS This!: Hebrew U geography professor Noam Shoval with Edmonton chapter President Howie Sniderman.

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SECTION Students & Alumni

Hebrew U and U of T programs challenge students cross-culturally

School’s “Coexistence in the Middle East” course, while Glassman was part of the Rothberg’s “Entrepreneurship & Innovation” program. Both received scholarships that made their participation possible.

Transformative. That word — as well as words like exciting, overwhelming, unexpected, amazing, resonant — comes up often as Danielle Pal and Aviva Glassman describe their first-year experiences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Toronto.

Pal, 19, and Glassman, 18, met as freshman students in “Innovating for the Global,” offered by U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs. In small classes, students work collaboratively to tackle global challenges.

“It was a process of narrowing down an idea enough to find a changeable problem that you could solve through innovation,” explains Pal. Her group, for example, focused on preventing voluntary recruitment of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Glassman’s group developed a messaging app called Cricket that could be used by dissidents to bypass Internet censorship and spread news and important information during conflicts.

“We learned about global problem-solving from different perspectives, including business, the sciences, the arts and humanities, computer sciences,” explains Glassman, whose grandparents, Rose Marie and Leon Glassman, are longtime supporters of the Hebrew University and CFHU. “It involved taking into account all the unique angles and working together collaboratively.”

Both young women jumped at the chance to continue in the spirit of academic innovation when the Munk School announced opportunities for students to study abroad at the Hebrew University. Pal took the Rothberg International

Both courses focused on hands-on experience and immersion. “We visited tech startups, did fieldwork,” says Glassman, of her group’s visits to Google, MobilEye, Stratisys and other drivers of Israel’s technological and environmental economies.

“It was a process of narrowing down an idea enough to find a changeable problem that you could solve through innovation...”

“I can count on one hand the number of times we were actually in the classroom,” says Pal, who, like Glassman, describes eight-hour days in the field, visiting a variety of sites and learning from diverse stakeholders. “In Israel and Palestine, I talked with soldiers, students, politicians, clergy, people on the ground: Jews and Arabs from East Jerusalem, Haifa, Tzfat, Palestinians in Ramallah and in refugee camps and Bethlehem.”

Being at the Hebrew University was a chance, says Pal, to reflect upon the collaborative problem-solving skills of her Munk course: “I was struck by how much people on both sides have in common, and yet how little contact they had.

Everyone wants the same thing, but has a different way of getting to the solution. And connecting with that raw human experience — I really enjoyed that. What Munk One and the Hebrew University have really driven home to me is that I don’t know anything except the perspective I’m sitting in, and to be cognizant of that in all situations.”

Top: U of T student Aviva Glassman with Canadian classmate and McGill student Joshua Frank, at Israel’s Google headquarters. The two visited Google as part of the Hebrew University’s “Entrepreneurship & Innovation” summer course.

Bottom: Danielle Pal (r)and a friend beside Masada after getting their B’not Mitzvah

CFHU PARTNERSHIPS

STOLEN: Max Stern’s story CFHU partners on feature doc on Nazi-plundered art Intrigue, passion, crime and restitution. Broken dreams, secret lives and new beginnings. Those are the themes of STOLEN, a new feature documentary film being produced about legendary Canadian art dealer Max Stern.

The Nazis looted more than 650,000 works of art during the Holocaust. Approximately 400 of those works came from the Galerie Stern in Düsseldorf, when a young Stern was forced to liquidate his art collection at bargain-basement prices; he never saw the proceeds from that sale. After spending four years in internment camps, Stern eventually escaped Germany and settled in Canada, where he rose to prominence once more as the owner of the landmark Dominion Gallery, defining the careers of artists such as Emily Carr and Henry Moore, and bringing Auguste Rodin and Wassily Kandinsky to North America. When he died, he bequeathed his estate to McGill, Concordia and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

But the Galerie Stern artworks have remained prisoners of war. And the goal of international art crimes investigator Dr. Willi Korte is to liberate them and return them to their rightful owner: Stern’s estate.

