World Union of Jewish Students

The World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS ˈwuːdʒᵻs) (Hebrew: ההתאחדות העולמית של הסטודנטים היהודים; French: L’Union Mondiale des Etudiants Juifs; Spanish: Unión Mundial de Estudiantes Judíos; Russian: Всемирный союз еврейских студентов) is the international, pluralistic, non-partisan umbrella organisation of independent Jewish student groups in 38 countries. Its headquarters are located in Jerusalem, Israel and its elected President is Yana Naftalieva. Founded in 1924 by Hersch Lauterpacht with Albert Einstein as its first President, other previous Chairpersons have included Maurice Perlzweig, Yosef Abramowitz and David Makovsky. While Albert Einstein served as President of WUJS, his Vice-Presidents included Chaim Weizman, Chaim Nachman Bialik and Sigmund Freud. Einstein was succeeded by Ernst Bergmann, who was himself succeeded by David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel. On January 1, 2020, WUJS elected his new president, Jonathan Braun. The vision of WUJS is that all Jewish students in the world should be connected, represented, and empowered to create strong and dynamic national and regional unions. Its aim is to "foster the unity of Jewish students worldwide and to strive to ensure their participation in the fulfillment of the aspirations of the Jewish people, its continuity, and the development of its religious, spiritual, cultural and social heritage." The WUJS is administered by its executive board, composed of the Presidents/Chair-people of WUJS' largest unions, 2 independent board members elected on a biannual basis and 2 positions given on a biannually rotating basis to presidents/chair-people of two smaller unions who are elected at WUJS general assembly every other year.