75 Years of Yeshiva College

Until the foundingofYeshiva College,observant Jews who planned to pursue undergraduate studies had two

choices: suffer the slings and arrows of unfriendly academia—a world that

openly disdained Jewish traditions and mores—or forego college altogether.

CELEBRATING

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YESHIVA COLLEGE’S CLASS OF 1932, ITS FIRST GRADUATES, WITH DR. REVEL (BOTTOM ROW, SIXTH FROM RIGHT).

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Until 1928, Orthodox high-school students whodreamed of continuing their secular education hadto reckon with the fact that most colleges—thosenot off-limits to Jews—offered an intolerant, evenhostile, environment where unsympathetic teach-ers and administrators often challenged and rid-iculed religious traditions, and where students’ loy-alty to Orthodoxy was sorely tested. Graduates ofelementary and high-school yeshivas had fewchoices for advanced academic studies that wouldextend the protective canopy of Jewish education.

For Dr. Bernard Revel, rosh hayeshiva and pres-ident of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Semi-nary since 1915, a solution was to fashion a collegeas part of RIETS, where students might pursueadvanced training in an environment respectful ofJewish tradition. Some decried the idea as promot-ing separatism. Others hailed it as a natural pro-gression in Jewish education and as a check againstthe assimilation that “college” fostered.

As Dr. Revel saw it, the experiences of RIETSstudents who supplemented their education withinconvenient night classes, and of those who opted

to leave the yeshiva for secular education, gave hisidea both merit and urgency. His challenge was toconvince them and others that, by enrolling in theyeshiva’s own liberal arts college, they would gainnot only convenience and an embracing environ-ment but also the quality academic education theywere seeking elsewhere.

In 1928, Dr. Revel’s idea came to fruition withthe opening of Yeshiva College, which he called theHouse of God on the Hilltop.

This year it is marking it’s 75th anniversary, andwhile Yeshiva College has developed and expandedover the years, its raison d’etre has remained con-stant:

“[The school] aims to foster this harmoniousgrowth, in which the bases of modern knowledgeand culture in the fields of art, science, and serviceare blended with the bases of Jewish culture, sothat its students may be trained in the spirit ofintelligent and high-minded enthusiasm, and devel-op as informed and devoted sons in the spirit andfaith of Israel, able to recognize the essential har-mony of life.”

—YESHIVA COLLEGE’S FIRST CATALOGUE, 1928–29

Y E S H I V A U N I V E R S I T Y R E V I E W • S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 1 3

From the YU Archives

The following is excerpted from an article

written in 1979 by Roy Campbell, then director

of publicity for YU’s public relations depart-

ment, to help commemorate Yeshiva College’s

50th anniversary.

t was a small college then, sufferingthrough America’s Great Depression at thetop of Manhattan in what one early studentremembers as “the middle of nowhere.” InJune 1932, in the one building that housed

all the college’s facilities, 19 young men receiveddegrees. Eight graduated either magna or summacum laude, and that achievement prompted onefaculty member to rise from his chair and ex-claim, “Never has better collegiate work beendone anywhere or at any time.”

Those 19 young men were the first graduatesof Yeshiva College—the small institution thatlater grew into Yeshiva University…. Many hadpredicted that Yeshiva College was doomed—even before those first students enrolled. In theearly 1920s, Dr. Bernard Revel, president [of thefaculty] of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan TheologicalSeminary, first talked about such a college whenhe saw many of his best students graduating hishigh school and going on to traditional collegesand universities.

…The early years of the College coincidedwith the Great Depression, and one former stu-dent recalled that “from year to year there wasno assurance that the College would reopen.”

As the Depression ravaged the economy,

money dried up. In addition, some Orthodoxleaders withdrew their support because of theCollege’s secular nature. Many who had pledgedmoney were unable to meet those pledges be-cause of their own financial problems. Profes-sors went unpaid, yet no one resigned. Dr.Revel, who, during the worst of times, rode thesubway to work and refused to take a salary,would look out his window and see his dreamsfor a large university being undermined as anapartment complex went up on land he hadonce planned to use for the campus….

The 1940s brought new prosperity to Amer-

ica and Yeshiva College…. When Americaentered World War II, many Yeshiva Collegestudents and recent graduates signed up andserved as officers, chaplains, and common sol-diers. When the war ended…veterans appliedfor admission to the College…. [It] started aprogram for those students with little Judaicbackground, and that program grew into the pio-neering James Striar School of General JewishStudies.

In 1945, Yeshiva College became YeshivaUniversity…. Dr. Revel did not live to see thegrowth of the university. He died in December1940, a few days after collapsing in a classroomwhere he was teaching.

