Yeshiva University High School For Boys - Elchanite Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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. Ya, . f A s N I l ii 5 .,-p. 4'- iv I? on ' Q sr my-anal' Dear Graduates: It is with singular pride that I greet you, the lirst graduating class of the Brooklyn Branch of Talmudical Academy. Only three years have elapsed since you entered the portals of the world renowned Yeshiva Rabbi Isaac Elchanan. You were the first pioneers who made it possible to open our Branch, and today your graduation marks the successful completion of three years of work. If in the beginning the opening of our Yeshiva was only an experiment, today it is an established reality. What started out only as a branch has with your graduation become a fruit-bearing tree. It has grown during the course of your stay at Yeshiva from a student body of forty-eight to one close to two hundred, and from a faculty of a handful of men to one numbering more than two dozen. What is even more important-you have not been mere witnesses of this phenomenal growth but rather participants and the inspiration of this develop- ment. That you have given much to Yeshiva is an accepted fact-it is however of greater significance to evaluate what Yeshiva has done for you. It has been the aim of Yeshiva to provide you with more than a curriculum of prescribed and elective courses. To give you only the subjects required by State laws would not be fulfilling the purpose and goal of our institution. The establishment of a reputable and worthy school is not determined by curriculum alone. lt is rather the spirit that pervades the Yeshiva and the philosophy that governs its administration that are the basic criteria in judging its value. It is the prime objective of the Yeshiva to develop jews who are both cognizant and proud of practicing the tenets of our Torah, and at the same time to prepare them to live a wholesome life in our modern American environment. The organization of the faculty thus played a most prominent role in developing the character of our school and achieving its proposed aims. Your taculty consisted of a staff of well-qualified and competent teachers who are at the same time religious men possessing a positive attitude toward jewish values. Many ot them, graduates of our own Yeshiva University, are imbued both with the ideals of judaism and the best in secular knowledge. In your daily contacts you came face to tace with personalities who exemplified the harmonious blending and fusion ot -Iewish lore and secular learning. Yeshiva thus attempted to give you more than the routine book knowledge which any ordinary high school graduate receives. lt has given you .1 positive outlook and approach to the exigencies and complexities of 'lewish lilie. and inspired you with the zeal and enthusiasm to perpetuate the Torah way ol' lite. May you as the potential lay and rabbinic leaders ol' the tuture American 'lc-wish community, reflect in your thoughts and actions the teachings of our Torali. the inspir- ation of our Prophets, and the wisdom ot' our sages. May the brooklyn Hraiitfi always be able to point with pride to you, its hrst graduating class. its iirsl thirteei pioneers. We trust and hope that the formal links which arc- now Iiorginsj lwiwccii our llrantli and the parent institutionvYeshiva University -will bc' slrtiigtluiicil lirmn year tn year. Rabbi zibraliain N. .7iii'ntl', .Xdininistrator

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U0 glze gracluaiing Clan of 1948 My dear young friends: ir i Thirty years ago, next june, a small group of young pioneers, but six in number, received their high school diplomas from the first, and for many years, the only ac- credited high school organized, managed, and supervised by people of the jewish faith - the Talmudical Academy. Since that first graduation in 1919, several thousand jewish young men have gone forth from our sacred walls to swell the ever-growing tide of young men and young women who complete their high school studies each year. To-day, you are about to join their ranks. You are the first ones of that fortunate group of young pioneers, graduates from the Brooklyn Yeshivoth K'tanos, to complete your high school studies in the Brooklyn Branch of Talmudical Academy, and to merit the award which you have so richly earned. Many were the obstacles you had to overcome. Many difficulties beset your path from the first day you set foot in our Yeshiva, but great is the achievement you have accomplished. Not only have you received a secular education which, judged by any and all standards set up by the local and state departments of education, has been proved to be at least the equal of that given in the public institutions of our city, but you have also received that rich heritage of learning and spirituality which has been handed down by our ancestors for thousands of years. Whereas your brothers and sisters in the public high schools have received only a secular education, you, the graduates of Talmudical Academy, have received, in addition, a thorough ground- ing in Talmud, Bible, Hebrew language and literature, Jewish history and cognate studies. Your lives are richer and fuller and more closely attuned to the traditions and hopes and aspirations-to the heartbeat-of our people. Even a casual examination of the roster of names that appears in our high school alumni bulletin will cause the heart of every self-respecting Jew to swell with pride and satisfaction. Among their number one finds some of the most worth-while citizens of our community and country. Every walk of life, every trade and profession is duly represented. Not only rabbis and preachers, religious leaders and teachers, but communal workers, teachers and administrators in secular schools, colleges and uni- versities, lawyers, artisans, business men, engineers, dentists, doctors, artists, and musicians received their first training in Talmudical Academy. Every part of our country, every segment of our national jewish life, is permeated and enriched by the contributions which our graduates have to olifer to make up the sum total of human experience. As we look back with justifiable pride upon the thousands who have preceded you, we can only hope and pray that you, their younger brothers, will follow in their foot-steps. Vfe pray that you will hold precious those high standards and lofty ideals of citizenship and service, of faith in, and loyalty to, our American democracy that we have tried to inculcate in you, and that you will put into living practice, and uphold in your daily lives, the sacred laws and traditions of our holy Torah. May you prove a source of pride and joy to your parents and your Alma Mater! Shelly R. Saphire, Pmzripfil Six

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