Supportive. Passionate. Dedicated. These are words students use to describe teachers who have inspired them. But Rose Bronstein's students go beyond words to express what their beloved teacher means to them. In celebration of her 80th birthday and to commemorate the 51 years she has been a Jewish educator, they are creating a Hebrew College fellowship in her name.

"I was very honored, humbled and emotionally moved. It made me cry," says Bronstein, about receiving news of the Rose Bronstein Fellowship. "Hebrew College gave direction to my life—it trained me to be a Jewish educator. I got great satisfaction out of giving back what I was so fortunate to have received from my wonderful teachers and mentors."

Bronstein spent her career transmitting love of the Hebrew language and instilling in her students the importance of Jewish continuity. She got her start at Beth El Hebrew School in Dorchester, where she was assistant principal and taught the intensive elementary school curriculum for 20 years. With her close colleague Sidney Hillson, she came to Hebrew College in 1965 and stayed for 31 years, influencing more than three generations of students as Prozdor teacher, lecturer in Jewish education and supervisor of student teaching. Today, as the coordinator of Hebrew College's Boston Chug Ivri, founded by Celia Lyons, Bronstein continues to enrich students' Hebrew language skills.

One of her former students, Aaron Landau BJEd'65, known at Hebrew College as Irwin Aaron Lande, is now a high school teacher in La Mesa, California. He was an elementary school student of Bronstein's at Beth El who followed her to the College. Today, he regularly calls her to catch up and visits whenever he's in the Boston area or she is visiting family in Los Angeles.

"My mother died when I was 12, so in many ways, Rose became a surrogate mother to me," he says. "She was one of the last people who remembers my mother and father. She's a link to my past and a favorite person of mine."

Many of Bronstein's students feel likewise. The goal to be raised for the Rose Bronstein Fellowship is $100,000; in the first month, over 60 of her students and their families have already contributed more than $20,000.

"Hebrew College now enjoys a magnificent new campus, but campuses don't create great institutions—people do," says President David Gordis. "And of all the significant personalities who have shaped the fabric of this institution and have had profound impact on hundreds and even thousands of people, no person has been more significant than Rose Bronstein."

When fully funded, the Rose Bronstein Fellowship will be the newest addition to the Hebrew College Fellows Program. These merit-based awards for students enrolled in degree programs include the Betty and Irving Brudnick Fellowship, the David M. Gordis Fellowship, the Barbara and Leo Karas Fellowship in Jewish Education, the Abraham and Sadie Shapiro Family Fellowships, the Edith and Eliot Shoolman Fellowship and the Betsy and Dr. Martin P. Solomon Graduate Fellowship. The deadline for applying to the program is December 15, 2003. For more information, contact Dean Ina Regosin, 617-559-8618, or iregosin@hebrewcollege.edu.

Hebrew College file photo

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