$10 million gift to university from Ann and Jeremy Pava
Ann and Jeremy Pava’s $10 million gift to Yeshiva University for a new Center for Women’s Torah Scholarship is the latest and most visible expression of a donor couple whose philanthropy has consistently focused on empowering religious women, strengthening Torah education, and deepening Jewish life in both North America and Israel.
Their giving pattern shows a deliberate strategy: invest at scale in institutions that expand serious Torah study and leadership opportunities for women while remaining anchored in traditional Orthodox life.
Yeshiva University will establish the Ann and Jeremy Pava Center for Women’s Torah Scholarship at Stern College for Women, funded by the $10 million gift from the couple’s Micah Philanthropies.
The center’s flagship will be the Pava Scholars Program, a three‑year track for undergraduates majoring in Jewish studies that combines high‑level coursework, chavruta learning, weekly colloquia, close faculty mentorship, and immersive trips in the U.S., Israel and Europe.
The center will be led by educator Raizi Chechik, former head of Manhattan Day School, and is explicitly intended to produce women who will serve as Torah educators, scholars, and communal leaders within Modern Orthodoxy.
YU’s leadership has framed the initiative as part of a broader institutional commitment to women’s Torah leadership, positioning it alongside a recent series of major gifts that have strengthened the university’s religious and academic infrastructure.
The Pavas’ public statements and grantmaking reflect a clear belief that women’s advanced Torah learning is essential for the future of Jewish life rather than a niche interest. Micah Philanthropies’ mission is to “make traditional Judaism more relevant, accessible and meaningful,” and the foundation repeatedly highlights investments that allow Orthodox women to study and lead at the highest levels while remaining deeply rooted in halakhic observance.
This same philosophy underpins their earlier support for women serving in religiously demanding roles, from educational leadership in day schools to programs that accompany observant women through army service in Israel.
Across these efforts, the couple tends to back initiatives that combine serious Torah study, pastoral or spiritual support, and robust professional training, signaling an interest in building long‑term leadership pipelines rather than one‑off scholarships.
Through Micah Philanthropies, Ann and Jeremy Pava have become significant players in North American Jewish philanthropy, serving not only as funders but as lay leaders and conveners. The foundation emphasizes “covenantal Jewish living,” and its portfolio includes grants to organizations that strengthen Jewish education, synagogue life, and Jewish identity, often with an eye toward engaging the next generation.
The couple’s leadership roles extend beyond their own foundation: Jeremy is a founding trustee of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, a central force behind PJ Library, and both Pavas are PJ Library Alliance Partners. They have helped shape national conversations about Jewish education and engagement by co‑chairing major gatherings such as the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly and by receiving national recognition for volunteer and philanthropic leadership.
The YU gift follows a notable pattern of targeted investments in women’s Torah‑centered programs, especially those that combine religious rigor with real‑world leadership or service.
Earlier in 2025, Micah Philanthropies committed $1.5 million to expand the Hadas Army Program for Women at Ohr Torah Stone, which provides intensive Torah learning, mentorship and spiritual guidance to Orthodox women serving in the Israel Defense Forces; the program has since been renamed the Pava Hadas Army Program.
In interviews about that gift, the Pavas pointed to a growing wave of religious young women choosing army service and spoke of wanting to ensure that these women have the Torah learning and spiritual infrastructure to thrive in demanding roles.
That investment, like the new YU center, underscores their belief that observant women should have access to both serious Torah study and high‑impact public service or leadership pathways, whether in classrooms, beit midrashim, or military intelligence units.
Biographical details further illuminate the values driving their philanthropy. Ann Pava, president of Micah Philanthropies, is widely described as an activist and thought leader in Jewish communal life, recognized with honors such as the Jewish Federations of North America’s Kipnes‑Wilson/Friedland Award for outstanding women philanthropists and a lay leadership award from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation for excellence in Jewish education.
Her volunteer record includes founding the Jewish Free Loan of Greater Hartford and playing leadership roles in local and national federation life, where she has advocated for accessible, high‑quality Jewish education.
Jeremy Pava, a businessman and communal leader, has long framed his philanthropy as an extension of values learned from his parents, emphasizing dignity, humility and a responsibility to improve the world through Jewish living. In addition to his Micah Philanthropies role, he has decades of service on the Harold Grinspoon Foundation board, where the focus on Jewish identity and education aligns closely with the couple’s own philanthropic priorities.
Within the broader landscape of Modern Orthodox giving, the Pavas’ $10 million commitment to YU’s women’s Torah scholarship center stands out as a signal investment in gender‑inclusive Torah leadership.
It arrives at a time when Modern Orthodoxy has seen an expansion of women’s learning and rabbinic‑adjacent training programs, even as debates continue about titles, roles and communal boundaries.
By choosing Yeshiva University—the flagship institution of Modern Orthodoxy—as the vehicle for an eponymous women’s Torah center, the Pavas are effectively anchoring their vision in the mainstream of their community rather than at its edges.
That move may encourage additional major donors to see women’s advanced Torah learning not as experimental philanthropy, but as core infrastructure for the future of Orthodox life.
At an institutional level, the gift helps YU deepen its bench of women scholars and educators, strengthen Stern College’s positioning as a destination for serious Torah study, and compete for top female students who might otherwise seek intensive learning frameworks in Israel or outside the YU ecosystem.
The endowed center structure also means that this is not a time‑limited initiative; it is designed to produce cohorts of Pava Scholars for years to come, gradually seeding schools, synagogues and community organizations with women trained in high‑level text learning and leadership.
For the Pavas, the donation fits a broader shift they have described since October 7 toward greater engagement with Israel, while still maintaining their deep commitments to North American institutions.
Paired with their support for women in IDF frameworks and their long‑standing investments in Jewish education and PJ Library, the YU center can be seen as another node in a cross‑continental strategy to cultivate knowledgeable, confident Orthodox women who can carry Jewish communities through a period of uncertainty and change.