Ludwig Lewisohn Scholarship for Lifelong Jewish Learning
In the 1990s, Rabbi Joshua and longtime member George Saiger created a special fund to celebrate the joy of lifelong Jewish learning. They called it the Ludwig Lewisohn Scholarship, named for the early 20th-century Jewish American writer who lived in Burlington during the 1930s.
The scholarship was first designed to inspire our Hebrew School graduates—to show that Jewish study doesn’t end with b mitzvah, but continues throughout life. It was awarded each year at Hebrew School graduation to an adult learner pursuing advanced Jewish study, with the hope that their presence and story would encourage our youth to keep learning. We are delighted to share that it has been revived in the spirit in which it was first imagined.
Last year, the Ludwig Lewisohn Scholarship was awarded to Susannah Goldblatt Clarke, who intended to study in Israel through the Pardes Institute. Although her trip was delayed due to airline stoppages, we look forward to hearing about her experience when she travels there soon—and at our next Hebrew School graduation celebration.
Ludwig Lewisohn, for whom the scholarship is named, was a prolific Jewish American writer and critic who lived in Burlington from 1934 to 1937, residing at the southwest corner of Willard and Pearl Streets. Born Jewish but raised as a Methodist, Lewisohn’s confrontation with antisemitism led him to rediscover and embrace his Jewish identity. In doing so, he became a model of adult Jewish learning and renewal—the very spirit this scholarship seeks to honor.
We are deeply grateful to George Saiger for renewing this vision and resuming the scholarship funding. May this tradition remind us all that Jewish learning has no graduation day, and that each stage of life offers new opportunities to grow in wisdom, faith, and connection.
