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

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The dark mantle of time that cloaks manls primordial origin has given rise to centuries of speculation as to his individual worth and the meaning of his life. Is 'man-creature' a pre- tentious cosmic accident, governed by natural phenomena and all-explicable by the rationale? Or is he the refiection of a divine intelligence which, in the course of history, has made mani- fest itself to the human mind, made man the possessor of a universal ethic and given his experience substance and importance? Is life the tedious unfolding of ludicrous satire as shallow as its author, or an encounter with pro- found reality? Art, in its interpretation of human experi- ence, seems on the Whole to favor the espousal of a human sublimity which transcends rational explanation and is part of an historic spirit which like a gull hovers over the sea of life. Its concentration on both thought and emotion manifests a philosophy of human dualism. The mind can discern an object of beauty from the gnarled rock that to a bird represents but a temporary perch. But the dramatist, the projector of Life, well knows that the unfor- seeable and unique reactions of every human being cannot easily be understood or rationaliz- ed but only crystallized, preserved as an image in the mindls eye and later reenacted. It is the inter-action of mind and emotion that moti- vates the artist to reflect human experience in the light of both. Wliat better example than the portrait of the vvizened ancient. That knit- ted brow is woven of intense speculation, those gray hairs are the end of many years of re- moved observation, but those liquid eyes mir- ror more than reason. Peer into them and see a generation of pain and pleasure, of sor- row and joy, of complexities beyond literal articulation, but poignantly reflected in deepest silence. i In the Arts is painted-in liquid, in stone, in Words-the depth of the human soul, the height of the human Spirit, the picture of Life in its innumerable ramifications, its immense J - -W--W, . . . 42941 f , 4' ev ,f - . - aa- X fx!!-e Q:lN ,ga f fff' X Q if I 41 ff' TMA 5' .J-flvdsxsi-Ura: 5 lffvavwledaff nge FmuxW ' X ie- -fera- f I JI ' -,, I j f ., f , , ,. , . ffl , ' ,',. . , -V :LT -.V - f ,J f 1'-114 1 ' ' ,ff ' 'inf f-- x.' QQ . 7 V- .:,:- 'N '. ' 'f ff- 4 1-:Sv ,Aja ritz? :FAQS I : 1 fill f-f ,-147. . I-A1-2-4,1 1: ',,,f34':2j-fp - If '-FI 3 ,fs -x. YQ, ' ui .if ,ae--Q Wx f, I xyx Ni- if ' A91 Q . . ' .3, 'Q '.7-I-Q35-dl , f-:xi-n-i5 ,A fy-4.1 ' ff '3,f. 4? XL' N - - Mi it igfeihl . if ss- F 34 ,.?'1 if. sqm? , uh, fzisf- - f ig-1,-'-.Q I . . :'.,..t-..,.-'- ' ,gags H C V, H T6 fy' Hifi! V, pf' 1 iii 5. AY, W ,'A ,.f f:!f'f,2513'1 f I fel-n. V 4 r ,K . totality and its intense sensitivity. An intellec- tual epiphany and a surge of emotion are treated as equals in the light of human expe- rience. How truly the Bard observes: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Nahum Stfsfjfzz

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73-2-4 l Q271 'i f ig '--4 , 15.ga1v5f5gEQ:,i -' 'ffigf ' il Y 1'-igrfrr ' .. .gf .13 Qilig V--lfd, fi .: V .31-.MMD-,.l1 ...ffm - 'M '-'1- 4 F -fi, ,gf-i li-LTQ .I ,,fS5g.,3.XwL-x - 'gi , is . 1, -, -4' :mf .4 -v- 5 - f is-gg --M -, -Y ,i N551- H 4:-,ist-x--fg, 1, . A .Q-1' ., Mis. W . --, N . ,Ns 'Wil 7 :ia'Tr:- glvpii-E 35?i'I1:'Z-'MER if - -fffe 4' viii'-Q' X-il' - -gf. -1' . A 7c,.i1. ii ':' lil,.sF1'U!s.Qr -- - ' f it 'if-'21-!.-mx 2 .. fr kiln- N-a Qvaaagariags ' :I 5:1 ' I I-'X ,Q xg QIYEQN. E if ,V ' ' V V T' lllafn '--Earliest-SSX X :f-::r:igsQQ- . Q -T- 45,:i.-..: -. ,1.A.'-g'.':-g3l,xXVft-N.-,....AX Nag, .V --fl? . 4159:JW.SitgaiasslvEat-I-i-'l,X-xhwsfgf-A 1, r Lex. . - '.s,--,-1.11. X, :frm ' - ' ' 1 'nfl f ,'r?'.. lik-tli'-2'.'l l .l . e,-f-.,1'l' 'file r ' his e T mls 1 :'i-a-S:-Q, NNK-isis T - s 111 lm,- ggi- ?l'p'rp.' Xt--.5 -ggi-35452235-gs:..i '. --Vg- .rffP'. lilullllfqfx X.::s',hu1F35i1'i3'7i1g.. 414 Q - -D . ll 21' lulzffzs ' li'i?T:T'i?51lls 4:3414 . 1---'ff' if ,.rl.r!v' My Q. figs:-:319 :--rgissair'-X. -, L .el - fb was-M!--w s5iwg.-it fa 4- rr-sr w.vrsMsa: - fillfiiigsfeifs -K .fra-fruit ww .sr-tiar. !!saf5ar::prMas?iif.2s-as-: ff, .tg 4 T'-5-- AMA 4.1 pm- -----lsf,Ei-:ag-pug!EW.:3'::lezilG!.:.115:'aaEUoP' ., .. V BEM! -'iiilliiimil '735EE:Ff5! ZIFE?E?E'li'!!i '?5'-.:f. if: . ' - The foflozfuifzg a1't1'cl6.vrcprc?5e1zZ the Zhozzgfzls of two of lfze grczdzmftes 012 the place of art in lzzzman life. 6 Every genuine work of art has as much reason for being as the earth and the sun. -Emerson. ln the beginning, G-d molded out of chaotic matter a sublime work of art-an Inhnite, all-encompassing universe. The element of highest worth in this creation, Man, was formed in the image of God. Thus, man was given the power to transform and to modify, to take meaningless matter, and, like his cre- ator, imbue it with a part of his spirit. The eyes and the fingers of the artist became instruments for expressing the feelings of his soul. Art became the medium for the expres- sion and transmission of the most profound human emotions. An essential characteristic of all art is that it seeks to interpret rather than to represent. Music, perhaps the most abstract of art forms, is almost entirely interpretive. The ear be- comes attuned to harmony and cacophony and realizes them to be abstractions of human experience and passions. In painting and sculp- ture there exists a more pronounced conHict between mechanical representation and indi- vidual interpretation, between realism and idealism. The eye has not received the neces- sary aesthetic education to avoid judging the merits of the individual work solely on the basis of its similarity with its subject matter. If this were the criterion for judging artistic merit, photography would be the predominant form of art. Yet, photography holds low rank among the arts, for it must accept nature un- modified. On the other hand, the painter and the sculptor cannot be satished with the repre- sentation of an abstract intellectual concept, for this would not inspire the emotional exultation which is art's goal. The true artist is able to resolve in his work this delicate conflict be- tween actual and ideal existence. Like the earth and the sun, the artistic cre- ation embodies the true spirit of the individual artist. On a minor scale, this creation has as much reason for being as the universe itself. Allen Gribczfz

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To the individual whose personal philosophy embodies most perfectly,-ftheflofty ideal which is the theme of this book We ojfer tllisnipeeffi ' ii ,I I X -f ,, U 8 4 K- I