The University of Pennsylvania’s Katz Center for Judaic Studies just received a life-changing gift from one of its own.

The estate of Louise Strauss, a 1982 Penn graduate, is donating $21 million to the school’s Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, the Rare Judaica Acquisitions Endowment Fund in the Penn Libraries and Morris Arboretum & Gardens, the school announced in September.

Joshua Teplitsky, the Joseph Meyerhoff Chair in Modern Jewish History and Ruth Meltzer Director of the Jewish Studies Program, said there are two components to this gift that will radically expand the capabilities of the department.

“The first part is an endowed professorship, and the second part is a separate fund that is dedicated to supporting graduate student training. Those are two complementary ingred

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