Exhibition Showing: Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA
22nd January - 2nd April 2006
Seton Hall’s Walsh Library, built in 1994 and located in the heart of the campus, is a four-storey, 155,000 square-foot structure, named in honour of the Board of Regents Chairman and University benefactor Frank E.Walsh and his wife, Mary D.Walsh.
Seton Hall University is one of the leading Catholic universities in the USA and is home to the Sister Rose Thering Endowment. Through the initiative of Sister Rose* herself, aided by our very own Alan Silberstein, an Endowment Board member, that the Jews of Częstochowa” came to Seton Hall.
On Sunday, 22nd January, almost 300 people were welcomed to the Official Opening of the Exhibition by Luna Kaufman, Chairman of the Board of the Sister Rose Thering Endowment and Associate Professor Dr.Richard Stern, representing the Walsh Library.
Guests were entertained by Cantor Daniel Neiden who sang excerpts from Virgilio’s Prayer and The Voyage of the Black Madonna by John La Barbera.
From left: Jo Ann Cotz (Exhibition Curator at Seton Hall),
Marilyn Zirl (Endowment Administrator),
Luna Kaufman, Sigmund Rolat,
Lea Wolinetz,
Alan Silberstein,
Consul Marek Skulimowski
Deputy Polish Consul in New York City, Marek Skulimowski, spoke briefly followed by the Exhibition’s Sponsors Alan Silberstein and Sigmund Rolat. Lea Wolinetz, Chief Exhibition Coordinator and a second-generation Częstochowianka, gave a short address and closed the official part of the Opening.
From left: Elizabeth Mundlak, Lea Wolinetz, Sam Bida (from Częstochowa),
his granddaughter and daughter Anna Bida Fleischer
* Sister Rose Thering, O.P., Ph.D., Professor Emerita at Seton Hall, is a Dominican nun who has dedicated her life to preserving the historical link and advocating the common purpose of Jews and Christians throughout the world. The Sister Rose Thering Endowment was established in 1993 in her honour to help provide scholarship assistance for teachers to take graduate level courses in Jewish Christian and Holocaust studies. It also develops curricular resources and presents workshops for teachers in public, private and parochial schools. More than 350 teachers and an estimated 150,000 students throughout New Jersey have benefited from the endowment since its inception.
Seton Hall University, nationally known and respected as a leading Catholic university, embraces students of all races and religion. For nearly 150 years, Seton Hall has been a catalyst for leadership, developing the whole student, mind, heart and spirit. It combines the resources of a large university with the personal attention of a small liberal arts college.
The Webmaster wishes to thank Alex Wolinetz and Iwona Hoffman
for the photographs that appear on this page.