Voices from the Past

o Harry Steinberg and Judah Washer,the history of Yeshiva College repre-sents a personal journey of achieve-ment and continuity. Among the lastsurviving members of Yeshiva College’s

first graduating class, their recent reminiscesform a time capsule into early 20th-century ad-vances in Jewish higher education.

Harry Steinberg ’32Y, a public relations pro-fessional who helped devise and implement

Theodore Gross ’40Y, then a sophomore

student in Yeshiva College, addresses

his class in public speaking.

IT

1 4 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 • Y E S H I V A U N I V E R S I T Y R E V I E W

strategies to gain support in America and at theUN for the establishment of the State of Israel,was recommended to Dr. Revel by leaders of theSeattle Jewish community. Upon his departurefrom his hometown, Mr. Steinberg remembersthat some 200 friends and well-wishers gave hima send-off at the railroad station. He says hespent four-and-a-half days on the train subsist-ing on salami sandwiches “and an occasionalsoft drink.”

“People said I must be crazy to go to thisschool, that it won’t last six months. That it wasjust a dream that wouldn’t last,” he said.

He believes Dr. Revel recruited him “becauseI was American-born. At that time, students atthe yeshiva [RIETS] were primarily Europeanand Yiddish-speaking, and Dr. Revel was eager toreach out to the American community.”

Dr. Washer ’32Y, for 31 years spiritual leaderof the Jewish Center of Teaneck, NJ, remem-bers that faculty Yeshiva College employed atthe time were all heads of departments at CityCollege, and that they treated the YC students“somewhat as honorees because we were takinga tough program. We went to yeshiva during the

day, up until three o’clock, and then we had col-lege until about seven or eight o’clock.”

As a student, he says he hadn’t intended togo into the rabbinate. “Instead, I wanted to be asocial worker. But one day I was talking with[registrar] Mr. Samuel Sar, when his secretarysaid a man was there to see him about filling apulpit position in Miami. I excused myself andleft. But for some reason, that afternoon I wentback to Mr. Sar’s office and asked if he wouldrecommend me for the job. ‘Of course,’ he said.So he called up the man and that’s how I got myfirst pulpit.”

Harry Steinberg (left) and Judah Washer,

YC Class of 1932.

Left: at a recent reunion.

1886Yeshiva Eitz Chaim is established at the

Mariampol Synagogue on New York’s

Lower East Side.

1896RIETS, the first yeshiva of

higher-level Jewish studies

in the United States, is

established in memory of Rabbi Isaac

Elchanan Spektor (1817–96), one of the

outstanding rabbinic scholars of the

19th century, of Kovno, Lithuania.

1901 Dov Revel is ordained in

Kovno, Lithuania, at age 16.

1906The young Revel enters

the United States under

the name Bernard,

enrolls at RIETS.

1909 New York University

awards Dr. Revel a master of arts degree.

1912 Earning a doctorate in

philosophy, Dr. Revel becomes the first

graduate of Dropsie College.

1915RIETS and Yeshiva Eitz Chaim merge

and move to 9 -11 Montgomery Street.

Dr. Bernard Revel becomes rosh hayeshi-

va and president of the faculty.

1916Talmudical Academy opens at RIETS.

1918Elementary-school program of Yeshiva

Eitz Chaim is eliminated.

1921Expanded institution

absorbs Teachers

Institute and moves

to larger quarters at

301 East Broadway.

1924The RIETS charter, from the New York

State Board of Regents, is amended

to authorize granting of doctor of Hebrew

literature (DHL) degree.

1928Charter is amended to authorize granting

of bachelor of arts and bachelor of

science degrees.

Yeshiva College is

established.

Name of institution is changed to Rabbi

Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

and Yeshiva College.

YC classes begin at the Jewish Center,

131 West 86th Street, with 35 students.

eshiva College would not have come into being without the creation, in 1916,

of the Talmudical Academy, the first high school in America under Jewish

auspices. Bernard Revel, in 1915 the newly appointed president of the RIETS

faculty, understood the necessity in America to “establish yeshivoth for young-

sters who will not make Torah their profession.” While most Jews believed that

Jewish education should be supplementary to public schools, he envisioned a day school

prototype that offered a unique curriculum, combining Jewish and general studies.

Many American Jewish leaders disagreed, saying such a combination would never work

on the college level. But as the Talmudical Academy—the forerunner of today’s Marsha

Stern Talmudical Academy and the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for

Girls—thrived, it led to the urgent need for higher education based on Torah Umadda.

Its natural outgrowth was Yeshiva College.

