Welcome back to the TAU campus!

Dear Students and Colleagues,

 

The opening of the academic year is exciting for most of us, but especially for the thousands of students who are entering Tel Aviv University for their first year of studies. Forty years ago exactly, I myself was a first year student at the Faculty of Law, and I well remember my first day at the University, actually my first week, almost as much as I remember my first day in first grade (yes, I do remember!). I promise you that we will do our utmost to ensure that not only the first week of enrollment will be enjoyable and interesting, but that all your years of studies at our University will be memorable.

 

Tel Aviv University is special in many ways. One of its traits, of which I am very proud, is that it is a bastion of freedom, open thought and tolerance. This trait holds great importance in our contemporary Israeli reality. We live in a deeply divided society, today more than ever. Jews and Arabs rarely meet each other, as is also the case with the secular, religious and Haredi sectors, or residents of the center and the periphery. Neighborhoods are separate, schools are separate, and the army is not always the "melting pot" it is customarily thought to be.

 

Against this backdrop, Tel Aviv University, often the first or only meeting place for the different population groups, uniquely provides each of us the opportunity to get to know the other in an atmosphere of friendship and congeniality, and to create a real bridge for social coexistence.

 

On our part, we will do everything in our power to realize this social potential, and to help every student who enters our gates— regardless of their beliefs, religion, or national affiliation — to feel that the University is their home. Such a feeling is vital for fulfilling our first duty toward our students: instilling knowledge and thinking skills that will serve them well in the future. At the same time the University will fulfill its civic duty to encourage open thought and tolerance in the polarized society in which we live.

 

To all our students, I wish an enjoyable and challenging year, and to the academic faculty and administration of the University, a successful and productive year.

 

Yours,

Ariel Porat