On Sunday, October 24th, the Winnipeg chapter of Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University will be hosting an event called Best of Hebrew U. The event will bring in four world-renowned professors from Hebrew University to run a day of seminars open to the public. These professors are leaders and innovators in their fields, and the day promises to be a fascinating experience, with intimate discussion about several relevant and exciting topics.

Professor Abraham Fainsod, who teaches with the Faculty of Medicine and specializes in the genetics, will be giving the keynote address Sunday morning on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and the research being done by the Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada toward alcohol and birth defects. Professor Fainsod has won several awards in his field, and was appointed as an American Cancer Society International Research Fellow. In two separate seminars, Professor Menachem Hofnung will discuss the struggle for balance of civil liberties and security promotion in Israel, and the reconciliation between being a Jewish and democratic state faced by modern Israeli leaders. Among other notable accomplishments, Professor Hofnung was formerly the Chair of the International Political Science Association Research Committee on Political Finance.

 Dr. Ein-Ya Gura, a senior lecturer at the illustrious Centre for Study of Rationality at Hebrew University, will be leading a seminar on the basics of game theory and how it can change our decision-making capabilities and the way we all think. For those more biblically-inclined, Dr. Michael Segal, the current award-winning Chair of the Department of Bible Studies, will lecture and lead discussions on the Dead Sea Scrolls’ interpretations of the Bible, and on dream interpretation in the Book of Daniel. 

Hebrew University is ranked in the top 100 universities worldwide, and an opportunity to learn from and discuss these pertinent and interesting issues is not one to be missed. During my semester abroad, where I studied at the Rothberg International School at Hebrew University, I learned firsthand the high quality of professors teaching at that institution. The focus of my studies specialized in conflict mediation and negotiation, and I learned from leading experts who, like the professors coming to Winnipeg for the Best of Hebrew U, are well-known and dynamic specialists and lecturers. This amazing day of seminars is the Winnipeg community’s chance to learn from distinguished Hebrew University lecturers without having to leave home. 

The Best of Hebrew U event will take place at Balmoral Hall School from 9:30 AM until 3:15 PM, with lunch included. To register, please call the CFHU office at 942-3085 or visit their website at www.cfhu.org.