Hebrew University honors Latin American scholar Bernardo Kliksberg

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the most prestigious university in Israel and the Jewish world, has resolved to confer onto Bernardo Kliksberg the degree of doctor philosophiae honoris causa. The Hebrew University confers this recognition to “individuals whose contributions have brought in great benefits to the human society”. Prior recipients of this recognition include Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meier, Amos Oz, Simone Veil, Vaclav Havel, Bill Clinton, Umberto Ecco, Jacques Derrida, Claude Landsmann, Bernard Henri Levy, Nobel Prize laureates Rita Levi Montalcini, Elie Wiesel and Al Gore, Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Napolitano, Hillary Clinton and the president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Dorit Beinisch.

Bernardo Kliksberg has authored 51 books and is a pioneer in social sciences. The Senate of Hebrew University of Jerusalem “acknowledges Dr. Kliksberg's pioneering work in ethics development, social capital and corporate social responsibility” and recognizes him as “one of the world experts in the socio-economic problems in Latin America”. The president of the university, Menahem Ben-Sasson, highlighted that “Dr. Kliksberg has advanced innovative methods to address poverty, inequality, inefficiency of public administration, environmental degradation and economic crisis”.

It was the first time that this prestigious institution - whose first Board of Directors was constituted by Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Martin Buber - grants the distinction to a Latin American scientist. Kliksberg hhas also contributed to Jewish causes and published multiples books on Judaism. Amongst his recent work is the besteller “Social justice. A Jewish perspective", published in Spanish and Portuguese by UNESCO, and in English by the World Jewish Congress.

Bernardo Kliksberg has been awarded for his contributions to Judaism the prize of intellectual merit of the Latin American Jewish Congress, the AMIA Prize in Argentina, the CICLA Prize in Israel and the Award to Jewish Solidarity in the US, amongst others.