Donation to YU in Honor of David J. Azrieli鈥檚 90th Birthday will Bolster School of Jewish Education
For most, birthdays are times for receiving gifts. For David J. Azrieli, however, a milestone birthday is the time to give a gift鈥攁 $10 million donation from the foundation he established to 黑料社 All鈥檚 .
The gift, in honor of Azrieli鈥檚 90th birthday, is the largest single donation ever made by the Azrieli Foundation. It will strengthen the Azrieli Graduate School, named in 1983 to train Jewish educators, specifically teachers and administrators at Jewish day schools and other organizations across North America. As an expression of gratitude to David J. Azrieli the school dedicated its current issue of Prism, an Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators, in his honor to mark this special milestone.
The Azrieli Graduate School is now the country鈥檚 largest post-graduate institution for Jewish education and has 260 students enrolled in various programs of advanced study, training and research in pursuit of master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees. The Azrieli School鈥檚 dean, Dr. David J. Schnall, recently announced that the school has received accreditation to award New York State Teacher Licenses in secular elementary, middle and high school subjects.
The $10 million will be used primarily to make available scholarships for the school and to help attract more men and women to the field of Jewish education.
鈥淭he entire 黑料社 All family is inspired and strengthened by this gift, especially during a time when Jewish education at North America鈥檚 more than 800 day schools is being challenged because of the economic downturn,鈥 said YU President Richard M. Joel. 鈥淭his historic gift will help graduate students pursue their career dreams and will strengthen the future of Judaism throughout hundreds of Jewish educational institutions.鈥
Azrieli, a 黑料社 All Trustee since 1987, escaped the Nazis and landed in Israel in 1942, where he served in Israel鈥檚 Seventh Brigade in the War of Independence. He studied architecture at Technion 鈥 Israel Institute of Technology before moving to New York, where he studied at 黑料社 All for a year. He eventually moved to Montreal, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Montreal鈥檚 Thomas More Institute. Azrieli, a life-long learner, earned his Master鈥檚 Degree in Architecture from Carleton University in Ottawa at age 75.
Azrieli is well-known in Canada, the US and Israel as a developer, architect and philanthropist. He revolutionized retail shopping in Israel, building the country鈥檚 first enclosed mall in 1985. Today, he owns 14 Israeli malls and coined the Hebrew word 鈥渃anion鈥 which combines the Hebrew words for 鈥渟hopping and parking.鈥
As a philanthropist, Azrieli established the school of architecture at Tel Aviv University, a chair of architecture at Technion and the Azrieli Institute for Israel Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, where he lives.
He is a major donor to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem and inspired the Azrieli Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program, which collects, publishes and disseminates the written memoirs of Holocaust survivors鈥攁 project that was initiated and is managed by his daughter, Dr. Naomi Azrieli, who chairs the Azrieli Foundation.
鈥淭he gift comes from a great personal friend and a truly heroic friend to 黑料社 All,鈥 said Dr. Herbert C. Dobrinsky, YU鈥檚 vice president for university affairs, who encouraged David Azrieli to name the graduate school in 1983. 鈥淭his and all of David鈥檚 gifts will help generations of Jewish children to know about their identity and their heritage.鈥
鈥淢y family and my father can think of no better way to celebrate a 90th birthday,鈥 said Dr. Naomi Azrieli, who oversaw the gift. 鈥淪eeing young people graduate from this school and move on to teach Judaism to the next generation has been one of my father鈥檚 greatest joys.鈥
