Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning

{{short description|America's first degree-granting institution for post-doctoral Jewish studies}}

{{about|Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning at 2321–2335 N Broad Street |its successor at 420 Walnut Street, which is part of the University of Pennsylvania |Center for Advanced Judaic Studies}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Dropsie University Complex

| nrhp_type = hd

| image = WTP2 Mike Reali 06b.jpg

| image_size = 300px

| caption = Dropsie University Complex

| location = 2321–2335 N Broad St., Broad and York Streets
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

| coordinates = {{coord|39|59|20|N|75|09|18|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Philadelphia#Pennsylvania#USA

| area = {{convert|2|acre}}

| built = 1909

| architect =

| architecture = Beaux Arts, Renaissance

| added = January 17, 1975

| refnum = 75001661{{NRISref|2007a}}

}}

Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning or Dropsie University was a Jewish institution of higher learning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was America's first degree-granting institution for post-doctoral Jewish studies. Funded by the will of Moses Aaron Dropsie (1821–1905), it was chartered in 1907 and its first building was completed in 1912. It ceased to grant degrees in 1986.

The Dropsie University Complex's buildings were placed on Philadelphia's roster of historic buildings as of November 30, 1971.{{cite web |title=Dropsie University |url=https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/84624 |website=Philadelphia Architects and Buildings}} The Dropsie University Complex was named a national historic landmark (NRHP) on January 17, 1975.{{cite web |title=Dropsie University Complex |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/75001661 |website=NPGallery Digital Asset Management System |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=24 April 2019}}

After a brief period as the Annenberg Research Institute (1986–1993), Dropsie ceased to be an independent organization and became part of the University of Pennsylvania. Its name changed several times and it was relocated, becoming the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies.

History

Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning was founded in 1907. Its main benefactor was Moses Aaron Dropsie (1821–1905),[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5331-dropsie-moses-aaron "Dropsie, Moses Aaron"] The Jewish Encyclopedia website[http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-2587505418/dropsie-moses-aaron.html "Dropsie, Moses Aaron"] Encyclopedia.com website a wealthy man whose father was Jewish and mother was Christian but who self-identified as Jewish from the age of 14. In 1905, Dropsie left his entire fortune for the establishment of a Jewish college along broad lines, offering instruction "in the Hebrew and cognate languages and their respective literatures, and in the rabbinical learning and literature." Estimated at $800,000, the amount of this bequest was the largest sum that had been made available for the promotion of Jewish studies.

Dropsie College may have been designed by Lewis Pilcher{{cite web |title=Dropsie University Complex |url=https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/CRGIS/Application/ASPNET/Report/Report.aspx?R=108&T=KEYNO&I=001358 |website=Historic Resource Information |access-date=24 April 2019}} or by Abraham Levy.{{cite news |last1=Saffron |first1=Inga |title=Good Eye: Dropsie College's elegant temple |url=https://www.philly.com/philly/home/20150809_Good_Eye__Good_Eye__Dropsie_College.html |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |access-date=25 April 2019|date=August 7, 2015}}

It was built at Broad and York Streets. It was near the historic Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Mikveh Israel, Philadelphia's first Jewish congregation, then at 2321 N Broad Street.

The first three presidents of Dropsie (Mayer Sulzberger, Cyrus Adler and Abraham A. Neuman) were worshipers there.{{rp|188}} They were instrumental in establishing the college and its library.{{rp|191–195}} Dropsie College sought to be grounded in the values, history, and "Science of Judaism."{{rp|187–188}}

On November 9, 1981, a fire ravaged the school's building at Broad and York Streets. In December 1983, the school moved to Temple Adath Israel of the Main Line in Merion where it was welcomed rent-free.{{cite news |last=Shaffer|first=Michael D.|date=December 31, 1983|title=A new home – and new hopes: Dropsie College moves towards rejuvenation|work=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|page=3–B|id={{ProQuest|1849678029}}}}

Dropsie granted more than 200 Ph.D.s between its inception and its closing as a degree-granting institution in 1986. Dropsie was also the publisher of the Jewish Quarterly Review, which was at the time the most respected journal on the subject.

The faculty at Dropsie included scholars from outside the United States, including Benzion Netanyahu, who came from Jerusalem with his young sons, Yonatan (Yoni) and Benjamin (Bibi), who there had their first true exposures to American culture, which would become a touchstone for later interactions with the American public for Bibi.{{cite news|last1=Moyer |first1=Justin |date=March 3, 2015 |title=Why Benjamin Netanyahu is so tough: He's from Philadelphia |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/03/why-benjamin-netanyahu-is-so-tough-hes-from-philadelphia/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402200554/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/03/why-benjamin-netanyahu-is-so-tough-hes-from-philadelphia/ |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |access-date=March 5, 2015 |quote=Few are aware that Israel's prime minister — due to address Congress in a historic joint session today — spent four years in the City of Brotherly Love as a teenager. Netanyahu's father Benzion moved from Israel to Cheltenham, Pa., in 1963 to teach at Dropsie College, America's first center for post-doctoral Jewish studies... With Benzion came his children, including Yonathan and his younger brother “Bibi,” the future prime minister. |url-status=dead }}

