Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

Text from Pages 1 - 108 of the 1938 volume:

JUNE 19 3 8 MASMID Four TO rf cni P.- -J - r. f loses t ' O .s y.sctctcs FRIEND, LEADER, SCIENTIST ]Y ' m Ih s i rcserrec ) ' i inicii our cveyhisti)ig adtiiirat ' ioti and friendship broui b bis untiring oicnnrdgcmoit. luyalty, and inspiratioti, uIjo bas inculcated into us a projou)id respect jar and desire to eniuLile tbal syi tbesis of science and faith ubich be so adequately represents, who bas endowed Yeshita with principles ire place so high in our category of lalues, THIS MASMID IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 1 9 :i « Five MASMID STAFF ISADORE MILLER, Editor-in-Chief EDITORIAL BOARD JEROME WILLIG SIDNEY GREENBERG JEROME B. GORDON NATHAN LEVINSON HERBERT RIBNER HERSCHEL SCHACTER flik ' Vffin MORRIS A. LANDES . 1. 9.T11U EUGENE MICHALY Six ASSISTANTS ZEV GOLDSTEIN ALBERT LEWIS SAM ADELMAN CHARLES ELKIN ALLAN MIRVIS A Decade oj Yeshiva The concept of a Jewisli Collct;e of liberal arts and sciences existing in the midst of a traditionally orthodox Yeshiva was a much cherished ideal in the hearts of Jewish leaders who felt the need for such an institution as early as the closing years of the last century. For a nuniher of years the dream seemed to be mere wishful thinking, only to I ' Lcome realizeci some ten years ago when Yeshiva College was founded. The Yeshiva ' s Theological Seminary has been preparing students for the rabbinate lor some (ifty years. As time went on the students who were receiving their rabbinic training at the Theological Seminary on the East Side of New York City, grew acutely aware of the demands of their American environment. For adequate and efficient leadership in Jewish communities of this country, it was realized by the students that a well grounded education in secular as well as religious studies was necessar) ' . In 1906 a petition suggesting the introduction of English courses was drawn up and submitted to the Board of Directors, yet another ten years elapsed before a high school was instituted. The initial and most formidable barrier having been destroyed, a strengthened desire arose to found a higher .school of secular learning which could supply more than the fundamental processes of secular education. The need was clearly articulated at the first graduation exercises of the high school when Dr. Bernard Revel, President of the Rabbinical Seminary, emphasized the important requirement a college would meet in the preparation of the graduates by supplementing their rabbinical studies with studies in liberal arts and sciences. The courageous vision of our president did not tinj many supporters. The col- lective body of American Jewry very cautiously foresaw the seemingly insurmountable difficulties the plan entailed and were wont to treat the question apathetically. But the dream was too inspiringly vivid to perish without any effort, and when Peter W ' iernick and Rabbi M. S. Margolis joined hands in carrying aloft the banner of an indestructable notion, its practicability became everywhere apparent. 1 9 a  Seven The years 1924 and 1925 witnessed the staging of two banquets at which prominent American Jews, amongst whom were Harry Fischel, Nathan Lamport, Samuel Levy and Otto A. Rosalsky, contributed two million dollars towards the college building fund. Several thousand people crowded Amsterdam Ave. on May 1, 1927 to witness the laying of the cornerstone for the college buildings. On December 9. 1928, the buildings were dedicated in the presence of thousands of spectators with representatives of thirty colleges and universities assisting in the ceremonies. The structures erected combine attractive features of Byzantine, Moorish, and Gothic architecture, and include the Dormitory, Auditorium, and School buildings. MASMID MAIN BUILDING The first of these accommodates two hundred and fifteen students and contains apart- ments for the supervisors, an infirmary, social and recreation rooms, a spacious cafeteria and dining hall, and offices for student activities in the basement. The Auditorium Building consists of an auditorium seating close to fifteen hundred people, a gymnasium and locker room in the basement, and art and science rooms on the top floor. The school building includes class and lecture rooms, well equipped biology, chemistry and physics laboratories, the Yeshiva Library, as well as several departmental libraries, execu- tive, administrative and student activity offices, teachers ' rooms, synagogue and study hall. It was a small group of thirty pioneering men from various parts of the country that composed the first college student body, beginning work in September of 1928 under a faculty of sixteen men. Dr. Bernard Revel became the first President of the faculty, the post he still occupies, while Dr. Shelley R. Safir was appointed secretary of the faculty and later was promoted to the position of Dean of the College. These leaders combined their greatest efforts for the growth and perpetuation of the new institution. The small number of students during the early stage of the school ' s development did not allow for an extensive curriculum. Gradually, however, as the student body grew to a total which is today seven times its original size, the faculty more than trebled and the curriculum was correspondingly expanded. It is expected that many new changes will take place under Professor Moses Legis Isaacs, newly appointed Assistant to the President. There have been two trends in curricular development. One has been in the direc- tion of enlarging the already existing departments to offer more detailed and intensified Eight (ourscs in I lie liclds of tlic social sciences, in scientific sliulies, in art, anil in music. Tlic sciorul trend has been towards the introdurtion of new departments, the most si nilicanl of which has been the Hebrew Department which has become an ince {rnl part of the college curriculum. With the addition of intermediate courses in Bible and Jewish History, as well as chairs in Hebrew Literature and Jewish Philosophy, there now exists a highly ailcc|ii.ile loiirse ol studies indispensable to the Jewish leader of to-d.iy. Tlic I li.ir.ii lerisliudly Jewish cnipli.isis i n sdioj.irsliip li.is not slitied the successful alltiiuit ,il tiil.irnini; tlic scope of exir.i i iiii k iii.ir .utivilies wliidi h.ive Ix ' come a much DINING HALL desirable source of mental and physical recreation for the Yeshiva student. At the same time these activities have served as invaluable media for student expression. The last decade has witnessed a phenomenal growth in literary activity. In 193-4 the student annual publication, The Masmid, was supplemented by the Commentator, a bi-weekly newspaper which became the official organ of student expression and soon gained collegiate recognition by the high caliber of its work. The Student Council, consisting of class and school otficers. has had a decisive influence both upon the organization of a progressive student body and in shaping school policies. The foundation of the International Relations Club has proven a very effective means of acquainting students, by authorities in the field of Political Science, of the major currents of political, economic, and social thought. The collective efforts of faculty, students, and friends of the school were instrumental in the establishment of the College ' s Student Library, which has been of invaluable aid. The Chess Club, Tennis Team, Basketball Team, Baseball Team and Debating Society have gained for Yeshiva a respectable position in intercollegiate competition. Intra-mural games in these activities besides instilling school spirit into Yeshiva, also accorded each student an opportunity to indulge in some type of physical recreation. With the opening of the Recreation Room at the school. Ping Pong and Checkers have been added to a well rounded list of extra curricular activities which already includes a Concert Bureau, Cooperative Store, Loan Fund. Dramatic ScKiet)-. Math Nine 1 9 :i « Club. Employment Bureau, Speakers Bureau, and Hapocl Hamizrachi. The annual appointment of efficient student committees to facilitate tlie execution of student duties has been a highlight in Yeshiva ' s development. The realm of Yeshiva ' s educational influence has not been confined to the student body alone, but has been broadened to include the advancement of adult education and the furtherance of knowledge of Jewish subjects from the orthodox point ot view. The Scripts Mathematica, edited by Dr. Jekuthiel Ginsburg, although first issued in 1932 has already gained for itself an international reputation as a leading contemporary scholarly journal. In 1935 an educational series of lectures delivered on the occasion of the Maimonides Octo-Centennial was held in the college auditorium. During the past year the Rabbi David Miller Lectures on Jewish Family Relations were held at the College, and as those in the past, this series has achieved remarkable success and widespread response. Under the auspices of the College, and sponsored by Young Israel, courses are offered throughout the academic year in various fields of Jewish learning and culture. These courses meeting in various centers of the city, are intended for the interested lay public, and emphasize the application of fundamental Jewish principles to the problems of life today. In the Fall of 1937 the Yeshiva College Lecture Bureau was organized to fill a definite need for lecturers and leaders of forums and discussion groups, masters in their respective fields, who bring the point of view of traditional Judaism to bear upon the urgent problems of modern times. Included on the staff of lecturers are many prominent members of the College faculty and Rabbis and laymen from various parts of the country. Each succeeding year has been able to point to a notable list of achievements, both in consolidating and expanding the existing activities, and in blazing the trail to greater progress. In the pages that follow, a chronicle of the past year ' s events is recorded in an attempt to present a faithful picture of the school ' s organization and student body. Yeshiva is still young, and from the mirror of its past a glorious future can be envisaged for it. Standing as we do on its very threshold we can hardly judge it adequately, and must wait till time affords us the proper perspective to evaluate its accomplishments. MASMID RECREATION ROOM Ten FACULTY BERNARD REVEL, Ph.D. President MOSES L. ISAACS, Ph.D. Assistant to the President JACOB I. HARTSTEIN, M.A. Registrar k ' M MASMID iM ROSE LEVITAN, LLB. Bursar DAVID A. SWICK, M.D. Medical Director Twelve THEODORE ABEL, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sociology MEYER ATLAS, Ph.D. Instructor in Biology SAMUEL BELKIN, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Greek DAVID BIDNEY, Ph.D. Instructor in Philosophy SIDNEY BRAUN, M.A. Instructor in French 19 3 8 Thirteen MASMID ALEXANDER BRODY, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History PINKHOS CHURGIN, Ph.D. Professor of Jewish hHistory KENNETH F. DAMON, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Public Speaking JEKUTHIEL GINSBURG, M.A. Professor of Mathematics ISAAC GOLDBERG, B.A. Assistant Librarian Fourteen ALEXANDER FREED, M.D. Lecturer in Hygiene SOLOMON FLINK. Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Econonnics LEO JUNG, Ph.D. Professor of Ethics IRVING LINN, M.A. Assistant in English LOUIS MINTZ, B.A. Fellow in Latin 19 3 8 Fifteen MASMID SIDNEY B. HOENIG, Ph.D. Instructor in Jewish hHistory PHILIP E. KRAUS, M.A. Instructor in Education SOLOMON LIPTZIN, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of German SAMUEL K. MIRSKY, M.A. Assistant Professor in Bible JOSEPH PEARL, Ph.D. Professor of Latin Sixteen NATHAN KLOTZ, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Bible ELI LEVINE, M.A. Instructor in Chemistry ALEXANDER LITMAN, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Philosophy ARNOLD N. LOWAN, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Physics AARON M. MARGALITH Assistant Professor of Political Science 19 3 8 Seventeen MASMID ISRAEL RENOV, B.S. Assistant In Art SOLOMON RHODES, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of French MORRIS ROBERTS, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of English MORRIS SCHREIER, M.A. Assistant in French LOUIS SNYDER, Ph.D. Instructor in History Eighteen SHELLEY R. SAFIR, Ph.D. Professor of Biology SAUL B. SELLS, Ph. D. Instructor in Psychology 1 SI 3 « Nineteen Beloir jve listed the )hii)ies of those jdciilty members whose pictures do not appear in the preceding pages. BERNARD DRACHMAN Professorial Lecturer in Hebrew JON EISENSON Instructor in English ERICH GUTKIND Lecturer in Philosophy ABRAHAM B. HURWITZ Instructor in Physical Education MICHAEL KRAUS Assistant Professor of History JOSEPH LOOKSTEIN Lecturer in Jewish Sociology SIEGFRIED MEYERS Assistant in Physics NELSON P. MEAD Professor of History SAMUEL L. SAR Instructor in Bible NATHAN SAVITSKY Instructor in Psychology JOSEPH T. SHIPLEY Associate Professor of English JOSEPH SOLOVEITCHIK Lecturer in Jewish Philosophy SOLOMON ZEITLIN Professor of Jewish History LEO ZIPPEN Instructor in Mathematics The jolloifing are among the members of the Medical Staff that rendered invaluable service to the students. MASMID DR. BENDOVE DR. A. CASSELL DR. B. EPSTEIN DR. I. FISCHER DR. HERSCHFIELD DR. ERWIN JAFFE DR. ROTHSCHILD DR. LEO SATLOFF DR. N. SAVITSKY DR. M. ZIMMERMAN Twenty CLASSES MASMID CLASS OF ' 39 Twenty-two CLASS OF ' 40 1 9 ;« a Twentv-three MASMID CLASS OF ' 41 Twenty-four c il ¥ S E N I O R S MASMID SENIOR CLASS Twenty-six How Can We Forget ,  . ' 34 I ' ; VI I ' rolcssor liinstcin rcteivcs an lionor.iry decree as the class of ' 3K is vvclionuil iiiio llif scIiodI. I lie works are on . . . Sonny Hiscnber ' and Hcrbic Kosher rcpicscnl lln. hoys in khiiu il , . . Doc Ginsberg outdoes Paris when it tomes to sc■llil styles in imn ' s luis (oi sIiduM v. c say hat ) I could have sworn Mr. Zolt v,is hfie. A iK ' w liridtif i ' ' ileiln .iicl i( Yukie — and in appreciation he wears it on Ihc lirst d.iy lo class . . . ■■.SiiowIhiuiuI hcfomes a synonym for inebriation as Dr. Dickson oilers his apoloi its lor l.nliIl lo attend class . . . Sonny, Normie, and Herbie Kosher make (he basketball v.irsily . . . Cuts are still on the house as attendance in Hebrew classes is at a premium . . . Mintz takes the class by storm as he avers that Helen of Troy was a parat;on of pulchritude . . . The Phi Phi Beta society is formed in the house of cards . . . Doc Rcsenberg, the gentleman from Wisconsin expicsses Ins ani.izenient at the seeming state of hilarity which ensues in the class after he tslls the same joke which left Mrs. Rosenberg expressionless . . . Doc Hurwitz criticizes student reports which have never been submitted . . . Tiny Myron Saal is conspicu- ously unveiled before the class and serves as an inspiration for Mit-y Mager to enlarge his daily milk rations . . . The boys become s and ng conscious as a serious doubt lurks in the hacks of their respective minds as to whether Dr. Damon ' s name is really spelled with an A (ha Ha HA HAW HAW) ... Joe Noble has not as yet acquired a middle name and still has to be proctored at exams . . . Chubby starts to TraiL the A ' s and finds Saul ( I ' m frightfully sorry Teacher ) Gorenstein in b.ot pursuit . . . With no effort at all Peretz goes down in history. . . A new vista of entertainment is discovered as the boys declare that it can happen here and the first co-ed affair is staged . . . The turnout is small as some are still afraid to revel . . .Lenny Waldman is a full-fledged student, majoring in lunch and library . . . The boys chute tlirout;li the ex.uns . . . One down and three to co . . . On To ' 35 U 3 ' i — The class of ' 38 comes back to Sopho-more and is pleasantly surprised to find its ranks swelled by an influx of studious summer toilers . . . Our first taste of Harvard is distasteful, but the English Lit. course turns out to be the year ' s best . . . A new foreign language is mastered — Chaucer ' s English . . . Normie Siegel sub- limates by delivering a flaming lecture on the intimate life of Burns after his lecture passes the Board of Censors — Mrs. Purvis ... In mass revolt against Chemistry, Dr. Lsaacs is sentenced to solitary confinement during lectures ... Eli Levine reigns in the Lab but the boys pour out none the less ... A cry of I wuz robbed goes up from Kid Greenberg as a 100 in the Chem Final nets only a B in a class of 12 A ' s . . . Mintz is seen sporting a pillow to classes as he finds class-room seats a little hard on the cist . . . It may not be as deep as a well nor a s wide as a barn, but it will suffice . . . Louis is now eligible for regular ablutions in the ritual bath . . . Eisenberg and Goldklang are sent to council . . . The legend of King Roger and Prime Minister Silas begins to appear in bi-monthlv installments ... A new movement is on foot and the Prime Minister is knocked ofl both of his . . . ( The old order changeth yielding 1 9 :i « Twenty -seven place to the new ) ... A moonlight sail on the M.indalay nets the class $19.03 (Mager brings his kid-brother) and a swell time . . . French marks go up with the smoke as Doc Rosenberg receives a box of cigars from the boys . . . We become Intra- mural Champs . . . Joe Noble can be seen sans