–The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) has received a $1 million gift from Jay Phillips, the prominent Minneapolis business leader and philanthropist, it was announced by JTS Chancellor Gerson Cohen. He reported that the Phillips grant was the first of that magnitude towards the JTS’ $18 million building program which is aimed at preparing it for a second century of service.
Cohen paid tribute to Phillips for “sharing the vision and wisdom of the Seminary’s founders in building for the future needs of the American Jewish community.” Cohen noted that the JTS’ construction program was already underway. The seminary broke ground for a new library complex on its Morningside Heights campus in New York City, the cornerstone of its building program, last Nov. 2. Leveling of the site began the next day and the foundation is being prepared now.
Stephen Peck, JTS treasurer and co-chairman of its building fund. reported that the Phillips grant brings the total raised to date for the construction to over $6 million.
A LONG-TIME BENEFACTOR
Phillips, a board member and the former board chairman of Ed. Phillips & Sons of Minneapolis, has long been a major benefactor of health and educational institutions, including the JTS.
He is a founder and chairman emeritus of the board of governors of Mount Sinai Hospital in Minneapolis, senior vice president of the University of Minnesota Foundation, a Fellow and trustee of Brandeis University and a Fellow of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. He founded the Jay Phillips Chair of Jewish Studies at St. John’s University in Minnesota.
Phillips established a fellowship for post-graduate study by rabbinical students at the JTS in 1968 to prepare them for faculty appointments to American colleges and universities. In 1979, he established a $200,000 scholarship fund at the JTS in memory of his brother and business partner, the late Lewis Phillips.
Phillips is an active leader and benefactor of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Minneapolis, one of the 823 Conservative Jewish congregations in North America served by the JTS, which is the academic and spiritual center of the Conservative Jewish movement.
Phillips has long held the view that “the perpetuation of our faith is crucially dependent upon sound training of rabbis to minister to our people of all ages, and to direct the religious teaching of our young. For this we need well supported seminaries and scholarship help for those men in training who cannot fully finance their own studies.”
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