The Hebrew University of Jerusalem honored the life and legacy of Rabbi David L. Blumenfeld, Ph.D. (RIS ’56) on Oct. 20 in a Wall of Life ceremony during the university’s 89th board of governors meeting. A Jewish leader, educator and U.S. Army chaplain, Blumenfeld served as founding executive director of the New York Holocaust Memorial Commission, which established the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City and as a national executive of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
Overlooking Jerusalem from the Alina and John Paulson Campus on Mount Scopus, the Wall of Life honors individuals, families and organizations whose contributions support the university’s mission, including student scholarships, academic programs and campus development.
Blumenfeld’s daughter, Laura Blumenfeld (RIS ’85) and son-in-law, Baruch Weiss (HU ’82), attended the ceremony with their daughter, Rebecca Weiss. Laura Blumenfeld and Weiss recently joined the American Friends of the Hebrew University (AFHU) National Board of Regents and Mid-Atlantic Regional Board, respectively.
Two years after Blumenfeld was buried on the Mount of Olives, his family established the Rabbi Dr. David L. Blumenfeld Institute of Archaeology Endowment Fund, extending the family’s longstanding connection to the university. The endowment will support master’s and Ph.D. students at the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology, funding interdisciplinary research that brings archaeological discoveries into dialogue with Jewish texts.
Blumenfeld, who earned a Ph.D. in ancient Near Eastern languages and civilizations from New York University, focused on integrating the study of ancient material culture with the study of literary sources, particularly biblical texts.
“Teaching was my father’s joy,” Laura Blumenfeld said. “Nothing would bring him greater peace than young graduate students studying our timeless texts, connecting the Torah to historical treasures buried in Israel.”
A 1956 graduate of the Hebrew University’s Rothberg International School, Blumenfeld maintained a lifelong connection to Jewish learning and education. He often recounted to his grandchildren how, during the 1956 Sinai Campaign, Israeli university students were called up to fight while international students volunteered to dig ditches along Israel’s eastern border.
Over the course of his career, Blumenfeld served as rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Israel in Glen Cove, N.Y., and taught adult education classes and Hebrew literacy at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, N.Y., and Temple Emanu-El in Palm Beach, Fla.
Laura Blumenfeld followed in her father’s footsteps by spending her junior year abroad at the Hebrew University’s Rothberg International School. Weiss studied Talmud at the university. Through the family’s endowment, that connection now extends to the next generation, supporting students whose research bridges archaeology and Jewish texts.
“His gravestone sits on the Mount of Olives. Across the ridge, his legacy stone now lives on Mount Scopus,” Laura Blumenfeld said.
Laura Blumenfeld is a Middle East analyst, The New York Times bestselling author and senior fellow at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She previously served as senior policy adviser on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating team at the U.S. State Department. She spent 20 years as an award-winning reporter for The Washington Post, covering the Middle East, politics and national security.
Blumenfeld is the author of Revenge: A Story of Hope, a journalistic exploration of vengeance and redemption that tracks the terrorist who shot her father in Jerusalem and wrestles with the question: What is the best revenge? Revenge has been translated into nine languages and optioned by HBO. She earned an M.A. in international relations from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a B.A. in English literature from Harvard University.
Weiss is a partner at Arnold & Porter, where his practice focuses on white-collar defense, national security and complex civil litigation. He also represents Jewish students and nonprofit organizations in cases involving Title VI proceedings before federal courts and the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Civil Rights.
Weiss earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.A. in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a B.A. in music from Columbia University.