Canadian Friends of Bar-Ilan University

A discovery was made in a Roman-era wine-collection pit near Haifa - one that hasn't been seen in Israel in over three decades.

Two ancient statues - 1,700 years old, remarkably preserved - were found by Bar-Ilan archeologists: one bears a Greek inscription naming Lycurgus, a figure who may be the legendary founder of Sparta or a celebrated Athenian statesman.

Who were these figures? Why were they deliberately buried? What do they reveal about the people who lived in this land nearly two millennia ago?

Now, Bar-Ilan University's Institute of Archaeology is collaborating with the Israel Antiquities Authority and MUZA museum to find the answers.

At Bar-Ilan, the past is never truly buried. It is uncovered, studied, and shared - so that future generations can understand where we come from and who we are.

Support of CFBIU helps make discoveries like this possible - funding the researchers, the partnerships, and the scholarship that connect us to our ancient past and illuminate the path ahead.

In conversations with current and prospective donors, our CEO Randy Spiegel encourages a longer view - beyond the news cycle.

Programs and the positive impact those programs take years of dedicated effort, something a pause in funding can easily disrupt. The collective vital work of an institution like Bar-Ilan University must be viewed in decades, not weeks even or months.

Randy expands on his approach in his latest op-ed for eJewishPhilanthropy published in May. Link to the article in the comments.

Can aging be reversed? New research from Bar-Ilan University says: maybe.

Prof. Haim Cohen and doctoral students Ron Nagar and Zecharia Schwartz found that boosting a protein called SIRT6 in the livers of elderly mice restored their cellular "instruction manual" to a youthful state — 80% of age-related changes reverted within just one month.

The protein works by repairing chromatin, the packaging system that controls which genes are switched on or off. As we age, that system breaks down. SIRT6 puts it back in order.

The real breakthrough? This wasn't prevention — it was reversal. The mice were already old (equivalent to 70–80 in human years) when treatment began.

A company founded by the team, SirTLab, is now preparing for clinical trials targeting the human liver.

Chag Shavuot Sameach from everyone at Canadian Friends of Bar-Ilan University.

A festival of first fruits and the gift of Torah - and a reminder that the pursuit of knowledge and values is at the heart of everything we support at Bar-Ilan University.

A fair question we have received from donors: does disagreement with a government's foreign policy change how you support institutions in that country?

Our CEO Randy Spiegel takes it on in a new piece on philanthropy, geopolitics, and the long horizon of giving.

The short version: universities are not governments, and the work they do - training physicians, advancing research, teaching timeless values, opening doors for students of every background - moves in decades, not news cycles.

Pausing a gift doesn't pause policy. It pauses people.

We've linked the full piece in the comments.

A Bar-Ilan University excavation at Tel ’Eton uncovered rare evidence of how Iron Age families cared for aging relatives.

Researchers believe an elderly couple lived on the home’s ground floor, where daily life and hospitality took place, while younger generations slept upstairs.

The discovery offers a new window into family life, respect for elders, and social roles in ancient Israel.

Read about it in Archeology Magazine. Link in the comments!

Our next "Outstanding Personalities" webinar is on June 3rd at 12:30 PM and features Dr. Elai Rettig, a senior researcher at Bar-Ilan's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

Dr. Rettig will be discussing something that impacts all of us: energy. We'll discuss the politics behind power and why decisions made thousands of kilometres away affect prices, stability, and opportunities in everyday life.

Click here to save your spot: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/4317782659676/WN_ZKTSoffJTcaHPtU48AnKQA

The Times of Israel recently profiled dedicated International students at Bar-Ilan University who continue their studies despite the danger:

"Dr. Mulate Zerihun Workeneh, a doctoral student at Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine who comes from Addis Ababa, told The Times of Israel that after four years at the university, “This is like my second country, my second home.”

Workeneh is familiar with conflict — he has family in northern Ethiopia where civil war is raging — but had never experienced it firsthand before coming to Israel.

Workeneh says he has just completed his PhD in medical science at Prof. Nir Qvit’s lab, which designs peptide-based molecules to develop new treatments for cardiovascular diseases."

Read the full article in the comments.