Scholarships Totaling NIS One Million To Be Distributed To Hebrew University Students Pursuing Degrees In Hebrew Literature

Donation from Attorney Daniel Jacobson, a Hebrew University governor and honorary fellow

Jerusalem, January 18, 2012 - The Daniel Jacobson Fund has announced special scholarships worth a total of NIS one million for outstanding and needy students pursuing a degree in Hebrew Literature.

This announcement follows the recent announcement of scholarships totaling hundreds of thousands of NIS for new students in Hebrew Literature by the fund in memory of Zvia and Yerachmiel Berlinsky.

Dr. Ariel Hirschfeld from the Department of Hebrew Literature welcomed the donation and said, ''Attorney Jacobson's contribution is a welcome and significant reinforcement to the system of prizes and scholarships offered by the Hebrew Literature Department.'' Dr. Hirschfeld and Hebrew University President Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson will attend the Daniel Jacobson Fund's scholarship disbursement ceremony on Wednesday, January 18 at the Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus.

A longstanding friend, governor and honorary fellow of the University, Attorney Jacobson has done much to promote its excellence. Among other things he established a fund in 1967 to help disadvantaged students, which continues to operate and provide scholarships annually to students and scholars in Jewish Studies and Law. In 2011 Attorney Jacobson donated a study room for doctoral students in the Faculty of Law and gave his remarkable collection of letters, greeting cards and other ephemera to the University.

Attorney Jacobson said, ''Literature has always been close to my heart. When I learned that the number of students applying to the Department of Literature has decreased over the years, I felt compelled to encourage young people to join the Department. We are a people of the book and we must continue to honor this legacy and to remember that books and literature play a large part in shaping human culture.''