In 1999, the Columbia Foundation provided a grant to The Congregation Emanu-El to establish the Madeleine Haas Russell Institute of Jewish Learning, the center for adult education at Temple Emanu-El.
The Institute draws participants from all over the Bay Area and enhances the level of Jewish learning not only for members of Emanu-El, but for the whole community.
In approving the grant, Board Trustee Christine Haas Russell stated, "This Institute honors the memory of Madeleine Haas Russell, my mother, and is a tribute to her ever-present love of learning, adventure, controversy, and Judaism. She was an independent thinker who valued intellectual integrity, even if it was not popular. Emanu-El has traditionally brought the best thinkers of our time to the congregation; through this Institute, we encourage dialog, scholarship, and the opportunity to explore ideas and concepts that affect the future of Judaism. I think my mother would have been pleased to be remembered in this way."
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