At Ruppin, glass ceilings are crashing

One hundred years ago, the Zionists of Canada purchased lands in the Hefer Valley (Emek Hefer) in the coastal plain with the goal of making Israel flourish through Jewish settlement. In 1949, as part of David Ben-Gurion’s vision of encouraging higher education in Israel, they contributed to the establishment of an institution for agricultural studies, which became the first college in Israel, known today as the Ruppin Academic Center.

“I think they would have been thrilled at how much of an impact their contributions had on the life of the country,” says Aviad Kleinberg, president of the Ruppin Academic Center. “The Canadian Zionists truly understood how dreams come true.

They understood that building the Jewish home requires many builders, each according to their abilities and means. They also understood that a society needs not only material goods. It needs spiritual goods as well. Land is important, but no society can thrive and prosper without common goals, solidarity, and learning.

“In the 2,000 years before the establishment of the State of Israel, the Jewish people had no state of its own. It had neither a government nor an army. Jews had to rely on their own resources – material and spiritual. They were spiritual entrepreneurs in a hostile environment.

The State of Israel – unprecedented and unlikely – was their solution to the “Jewish problem.” Against all odds, it worked. It worked because Jews everywhere were willing to think outside the box. In some ways, the State of Israel itself was the first start-up of the Start-up Nation. It is based on accurately identifying a problem and providing a creative, practical, and sustainable solution.”

WE MEET Prof. Aviad Kleinberg on the paths of the Ruppin Academic Center, one of the leading colleges in Israel. The Emek Hefer campus has the appearance of a flourishing kibbutz, with low-roofed buildings, spacious green lawns with shaded paths, sculptures, and artistic installations donated by immigrant artists.

It is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. Alongside the kibbutz-style buildings, modern buildings of the various college faculties were erected in peaceful harmony, including the stately XT Building recently donated by Udi Angel and Idan Ofer. This quiet, green campus is home to a highly successful, vibrant, and diverse academic community.

The second campus we visit is the spectacular Mikhmoret campus, used by the school’s Faculty of Marine Studies. Mikhmoret is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, approximately nine kilometers north of Netanya. Students call it the Blue Campus because it is on the waterfront. Adjacent to the campus is a small marina from which students sail to do applied study and research, alongside a building that houses sophisticated and advanced sea laboratories. To learn more about Ruppin, we ask Kleinberg the following questions.

When people say that Ruppin and its students have a unique DNA, what do they mean?

We are an academic institution that has, we believe, the proper balance between absolute commitment to social mobility and academic excellence. The majority of our students have not been dealt the best hand in their lives. We are committed to helping them discover their abilities and arrive ready for the world of employment.

We teach the values of solidarity and mutual responsibility by example and as part of the curriculum. Our students learn that no one is so destitute as to have nothing to give, and no one is so strong as never to need a helping hand. At the same time, we maintain high academic standards.

It requires us to work harder, but we see it as our duty to give our students a high-quality academic education. In addition, we insist that our faculty participate in the very competitive environment of academic research. Good researchers are better teachers. We want to ensure that every year, excellent engineers and programmers who are also good citizens and ethical human beings graduate from Ruppin.

At Ruppin, we teach social sustainability. We make sure that on the students’ way to the top, they do not step on or diminish others. We believe in sustainability: plan properly, do not waste, clean up after yourself, and leave a better material and social environment for future generations. A good community is not a random collection of careers where everyone worries about himself.

It is a team that shares values and goals and respects the needs and abilities of all its members. Our commitment to this worldview became even stronger after October 7. Israeli society suffered a terrible blow. Ruppin, too, sustained casualties. A quarter of our students were drafted to active military service.

Students and faculty had family members who were wounded on October 7 and the days that followed it. But for us, the discussion about “the day after” began on the evening of October 7. We planned possible scenarios in detail and prepared ourselves.

We allocated resources of every kind to support not only those in need in Ruppin but also those in need in Israeli society as a whole. We created a master’s degree program in social work specializing in trauma and resilience, and we established the Ruppin Center for Resilience, Community, and Leadership.

