Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Fourteen MAS M I D merging of the spiritual Jewish life in this land and the loss of those qualities that have charac- terized Israel through the ages: steadfastness and devotion to his ideals, and readiness to sacrifice for the things he considered holy. Unendingly the emphasis in true Jewish life has been upon the ethical significances, upon the abiding values of the s pirit. And in this age, when the materialistic conceptions of pseudo-science and partial knowl- elge still flaunt their half formed theories as fun- damental laws of universal scope, science itself is tending to reassert those abiding values beyond the physical and temporal. Science and her hand- maid philosophy are moving again toward the realm of the spirit. The increased knowledge of the cosmos in the wide reaches of space and time and in the infinitesimal field of the electron and the quantum constitutes a turning point in man ' s understanding of the universe, causing a shifting in world-attitude back toward the emphasis on spirit- ual values, to the great truths of Judaism. The understanding is growing that science not only is to be applied to industry, but is mainly to serve humanity in its social, its spiritual aspects and ideals. By its contribution to this point of view, among its students and, through them, ultimately in the Jewish communities of the land, Yeshiva College hopes to play a part in the movement back toward the spirit, as well as in the discovery and interpretation of knowledge, and help toward an increasing understanding of and living in ac- cord with the high and eternal ideals, Israel ' s stead- fastness and spirituality. With the help of Him, Who is, the sublime source of all truth and blessing, this sanctuary of the spirit shall become the altar of which the Bible ;ays: It shall be a witness between us that the Lord is God. Out of its portals shall come a Jewish leadership — lay and spiritual — high in mind and spirit, conscious of its unique herit- age, striving to develop in this land a Jewish life spiritually satisfying and culturally creative, based upon the eternal foundations of the Torah, upon Israel ' s steadfastness and spiritually leading, to the service of God and our fellowmen. You, my dear young friends, have been taught the signi- ficance of values not to be measured in terms of practicability and gainful success, but rather in terms of human happiness, of intellectual and spiritual aspirations and fulfilment. Follow your convictions rooted in the Torah of truth and th? truth of the Torah, fearing neither struggle nor sacrifice. Acknowledge the sovereignty of God and your conscience and be the glad servant of your ideals. Hold fast to them, for in them h the fulness of your lives and the hope of mankind. The ultimate forces of life, which decide the course of human progress, are the spiritual forces. I end with the fervent prayer of our people: The Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers.

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M A S M I I ) I hirlcen To the First Graduating Class oJ Yeshiva College From Dh. Bi.knard Rkvel Conceived in the spirit of Israel ' s stead fastnes- to the spiritual certainties and supreme moral ideals of Judaism, which, in a world of shirting stand- ards and changing values, in ages of transition, stand torch-like, immutable and eternal, Yeshiva College was founded, the only college of liberal arts and sciences under Jewish auspices in this land, yet a link in the long and glorious chain of lighthouses of learning, uniting mankind in com- mon undestanding and spiritual striving. Yeshiva College is, by design, a small college. It has set itself the task of training a select group of young men, who combine zeal for knowledge with a large ability for learning, to attain intellec- tual and spiritual integrity ; it endeavors to recog- nize the aptitude of its individual students and to help create the conditions for their growth and development. It is the conviction of Yeshiva College that Jewish studies, in the widest connotations, are an integral phase of the humanistic disciplines, that the cultural resources, traditions and heritage of Judaism, in its millennial history, and its inter- history, are essential for the full understanding of the unfoldment of mankind and of man ' s history. eshiva College is dedicated to the transforma- tion of these aspects and values of Judaism, its teachings concerning God, man and nature, fused and harmoniously blent with the scholarship of the ages, with the other currents of creative cul- ture and the humanizing forces of the age, into living and creative reality in the hearts and minds of its children, for the enrichment of the life of the Jewish community and the advancement of our beloved country. Moreover, Jewish learning has been studied until now as an isolated field, a sort of Jewish antiquities , almost .1 ., (orrn.