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

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Evhiraiinn .I ON THE OCCASION OF HIS FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY, AND THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TALMUDICAL ACADEMY, WE, THE EDITORS. DEDICATE THE ELCHANITE OF I94O TO OUR DEVOTED PRINCIPAL, DR. SHELLEY R. SAFIR, IN RECOGNITION OF HIS UNTIRIN6 EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF THE STUDENTS AND THE SCHOOL.

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L HANFITE JUNE., 1940 TALMUDICAL ACADEMY

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IN RETROSPECT By Dr. ShelIey R. Safir JusT abouT TwenTy-Tive years ago, The auThoriTies and Ieaders oT The Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary IThe Yeshival were conTronTed wiTh The pressing problem oT whaT To do wiTh The boys who had compIeTed Their eIemenTary sTudies in The parochial schools oT The Two or Three YeshivoTh Then exisTing and were ready To enTer high school. Two courses were open To The DirecIors. One was To permiT The boys To proceed To The public high schools To pursue Their secular sTudies, Thereby sacriTicing The rich background oT Jewish learning which was To serve as The basis Tor The TurTher undersTanding and appreciaTion oT The hisTory and IiTeraTure, The Iaws and cusToms oT our people and The knowledge oT The Holy Torah. The oTher alTernaTive was To Tound a secondary school as parT of The Yeshiva, where The boys could conTinue, under one roof, The subiecTs oT The high school curriculum wiThouT disconTinuing or inTerrupTing Their Talmudic and Jewish sTudies in The Yeshiva. Our direcTors and Ieaders solved The problem by Tounding The Talmudical Academy, The TirsT academic high school in America under Jewish auspices, under The compleTe conTroI and supervision oT The Yeshiva, where The spiriTuaI environ- menT is in harmony wiTh The immorTaI precepTs and TruThs oT our holy Iaws: where The Jewish spiriT unhampered, is encouraged To develop To iTs TuIIesT exTenT. In This environmenT, permeaTed by a sympaTheTic undersTanding beTween Teacher and pupil and by a close harmony beTween The aTmosphere oT The school and ThaT oT The home. The besT ThaT is in The sTudenT has been broughT To The surTace, I-Iow well This plan has worked ouT is Tully and amply aTTesTed by The hisTory oT The progress and The successes which our high school has enjoyed Tor The pasT Two and a haIT decades. In all iTs aspecTs, Talmudical Academy has wriTTen a chapTer in Jewish educaTion oT which iTs sponsors and iTs leaders have every reason To be proud. IT was To aTTord These seIecTed Tew, This small remnanT oT The ToTaI Jewish sTudenT body in our ciTy, The opporTuniTy oT conTinuing Their secular sTudies in an environmenT conducive To The preservaTion oT Their rich heriTage oT Jewish knowledge and cuITure, ThaT Talmudical Academy was Tounded TwenTy-Tive years ago. In I9I5, appIicaTion was made To The Board oT RegenTs oT The UniversiTy oT The STaTe oT New York Tor permission To organize courses which would meeT The enTrance requiremenTs prescribed by The meTropoIiTan college enTrance boards, and also Those Iaid down by The New York CiTy Board oT EducaTion Tor iTs own high schools. Four years IaTer, in November I9I9, when our school was already conducTing a ELCHANITE A T T Three