Jack Rosen Memorial Scholar's Weekend

Tikvat Israel Scholar's Weekend is named in memory of a man who combined a distinguished career in the military and the government with a love of Jewish education and tradition. Jack Rosen, a member of Beth Tikva (which later became Tikvat Israel), was a nuclear physicist who attained the rank of lieutenant colonel before his retirement from the U.S. Army.

In 1967 Rosen was decorated with the Legion of Merit by President Lyndon Johnson for distinguished service to the nation.

After leaving military service, he was assigned as a military liaison to the Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, served as technical expert of the U.S. Delegation to the Peace Conference and worked with the President's Council of Economic Advisers on funding basic research.

Rosen was killed tragically in a plane crash while on an inspection visit to a nuclear test site in Nevada. At his funeral, he received a 21-gun salute at Arlington National Cemetery.

Throughout his career, Rosen retained his devotion to Jewish scholarship and religious life, beginning with his own early education in a Talmudic Yeshiva. While stationed in Europe, he organized Jewish soldiers for Shabbat services and Passover seders. He and his wife passed on this devotion to their children Loreda, Shira, Rina and David, who grew up at Beth Tikva.

The Jack Rosen Memorial Adult Education Fund was created by his wife Lorraine as a tribute to her husband in the hope of perpetuating his ideals and values. The fund brings an accomplished scholar in history, political science or classical studies to deliver several presentations on a Jewish theme to the Tikvat Israel congregation over the course of a weekend once a year.

Scholar's Weekend for 5768 (2008) is the weekend of March 28 and 29. Our visiting scholar this year is Rabbi Burton Visotzky from the Jewish Theological Society.

Click here to view details of this year's program!