It is the first such position at a nonsectarian university “outside of Israel, as far as I know,” Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz said recently.
Named for its benefactors, the Mandel chair will play “a major role in improving Jewish education at all levels in North America,” Reinharz said.
A professor, who may start work in the 1999-2000 academic year, will be expected to collaborate with Jewish educators from across the continent.
“If we believe our research, it shows time and time again that Jewish education is critical for Jewish continuity and Jewish survival,” Reinharz said. “Clearly, we have to do something about it.”
The endowment came partly out of discussions between Reinharz and Morton Mandel about “improving the Jewish community by improving the Jewish educational system,” Mandel said.
“I see Jewish education as one of the major ways to strengthen Jewish life,” Mandel said.
After originally meeting with Mandel in the mid-1990s, Reinharz agreed to head a faculty and community task force on Jewish education. Two years later, the task force concluded that “the biggest boost we could give them is to give them a professorship in Jewish education,” Mandel said.
Whether the chair eventually leads to a Jewish education department at Brandeis is “a little bit premature to say, because a lot will depend on who the person is and what particular strengths they bring to the field,” Reinharz said. More likely, the campus will host a “center for a think-tank on Jewish education.”