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Gifts & Donations

Endowed Funds

Ernest Dorothy Stein Memorial fund: Inaugurated May 1, 2012, for the establishment and/or continuance of a course of study of Judaism, Jewish culture and heritage.

Financial Contributions & Donations

David & Sharyn Katzman, Mary C. Hull in memory of Steven B. Klacsmann, Barbara F. Seidman, Professor Kelly Welch, John G. Younger.

Study Abroad Scholarships

Harvey Bodker:  Scholarships to study Jewish Studies abroad were donated by KU alum, Mr. Harvey Bodker in honor of the memory of Rabbi Morris Margolies, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom and longtime professor of Jewish Studies at KU. To apply please visit the Funding section.

Grants

Principal funding for the 2018 symposium and writing workshop "Writing Jewish: Midrash, Myth and Miracle" was provided by The Community Legacy Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City.

Partial funding for the 2017 Symposium "Jews in the Midwest" was provided by The Community Legacy Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City.

Book Collections

Judith Hurwitz:  272 books in Jewish studies given in memory of Aryeh Hurwitz (1936 - 2005), professor of clinical pharmacology at KUMC, by his wife Judith Hurwitz.

Jack and Diane Aaron:  150 books of Judaica and cassette tapes.

John Younger: Donation of "Diaspora: Homelands in Exile" a chronicle of the Jewish diaspora by Frédéric Brenner.

The Lindenbaum family: 116 books of Judaica and other subjects.

Record Collection

Shari Baellow:  50 "78 RPM" records of cantors and other Jewish music.

Judaica

John Selfridge: Donation of hand-crafted Menorah.

Jewish coin collection at the Wilcox Classical Museum (view poster and list of coins).

Paintings, Posters and Prints

John Younger: Donation of Master Archeological Bible Study Map by Steve Rud.

John Younger: Framing of print on paper by artist Herta Galton.

John Younger: Donation of framed, historical Ketubah.

The Lindenbaum family: Framed etching by Joseph Margulies, framed illuminated manuscript sections, a suite of 10 illustrations printed in Israel, a portfolio called “Landscapes of Israel” containing 5 illustrations, a portfolio called “Tang Dynasty Poems” containing 3 illustrations, and 13 other loose illustrations.

Donations in progress

David Katzman: donation of books on Jewish-American history and culture, to be deposited in the Spencer Research Library.

Sybil Kahn: donation of books on Jewish art and artists, to be deposited in the Watkins Library and/or the Art and Architecture Library.

 

The Jewish Studies Program is thankful for all the generous donations it has received.
 


Jewish Studies Program statement in solidarity with protests against police brutality

Beloved community,

As an academic program in the University of Kansas, we stand in solidarity with Black Americans -- including Black Jewish people -- and everyone hurting after the senseless, brutal murder of George Floyd and all people targeted by systemic racism and injustice in our country. We continue to be committed to our core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This morning, the Association for Jewish Studies sent out an email reminding us that as scholars of Jewish Studies, we are keenly aware of the devastating impact of discrimination and violence against minority groups. Dr. Cécile Accilien, the Chair of the KU Department of African and African-American studies, shared with us the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

The Jewish Studies academic community is rich and diverse – it includes scholars and students who are Jewish and non-Jewish, scholars and students of all ethnic and racial backgrounds and from multiple denominations and creeds, people who are immigrants (like myself) and those who are American-born. The Bible commands: צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף - tzedek tzedek tirdof, which translates into English as “Only justice shall you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20). In this well-cited verse, the Hebrew word tzedek, or justice, repeats twice. There can be many explanations of the repetition – textual interpretation in all its many forms is a beloved pursuit for many of us. Today, I am going to give you my own interpretation -- though I am sure that it already exists somewhere in the treasury of Jewish exegesis. One tzedek, or justice, you must pursue for yourself and for people like you; that is, perhaps, the justice that is easiest to understand, because we keenly feel injustices committed against ourselves and people like us. The other tzedek is the justice you must pursue for the sake of people who are not like you. It is often a harder lesson, but a necessary one. The justice, or tzedek, which we pursue thus also becomes a gift of chesed, of lovingkindness that enriches all of us.

 

In solidarity,

Dr. Renee Perelmutter,

Director of the Jewish Studies Program

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