Korte, along with Concordia University professor Dr. Clarence Epstein, head of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project (MSARP), are central characters in STOLEN. With Stern’s life as the backbone of the story, STOLEN negotiates the complex world of plundered art, Interpol, museums, galleries, Homeland Security and the deep secrets that loom in family allegiances.

“Hitler knew the best way to destroy a civilization is to erase their cultural heritage,” says Korte, a Germanborn, American lawyer and historian who has been instrumental in locating several of Stern’s looted works, including The Girl from the Sabine Mountains by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.

On November 23, supporters of STOLEN gathered at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for a VIP cocktail reception benefiting the film and the MSARP. A highlight of the evening was the unveiling of one of Stern’s restituted paintings, coming home from Germany on extended loan to the museum.

At intimate gatherings held in September in Montreal and Toronto, Korte and Epstein spoke about their respective roles in the MSARP, CFHU and Concordia. At the Montreal home of Roslie Jukier and Lewis Dobrin, and in Toronto at the home of co-executive producer Andrea Wood and Peter Cavanaugh, the two restitution professionals enlightened the riveted guests and donors about Stern’s story and the murky world of plundered art.

The events helped to raise funds for the film’s production and completion.

“This is an important and timely film about an iconic Canadian art dealer who transcended the evils of the Holocaust to create a legacy of beauty and hope,” says Robin Turack, who, along with Wood, Sissy Federer and Susan McArthur, is one of the film’s executive producers and fundraisers. STOLEN will be directed by Phyllis Ellis and produced by Henry Less of HLP+Partners. STOLEN will benefit the Hebrew University and the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism.

For more information on the project and on how to become a donor, please visit STOLENdocumentaryfilm.com.

Donors and supporters of the documentary film STOLEN gathered in Toronto and Montreal to learn more about the story of Max Stern and the murky world of art restitution from Dr. Clarence Epstein and Dr. Willi Korte, who play key roles in the film.

MONTREAL (Left): (l to r) Stephen Lipper, Dr. Clarence Epstein, Simon Bensimon, Rosalie Jukier, Lewis Dobrin, Dr. Willi Korte and Robin Turack.

TORONTO (Above): Andrea Weissman-Daniels, Andrea Wood and Mark Daniels.

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BOG 2015

Canadian contributions highlighted at BoG The Hebrew University of Jerusalem celebrated its 90th birthday in style at the 78th annual Board of Governors Meeting, held in June. As always, Canadians made up a strong contingent at the event, as the University paid tribute to several Canadian donors for their ongoing and vital support. At the annual Canadian Awards Dinner, several Hebrew University students met with the Canadian donors of their scholarships. Montreal’s Brojde family hosted a luncheon showcasing the achievements of the Peter Brojde Center for Innovative Engineering and Computer Science.

With 2015 marking the 100th anniversary of his Theory of Relativity, the spirit of Hebrew University founder Albert Einstein was in the air — look forward to an exciting series of events to mark Einstein’s legacy!

Hold the Date CFHU’s chapters have an exciting array of events in the coming year. Mark your calendar now, and visit cfhu.org/events or call your local chapter office for more information.

NATIONAL EVENTS AND Israel MISSIONS JAN. - FEB 2016 CFHU Snowbirds Get-togethers: • Jan. 2016 — Florida • Feb. 21, 2016 — Palm Springs Mar. 2016 CFHU March Madness Online Tournament in support of HU Merit Scholarships Apr. 2016 CFHU Playoff Hockey Madness Online Tournament in support of HU Merit Scholarships May 27 - June 1 Building a Bridge to a Better Tomorrow: Hebrew University 79th Board of Governors Meeting Sept. 2016 CFHU Football Madness Survival Online Tournament in support of HU Merit Scholarships

Segal honorary doctorate Montreal’s Alvin Segal (above), who received CFHU’s Scopus Award in May, received an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University. In Jerusalem, Segal hosted a luncheon with students from the Revivim program for training outstanding Jewish studies teachers, a cause close to his heart. Segal was also honoured at the University’s Wall of Benefactors.