Y


Training Young Minds:Measuring and AchievingSuccess

scholar and educator who held senioradministrative positions at the Uni-versity of Pennsylvania and North-eastern University in Boston,Norman T. Adler became dean of

Yeshiva College in March 1994. He succeededNorman Rosenfeld, who served for 14 years, andHarold Nierenberg, former Sy Syms School ofBusiness head, who was interim dean.

Dean Adler is a magna cum laude graduate ofHarvard University who earned a master’s inendocrinology and a PhD in psychology from theUniversity of California, Berkeley. Followingpostdoctoral training in neuroendocrinology at

n the mornings I learned the

secrets of the Gemara with

the wise and ever-patient

Rabbi Tzvi Dov Kanatopsky. In

the afternoons I studied early

English poetry and writing with Leo

Taubes. Mr. Taubes was an exact-

ing teacher and one tough grader;

he demanded clear thinking and

clear writing. And in the evenings,

I worked on the Commentator, first

as a writer, then as an editor, and

eventually as a publisher, getting

ink on my fingers at the print shop

in Lower Manhattan. (Yes, publish-

ing was a dirty business in the

pre-computer era.)

It all seemed so disparate and

divided when I was a YU student

more than 30 years ago. I was

scattered in a dozen different

directions, it seemed. But over the

years, my various interests con-

verged into a career in religion,

journalism, literature, and teaching.

YU gave me the foundation to

pursue an unusual career path—

and the confidence that I could do

it as a Modern Orthodox Jew. To

me, Torah Umadda was not just a

philosophical concept, but also a

blueprint for life.

I believed—and continue to

believe, despite a rightward shift

in the Orthodox world—that I

could do anything as an Orthodox

Jew. There was no profession or

endeavor that was closed to me.

Being Orthodox was not a liability

in the marketplace, but an asset of

immeasurable worth.

My fellow YU alumni prove that

every day. We are leaders in medi-

cine, finance, law, diplomacy, sci-

ence, teaching, and the helping

professions, like social work and

nursing. Being Orthodox is some-

thing about which we are proud.

I’ll give one small example

from my first career—journalism,

a field that everyone warned me

would be an impossible profession

for an Orthodox Jew. When I was

a reporter at The New York Times,

there was an opening for a copy

boy—the lowest job in the news-

room but a traditional avenue into

it. I recommended a recent YC

graduate to fill the slot. A few

weeks after the student was hired,

the head of the copy boys came

over to my desk to talk with me.

I feared that she would complain

about scheduling the young man

around Shabbat and holidays—a

problem that dogged me through

my early career. Instead the

woman was full of praise.

“What a wonderful young man

you sent me,” she said. “He’s

energetic, polite, smart, enthusias-

tic, a promising young writer—and

he never complains when I sched-

ule him to work on Sundays!”

Being Orthodox is a lot more

than a series of restrictions—can’t

work this day, can’t eat that food.

It means being compassionate,

cooperative, generous, honest, and

willing to go the extra mile.

Equally important, being Ortho-

dox does not mean closeting one-

self away in a ghetto, but being

part of the world—a daily witness

that the message of Torah is for all

to see and appreciate. And this is

every bit as true today in Israel as

it is in America.

A few years ago I spent a sab-

batical year in Israel as a visiting

professor at Hebrew University.

Going to shul each Shabbat in

Jerusalem was like a huge college

reunion. After a few weeks my

children were making fun of me

because virtually everyone I intro-

duced to them had been a class-

mate at Yeshiva. “Did everyone

Modern Orthodox go to YU?” they

would ask. Not quite everyone, but

those of us who did took with us a

lesson about Judaism and moder-

nity that is perhaps even more

important today than it was when

I graduated. Yeshiva made that

kind of impression on me and an

entire generation of Jews. It has

helped shape both Judaism and

society in a way no other institu-

tion has by demonstrating that the

two are inextricably intertwined.

Ari L. Goldman is a professor

at the Columbia University

Graduate School of Journalism,

a former reporter for The New York

Times, and the author of three

books, including The Search for

God at Harvard.

A BLUEPRINT FOR LIFE By Ari L. Goldman ’71Y

I

AIn June 1932, in the one building that housed all

the college’s facilities, 19 young men received degrees.

Eight graduated either magna or summa cum laude,

and that achievement prompted one faculty member to

rise from his chair and exclaim, “Never has better

collegiate work been done anywhere or at any time.”


UCLA’s Brain Research Institute, he joined thepsychology department at Penn in 1968. In1976 he became the university’s youngest fullprofessor at the time.

