Four Bredow Scholars Named
Emory University undergraduates Jessica Nooriel, Rebecca Sirota, Andrew Alter and Daniel Azizi have been awarded $4,000 Sam Bredow scholarships for next year.
Nooriel and Sirota are native Atlantans and Atlanta Jewish Academy alumnae.
Including these four students, a total of 83 scholarships have been awarded.
Since being created more than a decade ago in tribute to Bredow, who was the Tau Epsilon Phi adviser at Emory, the scholarship has now been awarded to 83 Jewish students who have displayed exceptional academic credentials and been active beyond the classroom.
Bredow’s daughter and son-in-law, Sherry and Harry Maziar, and their children held a brunch ceremony at the Marcus Hillel Center for the winners.
Tech Faculty Award Goes to Rubinoff
Atlanta lawyer Arn Rubinoff, an adjunct professor in the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech, was awarded the Dean George C. Griffin Georgia Tech Faculty of the Year Award, selected from the faculty of all six Georgia Tech colleges.
Rubinoff previously was named Professor of the Year and Lecturer of the Year in the Scheller College. He teaches undergraduate and master’s level courses on technology transfer, international business, law for entrepreneurs, business law and business ethics.
Stein Wins Aviran Award
Ken Stein, the director of Emory University’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel, received Hillels of Georgia’s Opher Aviran We Stand With Israel Award on Thursday, May 5, at the Marcus Hillel Center at Emory University.
In a video message of congratulations, Aviran, the former Israeli consul general, said he could not think of a better scholar to receive the award, presented during the Hillels of Georgia annual board meeting.
Hillels of Georgia President Michael Coles said the award honors partners who help students articulate the important role Israel plays in their Jewish identities.
“Hillel used to be focused on Shabbat meals and basic Jewish programming, but no longer is this the case,” Coles said. “Today, Hillel has to be on the cutting edge of fighting anti-Semitism and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement to ensure a safe campus environment for Jewish students. Ken Stein has shown his continual commitment to Hillels of Georgia by helping promote a positive image of Israel to not only increase pride among Jewish students, but to educate uninformed students on campuses across the state.”
Stein said more than 80 percent of Israel education on American campuses comes in courses focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and based on his review of course syllabi, the content and reading assignments are heavily biased against Israel.
“Hillel and other programs on campus can maintain excellent Jewish and Israel programs, but if
the classrooms where students learn have professors who preach rather than teach, one-sided views will educate otherwise unknowing undergraduates,” Stein said.
He spoke in the context of creating a smooth path to his Emory retirement and urged the 100 people at the meeting to support efforts to keep the ISMI active.
Meanwhile, Stein is launching a pilot collaboration between his Center for Israel Education and the Atlanta Jewish Academy Upper School from May 16 to 20, the week after Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day).
Beginning this year for a four-year high school cycle, AJA Upper School students in the week before or after Yom HaAtzmaut will take part in a 15-hour seminar using materials developed exclusively for AJA by Stein and Rich Walter, the associate director for Israel education at ISMI and CIE.
The seminar will cover Zionist and Israeli history, politics, institutions, arts and culture, and foreign relations. For the full week before the seminar, CIE provides teacher training for the unit.
“It’s a win-win situation for both AJA and CIE,” said Rabbi Reuven Travis, an AJA Judaics and history teacher, “because Dr. Stein is looking to us to pilot this approach to teaching modern Israel that he’s been wanting to implement for years. If this groundbreaking teaching method is as successful at AJA as I believe it will be, the four-year, 60-hour seminar approach to the instruction of modern Israel can be expanded to other schools in the area and around the world.”
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