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July 15, 2008
Yiddish Chair Endowed at UCLA
Los Angeles
JTA Wire Service
Comedy writer/producer Michael Ross donated $4 million to endow an academic chair in Yiddish language and culture at UCLA. The gift from Ross and his wife, Irene, will provide support for an “outstanding scholar of Yiddish culture,” the university’s Center for Jewish Studies announced. It also will provide for faculty and graduate student research, academic conferences and lectures for the public.
In April, City College of New York announced that Ross was donating $10 million to create a center for Jewish Studies. Ross is a graduate of the school. Born Isidore Rovinsky, he grew up in a Yiddish-speaking home that he said was permeated by “the essence of Yiddishkeit.” In the 1970s he was an Emmy Award-winning writer and executive producer for the groundbreaking and highly successful sitcoms “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons” and “Three’s Company.”
Yiddish has been taught at the University of California, Los Angeles for 30 years. The Ross gift “will allow us to move forward to our goal of becoming a center of international distinction in Jewish and Yiddish studies,” said David Myers, the director of the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies.
New White House Jewish Liaison
The White House named a new Jewish liaison. Scott Arogeti is the seventh liaison to the Jewish community for the Bush administration. His appointment was announced Friday by the incumbent liaison, Jeremy Katz, who is leaving the White House to attend Stanford Business school.
Arogeti, a University of Georgia graduate, is in his mid 20s and currently serves as a staff assistant in the Office of Public Liaison, the White House office that coordinates outreach to special interest groups. Arogeti’s parents are involved in the Atlanta Jewish community; he is a graduate of Jewish summer camps and of the Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi. “Scott Arogeti is an incredibly hard-working, intelligent, and articulate professional,” said William Daroff, the director of the Washington office for United Jewish Communities, the federation umbrella.
“His service at the White House has brought him into the room with the top figures in the Jewish community and the top figures in the American government.” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the director of Chabad in Washington, said Arogeti “has a keen ability to coordinate large projects across the community.” Daroff praised Katz, saying he was able to “help the Jewish community communicate with the White House, as well as to help the President communicate with the Jewish community.”
Irving on U.S. Speaking Tour
Accused Holocaust denier David Irving is on a U.S. speaking tour. Irving is slated to speak in more than a dozen U.S. cities in July, according to a page on the Web site IrvingBooks.com. The site promises “many more” appearances throughout August. The site does not disclose the location of the talks, which are described as “private American functions,” and says it reserves the right to refuse admission. Admission costs about $16. Irving was largely discredited as a historian of the Third Reich after losing a libel suit brought against Emory University Professor Deborah Lipstadt in 2000. He later was jailed for violating Austrian laws regarding Holocaust denial.