spats . . . Lou Satlow, le medecin malgre lui, heroically comes to relieve Azoff ' s hernia with an aspirin . . . Bewildered physicists run into an onrush of Dr. Lowan ' s triple integrals . . . The boys become negatively charged when the office starts to take Hebrew subjects seriously . . . Ike Miller blos- soms forth as class genius while he still thinks that the office is a place for work . . . The Dramatic Society reaches )ourney ' s End . . . Exams come and go and some boys betake themselves elsewhere . . . Two down and two to oq , . . MASxMID Then ' 36 1936 — Vacation is a thing of the past as the itinerant rabbis, waiters and council- lors return only to find Yeshiva transformed into the house that Jack built . . . Upper- classmen at last ... A choice in the selection of courses — take ' em or leave ' em . . . We take ' em . . . Picketing seems to have become an integral part of college work as the boys obtain a first glimpse of the widely heralded Litman, the peripatetic . . . That ' s it!!! Discipline Uber Alles . . . Doc seems to be determined to answer the perplexing question Who is the greatest man in the world, and why am I? . . . Roll calls are of little avail as a few industrious students become social-minded and practice the forbidden arts of ventriloquism . . . Gersion Appel becomes news-editor of the Commentator, and togethei with the class officers is invited by Dr. Litman to resign . . . Rangoon, India is put on the cultural map as its itinerant prodigy, Elias Levi, becomes one of the highest ranking students of the class . . . Raw carrots taste good in the history class, though Dr. Brody deems the accompanying masticatory sounds as quite unaesthetical . . . From the theoretical to the practical is but one pint of liquor as we imbibe food on the house when Dr. Litman invites us to the house for a dis- cussion of Plato ' s Symposium ... A heavy downpour does not quench our thirst (for learning) and we appear on time much to Doc ' s amazement . . . Ethics?? Our physiognomies turn crimson as we develop an antipathy to our naked subjectivity when we are informed that ambiguity resulting from polarity cannot be dissipated by castration to the beautiful beast . . . With empty ink wells and filled note books we await a solution . . . Faith comes to the rescue . . . E. V. Mollis, pedigree, Southern drawl and all plays to a full education class on opening night (only . . .) ... Greenberg and Goldklang are dispatched to council . . . Free movies in the psychology class contribute no little towards the selection of Doc Sells as the most popular teacher of the year . . . Just another one of the boys . . . Dr. Sidney ' s boys have reason to be happy as they look into Dr. Litman ' s room at 9:15 Friday mornings as they leisurely stroll to class . . . Logic is illogical (Quote Benjamin Bernfeld alias Benedict Burns, seen of late in the environs of Cincinnati) . . . Culture is imposed upon us with the sugar coated pill of Dr. Damon ' s music appreciation course and Mr. Renov ' s art appreciation which follows (without the sugar) . . . Even the slides of nature in the raw can ' t keep the boys in class after the lights go out . . . We ' re Intra-mural Champs again . . . The Class runs a boat-ride but half the boys run after the boat trying to catch Greenberg ... A Baseball Team is formed and Chubby is taking his daily lick . . . Ike Miller cops the Medal for the Highest Ranking Junior Twenty-eight ami Jtrry Willi walks oil wKli llic Malli Mclal . . . Joscj to his East Siilc fricniis thai he lias become Assistant Dean third act . . . Three down and one to o. S, Nobtl modestly ailmits . ' I ' he curtain falls on the And ' 37 At Last 1937 ( omini; down llic liomcslrctth as the curtain rises for the Imal act (for some anyhow) . . . Gersion Appcl, Norm Goldklang, I. H. Rose and Jerry Gordon arc elected school ollicers with Izzie Miller designated as Editor of the Masmid, while Eisenberg and Ribner offer their services to Council for the benefit of the class. The registrar ' s oH ' icc becomes very popular , . . i ' ' inding Yeshiva students an un- apprcciativc audience for singing talent, Rahmin Sion lurns to politics . . . He starts on the bottom and works his weight up as he becomes dining-room manager . . . Mrs. Simon threatens the boys with stripping (their beds) as Minyan attendance wanes and back rent mounts . . . We regress to High School age for a day, when the T. A. gets complimentary tickets to the Polo Grounds on Lag B ' Omer . . . Gersion Appel is given a set of Graetz in appreciation! of his able leadership . . . Rabbi Lookstein ' s course in Jewish Sociology proves an excellent treat as it is given for the first time. . . . Reserved seats to miserable underclassmen are sold for Doctor Savitsky ' s lectures . . . Teach displays his histrionic proficiency as he tells of his experiences in prisons and lunatic asylums . . . Red Newman, head of the Concert Bureau, inaugurates a March of Slime as he obtains complimentary tickets to Western Waters and Journeymen , . . Doc Abel turns out to be a most regular fellow . . . Heal capital stock . . . Dr. Philip Krause takes time out from education to teach the boys the physical con.stitution of a mummy . . . Doc Margalith hopes that Mathathuthath (Massachusetts) were banished from the Union . . . Sagaciously informs the boys that war determines not who is right but who is left ... Eli forms a synthesis and takes over the Chem Class as Dr. Isaacs is elevated to the position of Assistant to the President . . . We still can ' t distinguish between Dr. Isaacs ' office and a hole in the wall . . . But the Phi-Phi Beta can . , . Many merry moments are spent at Class Night . . . Stars are born as M. C. Greenberg, mike and all, introduces the Senior Satellites . . . Sam Adelman on the Glory Road, Sonny Eisenberg (we just found out that his official monicker is Isaiah) as Prof, elicits some rollicking remarks from pupils Prairie Flower Mintz, Wee-wee Goldklang, Office Boy Miller, City Lights Peretz and Vanishing Cream Hurwitz . . . The seniors monopolize the Basketball Varsity which for the first time in history comes out on top as the fairer sex attends . . . Mintz crashes the faculty . . . Red Newman turns G Man and helps Noble {Joseph S.) track down examination criminals (People in glass houses shouldn ' t ...)... The Phiy Room is rejuvenated by Jerry Gordon . . . The boys get next to Dr. Revel (in the class picture) . . . Kodak stocks boost as seniors don caps and gowns in Commencement preview . . . Collegiate Digest publicizes Yeshiva as the American Seat of Oriental Learning . . . Mager is graduated from High School . . . Max Halpert draws first blood as he beats the boys to the altar ... A grand finale takes place at the Senior Affair which immediately precedes Commencement . . . Now we stroll down the Auditorium which today appears unusually majestic in its serenity . . . The Valedictory, The Degrees, Hatikvoh . . . Our history at Yeshiva is thus brought to a close . . . From our memories it can never be effaced . . . It will never pass into nothingness ... 19 Twenty-nine MASMID SOLOMON ABEL Brooklyn, New York SAMUEL ADELMAN Irvlngton, New Jersey GERSION APPEL Cleveland, Ohio LAWRENCE H. CHARNEY Bayonne, New Jersey Thirty ISAIAH EISENBERG Jersey City, New Jersey IRVING ELGART Bronx, New York CHARLES ELKIN Brooklyn, New York AARON GOLD New York, N. Y. I J 3 8 Thirty-one NORMAN GOLDKLANS Bayonne, New Jersey JEROME B. GORDON Rochester, New York SIDNEY E. GREENBERG Brooklyn, New York MASMID MAX HALPERT New York, New York Thirty-two ZEVI HARRIS Brooklyn, New York HERBERT HENDEL Brooklyn, New York HAROLD HIRSCHMAN Brooklyn, New York HERBERT HURWITZ Bronx, New York 19 3 8 Thirty-three MASMID JACOB KABAKOFF Bronx, New York ISRAEL LASTER Dickson City, Penn. ELIAS LEVI Rangoon, India NATHAN LEVINSON Brooklyn, New York Thirty-four ALBERT LEWIS Bronx, New York SAM LICHTENSTEIN Brooklyn, New York NATHAN LIPSCHUTZ Bronx, New York JULIUS MAGER Brooklyn, New York 19 3 8 Thirty-five ROBERT MARMORSTEIN New York, New York ISADORE MILLER Bahimore, Maryland SAMUEL MILLER Bal+imore, Maryland MASMID LOUIS MINTZ Paterson, New Jersey Thirty-six IRVING ROBERT NEWMAN Bronx, New York JOSEPH S. NOBLE New York, New York DANIEL PEIKES Brooklyn, New York SAMUEL PERETZ Brooklyn, New York 1 9 ;i 8 Thirty-seven HERBERT RIBNER Bronx, New York SOLOMON ROODMAN Ottawa, Canada ISAAC B. ROSE Ottawa, Canada MASMID HERSCHEL SCHACHTER Brooklyn, New York Thirty-eight BERNARD SCHRENZEL New York, New York ABRAHAM B. SHOULSON West Chester, Penn. SIMON SHOOP Pittsburgh, Penn. MORRIS P. STEINBERG Brooklyn, New York 1 9 :i « Thirty-nine MASMID AARON WALDEN New York, New York HARRY WALKER Bronx, New York JEROME WILLIG Brooklyn, New York JOSEPH H. WISE Brooklyn, New York Forty LITERAR Y Changing Ideals of Science Lawrence Charney MASMID Science wants to drive the sense of wonder out of humanity. ' What ' s that shining thing? ' you ask. Science says: ' An electric globe. ' — ' Why does it shine? ' — ' Because fila- ments shine. ' — ' Why? ' — ' Because an electric current of such and such an intensity goes through them. ' — ' What ' s an electric current? ' — ' A substance of accumulated potentiality observed under certain conditions. ' — Then all the human being can do is to make a little disappointed bow — and Science begins to sound a warning: ' Above all, my dear chap, no mystery ! Miraculous is simply a vulgar word for the little spots I haven ' t managed to light up yet with my newest electric globe. Tomorrow, I shall explain a bit more clearly. But, for heaven ' s sake don ' t you go looking for mysteries today ; only be thankful that your house is better lighted than your grandfather ' s. ' ' The modern temperament conceives of science as being an all-powerful searchlight which, in the course of time, will shed light on hitherto unilluminated problems con- cerning the nature of reality. Previously, science had consisted of a mass of knowledge obtained by the use of the empirical approach. Scientists were then wont to limit them- selves to the task of finding and accepting the discovered facts. Today, science has itself become a fact. That is to say, the methods of science are no longer questioned as to their validity. Science has added to the mere accumulation of facts another objective, namely, that of intelligibility. It attempts to interpret the results of its research and incorporate them into a metaphysical scheme. The scientist no longer limits himself to his fragmentary field of established knowledge. He craves a view of things as a whole ; and since he is limited to his particular section of science, he passes judgment in terms of that field alone. A chemist says that all the hopes, loves, and fears of man are results of chemical reactions. A physicist, as he approaches the very foundations of e.xistence, does not see any signs of a final cause or purpose at the basis of the universe. The world to him is but a machine functioning without any ulterior design. The anthro- pologist, the astronomer, and the biologist would all construct different interpretations as to the nature of reality in accordance with the findings of that particular science of which they are the exponents. Science has crossed the boundaries of authority into the realm of authoritarianism. If our immediate problem is that of the veracity of scientific data, we accept the authority of science as the only one qualified to render a decision. But we cannot accept the finality of scientific data. In the different stages of any process, science sees only that stage which is verifiable by sense perception, considers its results absolute for the entire universe, and brushes away any notion that verification by sense perception may leave many questions unsolved. It uses its results to answer all question-questions which by their very nature cannot be solved by data obtained through sense perception. Science takes its results, which are final and absolute for that particular problem only, and considers them final and absolute for all problems even in the sphere of metaphysics. 1 - ' Alfred Englander ' by Franz Werfel. Forly-tv o Furthermore, il is even cloiibtfLiI wlietlier tlie tnitlis of science are final and unalterable. Tlie history of science records inniimerahle .dicr.iiroiis in tliose scientific data which were at one time tliou ht to be absolute. There arc- many who maintain that scientific laws are only a|-)|- roximations and can never read) certainty. Thus, by delivering final mcta- pliysical judgments on the basis of not necessarily true data, science has become author- itarian — it has transgressed the bounds of its authority into fields where it is no longer qualified to judge. As a result of this type of thinking, coniusion reigns sujircme in our conception of the ultimate iluir.utcr of llie universe. We know not to whom to turn: to the physicist, the biologist, or the chemist. All speak with ec|ual authority, yet all fail to satisfy our sense of wonder. We are not made content by the conclusions of the chemist that all emotions can be fully explained as being chemical reactions or the results of glandular secretions. In all probability, these chemical reactions are the means to produce these emotions; but to argue that a man is virtuous because of the existence of certain hor- mones, or a criminal because of certain others, leaves us with the feeling that this chemist has not delved deeply enough into the mystery of life. To the physicist who denies a purpose in nature we could say there is nothing in science which would deny a final cause in nature. It is only when we close our minds to all but the study of physics, lor ex.unple, that wl would feel the impossibility of the existence of a final cau.se. But when we exclude from our considerations all sciences but one, we are no longer qualified to pass an opinion on the entire universe. Our theories as physicists must not overstep the boundaries of physics. Yet, to achieve intelligibility and significance, the metaphysics of the modern man must be one constructed in conformity with scientific data. We cannot ignore the con- clusions of the various sciences, but we must examine them and integrate them into an intelligible scheme. Our approach should be not from any one natural science but rather from an objective unprejudiced height. Our account of reality must take into consideration all categories of reality. This attitude has led many thinkers along the newest paths of modern thought — to a philosophy of science. The leaders of this movement have tried to mend the rupture that has occurred between philosophy and science. For them, a philosophy of science would make for more intelligibility. It would reap the benefits of each, and correct those deficiencies which arose when each vwis singly pursued. A philosophy of science would be the next rational step in the progress of science. Progress implies a connection with the past. It does not mean undue reverence for the past nor does it demand a complete sweeping away of the past. In Bacon ' s words, it means building on the shoulders of the past , and it is precisely in this sense that a philosophy of science would be progressive. If we review briefly the history of the development of .science, we shall see the point more clearly. The Greeks, as represented by Plato and Aristotle, stressed the theoretical view of science. Theory meant detached and contemplative vision. Man, by the aid of his reason, must t ry to discover intelligibilit) ' in the world for the sake of intelligibility. It was an anti-utilitarian view of science — science as theoria was an end in itself. This objective could be attained primarily bv reason, rather than by the senses. Forty-thiee 1 9 :{ tt In their distrust of the senses, Plato and Aristotle were greatly influenced by the Heraclitian doctrine. According to Herachtus, the world as perceived by the senses is in a perpetual flux. Life is not fixed but is constantly changing. If that is so, our impressions of it cannot remain fixed. Walter Pater, who was greatly influenced by Heraclitus, is fond of the figure the river of sensuous imagery rushing past. This truly Heraclitian figure conveys the fluidity and instability of physical forms to a stationary observer who fs himself undergoing the process of change. Because of the impermanence of physical life, therefore, Plato and Aristotle went one step further. To find that which was permanent, they said, we must pass over from the world of sense perception to that of reason, from the realm of particulars to the realm of universals. Sense perception could only yield probability, whereas reason alone could achieve certainty. Therefore, the duty of the scientist-philosopher was to discover the necessary, self-evident universals primarily by introspection, rather than by experimenta- tion and observation. The primary error that such a doctrine makes is its prejudice about the unpredict- ability of nature. They failed to realize that the flux, as perceived by the senses, moves according to fixed mathematical laws. It is true that Plato realized the importance of mathematics. However, he also maintained that the physical laws of nature were not expressible in mathematical terms. Nature is subject to contingency and is irrational, whereas mathematical laws imply that nature moves necessarily according to a fixed rational s cheme. It is also true that