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

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THE ELFHANITE St'7'L'lIfL FH American Jewry is suffering and has been suffering for years and years fast from crass ignorance. Far too many of its leaders, both spiritual and lay, have been famous for their lack ci Jewish knowledge. The Yeshiva is endeavoring to change all this. It is placing stress upon Jewish learning. lt says to the Jews of America, there must be developed a generation, aye. generations of Jews who shall know and who will have leaders impregnated with Jewish learning and thus be in a position to teach American Jews and inspire them with a devotion and an attachment to the ages-old principle. which alone makes Jewish life per- manent and worth while. Only in this manner can the contribution of the Jewish people to civilization be con- tinued. I am not concerned with the physi- cal progress of the Yeshiva, Build- ings do not make an institution and least of all, an institution of learning. I believe in the Jewish dictum. 'Do not judge the vessel by its appearance, but by its contentsf I have known the Yeshiva for more than twenty years. I have watched its struggles and its pitiful lack of means, and I have seen it developed and grow ir: a manner that is truly phenomenal. I have seen boys from all parts of the country and Canada come to the Yeshiva. I have seen young men who l v have come here from the other side of the Atlantic and who have been com- pletely lost, find a spiritual home in the Yeshiva. The Yeshiva has shown that there is no conldict-that there need be no conflict-between true Judaism and American life. It is a matter of education and of training, and more than anything else, of will power. The future of the Yeshiva will de- pend on the student body itself. If they will go out into American life loyal to the teachings of the Yeshiva and if they will be true to the princi- ples with which they were inculcated during their years of study in the Yeshiva, the Yeshiva cannot but help become a greater power and a greater influence for good in American Jewish life, Let me repeat, it is not the build- lTlgS,f-HILICII as they are neededfthat wlll give the real value to the Yeshiva. Its estimate will depend upon what the student body accomplishes. The Yeshiva is dedicated to Jewish learning. It must never fail in that. It has been said that the center of Jewish gfavity is changing to America. It would be a catastrophe if American Jewry we e to continue to be steeped in igno ance. NYe are looking to the Yeshiva to transform American Jewry into a living, pulsating organism, bieathing the Jewish spirit which alone can be alive if it is imbued with the spirit of the Torah. '-2 ,ww fa d e. ,wwf . ,Y 2- ' '4 V YY, , . , 4 x53

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