[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 200 (Monday, December 1, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8417-S8418]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          100TH ANNIVERSARY OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I am thrilled to recognize the centennial 
of Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The American Friends of Hebrew 
University, AFHU, is helping to celebrate 100 years of accomplishment 
and toast the next generation of visionaries who will carry forward 
this tradition to the next century and beyond.
  Hebrew University is home to over 23,000 students and 1,400 
researchers across six campuses. Faculty and alumni have received 9 
Nobel Prizes and registered more than 11,000 patents. Its impact has 
shaped not just Israel but the whole world, including in Virginia 
through the Mid-Atlantic Branch of AFHU. Benefactors of HU and this 
celebration include so many whose legacy can be seen across Virginia 
and the Mid-Atlantic region: the family and descendants of Charles E. 
Smith, the Theodore and Annette Lerner Family Foundation, Sheryl and 
Bradley Schwartz, Susie and Michael Gelman, and many more.
  I would be especially remiss not to recognize my friends Bill and 
Bobbie Kilberg. Bill is president of the mid-Atlantic region of the 
AFHU and a member of the board of governors, among many other stops in 
his legal and business career. Bobbie is president and CEO emerita of 
the Northern Virginia Technology Council, an entity that has done so 
much to shape the Virginia economy of today.
  As I reflect on the interweaving strands of academic excellence 
embodied by Hebrew University and the economic and technological 
innovation for which Israel is renowned, I see a story that has played 
out in Virginia and elsewhere. Virginia's technology economy has 
blossomed in just a few short decades, largely due to its first-rate 
higher education sector, careful attention to cultivating a strong 
workforce, and the efforts of organizations like NVTC and people like 
Bill and Bobbie to cultivate those resources.

[[Page S8418]]

Today, it is home to innovative companies, large and small, and exports 
its goods and services to the world through an international airport 
and international seaport. We are economically stronger when we invest 
in our people. Our people are stronger when we invest in education and 
workforce.
  The change that Hebrew University has seen over the past century is 
profound, in some ways miraculous. Your steadfast support has produced 
this positive change, and that change continues today. You have my 
fondest wishes for the celebration of the century, and I look forward 
to what the next century will bring.

                          ____________________