Hebrew student press

Title

Creator

UNESCO

Language

English

Year

1961

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

HEBREW STUDENT PRESS The year: 1952. The place: the Hebrew University in Je rusalem. The problem: text books, or rather, lack of them. In the years following the independence of Israel, the student body at the univer sity had doubled, even tripled, in size. It was difficult enough to house all these students, for the university had lost its home on Mount Scopus, let alone to provide them with books in Hebrew, the langu age of the new state. The staff were harrassed, but the students took the pro blem more philosophically. To them the answer seemed obvious: “If we need books,” they said, “we’ll print them ourselves.” Armed only with their own confidence and the backing of the faculty, they collected one hundred dollars — a fabulous sum for the time — comman deered two battered type writers and a mimeographing machine, and hung the sign “Mif’al Hashichpul” on the door of a tiny office. The He brew University Students’ Printing and Publishing House was born. The main problem in the first year was inexperience: “We learned in the hardest school of all, by our own mis takes,” the students recall rue fully. But what they -lacked in experience, they made up in keenness. By the end of that first year of operation the Student Press had produc ed 2,500 pamphlets on 15 dif ferent subjects with a turn over of 3,000 Israeli pounds. Today, booklets on more than 250 subjects are printed an nually with a turnover of 180,000,000 Israeli pounds (more than $8,300). Mif’al Hashichpul is an en tirely student-run organiza tion. Policy is. controlled by an Executive Committee of nine members appointed by the Student Union, who take all decisions regarding activi ties, methods of operation, budget, staff, etc. The actual operation of the Student Press is as complex as that of any commercial publisher. Printing machines must be inked and operated. Stencils must be cut, rolled off and filed. A production chart must be maintained so that a daily work schedule can be planned. Accounts must be kept and correspon dence attended to. The mate 68 Panorama rial must be sold, cashbooks tallied. And, of course, texts must be edited, designed and proofread. The press employs over 70 students who work as ma chinists, typists, sales clerks and in a variety of other jobs. This has the double advantage of offering a means of liveli hood to students who are selfsupporting — opportunities for employment in Jerusalem are limited — and. providing experience which frequently proves a valuable asset in lat er life. In addition, the press employs a small staff of fulltime professionals, and the professors at the Hebrew Uni versity contribute both their time and services by editing manuscripts, lending their own textbooks for reproduc tion, indicating sources and even proofreading. It is a far cry from those early days when Mif’al Has hichpul could boast only two ancient typewriters and a duplicating machine crammed into one small room. Today its equipment, which would impress any professional businessman, includes type writers (with typefaces in 8 different languages), offset printing machines, xerograph ic equipment, a lithographic stone printing machine, etc. And this is only a beginning, for the press has more ambi tious plans in view. Some of this equipment has been pro vided with the aid of WUS — the World University Service. Housing conditions are still far from perfect — the sales centre is located on the Uni versity campus, while the printing and administrative services are in town — but plans are under way for the building of a Student Centre in Jerusalem and Mif’al Has hichpul is to have permanent quarters there. Student communities in other parts of the world share problems similar to those of the Hebrew University. Lack of student employment and of adequate textbooks, and in experience are common issues on many campuses. During its nine years of existence Mif’al Hashichpul has gone a long way towards solving these problems and has ac quired considerable know how and experience. The Israeli students conr sider it their privilege to share this knowledge with students in other lands, and through the World University Service and COSEC, a Tech nical Assistance programme has been prepared. WUS of Israel will contribute two scholarships and the National Union of Israeli Students an additional two, so that four (Contnued on page 90) December 1961 69 you cannot have one without the other.) In brief, what is secular involves the connota tion of a departure from something, and this is the re ligious view that flourished luxuriantly in Europe during the medieval ages. The medieval ages adhered to the theological conception of man. The earth was the center of the universe, and man, the creature of God, was placed in it to glorify his Creator. The Augustinian distinction between the earth ly city and the city of God and the prescription to actual ize the latter as a duty of all Christians were principles permeating the medieval out look. A neat theory of the universe expressive of the me dieval desire for order, was nowhere better presented than by Thomas Aquinas. To Aquinas, creation followed a well organized plan — the eternal law. The movements of the planets, the laws of science, the imperatives of moral behaviour, the end of man, etc., all found their res pective niches within this eternal law. That aspect or portion of the eternal law Ap plicable to the moral prescrip tions of man and discoverable by his reason was called na tural law. Now, man’s col lective experience led him to produce human law, which, on account of Original sin and limitations of his intellect, was not perfect. Consequent ly, natural law was posited as a corrective to human law. Yet in the Divine Plan, there was something else in store for man. On account of the need for salvation and since reason had its limitations, Re velation was necessary. This was Divine law, a law supple menting human law. Divine law made possible what Christians call “grace” and eternal bliss. All these, in a nutshell, was the medieval conception of law. Every thing had its proper place and relations within the general scheme of things. This view could certainly serve to give man some security and an swers to his “big” questions. (To be concluded) HEBREW... (Continued from page 69) students from interested countries can follow a month’s training course in Jerusalem, on every aspect of the student press from typing to budget control and equipment super vision. Already a Greek stu dent, Theodosius Kontopoulos, from Salonika, received train ing at the press early in 1961 after having obtained a travel grant from WUS. (UNESCO) 90 Panorama

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