Notable people

=Dropsie students=

Barry J. Beitzel (1942–), American biblical and geographical scholar, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, and Bible translator.
Larry L. Walker (1932–2021), American biblical scholar, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, and Bible translator
Kenneth L. Barker (1931–), American biblical scholar, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, and Bible translator
William Sanford LaSor (1911-1991), American biblical scholar
Philip Birnbaum (1904–1988), Polish-American author and translator, best known for his translation of the siddur
Joshua Bloch (1890–1957), Lithuanian-American rabbi and librarian
Raymond B. Dillard (1944–1993), American Old Testament scholar
Iris Habib Elmasry (1910–1994), Coptic historian and scholar
Simon Ginzburg (1890–1944), Hebrew poet, critic and historian. Obtained a PhD from Dropsie in 1923. Translated the letters of the Ramchal.
Cyrus H. Gordon (1908–2001), Near East scholar – did not graduate
R. Laird Harris (1911–2008), American Presbyterian minister and Old Testament scholar
Louis L. Kaplan (1902–2001), President of Baltimore Hebrew University 1930–1970, Acting Chancellor of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County 1976–1977
Meredith G. Kline (1922–2007), American theologian and Old Testament scholar – Ph.D. in Assyriology and Egyptology
Samuel Noah Kramer (1897–1990), Ukrainian-American Assyriologist and Sumeriologist – did not graduate; transferred to Penn
Albert L. Lewis (1917–2008), Congregational rabbi and professor of homiletics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Benzion Netanyahu (1910–2012), Zionist, scholar of Jewish history, and father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Frederic Clarke Putnam (1952-), American biblical scholar and linguist, Professor of Bible & Liberal Studies, Templeton Honors College
Bernard Revel (1885–1940), future head of RIETS yeshiva and founder/President of Yeshiva College. 1911 doctoral thesis on Karaite Judaism
Ephraim Speiser (1902–1965) Near East scholar and archaeologist, excavator of Tepe Gawra
Edward J. Young (1907–1968), American Old Testament scholar and commentator
Terry L. Eves (1952–2019), American biblical theology scholar and Professor of Old Testament
Ronald F. Youngblood (1931–2014), American biblical scholar and Professor of Old Testament
Richard Averbeck, American biblical scholar and Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

=Dropsie faculty=

Cyrus Adler, Jewish religious leader and scholar – president
William Chomsky, noted Hebrew scholar and father of Noam Chomsky
Benzion Halper, Hebraist and Arabist
Benzion Netanyahu, historian of Jews in medieval Spain and father of Benjamin Netanyahu, Yonatan Netanyahu, and Iddo Netanyahu
Raphael Patai, ethnographer and anthropologist – professor of anthropology, 1948–1957
Stefan Reif, Jewish researcher – assistant professor of Hebrew, 1972–1973
Solomon Zeitlin, historian of the second Jewish commonwealth and early Christianity.
Solomon Gandz, research professor of the history of Semitic Civilization
Bernard D. Weinryb, professor of Jewish history and economics, author of numerous works on European Jewish history

==Reformation ==

By 1980, Dropsie College was near failing, its building in need of repairs and many of its books missing. On November 9, 1981, newly elected president David M. Goldenberg was notified of an arson attack, taking place on the forty-third anniversary of Kristallnacht. Attempts to put out the fire irreparably damaged the library and its contents, including rare books and ancient cuneiform tablets.{{rp|199–201}}

Goldenberg launched an extensive campaign to recover and restore the library, while board member Albert J. Wood worked to transform the college into a post-graduate research center. Wood attracted the support of philanthropist Walter Annenberg. Wood became the founding chairman of the board of the briefly renamed Moses Aaron Dropsie Research Institute, followed by Walter Annenberg as of September 13, 1985.{{rp|199–202}}

As of September 1986, Dropsie College ceased to be a degree-granting college.{{rp|199}} Also in 1986, Dropsie was renamed the Annenberg Research Institute.{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Bernard |last2=Goldenberg |first2=David M. |title=Annenberg Research Institute for Judaic and Near Eastern Studies: Statement of Purpose |journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review |date=1986 |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=1–4 |jstor=1454442 }} Annenberg funded the construction of a new building, to which the institution moved in 1988. The new location was just three blocks south of the new location of congregation Mikveh Israel, as well as the National Museum of American Jewish History. The proposed goal of the new institution was to support dialogue among the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Its directors were Bernard Lewis (1986–1990),{{cite news |last1=Aronson |first1=Emily |title=Bernard Lewis, eminent Middle East historian at Princeton, dies at 101 |url=https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/05/22/bernard-lewis-eminent-middle-east-historian-princeton-dies-101 |access-date=24 April 2019 |work=Princeton University |date=May 22, 2018}} Eric M. Meyers (1991–1992),{{cite web |title=Carol & Eric Meyers Collection |url=https://www.laniertheologicallibrary.org/carol-eric-meyers-collection/ |website=Lanier Theological Library |access-date=24 April 2019|date=2018}} and as acting director, David M. Goldenberg (1992–1993).

In 1993, the Annenberg Research Institute ceased to be an independent organization. It became part of the University of Pennsylvania, as the Center for Judaic Studies. In 1998, it was renamed the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies,{{cite web |title=History of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania |url=https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jwst/historyJSP |website=University of Pennsylvania |publisher=Penn Arts & Sciences |access-date=25 April 2019}} and in 2008, the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies.{{cite news |last1=Marks |first1=Jon |title=$2M Eleanor Meyerhoff Katz Endowment Established to Promote Jewish Innovation |url=http://jewishexponent.com/2016/10/11/2m-eleanor-meyerhoff-katz-endowment-established-to-promote-jewish-innovation/ |access-date=25 April 2019 |work=Jewish Exponent |date=October 11, 2016}}{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/about-us/history |website=Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies |access-date=25 April 2019}} It is part of the Penn library system.{{cite web |title=Library at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies & Penn Libraries Judaica – collections |url=https://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lkcajs-and-judaica |website=University of Pennsylvania |publisher=Penn Libraries |access-date=24 April 2019}}

Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning

History

Notable people

=Dropsie students=

=Dropsie faculty=

Archives

References

See also