Aristotle stressed the importance of sense perception. For him, all knowledge begins in sensation, that is, the ability to distinguish objects. Sensation provides the matter upon which the reason works to obtain concepts. But Aristotle also did not arrive at the lav,-s of nature. His accomplishment was the classifi- cation of the various forms of nature. Yet the important notion that the flux moves according to fixed mathematical laws, that notion for which the Renaissance is mainly noted, was not discovered until about 1400 years later. This retardation was due not to Plato and Aristotle, but to the blind acceptance of Aristotle and Plato by the Scholastics. The spirit of free inquiry, so strongly advocated by Plato and Aristotle, was lost in the dogmatism of the Scholastics, who tended to subserve philosophy and knowledge of nature to Scripture. Science became the will of God as revealed. And since Aristotle ' s final cause could easily be construed as a Christian God and since Plato ' s mistrust of sense perception could be crystallized into a doctrine of the sup;-rficiality of the senses, that is to say, into an other-v orldly phil- osophy, Plato and Aristotle were accepted as being in harmony with Christian doctrine. The Scholastic study of nature was practical. It lost the Greek notion of detached contemplation for its own sake. The primary tendency was man ' s salvation. Therefore, Reason v.as not free to entertain various hypotheses but only those which tended toward salvation. And since the only hypothesis which tends toward salvation must be one which sees in all phenomena the hand of God, undue stress was laid on a final cause in nature. Phenomena in nature were interpreted in accordance with the character they ought to have in order to subserve some end. Hence they tended to give a central iMi%S31IO place in nature to man and tended to interpret the phenomena of nature in relation to man. This type of science was wholly a priori — deduced from the idea of salvation. Forty-four The Rcnaissantc i.iiiif .ilioiil .is .1 reaction to .S( holasticiMn. Sintc the- progress toward Ihc emancipation of knowledge was hindcrcil by the fact that the Church hail set up Ihc philosophy of Arislollc ,is .iiilhorilalivc in .ill matters of philosophy and scicnlilK ihcor) ' , Arislollc w.is siili|tii lo li(i|iicnl ,in l severe attacks by the thinkers of the Ren.iiss.inie. liis I ' ormal loyic w.is the target of their criticism. His blindness to the proper methods of ex|xrience and induction and the barrenness of his syllogistic methods of rea.sonini; were blamed for the retard, ition in the development of science. ' Iliis criticism was c|iiite iindeserveil. Iiu( the thinkers of the Renaissance were bitter against .uiythiiiL; which was tainted with Scholasticism, l- ' inal causes which had been the major picmise in .ill scholastic speculation were rejected and an atomic mechanistic philosophy was suhstituted. The liarth was no longer the only world, as the Scholastics had maintained, but was one of .m infinite number of them. It was a speck on a third- rate planet revolving about a tenth-rate sun drifting in an endless cosmic ocean. Purposes gave way to mathematics, human will and foresight to immutable and inflexible mechanical order, Man was alone, quite alone, in a vast and complex cosmic machine. ' This revolution in thought carried with it a rupture between philosophy and science. A new emphasis was placed upon giving explanations without recourse to metaphysics. Under the influence of Newton and Bacon, a distinction was made between those theories which follow directly from the facts observed or experimented with, and those theories which go beyond scientific data. It was Kant who made the separation complete. Philosophy deals with speculations about human values — its role is to create visions. It is not concerned with knowledge and its development. This idea puts philosophy on par with poetry. It is beautiful, it may influence people, — but there is nothing lasting in it. Science, on the other hand, deals with well organized eternal truths about known things. From this point, science and philosophy tended to develop independently along separate lines. This divorce has resulted in some benefit for science— namely, it has made for science ' s rapid strides in technology and invention. In this respect, science has become practical, — intelligibility for the sake of a greater control over nature. The notion that the common man has of science lies in this attitude. For him science is that which has made possible the radio, the telegraph, and the airplane. But the thinking man while accepting the practical benefits that science offers is not satisfied. He desires a true vision of life. Life for him is not worth living unless he understands its meaning and value. The reality of his ideas and visions are more important to him than the brute facts that science places before him. Science cannot satisfy this type of man. Nor can philosophy, if it ignores the results of the various sciences. Without the results of science, philosophy would be effecting a sorry state of things, because it is concerned only with the mind ' s vision of truth and beauty. It would be giving him a false comfort and an unbased sense of security. At the present time, we are w itncssing a Renaissance in philosophy precisely because outstanding scientists h.ive come to realize that science and philosophy must work hand in hand. Men like Eddington, Jeans, Whitehead. Einstein .md Planck are pursuing purely 1 R,mJ.ill, ■■M.iking ot the Modern Mind 19 8 8 Forty-five theoretical speculation concerning the nature of realities with which science deals. They realize, that in the last analysis, science has failed in its task unless it has rendered the nature of things more intelligible to the human mind and in conformity with his highest aspirations. This new philosophy of science would interpret the results of scientific investigation, construct them into a theory of reality and clothe them with human significance. In this sense we are returning to the ancient Greek idea that science means intelligibility — but with a difference. Since the Renaissance modern man has added to the Greek notion a tremendous emphasis on scientific experiment as the means to control nature — an idea totally foreign to Greek thought. A new and satisfactory philosophy of science must integrate three factors — the Greek notion of the intelligibility of the universe, the modern contribution of experimentation, and finally at its roots must lie a grasp of the foundations of hum.in happiness. TREE OF KNOWLEDGE Louis Mintz How pleasant is this tree to human sight! Be not diffident to eat therefrom. Why keep its gifts in esoteric light? And you, a creature above the dumb. Quail not — partake of its ambrosial fruit; Let not your brain in delitescence be, For whoso surfeits his felicity. Does hardly rise above the bestial brute. ' Tween right and wrong shall he that eats discern; Knowledge both revealed and latent learn, Fear not — forsooth you shall not die. But gain possessions that no wealth can buy. Thus spake th ' inveigling serpent with his wiles, And caused to perpetrate the pristine sin. Which has not been condoned by many trials. And ne ' er from Nemesis will freedom win. Yet Paradise is not beyond retrieve. Although without its fields of ecstasy; MilSMID How manifold thy fruits, forbidden tree! Did Adam such beatitude conceive? Forty-six The Hebrew Sources of Milton JilJAS I.IVI Milton ' s imlebteclncss to Hebrew sources for his great arnl majestic masterjiiece Paradise Lost is manifested on innumerable occasions. Although he follows the tradition of the classical poets who invoke the Muses, Milton makes Urania the inspirer of Moses on Mt. Horeb and its spur Mt. Sinai, when God ' s oracle was the Temple of Mt. Zion overlookint! tiie stream Siloam. He suspended Helicon, — the Aonian Mt., the haunt of tiie siren Muses of the Greeks, — for Zion, because he thought of his epic as not to be inspired by Dame Memory and her siren daughters, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit wiio can enrich with .dl utterance and knowledge, and who sends out his Serapliim with the h.iliowed hre of His altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom He pleases. Like the prophet Isaiah whose lips have been touched with the live coals of passion that streams perennially in torrential eloquence, so is it the Eternal Spirit which endows frail man with the gift of superb articulation of deeply seated anii profoundly felt hiim.m thought. Milton ' s description of God is stimulated by Biblical references which describe the Creator as dwelling amidst thick darkness and making as His pavilion the thick clouds of the sky. Milton ' s statements run almost parallel :- How oft amidst Thick clouds and dark, doth Heaven ' s all-ruling Sire, Choose to reside, His Glory unobscured And with the majesty of darkness round Covers His throne. Another such passage is the following: So spake the Sovereign Voice, and clouds began To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll In dusky wreaths, reluctant flames, the sign Of wrath awakened. Satan ' s meteoric fall and adamantine chains obviously must have been influenced by the Biblical memories from Isaiah How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning (14:12). Although Jewish commentators refer the passage to its immediate historical setting — the fall of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar from his might and power — yet Milton must have chosen the Christian commentary on the text, which refers it to Satan ' s fall from heaven. Only this can explain the estrangement of the text from its universe of discourse. Many passages from Milton reveal that he made use of abundant material from Rabbinical sources. ]osephus, for example embodies the Midrashic interpretation which explains that the serpent was envious of the wedded happiness of Adam and Eve. The serpent, which then lived together with Adam and his wife, showed an envious dispo- Fcrtv-seven 1  3 8 MASMID sition at their living together happily, and persuaded the woman out of a malicious intention to taste of the tree of knowledge. Hence Milton says:- Conjugal love, than which perhaps no bliss, Enjoyed by us excites his envy. The celebrated commentator Rjshi has a play on the Hebrew words for helpmeet . .. ,jj , This means that if man is lucky, the wife is an itjf,, or help, but if man is unlucky, his wife becomes an antagonist with whom friction ceaselessly exists. Milton has this very idea in his lines :- He never shall find fit mate for either, but such As some misfortune brings him, or mistake. Milton shared the extraordinary interest of his time in the apocryphal Book of Tobit. By the angel Raphael ' s advice, Tobias married Sara, who had previously lost seven husbands, all of them murdered on their wedding night by the destroyer Asmadai. Asmadai was in love with Sara and would have also killed Tobias on his marriage night, if the angel Raphael had not instructed him to burn the heart and liver of a fish in his chamber. The which smell, when the evil spirit had smelled, he fied into the utmost parts of Eg) ' pt, and the angel bound him. This story is reflected by Milton :- Then Asmodeus with the fishy fume That drove him, though enamoured, from the spouse Of Tobit ' s son and with a vengeance sent From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound. The commentator David Kiiiihi, in describing the creation of the Universe, says that God actually made a circle with a compass, for there are two legs in a compass, one standing still and the second going round the circle. And there is a point in the middle of the circle. And the earth is as the point, for the heavens surround the earth as a circle. Milton embodies this notion in his lines :- He took the golden compasses prepared In God ' s eternal store, to circumscribe The universe and all created things. GeisouiJes the medieval philosopher, in commenting upon the phrase in Job (26:7) He suspended the earth on nothing , says that the earth rests upon nothing, on something which has no existence in reality, and this is the center of the earth from which point the earth is suspended. Milton has the same view in his line:- And earth self-balanced on her centre hung. Milton must have been also profoundly influenced by the philosophy of the Zohar — that famous text of esoteric doctrines. The proof that Milton knew the Zohar and derived ideas from it, must come from a comparison of the two systems of thought, and a precise investigation of texts. Milton evidently took what suited him from that chaos of ideas. But assuredly Milton used the Zohar, found there abundant confirmation of his general ideas, and drew thence many of the ideas which seem at first sight most particularly his own. It can be stated that Milton ' s philosophy is in the Zohar, and Milton had only to disentangle it from extraneous matter:-such ideas as pantheism. Forty-eight matter as divine substance, Iransformation of inatlcr into spirit, unity between matter and spirit, vindication of the sex-passion arc all taken directly from the Zohar! There is only one L;re,i( h,isi( dorliiiii of the Zoli.ir, tli.it of metempsychosis, not used by Milton. I ' ' ioni llic niyilioioyy of (he oli.ii, Mdioii draws comparatively lilile. Vet a few are very inlereslinL;. live, alter ealini; ilic apple, and before giving it to Adam soiilo- e]Liizes thus:- Hilt wlial il (lod have seen And death ensue? ' I ' lien I shall lie iiii more And Ailam, wedded to another live .Shall li e with her enjoying; I extinct. A death to think. Confirmed then I resolve, Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe So dear I love him. that with him all deaths I coidd enilure. wilhoiit him live no life. This is splendid psychology, in splendid language. The Zohar says;- The woman touched the tree. Then she saw the angel of Death coming towards her and thought — Perhaps I shall die and the Holy One, will make another woman and give her to Adam. That must not happen. Let us live together or let us die together. And tiien she gave the fruit to lier husband that he should cat it also. One of Milton ' s finest and most discussed lines is:- The womb of Nature, and perhaps the grave. Since everything comes from God, which produced first that divine matter from which the universe is evolved, naturally, it is difficult to explain the anterior existence of chaos. But the Zohar explains this ch.ios. Why perhaps the grave? It is the Zohar which relates that God before creating the world, had created several others, and not having been pleased with them, had destroyed them. It seems evident that unless the earth fulfills the aims for which God created it, it will be destroyed also and become part of this chaos of lost worlds. Hence a tragic significance to perhaps the grave. Another striking feature is the identity of views on the ontological relationship between God and the world. This is the concept of retraaion ; the Divinity retires its will from certain parts of itself, giving them over, to whatever latent impulses remain in them. The Zohar says When we think that the Holy One is infinite and that he fills everything, it is e.isily possible to understand that any creation would have been impos- sible without the Tsimtsum I Qisr:v i or retr.Ktion. How could it be possible to pui more w ater into a cup which is already filled to the brim? The Holy One has therefore contracted the Holy Light which is His essence. Not that He diminished himself. Being all things, he can neither increase nor decrease. Only since the light of God is of such purity and strength that it eclipses all things, even the higher angels, even the Hayoth, even the Seraphim and the Cherubim, the Holy One to make possible the existence of celestial and material worlds, withdrew His almighty Light from a Forty-nine 1  3 « part of Himself. The passage in Milton, in its very construction, tion of these lines:- Boundless the deep, becau.se I am who fill Infinitude, nor vacuous the space. Though I uncircumscribed, myself retire, And put not forth my goodness, which is free To act or not Approach not me, and what I will is fate. an exact reproduc- MASMID In both texts we find preserved three definite concepts: 1. God is infinitude. 2. The idea of retraction. 