History
The Institute was founded by Alexander Altmann in Manchester in 1954 as the Institute of Jewish Studies. In 1959, following the departure of Altmann as director, the Institute moved to UCL.
Altmann's justification for the activities of the Institute was given in a 1957 lecture to the Hillel Foundation of London (Ivry, Wolfson & Arkush 1998):
Being connected with our past, at home in our literature, and in sympathy with ourselves as it were, we shall find it easier to approach the ultimate questions.
Victor Mishcon became chairman of the Institute in 1959.
Read more about this topic: Institute Of Jewish Studies At University College London
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