Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership (Spertus College or Spertus) is a private educational center in Chicago, Illinois. Spertus offers learning opportunities that are "rooted in Jewish wisdom and culture and open to all" although it is not affiliated with any single branch of Judaism."About"
on the Spertus Institute website Graduate programs and workshops "train leaders and engage individuals in exploration of Jewish life." Public programs include films, speakers, seminars, concerts, and exhibits — at the institute's main campus at 610 S. Michigan Avenue, as well as in the Chicago suburbs and online. Spertus offers graduate degrees in Jewish Professional Studies, Jewish Studies, and until 2016, Nonprofit Management — accredited by

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...

— as well as professional workshops and a range of public educational and cultural programs. Well-known presenters have included

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, author Jonathan Safran Foer, architect Moshe Safdie, hip-hop artist

Y-Love Yitz Jordan (born January 5, 1978), better known by his stage name Y-Love, is an American hip hop artist. An Orthodox Jew, Jordan was formerly Hasidic.Jerry Portwood"Y-Love is Ready for Love,"'' Out'', May 15, 2012. He is a web developer, activis ...

, pianist/actor/playwright Hershey Felder, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Psychologist Dr.

Tal Ben-Shahar Tal Ben-Shahar Tal Ben-Shahar (Hebrew: טל בן-שחר; born 1970), also known as Tal David Ben-Shachar, is an American and Israeli teacher, and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership. As a lecturer at Harvard University, Be ...

, and statistician Nate Silver. Honorary degree recipients from 1949 to 2011 have included Rabbi

Mordecai M. Kaplan Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (born Mottel Kaplan; June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a Lithuanian-born American rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian, philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructio ...

, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Abba Eban, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, author and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel b ...

, author and Nobel Literature Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, feminist author Betty Friedan, actor Leonard Nimoy, and

Hazzan A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' ( he, חַזָּן , plural ; Yiddish ''khazn''; Ladino ''Hasan'') is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this pr ...

Alberto Mizrahi.

History

The institute was founded in 1924 as Chicago's College of Jewish Studies. In 1970, it was renamed Spertus College to honor donations made by entrepreneurs (and brothers) Maurice and .

Architecture of the Spertus Institute building

In November 2007, Spertus Institute opened an award-winning, environmentally sustainable facility at 610 S. Michigan Avenue. Designed by Chicago-based Krueck and Sexton Architects, the building features interconnected interior spaces and an unusual ten-story faceted window wall that provides views of the Chicago skyline, Grant Park, and

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. This window wall is built from 726 individual pieces of glass in 556 different shapes. The building also houses a 400-seat theater, space for community events and

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

catering facilities. Like the surrounding buildings, many constructed in the period of architectural innovation that followed the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, this building is forward-looking in its design and use of materials, while maintaining respect for its setting. Like the bays of its 19th- and 20th-century neighbors, the facets that create the façade's dynamic crystalline form allow light to extend into the narrow building, while expanding the views enjoyed from inside. The geometry of the façade is unique because the surface is constantly tilting in three dimensions, resulting in individual units of glass that are parallelograms rather than rectangles. At the same time, the average size of each of the façade's individual panes of glass is consistent with the standard size of the windows in the buildings up and down Michigan Avenue. The Spertus building was the first new construction in the

Historic Michigan Boulevard District The Historic Michigan Boulevard District is a historic district in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States encompassing Michigan Avenue between 11th (1100 south in the street numbering system) or Roosevelt ...

after the area was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2002. The cost of the Spertus project was more than $50 million.Blair Kamin, "Blades of Glass," ''Chicago Tribune'', November 21, 2007. In 2011,

Meadville Lombard Theological School The Meadville Lombard Theological School is a Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist seminary in Chicago, Illinois. History Meadville Lombard is a result of a merger in the 1930s between two institutions, a American Unitarian Associati ...

, a Unitarian Universalist seminary, relocated from its

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

location to the sixth floor of the Spertus building. Academic and administrative tasks of the school now take place in the Spertus building.

Senior staff and faculty

*Dr. Dean P. Bell is the ninth president and chief executive officer of Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. He has a PhD and MA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA from the University of Chicago, and is the author of ''Jews in the Early Modern World''. *Dr. Hal M. Lewis is chancellor, a position he took in 2018 after serving for a decade as president and chief executive officer. An expert in Jewish leadership, he is the author of ''From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish Approach to Leadership'' and ''Models and Meanings in the History of Jewish Leadership''. Dr. Lewis has a DJS from Spertus. *Dr. Keren E. Fraiman is dean and chief academic officer. *Ellen Hattenbach is the vice president of external relations. She is the former chair of the

Jewish United Fund The Jewish United Fund of Chicago (JUF) is the central philanthropic address of Chicago's Jewish community and one of the largest not-for-profit social welfare institutions in Illinois. JUF provides critical resources that bring food, refuge, hea ...

Division for Trades, Industries & Professions, and a graduate of Spertus Institute's Certificate in Jewish Leadership.

Notable former faculty

*Rabbi Dr.

Byron Sherwin Rabbi Byron Lee Sherwin (February 18, 1946 – May 22, 2015) was a Jewish scholar and author with expertise in theology, inter-religious dialogue, mysticism and Jewish ethics. Background and career A rabbi in the Conservative Judaism movement, he ...

(1946–2015) was director of doctoral programs. A native of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Dr. Sherwin received his PhD from the University of Chicago’s prestigious Committee on the History of Culture. He received his Rabbinical Ordination from

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...

(JTSA) where he was a protégé of Abraham Joshua Heschel. He authored many books including ''Golems Among Us: How a Jewish Legend Can Help Us Navigate the Biotech Century,'' ''Jewish Ethics for the 21st Century,'' and ''Sparks Amidst the Ashes: The Spiritual Legacy of Polish Jewry.''

References

External links