JTS opening interreligious center with $2 million gift

The Jewish Theological Seminary said it will establish an interreligious center with a $2 million gift from New York philanthropist Howard Milstein.

The Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue will be funded by the gift from Milstein, the president of New York Private Bank and Trust, according to a statement from the Conservative movement seminary. Milstein, a board member of the UJA-Federation of New York, has funded a an archive project at the YIVO institute in New York.

Rabbi Burton Visotzky, a professor of midrash and interreligious studies at JTS, will serve as the center’s director.

“The new Center will expand the long commitment of JTS to interreligious dialogue and partnership, and enable us to highlight an annual schedule of distinct programs that range in complexity and content,” he said in a statement.

The center’s inaugural event Oct. 31 will feature Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.