I typically don’t say much about my job on here but today was a special day at the AJA, we dedicated the Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum Digital Collection.  The dedication coincided with the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II. Rabbi Tanenbaum was champion for interfaith relations and was an advocate during the Second Vatican Council and Nostra Aetate, a document which overturned the hostility of Jews and Judaism; additionally it helped change the course of Catholic-Jewish relations.

The AJA is the home to his papers.   Three years ago the AJA began the process of digitizing the collection.   When I started at the archives, well over a year ago the digitization of Tanenbaum Collection became one of my main projects. I spent months making sure documents were correctly digitized and linked to the online site; then there was the whole process of making the sure the collections website presence was just right.

Today members of Hebrew Union Collection, American Jewish Archives, members of the Tanenbaum family and others who were touch and/or intrigued by the life Rabbi Tanenbaum gathered to dedicate the digital collection and commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II.

The Dr. Gary Zola, the executive director of the AJA welcomed everyone and give his remarks on the collection and legacy left by Rabbi Tanenbaum.

Dr. Georgette Bennett, the widow of the late Rabbi Tanenbaum gave her thoughts and shared some stories with us.

Then Rabbi Michael Cook, Ph.D., Sol & Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian Studies & Professor of Intertestamental & Early Christian Literatures lead a discussion on the contents of Rabbi Tanenbaum Collection and the contents of Vatican II and Nostra aetate in the collection.

Then Dr. James Buchanan from Xavier University, who is the Director of the Brueggeman Center for Dialogue gave a response where he discussed the impact the digital collection will have on others religious groups, the impact Tanenbaum had on Jewish – Christian relations and through the work of the Brueggeman Center how Cincinnati can become city of interfaith relations that could serve as an example for cities throughout the world.

Not only did the program give me a sense of accomplishment professionally but the topic was of great interest to me.   I was raised Catholic and the effects of Vactican II were often discussed by my parents, grandparents, and in school.   As I got older I became interested in other faiths and how we all seem to have same common belief just different views related to those beliefs.

While the Tanenbaum Collection is now digitized and I will be moving on to digitization other collections, I hope to continue to study Rabbi Tanenbaum’s work, especially in regards to his interfaith and inter race relations work. Either through research or volunteer work I actually hope I can get involved with the Brueggeman Center.

Be sure to check out the Tanenbaum Digital Collection at http://tanenbaum.americanjewisharchives.org