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

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Dear Graduates, Graduation is a time for celebration. It represents the culmination of your efforts and perseverance to complete the unique course of Torah u-Madda study at Stern College. Congratulations and good wishes are thus in order. But in the Jewish tradition, any completion of study, any siyyum, entails not only recognition for what has already transpired. It also includes a continuation, or a beginning anew of the scholarly process. Whether it is the beginning of another Talmudic tractate when one has been completed or the completion and beginning of the reading of the Torah on Simhat Torah, we do not rest on our laurels. The Jewish Studies Faculty has been proud to instruct you in the intricacies of Torah and Jewish Scholarship and to imbue you with teachings of morality and ethics which ought to accompany an intensive learning experience. We hope that what we have taught will be viewed by you as just the first step. Take the methodologies and the materials, the thoughts and the theories and use them well as you embark upon a new phase of study which will hopefully be a lifelong one. You may find that setting aside time to study or mustering the resolve necessary to concentrate on your studies will require great effort. Please do not despair! Remember instead the aphorism of the Amora R. Yizhak (Megillah 6b): If a person says, I have expended effort and I have succeeded, believe him her. It might not seem possible for that person to have been able to master that much Torah knowledge or to have really penetrated through to the core of a very difficult Torah concept. But if the student has put in great effort, the greatness of our Torah vouchsafes that no scholarly achievement is impossible. Dear Graduates, As you are about to leave the sacred walls of our Yeshiva I would like to share with you a very beautiful Torah thought expressed by the famous Spanish Talmudist and exegete Rav Isaac Arama, the author of the Akiedas Yitzchak. In the Biblical narrative dealing with the creation of woman we find that G-d gives her two names. The first name isha — teaches that woman was created from man (ish) and stresses the fact that like him she is capable of understanding and advancing in the intellectual and moral spheres just as the matriarchs, prophetesses and righteous women did throughout Jewish history. The second name Chaua — the mother of all living kind, alludes to the power of childbearing and to the responsibility of rearing children called motherhood. What Rav Arama is stressing in his exegetical comment is the technical definition of woman ' s unique double role and mission in life as it is depicted by the names she was given at the time of her creation. Stern College has given you the tools with which to accomplish both these missions. Through your exposure to intensive and sophisticated Torah analysis and methodology and your acquisition of yediat ha-torah you have been given the technical capability of continuing to learn Torah during your future years. This in turn will enable you to continuously grow intellectually and spiritually in your observance of Torah and mitzvos and to make an impact and contribution to society at large. Through the Jewish philosophy and theology courses you have taken you have been inculcated with an acute awareness of what it means to be a Jew and specifically a Jewish mother. A Jewish mother is the soul and inspiration of the Jewish home. It is she who will ultimately help determine her family ' s spiritual direction in life. Our Sages teach us that each generation is redeemed because of the righteous woman of that generation. It is my belief that you will be capable of personifying all that I have mentioned above and will in turn help the Jewish people of our generation experience this redemption. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you, the Class of 1986, continued bracha v ' hatzlocha in all your future endeavors. Sincerely, Rabbi Tzvi Flaum Sincerely, Rabbi Ephraim Kanarfogel

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