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ZAFREN / FROM HOCHSCHULE TO JUDAICA CONSERVANCY FOUNDATION
2 3
to bring other appropriate institutions o f higher Jewish learning
into the arrangement.
As proposed, the conservancy, which would own these mate
rials, will include a representative o f each participating institution
as a trustee. . . The trust will preserve the books and manuscripts
. . . and make them available to institutions o f Jewish or general
scholarship. The agreement would provide for admission o f ad
ditional appropriate institutions in the future (pp. 13-14).
Put ano ther way in the accompanying memorandum : “HUC
does not insist upon asserting its property interest in those ma
terials to the exclusion o f o ther institutions o f h igher Jewish
learning. Instead, HUC proposes a conservancy arrangem ent,
whereby HUC, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Leo Baeck
College, and o ther approp riate institutions o f higher Jewish
learning will share ownership and access to these materials” (pp.
13-14).
CONSERVANCY PLAN
The settlement was approved despite HUC’s opposition, but
HUC’s espousal o f the conservancy plan was more successful.
The rest o f the story is relatively uncomplicated and can be
summarized briefly. In October 1985, JRSO recommended to
the Court that all o f the manuscripts and two p rinted books
be recalled from their purchasers. The Court approved this.
The Judaica Conservancy Foundation was incorporated in J a n
uary, 1986. In July, JRSO recommended to the Court that all
o f the assets be en trusted to the Judaica Conservancy Founda
tion. Saul Kagan, Executive Director o f JRSO, justified the rec
ommendation in p a rt as follows:24
1. The Judaica Conservancy Foundation represents a joint un
dertaking o f the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute o f
Religion, Cincinnati; the Hebrew University, Jerusalem; the
Jewish Theological Seminary, New York; the Leo Baeck Col
lege, London; the Leo Baeck Institute, New York; and Ye-
shiva University, New York. The institutions encompass the
three principal Jewish institutions o f higher learning in the
United States and the leading university in Israel which in
cludes the Jewish National and University Library, as well as
24. Letter to Justice White dated July 8, 1986.