In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacres in Israel, Israeli academia has taken hits from multiple directions. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement alone has cost the Hebrew University tens of millions of dollars per year since the war began in Gaza, according to professor Tamir Sheafer, president of the Hebrew University. This came on top of government budget cuts for higher education due to the war.

“Philanthropic support from our friends around the world is essential,” Sheafer told eJewishPhilanthropy. 

On Tuesday, the Paulson Family Foundation announced a $19 million donation to Hebrew University on top of a $27 million donation that it made in 2023, which will be used to expand the school’s STEM-based research and teaching complex on the Edmond J. Safra Campus in Jerusalem’s Givat Ram neighborhood. The $46 million combined gift is one of the largest ever given to the school.

“STEM disciplines are the future, and they’re the future of the Israeli economy,” Abigail Teller, vice president of the Paulson Family Foundation, told eJP. “These developments in STEM and high tech and deep tech will help Israel thrive and shine its light.”

The original donation, announced in September 2023, was to build the Paulson Bar-El Building for Computer Science and Engineering, complete with 75,300 square feet of laboratories, classrooms, office space and computer workstations. This second donation will allow the school to supply an existing building with applied physics labs, with the revamped building to be named the John Paulson Building for Electrical Engineering. Hebrew University plans to break ground on both projects in the next few months.

While the donations will support research in multiple programs, Sheafer estimates that the funding will most drastically impact the school’s applied physics program, allowing the school to increase students from 150 to 250 or more, as well as double the applied physics researchers who would then radically increase their research output.

Other massive donations that have supported Hebrew University over the years have included a $30 million donation in 2000 from banker Edmond J. Safra’s family soon after his passing, leading to the campus named in his honor, and a $13 million donation in 2020 from The Alfred Landecker Foundation towards initiatives that study the Holocaust, human rights and minority protection.

American hedge fund manager John Paulson, president of Paulson & Co., founded the Paulson Family Foundation in 2009, supporting causes including education, science, the arts, health care and conservation. Paulson has made several other large donations towards education including in 2015, when he gifted his alma mater, Harvard University, its largest single donation in the form of a $400 million endowment towards its School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Paulson’s philanthropy in Israel has included support for the Jerusalem Campus for the Arts and a 2021 $15 million donation to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to mark the museum’s 90th anniversary. “Post-Oct. 7, John’s commitment to standing with Israel only grew stronger,” Teller said. 

Paulson’s connection to Hebrew University comes via his sister, Theodora Bar-El, a retired laboratory technician who received her doctorate from the school and worked at the university’s Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences.

Paulson hopes his donations will “encourage like-minded individuals to do the same,” Teller said.

Sheafer noted that education costs at Hebrew University are a small fraction — roughly one-tenth — those at Ivy League universities. In the 2024-2025 academic year, he said, Hebrew University spent $714 million to educate 23,500 students, costing $30,400 per student, while Princeton University spent averaged costing $2.74 billion to educate 9,100 students, meaning $301,000 per student. “Putting the money on Israeli academia is much more efficient and takes you a much longer way than any investment in any other academic institution in the world,” Sheafer said.

Paulson was presented with an honorary doctorate degree during Hebrew University’s 87th Board of Governors Meeting held in Jerusalem.

“Universities are the foundation of humanity,” Paulson said, during his speech when presented with an honorary doctorate degree during Hebrew University’s 87th Board of Governors Meeting held on June 3, 2024 in Jerusalem. “They provide for the preservation of humanity’s collective knowledge, the transfer of knowledge to the next generations and the advancement of the frontiers of human knowledge. At 100 years, Hebrew University has secured a prominent position amongst global universities and has provided the foundation for Israel’s current and future success.”

Paulson aims to ensure the country remains a tech pioneer by investing in the next generation of leaders, Teller said. “Students will have opportunities to build and develop careers within the state of Israel and hopefully stay there, especially with this new high-tech campus, having everything fully integrated, that students will be able to work and apply their knowledge and continue to contribute to the state.”