This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Schoenfeld at (240) 895-2211 or drschoenfeld@smcm.edu.
This distinguished professorship was established in 2005 by SMCM alumna June Weiner Auerbach (’49) in memory of her father. The named professorship is to be held by a distinguished researcher with broad expertise in Judaic Studies; an eminent scholar and gifted teacher who will provide academic leadership; and an individual capable of providing intellectual and cultural leadership.
Schoenfeld, the first holder of the professorship, received her doctorate in 2007 from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She taught at the University of California, Davis, from 2005 to 2007, and at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem from 1996 to 1999. She teaches courses in Jewish studies and world religions at SMCM. Her fields of research are medieval biblical interpretation and Jewish-Christian relations. She is now at work on a book comparing 12th-century Jewish and Christian commentaries.
“I thought this would present an opportunity to help others learn more about Judaism,” Auerbach said when asked why she chose to honor her father in this way. She said that when she was growing up in St. Mary’s County, the closest synagogues were in Washington and Baltimore. According to Auerbach, her father learned about Judaism from his mother and practiced his faith throughout his life.
A native of St. Inigoes, Maryland and a descendent of Eastern European émigrés to St. Mary’s County, Ike Weiner quit school in the third grade to help his widowed mother support her seven children and run the family store. In adulthood, he first worked for the county’s Enterprise Newspaper. He later owned the Waldorf and Hollywood theaters in Southern Maryland, and the Carver and Plymouth theaters in Washington.