3. God ' s greatness remains undiminished. The Zohar proclaims that it is a sin to abstain from lawful sexual intercourse. The fulfillment of these cravings is conducive to a person ' s development. Man, through the consummation of his biologic yearnings adheres and fits himself with the whole scheme and predestined aim of creation, whose purpose is ceaseless life and productivity. When man thwarts and rejects that which is his true self, he is casting off the Divine raiment in which he is primordialiy swathed. Nature is the disguised priest who unites every couple. The universe is an arena of joyousness. Herein Milton holds the clue to that inborn and ineradicable optimism of Jewish mystical thought which contrasts so strongly with the morose and austere ideal of life as advocated by most Eastern systems of religion, and reproduced in the mysticism of the medieval Church. Let us quote Milton ' s positive lines :- ' Our Maker bids us increase Who bids us abstain Bat our destroyer, foe to God and man? He refers when speaking to Raphael, to the example of physical love among the angels also:- ' Whatever pure thou in the body enjoyst And pure thou were created, we enjoy. Milton ' s attitude to woman is much the same as that of the Zohar. For both, man without woman is an incomplete thing. The Zohar frequerrtly asserts that the male form alone, and the female form alone, are each only one half of a body. Similarly in Milton, Adam explains to the Archangel that God:- From my side subducting, took perhaps More than enough. Man without woman is an incomplete entity, hence his weakness before her. Fifty THE SYMPHONY OF YOUTH l.oiiis Mint . How melodies so clear, Can charm man ' s subtle ear! Aye, holy sounds his thoughts refine. With cheerful tunes serene, luiliven soul ami niiLii, To solace those who in their sorrow pine. Their provenance I own, Must date from time unknown. All ancient cults did song possess. In hell, a lyre, they say Caused hearts to melt away. The l- uries could not even tears suppress. The warbling nii litint;alc In dulcet notes did wail, Eve music was yet manifest; And in her thenody Of limpid melody The song to man in Eden ' s Garden blest. In orisons demure With melodies so pure, Men raised to G-d their voice; And when their dire distress He changed to happiness. With psaltery and harp did they rejoice. Now let our voices ring As token of life ' s spring. In measures orotund and free; Yet inwardly give vent In tone mellifluent To songs of virtue and humanity. 1  3 « Fifty-one MASMID The Realm of Reason Sidney E. Greenberg No one is able to attain the truth adequately, while, on the other hand, no one fails entirely, but every one says something true about the nature of things, and while individually they contribute little or nothing to the truth, by the union of all a considerable amount is amassed. 1 With minor ramifications, the term Reason as used throughout the history of speculative thought refers to a dynamic psychic force, a power or faculty in man enabling him to deduce inferences from facts or propositions. - Although no philo- sopher has explicitly defined reason in these words, there can be little doubt that the above statement very closely approximates the true nature of the concept as universally applied. Generalizing broadly, we may observe that the development of human thought presents a consistent struggle, tacit, though it has sometimes been, between the emotions and reason, between the mystical and the rational. Each element has been alloted its own undisputed sway for a period of time, embodying during these intervals such movements as are denoted by the terms Rationalistic and Romantic, succeeding one another with almost mechanical regularity. Often, these two strains of thought have found expression within the same era, and what is most revealing, within the same individual. It seems that man has not been able to determine whether the ultimate truth is to be realized by a scientific and logical examination of reality, regarding it as an interaction of cause and effect or, whether the solution of the riddle of the universe is possible only by an intuitive application. For every Cartesian dictum of I think, therefore I am , there can be found a corresponding doctrine of Rousseau I feel, therefore I am . The two have been regarded as mutually exclusive and contradictory and still await reconciliation. Perhaps this over-simplification of complex phenomena bears within it an element of dogmatism echoing deterministic cries in a many-shaded system, ingenious and unfathomable. Yet, if one strain more than any other, can be consistently detected flowing through the current of philosophy, it is precisely that of philosophy itself. In its striving for truth, philosophy has been mainly preoccupied with the means of its attainment; and when at various times, the conflict of economic, political, or social conditions revealed the menace of impending doom, philosophy was forced to veer away from a course which seemed to lead to chaos. The i nsistence upon reason, which was the citadel of predominant Greek thought, was brushed by the wayside together with formal logic, natural science, and metaphysics in the face of imminent frustration 1 Aristotle, Metaphysics; ira - Harvard Encyclopaedia — v Fifty-two coiuoiiiil.iiU with liic ((ill,i| ' SL ul tliL iitysi.ilc. I lie .iiKtm ol C,liri; liani(y willi its new emphasis on l.iilh .is .in approach to tnitli was to a major degree heralded by the suffering, discouragement, and disillusionment of a populace sorely beset by mundane evils and eagerly scanning a gloomy horizon in stare h ol .1 new ray of hope. Thoroughly imbued with this dcsp.iir in reason, the Christian (.hurili Fathers established a new criterion for v.ilidily. llic soul ol in.iii was believed to harbor the light for a su|xt- natural untlcrst.indm ol iIk losiiios; .md this sjurit of |srosiraling the self before the shrine of ,1 divine .iiillioiil) ' peinK.ili.l ilie .ivenue s of liiiiii.in lliought throughout the Middle Ages. It must be noted however tli.il not always was a radical eliatige in the intellectual realm accompanied by violent ,ind disruptive forces in the sphere of economics or politics. The Christian mode of thought, having outlived its usefulness when the pre- carious conditions which had ushered it in had passed, melted away before the rising sun of a new era of rationalism. Slowly there arose a struggle between authority and reason assuming sundry garbs in different countries. In Italy it was mainly artistic and intellectual, in Lingland it was political, in Germany it was religious and in France it was scientific and philosophic. Like his contemporary Bacon, Descartes turned to sci- entific method as a means of arriving at truth, while subjecting authority and faith to reason. Doubt was the instrument he used in his attempt to assume a minimum. Taxing his scepticism to extremes, Descartes only stopped on the brink of self-annihila- tion; for there in consciousness he found irresistable certainty. If all else must perish, he the doubter, persevered. Cogito ergo sum . Descartes greatly affected French intellectual life by his emphasis on clarity, mechanical perfection, and scientific analysis which were embodied in the arts in the name of Classicism. The scientific discoveries of Newton placed science on a dogmatic foundation which was to last for two hundred and fifty years. The mysteries of the cosmos seemed to fade before the scientific laws which were universally applicable. A seemingly chaotic world was boldly simplified and explained. So astounding were the results that the method of Newtonian science was incorporated into all subsequent thought, finding immediate literary expression in the unimpassioned intelligence of Drj ' den and Pope who exemplified the scientific spirit incarnate. Its influence on philosophic speculation is equally pronounced in mathematical and empirical approaches of Spinoza and Locke to the creation of their vast systems of philosophy. Spinoza ' s determination to consider human actions and appetites as if I were dealing with lines, planes and bodies ' ' is quite in harmony with the methodic tempo of the age. The pendulum of human thought having struck an extreme, the expected reaction was not long in coming. In Newtonian science, the universe was depicted as a gigantic machine composed of law-abiding atoms. It no longer exhibited the rational structure that the universe of Plato and Aristotle was wont to display. Those phenomena that were not reducible to atoms were negated. The problem then which confronted modern philosophers was to find a much coveted niche in the world for human values, for religion, for love, tor hatred, and for all those emotional states of mankind ruled 1 9 . { a Fifty-three M ASM IB Out by a mechanistic and materialistic universe. The novel concern of the 18th Century with the mind and its powers represents an attempt to save human values from the throes of a monstrous machine, and in this effort ample opportunity was provided for the growth and expansion of the Romantic movement which soon made its imprint upon the inroads of the mind. In art, literature, music, and philosophy traces of liberated feeling, free expression of the emotions, became the dominant note. In the works of the philosophers of the Idealistic school of thought the influences of chemistry and biology were conspicuously absent, as compared with the profound and penetrating influences of science over philosophy the century before. Science had overstepped its bounds when it attempted to induce a conception of the universe as a machine being controlled by levers of physical impact, containing within it human bodies and minds which were no more than machines. To the German people such an analysis was untrue. No machine had strivings, hopes, frustrations and emotions, as indeed every German did. Mechanism could not be reconciled with life and was destined to collapse. Kant ' s declaration that science was concerned with a realm that was relatively unreal only rendered their conviction more impenetrable. Nineteenth century England seemed willing enough to accept science as a basis for philosophy, to embrace materialism as a working hypothesis. In the works of Huxley and Russell were to be found the explanations of the world which coincided and were substantiated by the rapid strides science was making in everyday life. The Industrial Revolution strengthened the growing faith in what Pavlov called the omnipotent scientific method which has been carried on well into the 20th Century, Yet the riddle of the universe still awaits .solution. The human mind has been over helmed by the advancing frontiers ol science. Man has been able to probe into the secrets of the mysterious universe of matter which he encounters and to a limited extent even the more intriguing universe of consciousness. Steadily trudging on in his path, man has explored the hidden realms to master the forces of gravitation, electricity, steam, to capture the secrets of the microscopic bacillus, to free himself from the diseases of his ancestors, to wrest from nature her most cherished secrets. Ever onward with accelerated speed the march into the darkness continues in our age. Yet the perennial question arises Is our confusion cleared? ' To which we must sadly retort in the negative. The problem of life ' s mechanism has been with us since the dawn of civilization and still has not been resolved. The materialism of Democritus, materialism in its literal sense, no longer exists. Science is no longer prone to attribute reality only to concreteness. Instead there exists the tendency today to explain everything on the basis of natural law , ultimately reducible to mathematical equations. But even in its revised form, materialism is found wanting when we seek any satisfactory explanation of the nature and origin of life and consciousness. Man refuses to concede that consciousness is mere mechanical motion, our desires mere links in a causal nexus. Man will not subscribe to a theory which regards human virtues and shortcomings, human ingenuity and daring, as determined by chance aggregations of molecules. Can he agree with the behaviorists who would have us believe that if an army of monkeys were strumming on typewriters, they might write all the books in the British museum? Men value Shakespeare ' s Hamlet and Newton ' s Principia far too highly to deny that these were the products of creative personalities, Fifty-four or lo (oiKcilc tlia( tlicir aiitliois utrc mere spectators while blimi taiiscs were in opera- iioii. As r rofcssor Wliitelicul h.is l.uonically remarkeJ, Scientists animated by the inirpDsi ' of proving lli.il llicy ,iir purposeless, tonslitiile an intereslin sulijeil for sduly. lAtii iIr most raitlifiil |Moponents ol science realize toiiay thai our knowledge falls sliorl ol a inctaphysiial system in which our universe will be made intelligible. Duiiui llir height of llir forward surge of science there were those who realized with l.aii,ne llial ' The very un.lerlaking to construct philosophic theory of thinp exclusively upon the physical sciences must m these days l)e described as a physical one-sidedncss of the worst kind. Ill more recent years the ranks of philosophers and scientists who can discern (lie limitations of science have been rapidly expanding. A sharp line of demarcation has been drawn defining the limits of .scientific investigation. As a cjuestion of scientific methodology there can be no doubt that the scientist has been right. But we have to discriminate between the weight to be given to scientific opinion in the selc-ction of its methods and its trustworthiness in formulating judgments of the understanding. The slightest scrutiny of the history of natural science shows that current scientific opinion is nearly inf.dlible in the former case and is invariably wrong in the latter case. ' There is yet a deeper and more convincing argument to be leveled at science. Science can lay claims to providing a quantitative description of the universe, a descrip- tion which does not take into account those elements whose only identity can be pre- served in their qualitative description. If five men are scientifically indicated by the numlier s, how much have we learned about the peculiar disposition, emotional stability, mental ability and personal appearance of each. What is there in this lifeless designation to represent the individualistic characters of each. ' Little indeed. Yet this is all the information that science purports to convey. It strips life of that which make s it mean- ingful, leaving behind a drab monotonous mankind. Delving as deeply as the methods of physical investigation permit into the nature of the individual, we are confronted only by symbols. The physicist ' s world has no reality beyond motion, shape, and number, making no attempt to explain the symbols. In vain do we seek to find in science an explanation of our mental and spiritual states with which we are so intimately familiar. Here we ourselves go beyond science, interpreting the symbols as science admittedly can not. ' We reject as inadequate that merely symbolic description which is good enough lor dealing w itli chairs and tables which affect us only by remote -communication. ' Scientific law has proven equally inadequate to explain man ' s behavior. In the realm of science law means a rule, the non-fulfillment of which is by ver - definition impossible. Thus in the phvsical world, the speed with w hich a body should fall and the speed with 4 Whitclu.iJ, ■The Funcclon of Rcisoa ' r- ' - ■ '  Liinge, The History ol M.iterialism ' vol. - p. ' V; ' hitehe.id. Function of Reason p. 8 Fddington Science and the Unseen VC ' orld p. Fifty-f ve which it actually does fall are synonomous. In dealing with human beings however, laws only describe the desirable state of activity, not the actual one. While Logic can tell us how we ought to think, our minds do not necessarily follow the pre.scribed principles. This much at least appears definite. The hiatus separating scientific reason from an understanding of life is too wide to be spanned by reason alone. Of late, Freudian psycholog) ' has added to the distrust of reason by probing beneath the surface in the firm conviction that the motives which determine our conduct are rarely such as we profess. It would seem then that reason is a mere tool for arriving at those conclusions to which our instincts prompt us. Our beliefs are not objectively based on critical observation but are manifestations of the fundamental desires of our nature. Be that as it may, the problem of knowledge still awaits solution. From what has already been pointed out it is quite clear that not by the pretentious claims of reason alone can man hope to reach ultimate truth, though he cannot even aspire to it without it. He must enlist the aid of intuition to explore behind the symbols, realizing all the while that Reason is a special embodiment in us of the disciplined counter-agency which saves the world. In reason can man hope to find that guide necessary to steer speculation logically even in the realm of the fanciful, a realm which has in the past embodied some of mankind ' s cardinal truths and which is yet to be explored for the opening of new vistas. Only by a happy synthesis of both reason and intuition each bestowing upon the other the full measure of its age long accumulated treasures can mankind best be served. Only in such a manner can they be successful in an effort to obtain a world view comprehensive and qualitative but free from aber- ration and secure against a maudlin romanticism . . . ■■The Je MASMID Fift- -six Progress in Gorernment IsADoKi; Mii.i.i;k ' The ,iit of free society consists first in the maintenance of the symbohc code; .mil sicoiuliy in fearlessness of revision, to secure that the code serves (hose pniposcs which satisfy an enlightened reason. Those .societies which ciiiiiol uimhiru- reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision must iillini.itcly ilcuiy cither from .m,u hy or from the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless sh.ulows. Whitkhi-ad As we y.ize upon the development of history, we can discern the traces of one trend throuuliout, (he eiil.irL;tmen( of the political unit. Ancient dynasties and oKI moii,iri.hic,d systems li.ne dis.ippcired ; new monarchies have risen and fallen; the Americ.ui constitutional system appeared on the scene; and at present the totalitarian .