Dr. Leon Weinberger, a well-known and important Alabama Jewish academic, died Monday at age 85. Arrangements have not yet been finalized.

Dr. Weinberger joined the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama in 1964 and taught at the University until 1999, when he retired. He also, served as the General Editor of the Judaic Studies Series of the University of Alabama Press, bringing national acclaim to the University.

During his career, Dr. Weinberger published 12 books, edited 38 more, wrote more than 90 articles and book reviews in both English and Hebrew, and delivered 20 papers at conferences throughout the United States and Israel. In addition, Dr. Weinberger served as Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Tuscaloosa for 25 years.

Dr. Weinberger was an important resource for Jews throughout the state and always was willing to share his expertise, talent and time to benefit our state's Jewish communities. He will be missed. We extend our sympathy to the Weinberger family, especially to his son and daughter-in-law, Gary and Lynn Weinberger, who are members of the Birmingham Jewish community.

Creating a philanthropic legacy in the Jewish community -- one that will speak to our children, grandchildren and all those who come after us -- was the topic at a recent meeting in Atlanta.

Professionals and lay leaders from 13 communities from throughout the South attended. Jewish Federations of North America hosted the meeting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. Amy Saag, President of The Birmingham Jewish Foundation, and Sally Friedman, Executive Director, participated.

"We discussed why it's a privilege to leave a legacy gift, including what motivates people to include the Jewish community in their wills and estates, as well as what the barriers are to people doing so," Amy said after the Atlanta meeting. "Leaving a legacy dovetails perfectly with Our Next 100 Years." (See below link for more on this historic BJF-led initiative.)

"At the conference, we talked about the importance of our Jewish community agencies, organizations and synagogues working together to make the case for legacy giving and relaying the important message that future generations will be positively impacted by what we do today," added Amy.

Sally chaired a session on endowing annual Federation campaign gifts as a way to keep communities strong. Our Foundation, working in partnership with our Federation, has had much success in this area over the years and we are continuing to encourage donors to endow their Birmingham Jewish Federation Annual Campaign gifts through Our Next 100 Years.

Endowing a BJF campaign gift means, upon your death, providing The Foundation with a sum large enough so that the annual income equals your yearly Federation contribution. Then, there is a gift to the campaign each year in your name in perpetuity.

"It was wonderful to be able to exchange ideas with other communities who are striving to make their Jewish communities stronger," said Sally. "The concept of Jewish legacy giving is so important. Our Next 100 Years is a vision for Birmingham, and Amy and I feel energized about having learned new ways to bring that message home."

For more information on how you can participate in "Our Next 100 Years," contact Sally at sallyf@bjf.org or 205-803-1519.

In the photo, Birmingham Jewish Foundation Executive Director Sally Friedman is third from the right in the middle row and Foundation President Amy Saag is first from the right in the bottom row.

Speaking about The Birmingham Jewish Foundation, it's turning out that The Foundation, now that college football season is here, has become one more arena where Auburn and Alabama fans are competing for braggin' rights.

Alabama and Auburn both have great supporters in our Jewish community. Thursday's Update, headlined "Roll Tide, War Eagle & The BJF," (see below link), mentioned Jewish Auburn graduate Martin Freeman's fund in The Birmingham Jewish Foundation for Jewish life at Auburn University. (Trust us, Martin, a great guy who lives in the Washington DC area, loves his alma mater big-time!)

Shortly after the Update appeared, we heard from an Alabama fan asking if The Foundation had a fund for Hillel, the Jewish student organization at Alabama. The good news is that The Birmingham Jewish Foundation does not choose sides in the greatest rivalry in football because, indeed, The Foundation does have such a fund.

This fund, established by University of Alabama alumni, has helped provide funding for the new Bloom Hillel Student Center, including the purchase of furniture and kitchen equipment as well as programming.

Now that both schools are represented equally, let the football season roll -- oops, we meant begin! So, on behalf of The Birmingham Jewish Foundation, "Roll Tide and War Eagle!" -- may Jewish life at both of these great schools continue to grow.

If you're interested in providing funding for Jewish life at Auburn or Alabama, contact Foundation Executive Director Sally Friedman at 205-803-1519 or sallyf@bjf.org. Heads up -- like most of the folks at The Federation/Foundation, Sally is a big-time college football fan. So allow yourself a few extra minutes to chat about the new season!