Donor
Recognition
at YU

My husband Lior and I both had difficult childhoods and no financial support for college. Lior came to YU to play basketball. He didn’t know anyone and wasn’t religious at the time. But through his coach and Rabbi Meir Fulda, a teacher at YU’s James Striar School of General Jewish Studies (JSS) — a program designed for students with less familiarity with Hebrew language and textual study — he found a connection to Judaism and eventually became observant.I grew up Protestant and discovered Judaism while writing a paper on comparative religion. I was drawn to the way Judaism brings the sacred into everyday life. I initially had a Conservative conversation at age 20 and later met Lior at a UJA-sponsored dance. I always wanted an Orthodox conversation and Rabbi Fulda — who later officiated at our wedding — guided me through the process. His kindness and willingness to listen left a deep impression on me, and we stayed close for years.In every way possible, Lior and I owe everything to the kindness of strangers. From our troubled youth to adulthood, people stepped in to help us when they didn’t have to. YU played a big part in that: administrators, teachers and the admissions team helped Lior without knowing the man he would become. Today Hashem has blessed us with the capacity to give back. We have established a scholarship fund in Rabbi Fulda’s name and funded a new training room for the men’s basketball team. We are committed to supporting the basketball program because we believe that athletics can reach students in ways other programs can’t.I am happy to sit on YU’s Board of Trustees so I can show the other members the impact of their philanthropy — that they are changing lives, just as they changed ours.

When Isabel and Harold Feld were exploring ways to honor their cherished son, who died suddenly from pneumonia, they found a meaningful opportunity through Yeshiva University.Gerry Feld was only 19 when he succumbed to illness in 1966, his life cut short while a college sophomore. Great friends to YU, the Felds established the Gerald Feld Memorial Fund in loving memory of their son a decade after his death. The scholarship allows students to be able to attend the university, particularly needy and deserving ones who rank below the first third of the class.“Gerry had a lot of interests, he was so outgoing and musically gifted,” explains his sister, Stephanie Feld, who manages the trust. “Students have varied talents and many of them can be outside academics. Those should be recognized too.”According to Feld, scholarships are now more important than ever, as tuition at colleges across the country has skyrocketed. “A scholarship can mean that a student can focus on his or her studies without constantly worrying how they are going to pay for them,” she says. “It can truly impact someone’s life.”The Felds worked tirelessly to instill a commitment to tzedaka — especially to Jewish causes — in their children. And now, their daughter is advancing both their legacy and Gerry’s memory. As she says, “it’s how I was brought up and it’s in my heart and soul.”