•■t.ites h.ive gained the spotlight on the international stage, pushing the process of enlarge- ment to an extreme, causing many to lose faith in this process and to point to all L;o ernmental reform as regimentation, fascism, or communism. We must ap- proach the subject objectively and realize that the process of enlargement is necessary and will take place despite all our etTorts to the contrary. Our task must be to regulate this tendency to combine and consolidate power into channels desirable and beneficial to all. We must also bear in mind the proposition that politics and economics are inseparably interlinked, and in order to achieve the recovery which will once more afford social and national security, we must go to the roots of our problems and institute political reform. It is true that those roots are nourished in the soil of national character and derive their fruit from our spiritual life. But without evading that ultimate issue, we may still accomplish a transformation in the political realm that will make honesty and intelligence more possible in our affairs of state. Any change, to be fruit! ul, must preserve the soundest heritage of American character — responsible individu.il initiative — and must be carefully discussed and thought out, not improvised in a moment of national hysteria as was the ill-fated NRA. The American political system must be modernized to fit a grown up United States. To set our national house in order requires more than a New Deal or any other plan treating symptoms rather tha n causes. If a house were merely in need of repairs, a carpenter would be called in to patch it up. A house which was originally built for only four people, however, cannot very well be renovated to accommodate thirty times that number. Although the old plan and materials might be utilized to advant.ige, it would be necessary to entirely rebuild the ancient structure. The analogy can be very well carried over to our constitutional system. At one time the repairs necessitated by changing conditions were very well taken care of by constitutional amendments. Repairs are now insutlicient, however, for a structure formed for less than four million people living in a narrow area along the coast which now must accommodate thirty times that number occupying half a continent. Although the Constitution can be used .IS a foundation, rebuild we must. And rather than waitinc until we are forced into 19 3 Fifty-seven MASMID a change, why not plan ahead and change gradually? There can be no real and lasting recovery without fundamental reform. It is in periods of drastic economic crisis that the lag and drag of an antiquated political machinery becomes more apparent. This can be seen clearly in surveying the years 1786-89, the three years prior to the creation of the Constitution of the United States. The improvised Articles of Confederation, which were the only form of federal integration permitted by the jealousies of the new states, were a total failure. The Continental Congress, which created them in 1780 in the midst of the struggle, proved to be an entirely inadequate instrument for shaping the common destiny of the infant United States of America, and the states, being cognizant of this fact, took advantage of it. There was no way of forcing them to abide by their obligations and not make mockery of union by willful disregard or negligent delay. In such a pass of affairs, with the states in many instances debasing their currencies and engaging in huge schemes of land speculation or tariff wars with their neighbors, commerce stagnated and the basis of public credit was no longer present. It was primarily this economic crisis which produced the Annapolis Convention in the autumn of 1786 out of which came the proposal for a convention to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union ... The Constitution, drawn up at the time, has had at least its deserved due of praise, — but it was never intended to govern present conditions. What is wanted today is not a destruction of the great work of the Constitutional Convention, but rather its logical completion and revision in the light of modern needs. The Constitution is not a holy doctrine conceived by super-humans who foresaw and prepared for the future. Many of its provisions are compromises dictated by the small states, many were ratified by the narrow margin of one vote, and it is oftimes said that if the people of the whole country in primary meetings or by individual votes had had the opportunity of passing upon the Constitution, it would have been rejected. The precise danger which the Constitution faces is that its stand-pat friends, who oppose all change, will put a strain upon the venerable structure greater than it can bear. At the time of the Constitutional Convention, as at this, there was such general economic distress and such disgust at the spectacle of legislative impotence that the call for strong government aroused the needed response. In spite of a certain growing distrust of too numerous experiments and an extensive opposition aggravated by the recession, Mr. Roosevelt is still looked upon by the mass of people today as the Moses who can lead us out of an economic wilderness. There is no particular desire to return to the executive impotence and leaderless Congressional control such as we saw under Mr. Hoover. Federalism continues to exist in the United States only in the difiiculty of formally amending the Constitution, in the extraordinary overrepresentation of small states in the Senate, and in the unnecessary multiplication of jurisdictions and bureaucracies. The domain of state control over finance, labor conditions, farming, manufacturing, mining, etc. has been to a great extent obliterated by the multitude of recovery acts. All this could not be undone by a return to Hooverism without chaos, perhaps revolution. And why should we desire to return to the old type federal system? Federalism can Fifty-eight never be permanent for csscnlially il is .1 (ompromise. Il sliould Ik- reformulated to change with chan ing condilioiis. In iis jihicIk nili rcntury form it will never be revived in the United States. When niinc litcoines a matter for federal jurisilittion because of its interstate organization, wli.il is left of the original jurisdiction of the state? Tlie regulation of public utilities by intlividua! states, already superseded in respect to railway and transport and communication lines, is certainly marked for destruction in (illirr fields uIrtc Ihc fin.uuial setup or interstate transmission escape the simplicity of llie (.1.1 u.iilrol, riu stales were at one time economic and cultural imits, but tiie process of enlarge- iiieiil 1)1 the political unit has caused them to become lost in the larger whole. As at present geographically conslituled ilu states have lost all reality as economic units. Even as rough boundaries ol culiui.i! unity and traditional loyalties, there are only a few who possess the recjuircd vitality to resist the inevitable march toward federal centralization. Economically, culturally, and even to a great extent politically, the process of unification has forced the states to become components of larger sectional areas. Have we not reached the point where it has become necessary for the statesman to take stock and bring the Constitution up to date? Consider, for example, the absurdity of Nevada, supporting the full cost of a state government with a population smaller than that of any ordinary city. And there are numerous examples to illustrate this point. We must re-state pragmatically. The new states must be integrated units such as the New England region, the Western prairie region, the Pacific Coast region, etc. The form of these new regions is not of the utmost importance. It might, for instance, be found that the present divisions of the Federal Reserve districts form a reasonable approximation of the most suitable economic grouping, even though they do not .ilways represent the most appropriate areas of cultural community. But regions of this general nature, even were they arrived at by unsatisfactory compromise, would become much more real units, certainly more economical units, for the political life of our nation than are our present states. They would reduce the terrific waste of multi- plied state capitals, legislatures, and bureaucracies. Within these regions there should be a drastic reorganization of counties to merge them into effective and economic units of political administration. Following the politics of the United States, we note that the regions rather than the states are the distinct economic and social units, each with its individual culture and way of life. One has only to study the votes of Congress on the Anti-Lynching and Wage and Hour Bills in order to verify this statement. To consider these sectional areas as the primary basis of a new federal system would infuse vigor into the source of all democratic government — the local areas. Our drooping federalism would be revived and the present march of centralization in Washington would be stopped, for these regions would be capable of furnishing units of real government and adequate laboratories of social experiment. It is not here necessary to go into a detailed account of the changes to be wrought in the governmental system. The ttiiporlaiice of the proposeJ plan is its emphasis on the necessity for reform. Any plan which might be considered would of course only be a suggestion, and could naturally enough be dismissed wholesale with the dogmatic asser- tion that to talk of reorganizing our constitutional system along more rational lines is Utopian. The states are too firmly entrenched, one may assert, to be budged by 1 « :i 8 Fifty-nine MASMID constitutional methods from their vested legal rights. This may be true. Nevada may remain forever a divorce colony with two senators and a state machinery as complete as that of Texas, all to represent some ninety thousand people. The same argument was used by Rhode Island in opposing the creation of the constitution, until enougii eco- nomic pressure was brought to bear to force a concession. Yet that very action in 1789 showed that nothing is impossible where there is drastic need and the intelligent will to change. Even the Prohibition Amendment, once regarded as entrenched forever in the Constitution, was repealed. It is absolutely inevitable that in the not distant future some of our cumbersome and ineffective duplication of services by the counties, states, and federal government will be eliminated. One does not have to possess prophetic powers to forsee what will happen if the constitutional system is not reshaped to modern needs. If it remains unaltered legally it will be pulled down piecemeal by force of circumstances. An unworkable legislative system of checks and balances will be superseded in times of crisis by executive authority more and more Caeserian in character. And in what appears to be inevitable if we are to act at all — a period of transition to a state controlled or managed economy, ' when shall we be free of crisis? Let us suppose, however, that we go on as we have up to this time with recurrent period of hysterical reform alternating with normalcy. In the meantime, the vestigial remains of useless and atrophied organs which have not been removed from the Constitution will certainly hamper and disease the necessary functioning of the new system. Without providing a workable alternative, we shall be laboring in a perpetual atmosphere of crisis and uncertainty. The one path to altering our Co nstitution leads us through the difficult way of showing our democracy a workable machinery for maintaining government by the consent of the governed. It requires redrawing the political map into areas more suited to the cultural and economic needs of modern America. It requires simplification of demo- cratic control along with amplification of governmental machinery. It demands respon- sible executive leadership rather than the irresponsible executive dictation of policy or the leaderless Congressional response to pressure groups. The other path is simpler. It consists in allowing the dead hand of the past and the difficulty of amending the Constitution to hold us in the grip of a fatal inertia. Rome as a republic suffered from a similar rigidity in its constitutional system, a separation of powers which was ultimately resolved by civil wars and dictatorships. Always in such a crisis in constitutional development it is the conservatives, the stand-patters, who ultimately make the destruction of the system inevitable, for they demand impossible things of antiquated machinery. It is not those who would reform, but those who would deify a constitution who bring about its destruaion. They are the true begetters of fascist Caeserism. The path toward fascism can hold no attraction for any liberty-loving American. Unless we are to fail in our national mission and renounce our heritage, we cannot forego that education in personal responsibility which is the painful price of democracy and constitutional government. If we lose this heritage, it will probably be through no fault of intention but simply from the habit, fatal to any free people, of letting matters take their course until it is too late. 1 Beard. Charles A., Sixty A Chassids Dance M. El.lAS Bl.Af.KOWIT . Notliii n may be comparfil to tlic riui.il dantc pLTformed by a Chassidic Rabbi in tlie midsl 1)1 ' ail cntiniiaqc of dcli litcd followers. The heated fervor in which the Rabhi ami hi-, ( liassiilim liiul expression for tlicir tlianks ivinj defies description. Such nil inspiring; spcil.uk was witnessed in ,111 unassuming Shticbei on the f ' ast Side. The scene was truly a G-dly one; the holiness of the Shechinaii could be lelt in every step of llieir .mlcnt worship. The Rabbi, confined within a narrow circle, sur- rouiulcd an all sides by his adoring followers, seemed to be moving everywhere. Never a word did he Say, yet his voice seemed to have penetrated deeply into their hearts. His arms extended in the air followed closely the slow movements of his heavy body rocking gently to and fro. In this state of somnolence he remained undisturbed for several moments. Then motivated by an unseen force, he suddenly leaped forward raising his arms toward the heavens, begging response for some profound request. His face, drav. ' n in deep agony, made him appear as though he had been transported to another sphere, — until his limbs relaxed gently and his long cloak hung loosely once more from his heavy shoulders. His hands found a resting place in a silken girdle which was wrapped around his waist. From time to time he withdrew them in order to beat rhythmically to the melodious sounds issuing from the throats of those around him. and after a short while, he was again prepared to enter his spiritual trance. The ( hassidini, in turn, sang vociferously and danced a seemingly endless dance around the swaying form of the Rabbi. Their faces were not those of the simple men ot an hour ago; their countenances were beaming with an ecstatic joy, partaking of the woes, and were participating in a sublime joy. Their eyes were turned heavenwards, radiance emanating from the Rabbi. They had transcended the physical world with all its their faces pale, their bodies fatigued, but nevertheless, they continued, refusing to be roused from their blissful reverie. Closer and closer they felt themselves approaching the spirit of holiness, and in that divine inspiration they found renewed strength to vihirl about ever faster and faster to the tunes which they sang with increasing loudness. Soon they had reached the zenith of their fervid devotion; this far the flesh could follow the elation of their souls. Gradually the hght in their eyes dimmed, their feet lost that ethereal lightness which had possessed them, and their songs of gladness died down. But their exotic dream did not terminate until long after the stars had come out. and they left it in a cold sweat, as from a mystical trance. No earthly pleasure approximates the supreme joy of a Chassid in his dance. the spiritual uplifting of the pious in his song. On ly then can one understand Rabbi Judah Halevi ' s conception of serving G-d. One does not serve merely by wailing and abstaining; the song and the dance of the sincere Jew are equally important. Joy of the spirit and pleasure of the soul directed towards G-d manifest the same love and devotion as can be experienced through asceticism and abstinence. Through this joy the Chassid can express a love that words could never convey, — a love that is everlasting. Sixty-one YESHIVA SENIOR — 1938 MODEL MASMID Age 21 years Height 5 fi-L-t ' inches Weight no poLinJs All-around athlete Norman GokikLing Most respected Rabbi Solomon Abel Class gentleman Herbert Hendel Most popular Isaiah Eisenberg Most likely to succeed Isaiah Eisenberg Done most for Yeshiva Gersion Appel Class comedian Sidney Greenberg Class grind Nathan Levinson Handsomest Jerome B. Gordon Most naive Louis Mintz Best dressed Sidney Greenberg Biggest politician Israel L.ister Most literary Louis Mintz Most conceited Joseph Noble Class genius Louis Mintz Most popular of the faculty Dr. Savitsky Most respected of the faculty Dr. Jung Most humorous of the faculty Dr. Savitsky Best lecturer of the facidty Dr. Litman Hardest year Sophomore Most