For us, these activities were not just a contribution to the Ruppin community and for Israeli society. They were an opportunity to teach by example: This is how we take responsibility. That is how we progress from talk to action. The future of Israel depends on these abilities.

How do you translate this worldview into specific goals?

At Ruppin, we took on five main challenges:

Strengthening personal and national resilience: Resilience is not just emergency medicine. We believe it is necessary to prepare communities to deal effectively with crises. By training local resilience leaders, we can help communities identify individuals showing signs of developing trauma and create communal circles of support that will help alleviate suffering. Ruppin has a very strong group specializing in trauma and resilience. After October 7, we established the Center for Resilience, Community, and Leadership to treat students in distress and train caregivers throughout the country.

Dealing better with aliyah and evacuees: Israel is a country of immigrants. It’s easy to forget that olim have immigrant problems. Our Institute for the Study of Immigration and Social Integration [the only one in the country] studies ways to deal with the difficulties that olim face. Since the war, we have been examining ways to deal with the tens of thousands of displaced persons in Israel.

Using, without abusing, the sea: Ruppin is the only academic institution in Israel with a seashore campus. This means that our labs – we have some of the best marine research laboratories in the country – pump seawater and allow us to study marine life within it. We have own dock with our own research vessel. The sea is a tremendous but neglected resource in Israel. We know how to identify its potential and turn it into reality.

Learning how not to overlook the talents of the elderly: Old age is not a disease. The elderly do not become demented when they retire. They are active and valuable members of society who can contribute their talent and experience to the benefit of all. We offer ways to keep the elderly active within their communities.

Harnessing AI to narrow social gaps: Artificial intelligence is all around us. It moves forward like a race car. If we are not careful, AI will provide an additional advantage to the strong and increase societal gaps. At Ruppin, we believe that bringing our students and researchers into the AI revolution, developing digital literacy, turning the Ruppin campus into a model laboratory, and spearheading AI research in Israeli colleges will prevent entire segments of the population from being left behind.

In everything we do, we seek to encourage equality and mutual responsibility. We strive to give our students the tools to do good, a sense of empowerment, and a strong commitment to the common good.

Where does this meet the investment in the student as an individual?

After the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish people stopped investing in palaces and buildings and began to invest in the spirit and the mind. When the Temple was destroyed, a decision was made to teach every Jewish child to read and write – not just the priests and the elite. It was an unparalleled decision in the world of the first century. In many ways, it reflected a dramatic change in worldview.

We at Ruppin are part of that tradition. We believe in giving everyone – regardless of race, gender, religion, and ethnicity – a chance to excel and succeed. In every society, only a few will reach the prestigious programs at prestigious institutions of higher education. What about the rest? Without them, the house will not be built.

Our job is to find talented men and women, wherever they are and whoever they are, and give them a fair chance of success. We accept students from diverse backgrounds. Many of them do not lack talent, but the circumstances of their lives make it impossible for them to be accepted in some research universities.

We recognize their talent and are willing to invest the effort needed to enable them to flourish. By the time we finish training them, they can compete with anyone. Our motto is “Ruppin, reaching high.” Our graduates reach high.

And yet, you are a relatively small academic institution. To what extent are you involved in national affairs?

We focus and make an impact. We make a significant impact in each of the areas I listed – resilience, immigration, the sea, aging, artificial intelligence. Our position papers are sought after in government ministries. We disseminate models for analysis and action and serve as role models.

We have achieved tremendous academic accomplishments and a place of honor in Israeli society. Year after year, we are selected in the top five leading academic institutions in Israel and regularly lead in graduate employment and satisfaction indices.

KLEINBERG HIMSELF is perhaps the best symbol of Ruppin. Born in Beersheba, he is the son of Holocaust survivors who were prevented from receiving an education by the war, the grandson of very poor grandfathers and illiterate grandmothers. An officer in an infantry unit who participated in Israel’s wars, Kleinberg is the first generation of his family to receive a college education. He became a professor of medieval history, received his PhD at the University of Toronto, and currently serves as president of the Ruppin Academic Center.

