A private collection of Jewish artifacts, manuscripts and ceremonial objects, some of them more than 1,000 years old, has been donated to the College of Jewish Studies here by Maurice Spertus, a Chicago philanthropist and businessman, in whose name the College has opened a museum. The collection, one of the largest of its kind in the world, is valued at half a million dollars. Mr. Spertus also donated $100,000 in a cash endowment fund to cover administrative costs of the Maurice Spertus Museum of Judaica.
According to Dr. David Weinstein, president of the college, the Spertus gift “represents one of the largest single gifts to an American undergraduate Jewish college.” The collection, unique in its heavy concentration on Near Eastern and North African Jewish objects, contains the largest and finest collection of Yemenite manuscripts in the world, he said. The Jewish College of Chicago, founded in 1925, provides academic and professional training in Judaic and Hebraic studies in four-year degree programs.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
