Morning passengers using the 9:00 am commuter train starting off from the Tel Aviv suburb of Modiin can put away their morning tabloids and listen to a lecture by Professor Hanoch Gutfreund on ‘Einstein’s love letters’.

The Einstein lecture was the initial ‘class’ by the university through a programme nick-named ‘scientists on the rails’. The school aims to bring academia to regular people and enhance the appeal of higher education.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem spokeswoman Orit Sulitzeanu said the importance of higher education must be understood by the general public. She said that higher education is currently undergoing a crisis, one which is slowly eroding its status and that there is urgency for people of all walks of life to see it as a strategic asset for the nation.

Train lecturer Professor Gutfreund, who himself is a former university president, delighted commuters with anecdotes about the love letters of Albert Einstein had written to his two wives, demonstrating also how intricate details could reveal an aspect of one of the greatest scientists in history at a time when he re-invented the way we perceived the universe.

Explaining the school’s choice of subject, Sulitzeanu said the university had wanted to do a scientific topic, but one which could have an immediate appeal for the wider population.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is also where the Albert Einstein Archives are located, a home for all his personal papers.

Gutfreund claimed never to have given a lecturer where half the attendees had had their backs turned to him, adding he had been warmly greeted by the commuters even if he had been occasionally interrupted by the conductor calling the stations.

Regular commuter Isabelle Tovi called the lecture ‘wonderful’. She said she’d love to attend university classes, but says her schedule doesn’t allow it. But she added that she’s planning to change the time of her morning train ride to match with the lectures.

So far, the commuter classes have been organised to be offered for after morning rush-hour and to avoid antagonising people, they are only given in one carriage on the train.

The tickets, ranging from $90 to $315 for one of the 47,000 seats at a stadium near Tel Aviv went on sale at 8:30 Saturday evening, and were all gone by Sunday afternoon, ticket agent Avi Messing told Israel’s Channel 2 TV.

“All of Israel is coming to watch Leonard Cohen. It’s really great,” Messing said.

During the 1973 Mideast war, Cohen entertained Israeli troops and last performed in the country in 1975.

But the move by Cohen has angered a few; Palestinian sympathizers and British fans posted a plea on the social networking site Facebook asking him to cancel the date. This reaction comes in response to the recent Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip last December and January.

Robert Kory, the singer’s manager, said Cohen decided to make the concert a fundraiser for Palestinian and Israeli associations working for peace and reconciliation. The London-based human rights organization Amnesty International will partner with the targeted groups and manage the channeled funds, Kory said.

One of the first beneficiaries includes a peace group called the Parents Circle-Family Forum, which is made up of the parents of Israelis and Palestinians killed in the conflict.

Others are a Peres Center for Peace program dealing with children’s health, a center for special needs children in the West Bank and an organization that brings together Israeli army veterans and former Palestinian fighters.

We would like to thank www.associatedpress.com for quotes used in this article.