“There is a reason why Ruppin chose a historian to head a college where history is not taught. At Ruppin, thinking outside the box is the norm. We identify human capital, nurture it, promote it, and make it meaningful to the individual and society. Ruppin is the Israeli story,” he says.

You mentioned October 7 several times. How did those traumatic events affect you?

October 7 shocked us, like all citizens of Israel and Jews around the world. There was a significant loss of life, a shake-up of our self-image, and one of the worst social, leadership, and military crises the Jewish people have ever known. Almost a quarter of the center’s students were drafted for many months of reserve duty, and many of our faculty members were drafted as well.

A week after the outbreak of the war, we contacted all the students and the families of the reservists to create a unique completion program for them and to establish a resilience support system for them. The war isn’t over yet. New challenges arise every day. We are determined to be part of the powers for good in our society. It is a duty and a privilege.

Finally, what would you like to say to people in the US and Canada asking themselves, ‘Why Ruppin?’

Ruppin has dynamic leadership, motivated faculty, and talented students. Every donation that goes to Ruppin makes a real difference. Every donation we receive opens doors and increases chances, and every partnership helps shatter glass ceilings. A hundred years ago, visionary Canadian Jews invested in the Zionist start-up in the Hefer Valley. A hundred years have passed. We are the result. We invite the visionary Jews of our generation to invest in us. Investing in Ruppin is an investment in Israel.

The Ruppin Academic Center

The official opening ceremony took place in 1949. By 1986, thousands of students from throughout Israel had passed through the center’s doors and became socially empowered by its unique projects.Currently in the center:

• The Faculty of Social and Community Sciences awards degrees in behavioral sciences; social work; nursing sciences; clinical psychology; clinical psychology of adulthood and geriatrics; and organizational psychology.

• The Faculty of Engineering awards degrees in industrial engineering and management; computer engineering; computer and information science; electrical engineering and electronics. And master’s degrees in logistics and the global supply chain.

• The Faculty of Marine Sciences awards degrees in marine sciences and marine environment; marine biotechnology; a master’s degree in marine resources management; and a research master’s degree in marine sciences, which includes a thesis.

• The Faculty of Management and Economics Administration awards degrees in economics and administration; economics and accounting; business administration; psychology; and business administration (double major), and an MBA.

In 2024, the Ruppin Academic Center was selected as one of the five leading and most sought-after academic institutions in Israel among those that charge university tuition. It has close to 5,000 students who come from all parts of the country.

The student body comprises Jews and Arabs, from both affluent and disadvantaged families. Ruppin is committed to creating a learning environment that will allow every student to realize his or her full potential.

At Ruppin, faculty and graduate students work together on research in which theory becomes practice – from using the ocean as a source of food to helping older people adapt to a rapidly changing world.

Research projects at Ruppin encourage interdisciplinary teamwork, academic excellence, and social awareness. The goal is not research for research’s sake but improving Israeli lives and the lives of people throughout the world.

Research centers in the Ruppin Academic Center

The center has prestigious research centers, which are often assisted by government ministries and many philanthropic bodies:

• The Interdisciplinary Research Group for Environmental and Social Sustainability studies the complex interaction between physical environments and human communities. The price of pollution and climate change is not divided equally among the different components of society. The group, which includes researchers from all four faculties, studies sustainability – problems, solutions, and the social costs – in all its dimensions.

• The Institute for Immigration and Social Integration studies the movement of communities and individuals across geographical, national, and sociocultural boundaries. It has an impressive record as a leading research institute in a country that was built by and for immigrants.

• The Dror (Imri) Aloni Center for Health Informatics studies the flow of information within health systems, focusing on patient welfare.

• The Interdisciplinary Center for Decision-Making studies the factors that affect decision-making, using analytical tools from different disciplines.

• The Lior Tsfaty Center for Suicide and Mental Pain Studies examines the causes of mental pain and suicide and offers tools for the detection and prevention of suicide. Its advice is sought by the state and organizations facing the challenges of depression and its outcomes.

• The Center for Research in Technological and Engineering Education studies ways of improving students’ learning skills in technology and engineering. Using robotics, gamification, and active learning using AI, students’ achievements can be significantly improved. 

This article was written in cooperation with the Ruppin Academic Center.