Stern College for Women - Kochaviah Yearbook (New York, NY)

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When Alicia asked me to write a few words to the class of 1970 I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I remembered greetings in my college year book that went unread; yet, on the other hand, how could I not say an official goodbye from the Office of Student Services — Mrs. Shimoff, Mrs. Winter and myself — to all of you, both as individuals and as a class ? A college class is not just a conglomerate of individual students but takes on an identity of its own. Its common experience, as men measure time, is, to be sure, of short duration. And yet in those four years the class as a group shares meaningful experiences and each individual in it is concerned with basic questions — be they re- ligious, intellectual, social, or personal. We have shared your collec- tive experience and have been privileged to share with many per- sonal experiences also. In the process an enduring tie between you — as a class and as individuals — and each of us has been formed. This bond is deep and real and need not end; but our tie to the class of 1970 — as a class — will soon belong to the past since your collec- tive existence ends with graduation. And so with a deep sense of thankfulness at being permitted to share with you your college years and with a deep sense of sorrow for that which will no longer be we say goodbye. Hashem yishmor tsetcha uvo ' echa me ' atah ve ' ad olam. Jo jC ajLcjUonsduU Recent statistics reveal that as many as 95 percent of Ameri- can Jewish youth enter college and about 77 percent receive college degrees. Very few however have had your good fortune to have been exposed to secular studies and higher Jewish val- ues at the same time. The Judaism that you have studied has its roots at Sinai and expresses itself through a vast literature, comprehensive theology and functional ethics. Our sages have taught us that Judaism does not express it- self in study alone. We are not satisfied with an abstract faith or disembodied sentiment. Our study is to guide our daily con- duct, and our faith is to lead to noble acts, and our visions are to be translated into reality. In a world that has become indifferent to ethical values, we depend upon young people imbued with our rich cultural heri- tage to light a candle and show the way. The Stern College graduate is uniquely suited for it.

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I am happy to extend my congratulations and best wishes to you as you prepare to leave Stern College to pursue your various ways. Today ' s undergraduates face a difficult, if not distressing, future in a world which seems to grow more uncertain and more threatening from day to day. To the natural condition of man, with its attendant dangers and diffic ulties, modern civilization seems to have added its own brand of frightening possibilities. In all areas, social, political, eco- nomic, and natural, man seems to have loosed forces which he can no longer control and which promise to repay him for their release by turning upon and constricting him. The responses to this dismal prospect are varied. Some respond by falling into apathy, some become fatalistic, and others angered, cry for the destruction of the world which they did not cre- ate but whose burdens they are forced to take up. The time has come, they argue, for casting away traditions, for spurning what was accepted and believed, since every day proclaims that they have failed. If hope is to be found they contend, it is in the new, the untried. One has always, of course, to be prepared to learn to use the new to solve problems, old and new. But at Yeshiva we hold firm to the belief that while we must be ever receptive to the new, we best refashion our world by basing it on those eternal values which permitted the world of our fathers to exist and flourish. In essence, the educational program at Stern College is a declaration of this belief. While it is our hope and desire to train those women who enter our doors to the maximum of our ability, and their potential, and enable them to master new areas of knowledge and to be able to cope with the problems of our contemporary world, we also hope to give them a firm founda- tion in the everlasting values embodied in the Torah which have shaped the best of today ' s civili- zation. It is this conviction that gives Stern College its unique place in the world, and gives the education that it offers its students its special and particular flavor and quality. As you move out into this world, our best wishes go with you. With you, too, go our prayers that you will continue to remain aware and knowledgeable in those eternal values which underlie the Jewish tradition and heritage, and that as you set out to forge a better and safer and saner world, the training that you have received with us will be your guide. May you leave Stern College not to leave, but to come closer to the things for which it stands, and to make us the benefactors of the high ideals and values and the better life to which you are dedicated and for which you are now prepared to work. Go from strength to strength, and find success and fulfillment in the years that lie ahead of you. February 26, 1970 David Mirsky Dean

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Administration m Norman Twersky Assistant Registrar Esther Reich Assistant to the Dean Esther Zuroff Placement Coordinator