Bar-Ilan University conferred doctorates honoris causa upon a distinguished group, including 4-time astronaut and NASA Administrator, the Hon. Charles F. Bolden, Jr.; renowned Israeli musician and composer Nurit Hirsh; and American Jewish leader and educator Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, all of whom have had a decisive impact on science and technology, Israeli culture, law and society, and Diaspora Jewish life.
Additional 2016 honorary doctorate recipients include Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics Prof. Serge Haroche; former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Avi Baruch Turkel; educator Miriam Peretz, who inspires all with her message of resilience and love for the Israeli nation and support of bereaved families; Australian-Israeli Jewish leader and statesman Isi Leibler; Rabbi Shlomo Daichovsky, a Dayan (religious judge) whose creative halachic solutions for Agunot have helped bridge the gap between Israeli civil and rabbinical courts; and Bnei Akiva, the world’s largest religious Zionist youth movement.
BIU’s 2016 Honorary Doctors (seated) Justice (ret.) Yaakov Avi Baruch Turkel, Nurit Hirsh, the Hon. Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Prof. Serge Haroche, Secretary-General of Bnei Akiva in Israel Danny Hirschberg, and Isi Leibler; (standing) BIU Rector Prof. Miriam Faust, Miriam Peretz, BIU President Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, and Rabbi Haskel Lookstein
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein (third from right) is conferred with an honorary doctorate by BIU President Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz; Dr. Mordecai D. Katz, outgoing Chairman of the Board of Trustees & AFBIU Vice President; Prof. (Emeritus) Arnold Enker of the BIU Faculty of Law; Gail Propp, BIU Trustee & AFBIU Vice President; and Michael Jesselson, Chairman-Elect of the Board of Trustees & AFBIU Honorary President
NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. and educator Miriam Peretz stand with Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, 19th IDF Chief of Staff & Chairman of the Rashi Foundation
Acclaimed Israeli singer, composer, and songwriter David D’Or performs, capping the event with a rendition of a song composed by and in honor of Honorary Doctor Nurit Hirsh
