Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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M ASM ID hirlt en A NEW Hi: AIM Bji Dk. Hkhnahij Ki a i i. In these dark and distressful days of a material .Hid spiritual crisis in human history, when the practical and the moral fabrics are strained to the breaking point ; when mankind is at the cross- roads of the spirit, bewildered, yearning for true leadership, for peace and brotherhood, groping toward an unknown destiny, seeking a new way and clearer guidance, whence are to come man ' s sign-posts and man ' s salvation, humanity ' s bridge over the slough of despond and present chaos? We are beginning to understand that the root of today ' s world distraction is moral. The times are spiritually out of joint. On the material plane, in this great land at least, we are being cheered by the promise, and the early indications, of a new deal. But man ' s greatest need in this unprec- edented crisis is, in the words of the Seer of Is- rael, a new heart. The world ' s crying need is for a heart of understanding and compassion, be- getting love and faith, the strengthening of the moral fibre, for a greater discernment of and re- turn to the ultimate values of life, the true values of the spirit. A spiritual interpretation, a spiritual realization of man ' s history and destiny, in the light of the divine optimism and the promise of Israel ' s Prophets, will free us from the mastery, the tyranny, of fear and the clogging apathy of cynicism, with their consequent bitterness and in- humanity and greed, will girdle us about with strength and resolution, and will lead us out of the gloomy shadows of despondency and doubt into the sunshine of greater human progress, human fellowship, and happiness. We must saturate our souls with the spirit of the seers of Israel, whose inspiration sustained the great founders of this coun- try and whose ideals mark every gTeat forward movement of humankind. We must once more become imbued with their passion for humanity, for peace and social justi -. theii insistence thai faith, righteousness and spiritual harmony, the groundwork of lasting human welfare, must super- sede the self-centered quest of material gain, the greed for power and possession. My dear young friends, yours has been a unique training. Here at Yeshiva College the reality of the spiritual life and experience has been the in- tegrating principle in your education. Ideals of intellectual integrity and spiritual aspiration have been inculcated by a faculty of sound, creative scholarship and inspiring personality, in an environ- ment where the distractions of extraneous urges could make little gain. ou have been given scop; to learn, that worth-while knowledge, as all gen- uine achievement, can be arrived at only by in- tellectual industry and honesty, open-mindedness. perseverance, and sympathetic understanding. You have been led to see that education, which is a continuous, a never-ceasing process, is more than the acquisition of factual information, the accumu- lation of however significant data and details. The goal of true education is power and love of thought, the ability to envisage life as a great unity, in a binding frame of intellectual and moral truth, and the devotion and consecration of learning to the steadfast service of mankind. Complementing and deepening your general work, of high scholastic order, you have earnestly engaged in the study of the Bible, the source and fountain of spiritual knowledge and understanding, the God-given charter of spiritual life to mankind, as well as the Halacha and the Agada, the well springs of Jewish reason and Jewish vision. The Bible is the cornerstone upon which the founders and fathers of this great democracy reared the

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i wave M A S M I D TTi G i H 1 R HIRSCHEL E. REVEL New York City A 9 D u 3 A T 3 E NORMAN REVEL New York City

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M A S M I D high structure of our national ideals. The spiritual strain of the seers of Israel, has been the golden thread in the continuous fabric of human unfold- ment to our day, marking in human history the pattern of progress, often crowded by dark or bloody threads, but ever gleaming with the glori- ous faith an d promise of human betterment. For the Bible is the source of living faith and the light of human love, and loyalty, to which nations as well as men must turn under the urge of the Divine Imperative. You are going forth into a world that will prob- ably offer no immediate opportunity to you all. We are still groping in the dark, however some may sense the approaching dawn. If there is soon to come the new day for which the heart of man- kind yearns, it must be marked, not merely by the rising sun of material well-being, but by the golden dawn of a reviving faith, a reaffirmation of trust in G-d and faith in humanity, a faith that com- forts, heals, strengthens, leads onward and forward, to a life of higher meaning, a destiny of greater spiritual enfoldment — in humble partnership with the Almighty — an illumination of the Infinitude within us, to a life spiritually aspiring and cul- turally creative. Never has the world been in greater need of moving faith in its ultimate destiny. Fear and distrust, and the sown seeds of many conflicts are spread wide over the world; only by such faith can we purge ourselves of the inequities and iniqui- ties of the passing ages. On such a faith, directed by such ideals, in the spirit of the eternal teachings of the Torah, rests the future of mankind. It is our hope, it is our prayer, that you, my dear young friends, may ever be among the guardi- ans of the ideals of mankind, that your life and your work may ever tend toward a more discerning restitution of the too often lost, the true and ulti- mate values of life, Israel ' s spiritual and moral truth, and inner happiness ; that your faith in hu- manity ' s great future will hasten the dawning for- seen by the seers of Israel, the day of a new heart — the day when minds and hearts will work in harmony, when the mighty shall be girded with justice, when all children of men shall be as one brotherhood of humankind beneath the fatherhood of G-d, with faith and love directing the counsels of all lands, all persons and peoples inspirited by the profound and intimate pulsings of a new heart.