pleasant year Senior Hardest course General Chemistry Easiest course Sociology Favorite Morning Paper New York Times Favorite Evening Paper New York Post Favorite Columnist Ernest Meyers Best Moving Picture Life of Emile Zola Favorite Dramatist Clifford Odets Sixty-two I - ACTIVITIES ■ ilK ' ' ' MASMID STUDENT COUNCIL GERSION APPEL, President NORMAN GOLDKLANG, Vice-President ISSAC B. ROSE, Secretary JEROME B. GORDON, Athletic Manager A. LEO LEVIN, Editor ISADORE MILLER, Editor CLASS OFFICERS Senior Class Freshman Clas s ISAIAH J EISENBERG, Pres. HYMAN WACHTFOGEL, Pres. HERBERT RIBNER, V. Pres. MORTIMER SKLARIN, V. Pres. Sophomore Class Junior Class MAX E. BLACKOWITZ, Pres. HYMAN CHANOVER, Pres. JACOB GOLDMAN, V. Pres. IRWIN ISAACSON, V. Pres. 66 Message From The President Gkrsion Ai ' I ' i:i. Willi llif (.11.1 (il (lie .nailfinii yc.ir ] ' ) '  , Yesliiv.i flolle ' c passed titc tcn-ycar in.irk of its lxisIliuc. A du.i.k- (if iiilciisc struggle for a principle, unparalleled in the liclcl of (.duialioii, h.is left it tin, h. tin prepared to fate the future. On its own plane, the Student Coumil at the same liine continued to tap the potential resources of student endeavor . n , as a result, this year has seen the culmination of student initiative in an ovcrwiieimingiy successful program of activity. Contrary to expectations, the basketb.dl Varsity, though without the services of a co.uh, (hsplayed excellent form in intercollegiate coiTi|-:ctition and hit the ceiling with .1 total of eleven victories in the stitTest schedule in its history. In general, interest ran high in this year ' s basketball activity, both varsity and intramural. The Student ' s Recreation Room, further cc]uipped with a radio, lounges and games, continued to serve as the center for relaxation and uiiilergraduate social activity. The Chess ,iiul Debating teams functioned with usual etiiciency. both groups intensifying their activities with a view to providing an outlet for students with a porpensity for their respective fields. Financial assistance to students was maintained through the medium of the Usdan Loan Fund and the student Employment Bureau. The Student Cooperative expanded its services to include a greater variety of neces- sities at reduced rates. This year saw an important addition to the extra-curricular roster in the establish- ment of a Speaker ' s Bureau. The bureau is intended as a service both to student speakers and to organizations in need of lecturers on topics of Jewi.sh interest. It ' s short existence has already proved it an indispensable activity. The International Relations Club has again constituted an important contact between the college and a pulsating economic and political minded world in securing recognized authorities who presented various viewpoints on important topics of the day. A revitalized Concert Bureau offered many opportunities for the aesthetically inclined. Hapoel Hamizr.ichi continued its efforts to rally the undergraduate bodv in support of Zionism and Torali A odah ideology. The Commentator, official undergraduate newspaper, deemed it best to return to a bi-weekly schedule. The publication, continuing as a free and independent organ to mirror and mold student opinion, fearlessly raised basic issues and retained its leading position in ad ocati ng measures designed to improve the students ' lot con- sistent with the welfare of the college. Student Council actively participated in the recently formed Federation of Jewish University Societies. It renewed its membership in the National Student Federation of America and sent delegates to the Middle Atlantic Regional Conference. For the first time, the college gained representation on the regional executive board. The activities outlined above constitute but one phase of council endeavor. The Faculty-Student Relations Committee this year h.-is given evidence of the potentialities such an arrangement offers for the maintenance of a closer and more understanding relationship between faculty, administration and student bodv. It. more so than any I J 3 « 67 other medium, has been instrumental in solvini the many problems that have recurred throughout the year. Student int;rest in curriculum and other questions relative to their cultural improvement has been accepted by council as a sensible attitude worthy of cultivation. It is exactly such an attitude that makes for a college education which is meaningful rather than just a pseudo-intellectual picnic. It constitutes a healthy deviation from the cafeteria system of education and should be encouraged rather than suppressed. It has ever been our belief, and I deem it essential to reiterate at this point, that whatever may be the specific objectives of student government the scope of student activity in the college must be unlimited. Student government should, therefore, maintain its flexibility to a degree where it can meet problems in any way relating to the student ' s cultural or social welfare. This has always been our policy at Yeshiva and we have been able, to a large degree, to convince both faculty and administration that our educational set-up is a mutual responsibility and privilege. Student initiative has, as a result, penetrated deeply to the component parts of the college and, record affirms, has been a potent factor in the progress of Yeshiva. A message such as this cannot be complete without a word about the future and, possibly, a modest bit of advice to next year ' s incumbents. That Yeshiva College, considered in relation to the institution in its entirety, has great potentialities as a motiv- ating force in Jewish life, is at once both a fact and a prayer. That these potentialities have not been exploited to advantage, is moreover a challenging truism; and only united effort can bring them to fruition. In the process of achievement of that dominant position in Jewish life the students, of necessity, will have the central and most telling role. For ultimately, the criterion of the success of the institution ' s aim is the calibre of the graduates it produces, its ability to leave with them and upon them a lasting impression of its own individuality. SERVICE GROUP MASMID r — = 1 i 1 Sixty-eight GOVERNING BOARD A. LEO LUVIN Editor-in-Chief ARNOLD J. MILLER Managing; Editor JEROME KESTENBAUM News Editor MORRIS A. LANDES Sports Editor JACOB GOLDMAN Business Manager HI-RZL FREED Sports Editor COMMENTATOR An established institution within the college, the Commentator proceeded this year to add two more semesters of action to its history as a crusading journal. Despite the fact that the Governing Board found itself for the first time without the benefit of a pioneer member, the editors, steeped in Commentator tradition, continued the policy of maintaining the publication for the full free expression of student opinion. unhampered and uninhibited by any outside influences. In pursuit of the goal common to all sincere members of the administration. faculty, and student body — a better Yeshiva — the Commentator continued, from its first issue in the fall, to advocate fundamental reforms, necessar) ' to the progress of the institution. Outstanding among these was the demand that the college administration include a man to discharge the obligations of a dean. After the appointment of Professor Moses Legis Isaacs to this position, the paper actively supported his policies, democracy be effected in the college. to the end that a true interna A niember of the Associated Collegiate Press almost since its inception, the Commentator this year became a charter member of the Metropolitan College Press 1 9 :t a Sixty-nine Association. The formation of this federation of the college newspapers of New York City brought about a greater degree of cooperation on common problems, and the Commentator participated both in the drawing up and in the publication ot a number of joint editorials on such basic questions as peace and public health programs. In an effort to reclaim many of the advantages of the bi-weekly publication, while at the same time preserving those of the weekly paper, the Governing Board, at the beginning of the second term decided to revert to the original policy of publishing once every two weeks. This year the Commentator participated again in the National Scholastic Press Association ' s critical service. Despite the fact that the paper was judged on those issues published during a period of stress, when technical difficulties which saw the paper published at three different plants in rapid succession had all but disrupted staff organization, Commentator was again awarded First Class honors. As in the past, editorial policy and content was rated excellent. Mish Landes, under the pseudonyms of Mish Uganeh and Prof. Ugas, added materially to the zest of the paper with his regular contribution of Mish Ugas, while Herzl Freed was responsible for the creation of ' Time Out during his incumbency as Sports Editor. Maybe I ' m Wrong, continued this year by Gersion Appel, commented significantly on general and Jewish problems. The Feuerstein Journalism Award, given by the Commentator Alumni Association, was won this year by Hyman Chanover, who although only a Freshman, has already a grasp of Commentator problems and tradition and shows promise for the future. Next year, with Arnold J. Miller as editor, the Commentator may well be expected to mount to new levels in its continued fight for progress at Yeshiva. COMMENTATOR STAFF MASMIU Is 9! J sB w mmi i w h Mtn !■ 1 raf M V m T 1 «5 m sw ' ' K ' e: H 70 I I I W ' f ' , w DEBATING SOCIETY The school year 1937-.SS witnessed more activity on tlie part of the Debating Society than any previous year in the history of the college. The society contacted not only the traditional foes in the metropolitan area but also many colleges that never had any forensic relations with Yeshiva. The lively interest manifested by the studen: body in debate resulted in (he initiation ot a Freshman Varsity and in the inauguration of intramural debates. The Society was headed by Dr. Kenneth F. Damon, coach, and Nathan Levinson 38, President. The primary resolution was the proposition adopted by the Phi Kappa Delta Society, Resolved: That the National Relations Board be empowered to enforce arbitration in all industrial disputes. In accordance with the policy adopted by colleges throughout the country all debates were non-decision in character. On December 9, B. Kreitman and M. Blackowitz ' 40 upheld the affirmative of the Phi Kappa Delta question against C.C.N.V. at City College. A large audience witnessed the opening debate. A week later, Yeshiva met Columbia at Riets Hall on the question. Resolved: That radio programs are adequately meeting the cultural demands. ' This meeting proved very interesting and entertaming. attracting one of the largest crowds of the year for home debates. N. Levinson ' 38 and Bernard Finkelstein 39 represented Yeshiva in the college ' s first debate ever to be held with Columbia. On February 17, Yeshiva entered into forensic relations with Rutgers University at Yeshiva on the PKD question. Yeshiva w.is represented in this contest by Bernard Finkelstein ' 39 and Hyman Wachtfogel ' 3 ' - ' . The following week, a team composed of Martin Hinchin .ind M.ix Blackowitz encountered City College Commerce. Yeshiva had a busy day in debating on March 31. At 3 P. M. Levinson and Finkelstein debated against New Jersey State Teachers College in New Jersey on the 19 3 8 71 PKD topic. At 8:15 P.M. Hinchin and Bl.ickow itz of Ycshiv.i dcb.itcd against the rep- resentatives of Newark University at Newark. The last debate of the year was held April 1 1 over station WNYC on the PKD question, Finkelstein and Blackowitz representing Yeshiva against a team from City College Commerce. Another radio debate was scheduled with N. Y. U. for May 9 but had to be postponed indefinitely. An account of this year ' s debating activity would be incomplete witliout mentioning the unprecendented interest in debate displayed by the Freshmen. More than twelve members of the Freshman Class answered the call at the beginning of the Spring term. Their first debate was held at N. Y. U., Azner, Devine and Kolman being selected to represent the Yeshiva Frosh. A return debate took place at Yeshiva in which Gopin and Azner upheld the affirmative of the PKD question. A Freshmen team consisting of Karp, Devine, and Isaacson debated against the Girls ' Varsity of City Commerce. A debate was also arranged with the Talmudical Academy, in which Cohen, Sobel, and Azner carried the banner of the Freshman Class. The intensive interest in debate manifested itself also in two intramural debates: The Upper Freshmen vs. the Lower Freshmen and the Frosh vs. the Sophomores. With an experienced varsity and an enthusiastic nucleus of Sophomore debates in the offing, the Debating Society looks forward to a record breaking season next year, with such colleges as Princeton, Columbia, Rutgers, Swarthmore, George Washington University, University of Pennsylvania, and Temple already scheduled. The following men have been elected to lead the Society next year: Bernard Finkelstein ' 39. President; Martin Hinchin ' 40, Manager of Debate; and Leonard Azner ' 41, ' Vice-President. FRESHMAN DEBATING TEAM MASMIU Seventy-two RECREATION ROOM The means o( supplying the lon needed recreational facilities for the student body were successfully established this year under the able guidance of Jerome B. Gordon ' 38, Athletic Manager, The Recreation Room adjoining the Gymnasium was renovated by the installation of adequate lighting fixtures, which brightly illuminated the freshly painted walls, adorned by banners, trophies and paintings. The recreational facilities include complete sets of chess, checker, and domino games, couches, radio, victrola, and piano. One of the main attractions of the Recreation Room is the ping pong tables which m.ike it the center of student assembKige on long winter evenings. The installment of a concession made possible through the Cooperative Store, selling a variety of candies and cigarettes, helped curtail the expenses incurred in carrying out the various activities. An .iccount of this important function would be incomplete without a mention of the excellent and devoted work of Sholom Novoseller ' 40, who bore the brunt of the burden of supervising the various .Ktivities in the Recreation Room, Arrangements were made whereby high school students, upon payment of a nominal fee, were allowed the same privileges afforded college students. Late in the season, Ephraim Mandelcorn ' 41 and Joe Karp ' aI otfered to assist the man.iger in conducting the various activities, thereby affording the students more opportunities in reaping the benefits of the Recreation Center. Plans are already under consideration whereby the recreational f.icilities will be enlarged, and with the present staff serving as a nucleus for next year ' s group, the play- room promises to be an even greater success. Seventy-three 19 COLLEGE LIBRARY MASMID Since the fall of 1936, when Mr. Isaac Goldberg ' 33, pioneer Librarian, was called by Yeshiva College to head its Library, its march has been one of steady progress. From the very outset, he introduced certain revisions leading to the ultimate benefit of the student body, were made in the staff personnel, and a group of interested and enthusiastic freshmen were accepted on the staff. Mr. Goldberg has always felt that best results could be obtained with a staff, the members of which begin their apprenticeship while new in the College. In December, 1936, with the removal of the Library to the College Concourse, greater opportunities for the expansion and improvement of Library facilities were provided. With the spirited and driving force of Dr. Sol Liptzin, chairman of the Library Committee, an active campaign for books was inaugurated. Donors during the past two years include Dr. Theodore Abel, Professor Jekuthiel Ginsburg, Dr. Leo Jung, Mr. Philip Kraus, Dr. Sol Liptzin, Dr. Alexander Litman, Dr. Arnold N. Lowan, Dr. David I. Macht, Rabbi Joseph Marcus, Dr. Aaron M. Margalith, Dr. Solomon A. Rhodes, and Dr. Joseph T. Shipley. Donors not affiliated with Yeshiva College included Professor Harold Abelson, Professor Morris Raphael Cohen, Rabbi Mendel H. Lewittes ' 32, Professor Otto Peterson, Mr. Abraham Schechter, Professor Felix Wittmer of Montclair State Teachers College, and Mr. David Zuckerman of Newark, New Jersey. Substantial contributions of books were made by the Columbia University and City College Libraries, and negotiations are being conducted for exchanges with the Library of Brown University. All in all, four thousand books have been added to the shelves within the past two years. In March of last year the Library joined the American Library Association, thus gaining the benefit of the advic e and experience of the hundreds of college libraries affiliated with the national organization, and thereby also gaining recognition. Seventy-four ' llic pas! year has been markctl by the rapiil growth of the Rimphlct Library whiih is boin aii nicntcil daily. Tlic Library is now on (he rc; iilar mailing list of many ovcrnmcnl Inircaiis, whose publications are of reat value to the students. A Readers ' Ailvisor service has been one of this year ' s innovations. Its purposes arc lo .ulvisc Ihc siudcnl with riL;.Hi| Id obi, lining material for themes and reports, and keeping; sliulcnls .iml l.iiiijl) ' iii I h uilli the latest publications in their special licMs (if inlciisl. Last l)ct ember, I he l.ibr.uy lelcbi.ilcd ils tiflli .mniversary. In commemoration of this momentous on.ision, tin (oiiiiiKiil.iicir ilev()ie l a special issue to the Library, its history and slatf. OF special iiiUresI is llie iclciiI orti.mi .il idii (iI the friends of Yeshiva College I.ibr.iry. Headed by suih eminent men as Professor Albert Linstcin, Dr. John H. Finley, (Jovcrnor Herbert Lelmiaii, and Dr. Bernard Revel, this new roup has for its purpose the expansion of the book-collections and facilities of the Library so that it can be of still greater service. There are several membership classifications; annual memberships are obtainable at from S-S.OO to $1()().