He later founded the interdisciplinary Bio-logical Basis of Behavior program for undergrad-uates at Penn, which recently honored him at its75th anniversary celebration. For his foundingwork, he received the Dana Foundation Awardfor Pioneering Achievement in Higher Educa-tion (called the “Nobel Prize” in higher educa-tion). Also, Dean Adler has received two Gug-genheim Fellowships, the Lindback Award forOutstanding Teaching, and numerous grants.

Dean Adler says hewas attracted to YeshivaUniversity because “[it]has always represented tome the very highest idealsof the Jewish people ineducation, research, andservice to our communi-ty.” His main task, he

says, is to “strengthen the dual curriculum [ofYeshiva College] by assuring the highest level ofacademic excellence in secular studies and bycreating an educational atmosphere which facil-itates and is compatible with the objectives andideals of the Jewish studies programs.”

Recently, Dean Adler sat down with YUReview to reflect on his 10 years at YeshivaCollege, and to elucidate his focus and hopefor the school as he begins his second decade atits helm.

What did you intend to do or change when you

first came to Yeshiva College?

I feel Yeshiva College is one of the mostimportant institutions in Modern Orthodoxy. Idecided to focus on developing this potential—and to have the outside world recognize us as acenter of religious and intellectual excellence.We have concentrated on building the strongestfaculty and curriculum we can. Parallel to this,we have tried to make this school as friendly andefficient an operation as we can.

The faculty, students, and I have started newprograms to help shape our development for ex-cellence. Instituting the Jay and Jeanie Schot-tenstein Honors Program [in 1999] is probablythe most visible. It is a program that offers stu-dents a series of intellectual experiences includ-ing a rigorous course of study, mentorship, andthesis, and is open to honors and other highlyqualified YC students.

Other academic experiences include the

1929 RIETS and YC move to

2540 Amsterdam Avenue in Washington

Heights, today Zysman Hall.

1932YC holds its first Commencement,

graduating 19 students.

1940 Dr. Revel dies, Dec. 2.

1943Dr. Samuel Belkin becomes president.

1956Jewish Studies Program begins as

special curriculum for YC students with

limited Jewish background.

1957New dormitory

opens, named

Leah and Joseph

Rubin Residence

Hall in 1959.

1966Teachers Institute for Men renamed

Erna Michael College of Hebraic Studies.

1970 New York State grants

RIETS new charter as YU affiliate.

1976Dr. Belkin dies, April 18.

Dr. Norman Lamm ’49Y,B,R becomes

president.

1979 Yeshiva Program is

renamed Yeshiva Program/Mazer School

of Talmudic Studies.

1982 Erna Michael College of

Hebraic Studies renamed Isaac Breuer

College of Hebraic Studies.

1990YC Board of Directors is established.

1995 Beit Midrash Program

begins. Later that year it is renamed

Irving I. Stone Beit Midrash Program.

1999 Jay and Jeanie

Schottenstein Honors Program at Yeshiva

College is established.

2000 Alumnus

Chaim Strauchler becomes

YC’s first Rhodes scholar.

2003Richard M. Joel becomes

fourth president of Yeshiva

University, now a national

research university with

7,000 students, $190

million in funded research,

an operating budget of $475 million, and

a mission that is stronger than ever.

2004 More than 100 YU men

and women undertook a 48-hour solidarity

mission to The Hague, Netherlands, to

join in protesting a decision by the UN’s

International Court of Justice to hear oral

arguments against Israel’s

construction of a defense

barrier to stop Palestinian

suicide bombers.


yearly YC Book Project, developed by former YUpresident Dr. Lamm to help humanize and intel-lectualize our students and to introduce them tocollege life. We choose a topic and send a bookto every student at Sy Syms School of Businessand Yeshiva College for summer reading, whichis followed by extensive discussion and analysisduring the year through lectures and classroomwork. Several roshei yeshiva actively participatein this project.

Then there’s the Arts Festival, giving our stu-dents a way to create art that expresses theirJewish neshamah [soul]. And the summer hon-ors program is amazing. Our students have stud-ied the ancient civilizations of America inGuatemala and Jewish history in France andItaly. This summer they studied literature inDublin and London and participated in anarcheological dig in Israel.

Why is YC unique among college institutions?

Yeshiva College (and YU in general) is one ofthe bravest experiments in higher education andan important aspect of modern Jewish history. Itis the only institution I know of that rigorouslytrains b’nei Torah in the mandate of “acquiringwisdom.” We have the potential to enrich theworld with our Torah values.

