haifa | Immediately after the chuppah ceremony, Canadian businessman Dr. Michael Dan had an unusual but pleasant surprise for the woman he had just married: a $2 million wedding present.
But this recent gift would be far-reaching.
The money would set up an endowment fund bearing the name of the new bride, Amira Dan, and used to award fellowships to outstanding needy doctoral students in the humanities at the University of Haifa.
“This fund,” the groom told his wife and wedding guests, “will generate a real change in the lives of brilliant doctoral students who are in need of aid. It will enable them to fulfill a dream and devote themselves to research in philosophy, history, languages, literature and art. These young researchers will contribute to science, to teaching, and will advance these areas in the academic world.”
The bride, a doctoral student in philosophy at York University, Toronto, could especially appreciate the gesture.
Close to tears, she responded, “This is the most beautiful, most meaningful gift that I have received.” Adding that she knew from her own experience what it was like to be needy, she promised to be personally involved in choosing the doctoral candidates who would receive the yearly fellowship.
Canadian lawyer Peter Biro, on the board of the University of Haifa and president of the Canadian Friends of Haifa University, was instrumental in facilitating the establishment of the Amira Dan Doctoral Fund and in orchestrating some of the logistics.
Michael Dan was excited at the idea, but wanted it to be kept secret until the ceremony. The only other people who knew about it were University of Haifa President Aaron Ben-Ze’ev and Vice President Ada Spitzer.
At the wedding reception in Toronto, Ben-Ze’ev and Spitzer gave Amira Dan a handprinted parchment scroll that had been quietly prepared in Haifa. The scroll, they said, “honors a donor whose munificence will make a difference in the lives of bright, needy young scholars.”