Fall 2016 CFHU AGM, Toronto NOV. 2016 Live Learn & Explore Portugal & Israel Mission

CALGARY Feb. 2016 Albert Einstein Business Forum, with Prof. Koby Nahmias, Director of Center for Bioengineering, Hebrew University (TBC).

Soyka family legacy

Wall of Life Montrealers Monette Malewski (below, l), Bernard Shuster (below, c) and Lou and Sylvia Vogel (below, r), were all honoured at the Hebrew University’s Wall of Life for their long-time, generous support.

BELOW (l): Monette Malewski with Hebrew University president Menahem Ben Sasson BELOW (c): Bernard Shuster also received an Honorary Fellowship from the Hebrew University.

BELOW (r): Lou and Sylvia Vogel

Toronto’s Sylvia Soyka and her son Marc-Adam SoykaSteinman were honoured at the Hebrew University’s Wall of Benefactors for their family’s ongoing commitment to the Hebrew University, most recently in the form of the Alex U. Soyka Pancreatic Cancer Research Project, which was named for Sylvia’s father and Marc-Adam’s grandfather and dedicated at a ceremony at the Institute for Medical Research IsraelCanada. While in Jerusalem, Sylvia and Marc-Adam were thrilled to attend the annual Alex U. Soyka Tennis Tournament, which brings together Jewish and Arab community youth.

ABOVE: Prof. David Lichtstein, Dean, Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine and former director of IMRIC; Sylvia Soyka; Hebrew University Vice President and Director General Billy Shapira and Marc-Adam Soyka-Steinman at the dedication of the Alex U. Soyka Pancreatic Cancer Research Project.

LEFT: Some of the winning players and friends at the Alex U. Soyka Tennis Tournament.

EDMONTON Jun. 23, 2016 CFHU & JNF event in honour of Dr. James Shapiro, in support of diabetes research at IMRIC

MONTREAL Dec. 1, 2015 Hebrew University Legal Forum: Cocktail Reception and CLE Session for Lawyers and Jurists, with special guest Prof. Guy Davidov, Hebrew University Faculty of Law, followed by a public lecture MAR. 2016 Albert Einstein Business Forum, with Prof. Koby Nahmias, Director of Center for Bioengineering, Hebrew University

OTTAWA Apr. 27, 2016 Passover Lunch, keynote speaker TBA

TORONTO MAR. 2016 Albert Einstein Business Forum, with Prof. Koby Nahmias, Director of Center for Bioengineering, Hebrew University May 15, 2016 The Einstein Gala

WINNIPEG Dec. 2, 2015 Parlour Meeting with special guest Lawyer David Matas Mar. 2016 Launch of Einstein Legacy Project

Dragon Boat Israel The pre-Board of Governors program began with an exciting new event: the third annual Dragon Boat Israel. Our very own IMRIC Beavers (l), made up of Canadian CFHU supporters as well as IMRIC students, researchers and faculty, joined 28 other teams to race along the shores of the Kinneret in support of autism research and programs at the Hebrew University, which was the charitable partner for the event.

VANCOUVER Dec. 6, 2015 Launch of Einstein Legacy Project Dec. 7, 2015 Albert Einstein Business Forum with Jeff Martin Feb. 2016 Albert Einstein Business Forum, with Prof. Koby Nahmias, Director of Center for Bioengineering, Hebrew University

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THE 79 TH MEETING OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY & JERUSALEM

BUILDING A BRIDGE TO A BETTER TOMORROW

For more information on upcoming Israel missions please contact Merle Goldman at mgoldman@cfhu.org.

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