When I address students, I tell them: “You’rethe ‘Marines’ of yiddishkeit. You’re the front line.”It isn’t simply that I want them to take politicalscience courses. I want them to get PhDs inpolitical science and teach and help our peoplein world forums. I want them to become profes-sors of computer science or invent the next “bigthing” in computation or robotics. YeshivaCollege is unique among colleges in part be-cause it is responsible for educating modern,

observant Jews and for training the leadershipfor worldwide Judaism.

In 2000, YC had its first Rhodes Scholar.

What did that do for YC and its reputation?

When one of our students, faculty, or rosheiyeshiva is acclaimed by the world, the total insti-tution is uplifted. I will continue to push as hardas I can to get more internationally recognizedscholarships and honors for our students andfaculty. Chaim Motzen was perhaps the first inrecent years [to receive such acclaim] when hewon the USA Today Award [in 1996]; ChaimStrauchler was our first Rhodes. We have, inrecent years, continued to turn out winners andfinalists at a very high rate. This past year, alone,David B. Kastner, a junior majoring in biology,chemistry, and English, was awarded the presti-gious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. In addi-tion, Corey Goldfeder, a graduating senior, wasawarded a Department of Defense NationalScience and Engineering Graduate Fellowshipfor study toward the PhD in computer science.

Recognition of the excellence of our greatestresource—our students and faculty—builds thereputation of this institution. My personal targetfor institutional achievement and recognition isto be admitted to Phi Beta Kappa within five toseven years.

How do you assess YC’s impact on the future

of Orthodox Jewry?

We are creating the tough, durable, colorfulfabric of Orthodox Judaism with each class wegraduate. I measure our impact by our contribu-tions to scholarships in the secular world, posi-tions of leadership in American and Israeli uni-versities, and simultaneously, our position in the

Since its inception, Yeshiva

College seeks to educate and

prepare its students to pursue

professional careers and

positions of leadership in the

Jewish and general communities

in America, Israel, and

around the world.

Its more than

9,000alumni are a diverse group that

includes physicians, attorneys,

accountants, government and

business leaders, entrepreneurs,

human-services professionals,

artists, authors, academicians,

scholars, and rabbis.

In last year’s YC graduating

class, some

80%of students who applied to

medical school and

92%of those who applied to law

school were accepted to at least

one accredited school.

Yeshiva College is one of the bravest experiments

in higher education and an important aspect of

modern Jewish history. It is the only institution I know of

that rigorously trains b’nei Torah in the mandate

of “acquiring wisdom.” We have the potential to enrich

the world with our Torah values.


world of Torah. What is better than a “YU man”who learns every day and is fluent in worldlywisdom?

What changes/improvements would you like to

see at YC in curriculum and faculty?

Universities are about “minds.” We needscholarships to support young minds, and weneed more “cutting edge,” youthful, full-timefaculty to train those young minds and producescholarship for future generations. We havebeen working closely with Dr. Morton Lowen-grub, vice president for academic affairs, to hireoutstanding teacher/scholars for our faculty,with great success.

Our main problem now, like most major uni-versities, is facilities. We don’t have enoughclassrooms or faculty “spaces” in which they canmeet with students. We need additional, high-tech laboratories to produce more Rhodes,

Goldwater, and other scholars. We need to shiftthe teaching load of faculty from formal classesto performing research with students and men-toring them individually.

Also, we’re pushing for developmental advis-ing, where students have an adviser all three orfour years they are here. And, I’ve instituted aca-demic reviews of each department every fiveyears. This coming year there will be a thoroughreview of the curriculum, as part of celebrating75 years of Yeshiva College. This review will in-vestigate the first principles of our education:What is the goal of a Yeshiva College educationin the 21st century? With which intellectual andanalytic tools do we want our students to beequipped when they graduate? How do wemeasure our success and how best do weachieve it? One big initiative will be in the fieldsof communications and media because I thinkthey are the “diamond trades” of the 21st centu-

ry—fields well suited to the Orthodox lifestyle.Also, we expect to develop a strong program inIsrael studies on campus.

How will President Joel’s vision for YU affect the

future of YC?

From the day of his arrival, President Joelmade a commitment to four principles: excel-lence, nobility, community, and Israel. We’vealready increased our presence in Israel with ourinternship program there, and will continue withinitiatives like the formal program in Israel stud-ies. Also, we are becoming globally orientedthrough our political science program and thenew Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for Inter-national Affairs. I was thrilled that over a hun-dred YU students traveled to the InternationalCourt of Justice in The Hague last February insupport of Israel’s right to self defense. They areour future. ■

From left: Shalom Silbermintz, of Sherman

Oaks, CA; Benjy Nadler, Hamstead, Quebec;

Zecharia Mehler, Northbook, IL; and

David Weinberg, Willowdale, Ontario.


75 Years of Yeshiva College

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