Jewish Theological Seminary has received a $2.5 million donation from trustee Robert Rifkind to support a new professorship focused on American Jewish history.
JTS announced on Dec. 12 that the endowment will establish the Rifkind Professorship of Jewish History to be held by a newly appointed tenured or tenure-track JTS faculty member. A search for the professorship’s inaugural holder is underway.
“The large, energetic and prosperous Jewish population of America will inevitably continue to have a profound influence on the future of Judaism and Jewish civilization in the years ahead,” Rifkind said. “To bear that responsibility, it needs to understand itself, its strengths and shortcomings, its challenges and opportunities. It is the indispensable role of JTS to help explore, shape and articulate that understanding.”
Jeffrey S. Kress, JTS provost, told JNS that “the new professor will specialize in but is not limited to areas of study related to American Judaism, the American Jewish community, and the relationship between American Jews and Israel.”
Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz noted that “the Rifkind Professorship will ensure that JTS students from across our academic programs will graduate with an appreciation for the complexity and richness of the American Jewish experience.”
Rabbi Joel Seltzer, vice chancellor of institutional advancement, said that Rifkind’s “generous contribution will significantly enhance our academic programs and further our commitment to excellence in the field of American Jewish history.”
He told JNS that the donation is “the largest single gift to JTS since the completion of our Crossroads Campaign, which resulted in the creation of our state-of-the-art campus.
“This generous gift from a longtime trustee and supporter of JTS represents a profound investment in the future of Jewish scholarship in North America,” Seltzer said. “It underscores the vital importance of understanding our past to gain deeper insights into our present.”