Photo: Georgetown University
Rabbi Harold S. White passed away at age 83, according to an August 31 campus-wide email from Georgetown University President John DeGioia. White came to Georgetown in 1968 and served as the first full-time rabbi appointed to a campus ministry position at a Catholic university in the United States. Rabbi White also played an integral role in the creation of the the Program for Jewish Civilization (PJC) at Georgetown.
Battling for the program since the early 1970s, Rabbi White had the idea for a center for Jewish civilization that eventually became the PJC in 2004 under the leadership of White and Professor Robert Lieber with the help of DeGioia and then-Provost James O’Donnell.
One of the many goals Rabbi White had in founding the center was to create a place for Jewish-Catholic interfaith dialogue to flourish, according to Professor Jacques Berlinerblau, director of the PJC. White in part had the idea for the center because of the Second Vatican Council, which saw a great emphasis on interfaith understanding.
“He shared in that moment which scholars refer to as the liberal theological moment in the United States,” Berlinerblau said. “There was this tremendous optimism about overcoming old antagonisms and trying to really talk to one another and understand one another.”
Berlinerblau also noted White’s activism as one of the few rabbis who performed interfaith marriages in the 1970s and 1980s.
Additionally, an emphasis on foreign relations became a crucial part of the PJC’s curriculum. Just one month ago, White traveled to Poland with a delegation from the PJC that Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited to the country.
According to Berlinerblau, White also became very active in the civil rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s. Moving forward, Berlinerblau hopes to honor Rabbi White by including studies on the Jewish-African American alliance in the curriculum of the PJC.
On February 29, the PJC is to launch as the Center for Jewish Civilization, finally achieving the vision that White originally had, according to Berlinerblau.
