HEBREW UNION COLLEGE-JEWISH INSTITUTE
OF RELIGION AND FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY LAUNCH COOPERATIVE JUDAIC
STUDIES INITIATIVE
Dr. David
Ellenson, President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion; Manuel D. Mayerson, Member, Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion Board of Governors; and Dr. Anthony James
Catanes, President, Florida Atlantic University |
BOCA RATON, FL, Feb. 28, 2002 -- Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion (HUC-JIR) and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) today
announced a joint initiative that will greatly expand the outreach
of both institutions in the area of Judaic studies and Jewish education.
The announcement was made today during a news conference hosted by
FAU President Anthony James Catanese and HUC-JIR President David Ellenson.
This represents an important new opportunity for FAU to add to
our coursework in Jewish history and culture,” Dr. Catanese said.
“The planned Institute for Jewish-Christian relations has the potential
to become a highly effective community forum for the discussion
of issues of importance to both groups.”
This partnership will exponentially expand the opportunities for
continuing education and graduate-level Jewish studies in South
Florida, the region that has the largest-growing Jewish population
in North America,” Dr. Ellenson said. “We are proud to be linking
our institution with FAU in the advancement of Jewish educational
and cultural outreach.”
The cooperative relationship will advance the following goals:
- To establish an Institute for Jewish-Christian relations on
FAU’s Boca Raton campus
- To extend educational offerings in Jewish subject matter to
adult learners in South Florida through FAU’s Lifelong Learning
Society
- To expand course offerings in FAU’s bachelor’s degree program
in Judaic studies and enhance the teaching of the Holocaust at
HUC-JIR’s campuses
- To promote faculty and student exchanges between the two institutions
- To expand the Judaica content of art exhibitions at FAU’s galleries
- To enrich the work of FAU’s Center for the Study of Values and
Violence After Auschwitz, HUC-JIR’s Center for Holocaust and Humanity
Education, and the Hebrew Union College-University of Cincinnati
Center for the Study of Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems
Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
is the nation’s oldest institution of higher Jewish education and
the academic, spiritual and professional leadership development center
of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American
and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators and communal service
professionals, and offers graduate and post-graduate degree programs
to scholars of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati,
Jerusalem, Los Angeles and New York, HUC-JIR has scholarly resources
comprising renowned library, archive and museum collections, biblical
archaeology excavations and academic publications. HUC-JIR’s array
of cultural and educational programs and distance education opportunities
illuminate Jewish history, identity and contemporary creativity and
foster interfaith and multi-ethnic understanding.
FAU, a public university, has one of Florida’s most comprehensive
Judaic Studies programs. The university’s bachelor’s degree program
in Holocaust and Judaic Studies is served by two Eminent Scholars
occupying endowed Chairs: the Raddock Eminent Scholar in Holocaust
Studies and the Herbert and Elaine Gimelstob Eminent Scholar in
Judaic Studies. FAU’s Wimberly Library houses one of the most extensive
Judaica collections in the United States.
The institutions’ first collaborative offering will be a three-part
course at FAU titled “200 Years of Jewish Music in America,” taught
by Dr. Mark Kligman, an associate professor of Jewish musicology
at HUC-JIR. More than 350 older learners have already registered
for this course, which will be presented March 5, 6 and 7 on both
the Boca Raton and Jupiter campuses under the auspices of FAU’s
Lifelong Learning Society.
The course will cover the full spectrum of American Jewish music
in settings ranging from the synagogue to the Broadway stage. Among
the distinctive sounds and styles Dr. Kligman will explore are Yiddish
theater, Hassidic music before the 1950s, the “Americanized” musical,
the religious compositions of Debbie Friedman and Abraham Fried,
and the klezmer revival. Musical personalities whose work will be
visited include Barbra Streisand, Kenny G, Leonard Bernstein and
Steve Reich. Classroom demonstrations will include live performances
by cantorial students from HUC-JIR’s School of Sacred Music.
Plans are under way to bring a Great Scholars Series to FAU in
the spring of 2003. Eight HUC-JIR scholars will participate in the
series. They are Dr. David Ellenson, President and Grancell Professor
of Jewish Religious Thought; Dr. Norman Cohen, Provost and Professor
of Midrash; Dr. Jonathan Cohen, Director of the HUC-University of
Cincinnati Center for the Study of Ethics and Contemporary Moral
Problems and Assistant Professor of Talmud and Halachic Literature;
Dr. Michael Chernick, Assistant Professor of Talmud and Halachic
Literature and Deutsch Professor of Jewish Jurisprudence and Social
Justice; Dr. William Cutter, Director of the HUC-JIR Kalsman Institute
on Judaism and Health and Professor of Education and Hebrew Literature;
Dr. Alyssa Gray, Assistant Professor of Codes and Responsa Literature;
Dr. Mark Washofsky, Professor of Rabbinics; and Dr. Wendy Zierler,
Assistant Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies.
For information on enrolling in the "200 Years of Jewish Music
in America" course on either the Boca Raton or Jupiter campuses,
call the FAU Lifelong Learning Society (LLS) at 561/297-3171. Registration
is $28 for LLS members and $38 for non-members.
|
