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

Page 12 text:

Qefgcfiona Twenty-seven years ago, on a bright brisk afternoon, a timid young man presented himself to Dr. Shelley R. Saphirc, the principal of Talmudical Academy. I hear you need a teacher in historyf' the young applicant very deferentially addressed himself to the very busy executive before him. No, he replied, not in history. But we do need a teacher in Latin. Go upstairs to the class of Mr. Lucien Lamb. Observe him teaching the subject and let me know whether you can undertake to teach it. This is how I became an instructor DL Beniamm D. 5t,apq,O in Talmudical Academy, then located in a very old, dilapidated building on Scamel Street, corner of East Broadway. Twenty-seven years have elapsed since-years replete with earth- shaking events that have tried the human soul. The world has passed through cycles of prosperity and depression, it emerged from one cata- strophic war, perched itself on the fence of an insecure peace for a period of time, and then plunged into another titanic struggle, World War H. Then a new star appeared on the horizon, the new state of Israel-small, small amends indeed of a conscience-stricken world. The growth of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary re- flected these turbulent, momentous years. Talmudical Academy graduated into a college: the college, into a university. It moved from its very inadequate building on East Broadway to its present palatial quarters on the Heights. Well do I remember the dreams of the dreamer of them all, the late Dr. Bernard Revel, the Rosh Ha-Yeshiva, the sainted man who saw a vision of a university campus with buildings on both sides of Amsterdam Avenue. But these visions, built on the un- certain shifting dunes of the 1920's, became a mirage. Then came the dawn of a new era, the era under the inspiring leadership of Dr. Samuel Belkin, our beloved President of Yeshiva. Some of the earlier dreams have now materialized. New buildings, new schools, new faculties have been added to those existant. The Yeshiva finally shook off the effects of the 1930's. It has grown. physically and spiritually. ten

Page 11 text:

1' e

Page 13 text:

These vicissitudes in the life of the Yeshiva found me right in the middle. I shared in its prosperity and its austerity. But, as I indulge in whimsical reminiscences, what stands out in my mind most are the people I associated with, the students whose lives I helped to mold. Many faces pass in review before me. There were the giants of the faculty of the early twenties, Mr. Lieberman, teacher of Elocution: Mr. I-Iirshberg, teacher of History, then principal of an elementary school: the late Mr. Sachs, the mathematics teacher: Mr. Schwartz, the French teacher, First Assistant in his own high school: Mr. Jackson, teacher of German, under whose guidance I began teaching German in T. A.: Mr. Lucien Lamb, then teacher of Latin, and dozens of others I could name, had I the space. I felt inconspicuous in their presence-they overawed me. The faces of the teachers of Talmudical Academy have changed frequently during the past twenty-seven years, but not their sterling quality. Under the capable leadership of our principal, burdened with the work of organizing and directing a Brooklyn branch and a girls' Yeshiva, and the excellent staff of teachers he has always gathered about him, Talmudical Academy continues to maintain its leadership in the field of scholarship. The other day a lady entered my class. 'I just had to come in and thank you for giving me a wonderful husband, she remarked as she introduced herself. I didn't quite understand what she had in mind so I gazed at her rather quizzingly. She proceeded to tell me that her husband was a former student of mine in the first history class I taught. As a result of your teaching, she continued, he became a history teacher. What is more, my son is in your class this term. I hope you do him as much good as you did my husband. C6 This episode illustrates poignantly another panorama of faces in review, the faces of the countless thousands of students who crossed the threshold of my class room during the years of my association with Talmudical Academy. Many of them have assumed positions of leader- ship in Yeshiva University. There stands before me the cherubic face of Joe Strum, a student in my first Latin class downtown, now a prominent teacher in city high schools and in the Brooklyn branch of T. A. I can recall the registrar of the Yeshiva. the right hand of Dr. Saphire. then the timid, timorous, reticent Norman B. Abrams, a student in mv first civics class CI-Ie can never forget, it seems, the party I promised his class in honor of my marriagef. I can see the I-Iartsteins, shy, reserved. monosyllabic-register in my classes, Jack. Abe, Samf-all prominent in the fields of education and community service. Then came the Lilkers, the Greenbergs, all members of the Talmudical Academy faculty and teachers elsewhere. Then, of course. I always remember the baby , of the faculty, Sonny Sklar, the lovable talented comedian and fine teacher. eleven