{"id":309702,"date":"2026-10-19T07:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T07:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/309702\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T07:38:08","slug":"penn-appoints-inaugural-named-professor-in-jewish-studies-following-3m-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/309702\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn appoints inaugural named professor in Jewish Studies following $3M gift"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Penn named its inaugural Georgia and Jesse Feldman Associate Professor of Jewish Studies last week following a $3 million gift.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The School of Arts and Sciences received the donation from 2000 College graduate Georgia Feldman and her husband, Jesse Feldman, to expand its Jewish Studies program. Simcha Gross \u2014 an associate professor of Ancient Rabbinics \u2014 was appointed to the professorship role, according to an Oct. 13 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sas.upenn.edu\/news\/penn-arts-sciences-receives-3m-gift-establish-georgia-and-jesse-feldman-professorship-jewish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">announcement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In an interview, Gross explained that SAS Dean Mark Trodden \u201cvery generously\u201d selected him to fill the role, adding that he was \u201cvery honored\u201d to accept the title.<\/p>\n<p>The professorship, according to Gross, will provide him with \u201cgreater resources to play with\u201d and increased research \u2014 including funding for conference travels and the ability to hire students and research assistants.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His research focuses on Jewish communities during the first millennium of the Common Era \u2014 specifically focusing on their relationships with the Roman, Persian, and Islamic empires. Gross explained that his studies examine how Jewish people are \u201ccategorized and treated in different eras and different societies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-serif\">Get the DP delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/thedp.us2.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=a96885e3aa3f8131c872ee329&amp;id=370b4800ba\" class=\"newsletter-btn font-sans no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOftentimes the way we study the past is through the dominant voices,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in the period that I, at least, focus on, Jews are often marginal, and so it gives us really an access to what it was like to not be at the center of society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Gross, the \u201cprincipal benefit\u201d of the professorship is that it creates more opportunities for him to work with students who can support his research.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He highlighted that his appointment is an indicator of Penn\u2019s support for his work and could \u201chopefully\u201d be \u201can invitation\u201d for students to enroll in his classes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the press release, Trodden wrote that the school\u2019s \u201cfaculty members are the foundation of our excellence,\u201d adding that \u201cSimcha is a perfect example of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For Gross, the investment in Jewish studies is important because it supports \u201ca living community\u201d with \u201cmany students and graduates and stakeholders who are still deeply invested in the University and in their history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Jewish history is a particularly fascinating history,\u201d he said, adding that it opens the door to a historical analysis of three to four millennia, while also allowing researchers \u201cto ask really granular questions about their day-to-day life in any given moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gross described the expansion as \u201cexciting,\u201d adding that the Feldmans are \u201creally committed to the work we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the professorship, the Feldmans endowed a scholarship for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn named its inaugural Georgia and Jesse Feldman Associate Professor of Jewish Studies last week following a $3&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-309702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}