()(). Moses I. Feuerstein ' 36 heads the work of this group in New F.ngland. The Library Staff this year consists of Albert Hans ' 40, Seymour J. Cohen ' 41, Leonard Devine ' 41, Hyman Gribetz ' 40, Menahem M. Jacobwitz ' 40, Philip Kaplan ' .39, Jerome Kestenbaum ' 39, Max Kleiman ' 39, Nathan Levinson ' 38, Albert L. Lewis ' 38, Robert Marmorstein ' 38, Norman Pauker ' 40, Jack Rosenblum ' 39. Gabriel Schon- feld ' 41, and Meyer Shapiro ' 40. It is worthy of note that Lewis and Marmorstein have been identified with the Library throughout their entire College life. This brief sketch would not be complete without a word of appreciation and thanks for the work of Leonard D. Waldman and Arthur S. Zucker. no longer students here. Leaving the college three years ago, Waldman continued his interest in the Library, co-operating splendidly with the staff in their new quarters. In his brief stay with us, Zucker made his influence felt, and interested many outsiders in the cause ot aiding our Library. 1 ! 3 8 Seventy-five MASMID CHESS TEAM If considered from the point of view of matches won and lost, the Yeshiva College Chess Team did not amass a successful record. This was due to the lack of varsity men, owing to losses incurred through graduation. However, the enthusiasm that accompanied the intra-mural chess tournament easily made up for the lack of outside success. Thirty-two students took part in this tournament and much talent, hitherto unnoticed, was discovered. For this reason prospects for next year appear unusually encouraging. Also, only one member will be lost through graduation. Lawrence Charney ' 38, the only senior on the team, acted in the capacity of captain for the year 1937-38. The other members of the team were Benjamin Sincoff ' 39, manager, Bernard Sussman ' 40, Norman Pauker ' 41, Sidney Movvshowitz ' 41, and Frank Schonfeld ' 39. Early in the fall semester the team participated in the Intercollegiate Chess Tournament. Six matches were held in which Yeshiva displayed a keen analytical grasp of the intricacies of the game. A match was then arranged with St. Peters College of New Jersey, the result of which was a draw. The captain of the new team is Benjamin Sincoff ' 39, who featured the most impressive record of the year. Bernard Sussman ' 40, was elected manager of the team. Open competition has already been held to determine the other members of the squad. Several colleges have been contacted for pre-season practice games and, as a result, a more successful season, with a general increase in chess enthusiasm is expected. Seventy-six CO-OP STORE The Ycsliivii College Cooperative Store continued this year to be one of the most indispensable of student activities. It has remained the hunting ground of ail renowned kibitzers and batlonim . But the fine display of candy, stationer) ' , stickers, banners, cigarettes, ties, and sweaters, halted the kibitzing long enough for the Co-op store to end the year with a substantial profit. Besides its function of arresting the ignorant flow of words with the above equip- ment, the co-op store even assumed the role of educator by procuring all sorts of books for the students. These books, including Spinoza ' s, Locke ' s, math books, chemistry texts, review books, periodicals, and joke books, were sold to the students at a large discount. This function of the co-op store aroused great satisfaction from the students. In addition, the Co-op store has added to itself the function of being the clearing house of all school activities. Commentators, Collegiate Digests, tickets, assignments, and notices ranging from Lost and Found to Kindly remit payment, all found their way into its portals. This year, for the first time, arrangements were made to have the store open during the entire afternoon. Definite hours were assigned to the staff and a schedule of their assigned times was posted. The line work of the Cooperative Store w.is made possible by the able man.igemenc of L. Charney ' 38 and Z. Gellman ' 39. Other members of the staff included N. Samson ' 40 and H. Zeisel ' 40. The outgoing management has recently announced that Z. Gellman will be in charge of the manat;ement for the academic year 193S-3 ' -). 1 9 ;i a Sevents ' -seven M ASM ID SPEAKER ' S BUREAU This year witnessed the inception ot ' a Speakers ' Bureau as a permanent extra- curricular activity. With a personnel composed entirely of college students it func- tioned remarkably well despite the obstacles which all fresh ventures must face, and after a year ' s activities is firmly intrenched as a component part of the student milieu. The chairman this year was Isaac B. Rose ' 38, with Simon Shoop ' .VS and Bcrn.ird Poupko ' 39, successive co-chairmen. Countless forums, meetings, and cultural gatherings in metropolitan New York and environs were privileged to hear members of the bureau speaking upon topics of general Jewish interest. At the same time, valuable contacts were established with several Jewish organizations who found their pressing need for capable and intelligent lec- turers s atisfied by the Speakers ' Bureau. Not only does this activity afford a wealth of experience to the Yeshiva speaker in bringing him forth from his sequestered shell into contact with the exterior, which either as rabbi or layleader he will be called upon to face, but also if it continues to progress, it will undoubtedly fashion itself into a potent force in the cultural life of the surrounding area, particularly in Jewish circles. By its aid, the outside world will become aware of the tremendous potentialities for cultural leadership which Yeshiva College rightfully possesses. It will consolidate the bid for leadership which is beginning to be made in this anniversary year. HEALTH SERVICE This year brings to a close another period of marked progress and added service on the part of the Yeshiva College Health Committee. Although the old medical quarters on the second floor of the Dormitory Building, which include a health office, an examination room, an infirmary, and a permanent residence room for student super- visors were retained, a number of improvements have been made. Many new accomoda- tions will be initiated in the near future. The most significant achievement however, has been the devoted cooperation offered by the Women ' s Organization and the Dormitory Supervisor throughout the year. This has added richly to the medical supplies and has facilitated medical attention. Through the efforts of Dr. David A. Swick, medical director of Yeshiva College, the Health Department has established connections this year with the newly erected Jewish Memorial Hospital of Washington Heights, thus making available a large staff of physicians and providing immediate medical and surgical treatment for the students. One of the doctors on the staff spends several hours a week within the building as consulting physician and health authority. Through the unselfish cooperation of the medical staff, every student received a thorough health examination. Students were informed of any defects which they had and the medical staff provided proper means for their cure and care. The Student Health Service Committee consisted of Murray Povzea ' 40 and M. Elias Blackowitz ' 40 as supervisors; Milton Elefant ' 39, Sholom Novoseller ' 40, and Samuel Fox ' 40. Max Halpert ' 38 rendered invaluable service by acting in the capacity of liaison man. Seventy-eight HAPOEL HAMIZRACHI The Ycsliiva Colk-gc tliapkr of Mapocl n.imizratlii toinrntiucd its aUivitics of ihc past year by initiating; a ciian ;c in ils organization. Instead of the ollicc of Presidency as in fdrnitr years, .in cxci ulivi- lommittee consisting of Aaron Waldcn ' 3H, Gcrsion Appcl ' s, Isau H. Kiisc ' .H, ,in l I.co I.cvin ' 39 was ciccte l to formulate the pohcy ami plans ol llu- (ii;L;aiii .ili in an.) piil lliciii into effect. 11k- I ' l-eshman smoker served as iIk iiiilial ;;etto iethcr of the year. ' Ilie new sliidcnls were ;iven the opportunity I lisUnin to Rabbi Mirsky and Dr. Bclkin. ILniii!; sounded ils first i.dl, IIk- .Ljronp dcxidcd lo hold its meetin ;s every three weeks. As for lis luliui.il piot;rain, I he or ani alion pursued a pohcy of self-education. Instead of inviliui; proinineni speakers from the outside, the members them.selves endeavored lo lieliver ton.struttive talks on topics assigned to them by the chairman, Mr. Waldeii. Thus, the meetings were transformed into serious dLscussion forums, and round l.ihle uiiiferenccs. A series of lectures on the history of Zionism were imdertaken .is well as a numher of addresses on the ideology of Torah V ' avodah. In this fashion, the ijroup was ,ihle to stimulate interest in the Zionist movement in Ljeneral, and in the Hapoel Hamizr.uhi in particular. Whereas last year only one delegate represented Yeshiva at the National Con- vention of Hapoel Hamizrachi, this year two delegates were sent, both ser ' ing on important committees and participating actively in the affairs of the Baltimore Con- vention. The Horizon , the monthly publication of the national organization, received many subscriptions in the halls of Yeshiva, in this manner furthering student interest in the religious and social doctrines of the organization. The following were elected to the executive committee: Ephraim Mandelcorn ' 41, Yonah Geller ' lO, Samuel Soble ' tl, and Hyman Wachtfogel ' 39. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS The popularity which the International Relations Club has enjoyed since its inception as an extra-curricular activity at Yeshiva College was reflected this year in the interest shown by the students in the club ' s activities. At the suggestion of Dr. Aaron Margalith, assistant profes.sor of political science, who continued as faculty advisor of the organization, and Nathan Levinson ' 38, retiring president of the club, a new series of open forums was instituted on various topics, in addition to addresses delivered by several guest speakers. In early November, Rubin Schneiderman, an American labor organizer and member of the International Brigade of the Lincoln Battalion, was invited to deliver the opening lecture. Before a large and enthusiastic audience, Mr. Schneiderman presented a vivid description of his experiences on the war front in Spain, and expressed his hope for a victory for the Spanish people in their struggle against the Fascistic powers. Seventy-nine 1 9 :{ n For the first open forum of the year. Dr. Margalith selected the topic Jewish History — An Attempt At An Evaluation . In his introduction preceding the lively discussion, he pointed out that there had existed a philosophy of eclecticism in Jewish life and advocated maintenance of this basic philosophy in present life, both for Jew and Gentile. The interest displayed at this open forum encouraged the oHicers to continue the series. The second forum took place in early April and involved a most vital and timely topic, The Foreign Policy of America — Past and Future. Several members of the faculty of Yeshiva College also delivered addresses before the group. Dr. Samuel Belkin, assistant professor of Greek and member of the Yeshiva faculty, spoke in the early part of the semester on the problem of Anti-Semitism. Towards the end of the year, Dr. Alexander Freed, instructor in hygiene, addressed the group on the question of diseases in their international aspects. The International Relations Club through the Carnegie Endowment for Inter- national Peace, was successful in procuring a large number of periodicals, foreign news reports, and books on international affairs which were presented to the College Library. Once again, the International Relations Club of Yeshiva College was represented at the convention of International Relations Clubs of the various colleges in the metro- politan district held at Columbia University. Benjamin Kreitman ' 39, president for the fall semester, and Allan Mirvis ' 39, secretary, were the two delegates from Yeshiva College. In the spring, Philip Kaplan ' 39 was elected president of the club and Wolf Lifshitz ' 39, secretary. MASMID IBN EZRA MATH CLUB The Ibn Ezra Math Club in a silent and unobtrusive manner functioned very efficiently during the past year and reestablished itself as an integral part of college activ- ities for mathematically-minded students. The club aimed to foster an interest in and encourage an appreciation of mathe- matics and its many ramifications, to acquaint the members with the fundamentals of more advanced fields of mathematical thought, and particularly to deal with the Jewish role in the history of mathematics. The organization of the club is due to Professor Jekuthiel Ginsburg, head of the Mathematics Department of the college and editor of the internationally famous mathe- matical journal Scripta Mathematica, and its success can be directly attributed to his expert guidance and capable leadership. Only the members of the club can truly appreci- ate his unselfish endeavor to foster in them a love lor mathematics. Professor Ginsburg, one of the outstanding authorities on Jewish contributions to mathematics, lectured on Mathematics as found in the Talmud. It was indeed startling to learn that the basis of ' e ' was found in the Talmud. He also briefly discussed the lives and works of several great Jewish Mathemati cians of the Middle Ages. The officers for the year 1937-38 were H. Hirschman ' 38, President, S. Lichtenstein ' 38, Vice President, and J. Willig ' 38, Secretary. Eighty c .s.s }l ion Amid ,1(1 uiilicr,ili|(. l .iikI un|-irccfclcnlcd ouihnr l ol ' si liool sjiirit, tlic first successful class social was staged in tlic Dormitory Social H.dl jii March of this year. The much publicized affair attracted a gathering of over two hundred, including faculty members, students and guests. The evening ' s tempo was highly accelerated at the very outset when in a unicjuely collegiate manner, the social committee consisting of Jerome Gordon, Sidney Greenberg, Samuel Adelman, Samuel Peretz, and Herbert Hurwitz, all of ' 38, fixed the admission price at one cent per nineteen pounds of weight. Many of I he uninitiated anticipated a free for all boxing joust, only to have their anxiety dispelled by the free cigarettes which were distributed at the door. If the smoke still left some shadow of concern as to what was in store, the coo ' Kies and soJa which soon followed, washed any evil foreboding away. Sid Greenberg played M. (.. lor the proceedings and wasted no time ir getting the audience psychologically set for what was to follow, though he had to sacrifice truth at the altar of humor. P roceeding, as he said, up the ladder of knowledge, he called upon the yearlings first. Headed by Tiny Benny Karp, J. Heineman, and C. Shoulson, the Freshmen paraded a wealth of talent which only the expiration of their allotted time could halt. Their skits, piano, and vocal renditions were enthusiastically gteeted by the audience, and set up a high standard which the upper classmen strove valiantly to overcome. True to their names, the Sophomores showed that even in wisdom there was room for clowning. They proved beyond doubt that dialogues spiced with an uncensored Southern accent, mixed with the sweet strains of harmonica rhythm constitute an excellent recipe for an hour of hilarious entertainment. Rackoff, Geller. Goredetzer, and Bard deserve more than honorable mention. The Juniors turned out to be the highlights of the evening. A May Day speech was thrown into bold relief by the broken dialogue and rollicking humor of Oscar Fleishaker. Dormitory life in its most unguarded moments was faithfully depicted by Seymour Shaer and Micheal Cooper who also found time to impersonate some members of the faculty. The Nulman Trio capped the Junior program with several vocal selections. Their college career drawing to a close, the Seniors were able to look back over the last four years, and smile. As a matter of fact they snickered, but the audience greeted their attempts to ridicule classroom scenes ' oy a hearty outburst of laughter. Sonny Eisenberg. Samuel Adelman. Herbert Hurwitz. and Samuel Peretz stood out on the Senior agenda. It was almost two A.M. when Sidney Greenberg closed the atfair with the announce- ment that the judges had declared the Juniors the best entertainers. A beautiful banner was presented to the Class of ' 3 ) at the Awards Assembly, and at present ir is adorning I ■ ) - t ■ St the walls of the Recreation Room. 1 J O O Eighty -one It m 1 J I MASMID With the Class of ' 57 joining its ranks and increasing its total membership to two hundred, the Alumni was enabled this year to undertake activities of even greater