Class Correspondent

Grammy Award-winning jazz historian and author Dan Morgenstern received the Rutgers University Award, one of the school’s highest recognitions, honoring individuals who have given distinguished service to the university and demonstrated excellence in scholarship, public service, business, industry, athletics or the arts. Dan served as director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers-Newark from its founding in 1976 until his retirement in January. During that period, he built the institute into the world’s largest library and archive of jazz and jazz-related materials. Ruth Porter Bernstein, a retired teacher, coach and guidance counselor in the Winthrop (Mass.) public schools, received the Celebrating Women Award from the Massachusetts General Hospital Community Health Associates for serving as a role model of good health. The former Brandeis basketball player worked in the Winthrop schools for 35 years and also coached Winthrop High’s varsity and junior varsity girls’ basketball teams. During her career as an educator and coach, Ruth taught and modeled good sportsmanship, perseverance, teamwork and the importance of participating in athletics. Jules Bernstein, a Washington, D.C.-based labor lawyer who has advocated for workers’ rights for more than a half-century and represented several of the country’s largest labor unions, was appointed to the advisory board of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis. The panel, which includes distinguished leaders and activists from around the world, is chaired by Richard Goldstone, the retired justice of the Constitutional Court in South Africa. The center develops effective responses to conflict and injustice by offering innovative approaches to coexistence, strengthening the work of international courts and encouraging ethical practice in civic and professional life. Robin Brooks, a Brandeis Fellow, reports that his synagogue in Florence, Mass., is a virtual satellite campus of Brandeis. Raquel (Riqi) Kosovske ’91 serves as rabbi at Beit Ahavah (“House of Love”), a 14-year-old Reform synagogue with more than 80 families. Other Brandeisians among the congregants include Andrew Bourke ’89, co-president of the board of directors; his wife, Miriam Krell Bourke ’89; and Kaitlyn Sever ’16. Additionally, Daveen Litwin ’85 served as the congregation’s rabbi from 2002-06. Writes Robin, “Services, bar/bat mitzvahs and the religious school classes are held at rented space in the Florence Congregational Church — talk about ecumenical!”
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