Dear academic and administrative faculty members, students, and University community, As I begin my role as rector, and at the start of the new academic year of 2025–2026, I am delighted to be able to write to you in the wake of the good news of the release of all the living hostages and some of those not alive, the ceasefire aimed at ending the war, and the demobilization of a great number of reservists, who can now return to their homes and to their studies. We will continue to look forward with hope in our hearts. Over the past two years, the University has acted and will continue to act to ensure suitable study conditions and a safe and inclusive learning environment for all our students - Jewish and Arab, and of various ethnicities, religions, and nationalities. This year, we will continue to support students who have served and are serving in reserve duty, their spouses, and students who were evacuated from their homes. Recently, Israel’s universities reached agreements on the continuation of the academic concessions, support systems, and benefits provided to students in 2024–2025. Additional support will be provided in the 2025–2026 academic year, mainly for students who performed more than 300 days of reserve duty. The details of this plan and its implementation will be published separately. We ask all academic and administrative faculty members and University students to continue assisting our reservists as much as possible, with support, advice, mentoring, and even words of encouragement and consideration. The continued effort required of our reservists over a period of months and years is far from trivial and should not be taken for granted. Support and assistance from all of us will be vital for their reintegration and academic success. During the 2024–2025 academic year, and ahead of 2025–2026, we have implemented a new registration and studies management system (Orbit). This replaces three previous systems, which were not always in sync with each other. In addition, we have implemented a new version of the Moodle course management system. While these complex changes constitute an upgrade of the university’s computing systems, they have also entailed difficulties and malfunctions with the Orbit system, which have included slow response times, course registration cancellations, and suspension of registration for around two weeks. In order to start the school year on time, we have had to make adjustments that included changes to the registration rules (such as canceling the lotteries), which understandably have been exceedingly frustrating for some of you. Unfortunately, at this stage we had no alternative but to take these steps to stabilize the system, with the expectation that in the future it will become a significant improvement over the previous system. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the administrative faculty who worked around the clock for many weeks, including holidays and weekends, to enable us to launch the new academic year. In particular, I would like to thank the computing and information systems staff, the Student Administration Division, and the teaching and secretarial staff of the various academic units. We are proud that the Hebrew University community includes researchers, administrative faculty members, and students from all sections of Israeli society: Haredim; first-generation university students; students and faculty members from the Arab society, including from East Jerusalem; and a sizable population of international researchers and students. In such a diverse community, there are also many different opinions. By its very nature, the University encourages diversity of opinions, open discourse, and expressions of protest on and off campus. At the same time, it is important, especially during tense and turbulent times, to display greater tolerance, to be attentive to others, and to maintain a respectful discourse. Updated guidelines on these issues for the new academic year can be found here. Dear community, with your help and support, the University will continue to vigorously promote the values that have always guided it, and we will strive to maintain and improve our levels of excellence in research and teaching, strengthen ties with the local and international community, and build internal resilience. I will be in touch again soon with news of our coming activities and initiatives, registration data, awards and prizes, and more. Wishing all of us every success in the 2025–2026 academic year, Oron Shagrir, Rector