A Time for Greatness: Building a Top-10 Global University in Israel
Jews have prized scholarship and learning from time immemorial. Over the last century, Jewish minds have shaped the contours of modern science, philosophy, medicine, law, and the arts. Though Jews make up less than 0.2% of the global population, they have won over 21% of Nobel Prizes.
Jewish scholars are tenured at the most prestigious universities across the globe—Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Stanford, and beyond—while Jewish innovation has been central to the modern startup economy. Taken together, Jews power a good part of the world’s academic institutions. This intellectual and cultural vitality has been a gift to humanity.
But it is time for something more. It is time to concentrate this dispersed brilliance into a singular beacon of excellence in the Jewish homeland. It is time to build a top-10 global research university in Israel—a university that rivals the Ivy League, Oxbridge, and the elite institutions of Asia in both intellectual capital and global influence.
A Nation Built on Ideas Deserves a University to Match
The State of Israel has defied historical odds. Born amidst adversity, it became a global leader in technology, agriculture, cybersecurity, and medicine. Tel Aviv is often dubbed the next Silicon Valley. Yet, while Israel’s universities—such as the Hebrew University, Technion, and Weizmann Institute—punch far above their weight, none are currently ranked among the top 10 global institutions.
This is not due to lack of talent. Jews, and Israelis in particular, are among the most productive minds on Earth. What is missing is the intentional concentration of academic capital, visionary leadership, and long-term strategic funding needed to establish a university with elite global stature.
Israel deserves a university that:
Attracts top scholars from around the world—first and foremost Jews, but also all allies of academic freedom and human progress.
Sets the gold standard in AI, biomedical research, sustainability, and philosophy.
Leads in freedom of inquiry, tolerance, and intellectual pluralism.
A Strategic Moment: The Shifting Tides of Higher Education
The elite university system in the West, once the pride of liberal democracy, is in the midst of a crisis. Ideological orthodoxy has replaced free inquiry in many institutions. Recent failures by leading U.S. universities to respond adequately to campus antisemitism—amplified during and after the October 7th attacks on Israel—have exposed deep moral and institutional rot.
In response, prominent Jewish donors and alumni have begun pulling their support from once-sacrosanct alma maters, questioning whether their values are still reflected in these institutions. Major philanthropists, including Ronald Lauder, Bill Ackman, and others, have expressed public disillusionment.
Redirecting even a fraction of this philanthropic energy toward a visionary Israeli university could seed a generational transformation.
Why Now?
Academic Talent in Motion: The disaffection of Jewish faculty and students from Western campuses presents an opportunity to recruit world-class scholars seeking a new home for rigorous, values-based education.
National Security and Innovation Needs: With growing global uncertainty and the weaponization of knowledge economies, Israel must ensure it is not only a startup nation but a scholarship nation with academic institutions equal to its geopolitical ambitions.
Cultural Renaissance: A top-tier university can bridge the global Jewish diaspora, creating a hub of collaboration that fuses secular and religious thought, Western and Middle Eastern traditions, science and spirit.
What It Takes
To establish a world-class university in Israel will require:
A global advisory board of Nobel laureates, leading academics, and thought leaders.
An endowment of at least $5 billion to recruit faculty, fund research, and build state-of-the-art infrastructure.
A clear academic charter that emphasizes excellence, open inquiry, freedom from ideological coercion, and a commitment to serving both Israeli and global society.
Importantly, this institution must not merely serve Israeli interests. It should be a gift to the world, just as Jewish thinkers and scientists have long been. But it should also be unapologetically rooted in the Jewish story—an expression of the Jewish people’s enduring belief in education as a sacred endeavor.
A Call to Jewish Visionaries
For generations, Jewish philanthropy has elevated global education—from Albert Einstein’s vision for Hebrew University to major gifts that transformed Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. But now is the time to bring that vision home.
Let us gather the brilliance dispersed across the world and claim what is both strategic and symbolic: a seat at the table of global academic leadership—not as guests, but as hosts.
In building a top-10 university in Israel, we affirm that Jewish excellence is not just a footnote in world history—it is a force shaping the future.