Strong support, high demand for Jewish Studies

Gerald Berenstein had three compelling reasons to support the University of Colorado’s Jewish Studies program.

First, Berenstein wanted to honor the memory of Rabbi Daniel Goldberger, who led the synagogue his family attended in Denver. Berenstein celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and Confirmation under Goldberger. “He was a dear friend of my family and a wonderful humanitarian, who is greatly missed.”

Second, Berenstein notes, “CU is a major university in the United States and should have had a Jewish Studies program a long time ago. However, since it didn't and I could tie my contribution to Rabbi Goldberger into the initiation of the Jewish Studies program, I decided to support this effort.”

Berenstein is a 1967 alumnus who has always been loyal to the university. But besides attending football games, he was never actively engaged with CU. Nonetheless, he “always wanted to support this great university.”



Susan Baer is a CU alumna and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council. She and her husband, Barry Baer (who is Berenstein’s cousin), were the first to donate to Jewish Studies. She was impressed by the enthusiasm of Arts and Sciences Dean Todd Gleeson and the Boulder campus chancellor.

They funded a scholarship, which “appealed to me,” she says. Baer notes that Jewish Studies is not designed to convert anyone or to propound any point of view. “It’s meant to educate,” she says, echoing Berenstein’s view that every major university should have such a program.

A large anonymous donation helped realize the program, which this fall offers classes such as “ruins of modernity,” beginning Hebrew, introduction to Jewish culture and history, and a survey of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.



David Shneer, formerly of Denver University, is the new director of CU’s Jewish Studies program. He is identified as a “taboo-breaking scholar” by Tikkun magazine and “a new Jewish superhero” by Jewcy magazine.

Shneer says that nearly all Jewish Studies classes are full and have wait-lists. “My sense is that this is a campus that has been hungering for courses in Jewish Studies for many years,” Shneer says.

“These students — Jews and non Jews, I must add, as my course is a very diverse group of people — are finally having their intellectual curiosities responded to with new courses. But the demand is obviously outstripping the supply, which is why Jewish Studies will be adding new professors in the coming years. We will meet student demand and turn CU into a national center for Jewish Studies.”

For more information and to get involved, please contact Mary McGee, director of development, CU Foundation, at 303-541-1470 or via e-mail at mary.mcgee@cufund.org.