-r culture; in Ye- shiva College, the aspects of Jewish culture and the Jewish contribution to the life and thought of the ages assume a living shape and a continuous significance. Jewish contributions to math- 1 for example, are no longer ignored or studied as a special, abstruse subject, but become part of the study of the history and development of that science. The influence of the Bible upon Eng- lish literature and the English language, its dic- tion, its images, its subjects, becomes an integral part of the College work in English. The Greek of the Septuagint is a phase in the field of Greek studies. The judgments and misjudgments, the understandings and misunderstandings, the general interaction of Hellenistic and Jewish thought and history are to be surveyed as a part of Jewish and classical culture, so that the whole becomes, beyond mere archeological interest, subject for the Yeshiva College student with significance ap- plicable to life and thought today — so that in time Jewish studies will come to be, not the isolated survey of statistically presented activities and atti- tudes, but the consideration of a spirit and a point of view in the various fields of human understand- ing. eshiva College hopes to bring into Ameri- can cultural life the best of the Jewish spirit, of its cultural ideals, as its contribution to the best in the spirit of our country. The College recog- nizes the difficulties in its way and the limitations at present imposed upon it. The full realization of its vision is still in the distant future, but we have the present opportunity for growth along the hoped for line. No understanding friend of the true and abid- ing values of humanity could view with anything but great apprehension the possibility of the sub-

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M A S M I D Fiflt From Our Dean DR. S. R. SAFIR Nearly .1 score of yens ago srwnlerii lo I,.- exact — the authorities and leaders of our Ycshiva were confronted with the difficult problem of what to do with the boys who were completing their elementary school studies and would soon be ready for high school work. Two courses were open to the Directors. One was to permit the boys to proceed to the public high schools to pursue their secular studies, thereby sacrificing the rich background of Jewish learning which was to serve as the basis for the further understanding and ap- preciation of the history and literature, the laws and customs of our people and the knowledge of the Holy Torah. The other alternative was to found a secondary school as part of the Yeshiva, where the boys could continue, under one roof, the subjects of the high school curriculum without dis- continuing or interrupting their Talmudic and Jew- ish studies in the Yeshiva proper or in the Teach- ers Institute. Our directors and leaders solved the problem by founding the Talmudical Academy, the first academic high school in America, under Jewish auspices, under the complete control and supervi- sion of the eshiva, where the spiritual environ- ment is in harmony with the immortal precepts and truths of our holy laws; where the Jewish spirit unhampered, is encouraged to develop to its full- est extent. In this environment, permeated by a sympathetic understanding between teacher and pupil and by a close harmony between the atmos- phere of the school and that of the home, the best that is in the student has been brought to the sur- face. How well this plan has worked out is fully and amply attested by the history of the progress and the successes which our high school has enjoyed for the past decade and a half. In all its aspects the Talmudical Academy has writ- ten a chapter in Jewish education of which its sponsors and leaders have every reason to be proud. If, seventeen years ago, the need for a high ' liool was urgent, the nrces-.ity for a college at part of the Yeshiva became in its turn of para- mount importance. With every graduation from the high school some of the most promising stud- ents, only too frequently the prize winners and thr scholarship winners, were lost forever to the Ye- shiva and in some cases to the cause of Ortho- dox Judaism in America — a loss which both could ill sustain. The knowledge-hungry high school graduates, eager and impatient lo go on with their secular studies in college, and not having this op- portunity in the Yeshiva, left to register in the day sessions of the colleges of the city or remained in the Yeshiva and continued their coll ege courses in the evening sessions of the city ' s colleges with all the attending evils of night work, Friday eve- ning classes, absences incurred during religious holidays, and the strain of adjusting their activi- ty to two widely differing institutions. It was to afford these young men the oppor- tunity of continuing their secular studies in an en- vironment conducive to the preservation of their rich heritage of Jewish knowledge and culture that eshiva College was founded four years ago. At a meeting held March 29, 1928. the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York authorized the work of Yeshiva College, em- powering it. as an integral part of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, to give courses in liberal arts and sciences leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. The aims of Yeshiva College may be briefly summarized as follows: 1 . To afford a harmonious union of culture and spirituality, to provide Jewish youth with a college education that will meet the standard of the highest educational institutions in America, but which will be coordinated and closely bound with the spirit and the tenets of Judaism. 2. To provide a college education that will