Dear members of the Judaic Studies community,
It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of Rabbi Joshua Stampfer on December 26. Rabbi Stampfer served for many decades as the spiritual leader of Congregation Neveh Shalom, first as senior rabbi and then as rabbi emeritus. As many of you know, he was also very active outside of his congregation, both in the Portland Jewish community and in interreligious affairs.
We want to call particular attention to his seminal role in the establishment of our own Judaic Studies Program. Rabbi Stampfer started teaching modern Hebrew at Portland State University in 1961, and continued teaching Hebrew and Jewish Studies courses as an adjunct instructor until 2001. His leadership and support were key factors in the creation of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies in 2002, and he served as a member of our Advisory Committee for many years. It was to honor Rabbi Stampfer's central role in the establishment of the program that in 2010 PSU, in partnership with Judaic Studies supporter Lorry I. Lokey and the Portland Jewish community, created the Rabbi Joshua Stampfer Endowed Professorship in Israel Studies, currently held by Professor Nina Spiegel. In 2011, Rabbi Stampfer was honored by PSU with the conferral of an honorary degree.
Rabbi Stampfer’s energy and vision were truly remarkable. In addition to his congregational work and teaching, Rabbi Stampfer founded or cofounded numerous organizations in his more than six decades in Portland, including the Oregon Jewish Historical Society and the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center (now merged as the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education), Camp Solomon Schechter, the Institute for Judaic Studies, and the Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East. He had a particular interest in surviving communities of crypto-Jews throughout the world and served as president of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies.
An unpretentious and gracious person, Rabbi Stampfer always had a ready smile and a kind word. We in the Judaic Studies Program were honored by his unwavering support for our teaching, research, and community-facing programs. Donations in his memory may be directed to any of the institutions that he helped to establish, including the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies.
May his memory be for a blessing.