mag- nitude than the past. Through its sincere devotion to the welfare of the alma mater, the Alumni Association has become a potent factor in formulating the policies of Yeshiva College. The long cherished hope of the Alumni was realized this year, when, with the cooperation of the student body, our genial chemistry professor was appointed to the position of Assistant to the President. This resolved the oft-discussed perplexing problem concerning the need for a qualified and deserving mediator of student prob- lems. In addition to the aforementioned accomplishment, this year was marked by sev- eral events of importance. Many of the members of the Alumni felt that with the election of a member of a more recent graduating class as president, new blood and vitality might be injected into dormant Alumni affairs. Leo Usdan ' 36, in this office, realized many of the aspirations of the Alumni, while he succeeded in maintaining the established activities in smooth running order. The Alumni Quarterly, the medium of expression for the journalistically inclined graduates appeared regularly this year. Each issue was distinguished by its awake and live editorials which served as a vehicle for the vigorous expression of determined Alumni opinion on matters of vital importance to the future of the institution. Those tried and true pioneers who blazed the trail for the Commentator, headed the Quarterly this year. Bill Kaufman ' 36 served as Editor-in-Chief, aided by Mordecai Gabriel. Eliezer Goldman, Harold Polikoff, Leonard Rosenfeld, and David W. Gordon. Maurice Schwartz ' s production of L J. Singer ' s popular novel, The Brothers Ashkenazi, was the choice for the annual thearte party held last November. In cooperation with the Bronx Chapter of the Yeshiva College Women ' s Organization, the Alumni Association took the entire Yiddish Art Theatre for the night and completely disposed of its entire share of tickets. A prominently displayed Yeshiva College banner suspended from the first balcony, was evidence of the attendance and support of the undergraduates. The Theatre Party brought together the boys of yore from all parts of the city and a good time was had by all. Needless to say this event added greatly to the depleted coffers. The Alumni Quintet consisting of many of the old timers, former varsity men, took it on the chin in the annual basketball game with the Yeshiva College team. The final STOre was 52-33 with Hy Aronoff ' 36 looping in twelve points to gain top honors in scoring. After the game, the boys and their lady friends descended to the depths — the social hall of the Jewish Center — and danced on the sparsely occupied floor. We can say that it was a social success. The Alumni intends to continue this game and dance as an annual event. Eighty-two A Irslinioni.il diniRT v .is irn.lircd by llic Aliiinni A- s()i ul ion in lionor of Professor Moses Lc is Isiiats, newly appoinleil Assistanl to the I ' residcnt, as (lie feature of the first annual Charter Day C!eIebration on April , toinmeinoratin the tenth anniversary of the granting of the- lii.iilcr to lln (oIIcl ' c liyman Muss ' }2 and Morris Dembowitz ' 36 were co-thaiiiiRn ol the ( (iininillcc ol .nran einents. The success of this affair warranted its (onlinu.iiue .is .111 .1111111, il li.ulilion.d event. Members of the Aliinini are looking lorw.ini to the annual Sta Dinner 10 olticially welcome the Class of ' 3H into their ranks. At this traditional affair scheduled for the eve of Commencement, tin third issue of the Alumni Quarterly, will be distributed. The election of oilicers for ihc lominL; yen uill also be held at this last meeting. This affair v ill be most informal, with the graduates atteniplini; to forget former habits and limiliiii Ihcir speeches to five minutes. In order to give Yeshiva College a more prominent place on the American Jewish scene, the Alumni again spon.sored a Yeshiva College Sabbath on De;ember II, iy}7. It is hoped that the publicity thus obtained will tend to increase the future enrollment of students. The committee which headed this important function was led by David SciiiiKrlcr ' 36. The extent of the interest and influence of the Alumni on Yeshiva is clearly indi- cated by the various committees appointed; Deanship — A. Frecdman ' 36, H. Muss ' 32. L. Engelberg ' 32. J. Kaminetzky ' 32 and M. Dembowitz ' 36, secretary. Scholarship a nd Grants — I. Marine ' 36, E. Goldman ' 3 , E. Kasten ' 36, L. Werfel ' 37 and B. Lander ' 36, secretary. Finance — A. Guterman ' 33, M. Feuerstein ' 36, and J. Matz ' 32, secretary. Library — S. Nissenbaum ' 33, I. Marine ' 36, and L. Rosenfeld 37, secretary. Curriculum — L Upbin ' 32, M. Feuerstein ' 36. J. Hartstein ' 32. H. AronolT ' 36 and E. Goldman ' 37, secretary. Constitution — H. Rosenwasser ' 36, A. W ' aldman ' 3?. and N. Siegel ' 3-i, secretary. Resolutions — J. Matz ' 32, W. Kaufman ' 36 and L. Simsowitz ' 35, secretary. Building and Grounds — J. Goodman ' 3 1, J. Dlugacz ' 36, and L. Nfuss ' 36. secretary. Text-book Loan — M. Karlin ' 37, A. Siev ' 37, L. Satlow ' 3 ' , and E. K.istcn ' 36. It w.is the duty of the committee secretary to call all meetings, notify all members. and in general preside over his committee. The officers of the p.ist year were: L. J. Usdan ' 36. President, Louis Engelbera ' 32. Vice-President, Joshua Matz ' 32, Treasurer, and Isaac Goldberg ' 33, Secretary-. 19 3 8 Eighty-three AS FOR THE BOYS . . . As usual, there are still many who cannot tear themselves away from the dear old walls of Yeshiva . . . Lou Werfel took time out from Yoreh Deah to cop the presidency of a newly revitalized S. O. Y. . . . Traditional Judaism in America will surely flourish under the inspiring guidance of the large group of ' 37ers who were recently ordained at the Chag Hasmicha . . . Among them were Philip Barasch, Morris Iserowitz, Meyer Karlin (Valedictorian) D. H. L., Leon Katz, D. H. L., Jacob Mazo, Gersion Romanoff, D. H. L., Melech Schachter, (married) Asher Siev, D. H. L., and Joseph L Singer, D. H. L. . . . Of those who are still plugging diligently at the Yoreh Deah awaiting hopefully that Day of Days are Israel Klavan, Freddie Kolatch (Who practices the Rabbinate as a hobby) , Max Posnansky, Leonard Rosenfeld, Azriel Weissman, D. H. L. . . . The Cohen boys, by force of habit seem to like this place . . . The days of the Messiah are at hand . . . Boys are leaving the Yeshiva for the Mesivta, Columbia for Yeshiva and Johns Hopkins for the four cubits of Halacha . . . See S. Harrison Prero, David Roth and Frank Bennett respectively ... Of those who are to be Preachers and Teachers in Israel are Eddie Tenenbaum and Al Kolatch . . . Gracing the ancient halls of learning at Columbia are Chemists Bill Margolis and Lou Muss, Historian Irv Ribner and Biologist Mordecai Gabriel ... At Cambridge there is an illustrious Yeshiva contingent in Harvard Law School: Wolfe Charney, Boris Rabinowitz, Kal Levitan, and Lou Henkin who knocked off top honors to win a Swaine Scholarship. Odds and ends about the veterans . . . T. L. Adams got himself a smicha, a wife and a position in Hague ' s town all in one month . . . Phil Tatz, Dave Pruzansky, Aaron Greenbaum, Bernie Lander, Nat Taragin were also crowned with the coveted Keser Harabonus . . . Rabbi Morris Besdansky is ministering to a large congregation in the vicinity . . . Moish Dembowitz, Si Noveck and Asher Block are at the Seminary . . . and I. Tobin is on his way out . . . Bill Kaufman takes time out of Columbia to ably edit the Alumni Quarterly. Of the ancients of ' 34, ' 33, etc. . . . Chaim Friedman and Normie Seigel are still learning Yoreh Deah . . . Rabbi Izzie Fine delivered the Valedictory at the last Chag Hasmicha . . . Rabbi Agus is studying and preaching at Cambridge . . . Isaac Goldberg earns the plaudits of all as chief librarian of Y. C. . . . Sid Nissenbaum teaches himself Chulin and the kids in a Jersey City High School English . . . The Revel Boys are out in the wilds of Texas . . . Aaron Decter was graduated from the Seminary . . . Mazel Tov to Eli Levine upon his nuptials and his appointment to an instructorship in chemistry . . . Rabbi Louis Engelberg is preaching in Elmira, while Mendel Lewittes is chief rabbi of Portland, Me. . . . Mazel Tov to Israel Upbin . . , Jacob I. Hartstein is still running the show from the registrar ' s office . . . Time Marches On I I ! MASMID Eighty-four ATHLETICS VARSITY BASKETBALL MA MID Despite the fact that the Quinhooplets found themselves again without the benefit of a coach, they terminated this season one of the most successful years of their existence, winning eleven and losing five, against such formidable opponents as N.Y.U. School of Dentistry, N.Y.U. School of Commerce, Brooklyn College of Phar- ma:y, N.Y.U. of Washington Square, Webb Institute, Paterson College, Hudson College, John Marshall College of Law, N.Y.U. Law School, Morsemere Club, and Lavenburg Corner House. After sharpening its claws in a preliminary encounter with the Talmudical Academy, the varsity sprang into the collegiate fray only to lose its first game in the final minute of play to the N.Y.U. Dentists by a score of 19-18. The game was played on the home court. However, the quints soon turned the tide of the victory their way by defeating N.Y.U. Commerce in an overtime period after the score was tied 18-18 at the close of the game. The final score was 22-20. The next game Brooklyn College of Pharmacy, gave the Yeshivaites a taste of real defeat when the local quintet was drubbed 47-26. Coming as it did during the Chanukah period the defeat was explained by the Commentator sports columnist as a case of too much dreidel . Holidays over, the Yeshiva five showed it could do a bit of running wild of its own by downing N.Y.U. of Washington Square (35-27) and Webb Institute (30-25) in rapid succession. Soon after, the Quinhooplets trounced Paterson College 35-16 with Atom Avrech as high scorer. They duplicated this feat when they polished off Paterson in the last game of the season, 41-27. Koslovsky was high scorer here earning for himself the name of 20 Point Koslovsky. After the first Paterson game, Yeshiva was defeated in an uninteresting game by Eighty- six Hmlson (olkm ' , ■10-22. It was .i ' .iin ilcfc.ilcil in .t rcluni -amc later in tlic season, iI-27. The Ycsliiva Baskclballcrs wound up iIk liisi lull ' ol ihc basketball season with a shellacking by Joiin Marsh. ill. Ii w.is in ilns lmiik iIi.iI M.i cr was christcneil the Miphty Mile lor ihe excelknl Iil ' IiI he piil up dtspile .1 s; ore of (i -21 a i ainst his teammates. Ye.shiva c.i enien next swamped N.Y.U. Law (50-2. ), erased an early sca.son defeat at the haniis of I.avenbur ( H-l )), a ' ain downed N.Y.U. of Washington Scjiiarc (27-21), .Kill nipped up Mdiseniere Club ( ' iV. ' O). ni.ikin;; five straight for the t]uintet. The fiftii of this i|uiiitel nl triumphs was over tiie Alumni, whom the under .!rad- uales trounced as usu.il in their annual ame at the Jewish Center. The team was led by Captain Norman Goldklan ' 38, and consisted of such veterans as Isaiah F.isenber ' 38, Julius Maper ' 38, Irving Koslovsky ' 40, Abraham Avrech ' 40, Nathan Lipschutz ' 38, Robert Schwartz ' 40, Jack Rosenblum ' 39, and Mortimer Sklarin ' 39. The last two dropped from the squad in mid-season. Irving Koslovsky, one of the brightest spots on tliis year ' s Quinhooplcts, was elected the captain of the Hoopsters for next year. The schedule for this year was arranged by Jerome B. Gordon ' 38, Athletic Manager, with the assistance of Albert Lewis. The home games were ably refereed by Lawrence Charney ' 38. This year marked the innovation of admission fees for home games by the Athletic Manager. Season passes for all home games were sold at a discount. IN THE SPORT LIGHT WALTZ KING : Normie Goldklang copped that title in his freshman year on the dance floor, but on the basketball court he fox-trots in triple time. The captain contributed his points in installments and liked the idea so much that he chose his future vocation along similar lines. WHAT ' S IN A NAME. ' : Isaiah Sonny Toots Eisenberg sees his future in it. Thrice he was otTered the royal crown of class presidency and thrice did he accept. Did this in Sonny seem avaricious? No, he was just a spectator while human forces were at work. WHERE MIGHT IS RIGHT: Diminutive Julie Mager may not have kept che candle lights burning over his studies, but be not deceived into believing that the Kid is not a hustler. WHiere others have tried and failed Mighty Atom L ger sank . . . (some points). SO NEAR AND YET SO FAR: Irv Koslovsky aimed at scoring 20 points a game during the season, and as one of his opponents remarked after a game, he came disgustingly close. Irv has not despaired yet and still h.is two years to shoot at his mark. IMPARTIAL: Abe Avrech shows no favoritism when it comes to excelling in sports, though he has gained most recognition at Yeshiva for his exploits on the basketball court. For a man of his size (or should we say lack of it) he is brazenly aggressive and like an inebriated sailor he forgets to say when. 19 ;i: Elighly-seven INTRAMURAL BASEBALL Intramural basketball was conducted this year under the direction of Israel Gerber ' 39 and Morris Schnall ' 40. The games were organized into a double round-robin, each team thus having two chances at its opponent in the championship competition. The opening tussle resulted in a victory for the Seniors over the Sophs to the tune of 23-12, Charney of the Blue and Gray quintet being high scorer. The results of the second game appeared in the Commentator under the head Freshmen Sink Fouls and Also Sink Juniors, when the lower classmen won in the last minute of play by 13-12. Victory for the Frosh was short lived, however, as they were soon defeated at the hands of the Sophs, 14-12. The Seniors were successful in defeating the other class teams to annex the championship of the first half of the tournament. In the second half, the Juniors tied the Seniors for the intramural championship, winning three and losing none, and thus necessitating a playoff game. Result: Juniors — 26, Seniors — 20. The game was a very fast one and saw the lead change as often as the ball. Rosenbloom, of the Maroon and Gold team, was high scorer for the victors with eight points, and Gordon led the Blue and Gray attack with a like number of points. This victory marked the second successive year that a Junior Class has won the Intramural Basketball Cliampionship. MASMID Eighty-eight TENNIS The Yeshiv.i College tennis season was opened late in Aptil s . hen the first try-out and practice was called by Jerome B. Gordon, Athletic Manager and captain of the team. Among the members of last year ' s squad who turned out were Sol Abrowitz ' 39, Lawrence Charney ' 38, Jacob Goldman ' 40, and Jerome B. Gordon ' 38, to form the nucleus for this year ' s team. The newcomers who aspired to a berth on the team were Zev Goldstein ' 39, Herman Gutcrman ' 41, Norman Goldklang ' 38. Martin Hinchin ' 40 and Aaron Gold ' 38. Efforts were made to contact other collegiate teams by Allan Mir is ' 39, manager, but due to the fact that the team w.is organized so late in the season, the results were rather discour.iging. A match has been booked with the S.O.Y. team consisting of several alumni of Yeshiva College and will be played in the near future. The member s of the te.vm did not remain idle, regular practice sessions being held weekly at the Bennett Courts. Great enthusiasm was shown by the candidates for the team when the elimination matches were played between them. These aided the captain greatly in selecting the better players to represent the College in their match, in addition to developing the talent around which next year ' s team will be built. e¥¥5 1 ; :t 8 Eighty-nine PING PONG TOURNAMENT The only indoor sports tournament held this year was the table tennis tourna- ment run under the direction of Athletic Manager Jerome B. Gordon ' 38, A surprisingly large number of students, forty in all. participated in the tourna- ment which was staged in the newly equipped playroom opposite the gym. The contest, avidly interesting throughout, ended in an upset as Herman Guterman ' 41 emerged Ping Pong Champion of Yeshiva. At the outset, Jerome B. Gordon was conceded the best chance to win, but the two defeats which he suffered at the hands of Guterman and Zuroff eliminated him in the semi-linals as his conquerors moved into the finals. After a keenly fought match, Guterman beat A. Zuroff ' 41 in two consecutive sets by the scores 21-19, and 22-20 respectively. Using the tennis grip in defensive play, Guterman managed to overcome his opponent ' s offensive game by the hair-splitting margin which brought victory and served as a fitting finale to a well-fought contest. INTRAMURAL BASKETBALL The intramural baseball tournament, conducted by Sam Lichtenstein ' 38, manager, met with marked success this year. A permit for the use of a playing field at the J. Hood Wright Park was obtained through the efforts of Jerome B. Gordon ' 38, athletic manager. Games were held weekly beginning in early May. The tournament ended with a three-way tie between the Seniors, Sophs, and Frosh, each winning two games and losing one. G M ASM ID Ninety xinety-one Dn n:: -,nr cnn n nv ' ' Q ' na IN SAINTED MEMORY OF RABBI B. SHOTLAND AGUDAS ACHIM ANSHEI LODZ PATERSON FAIR STS , PATERSON CONG. AHAVATH JOSEPH GODWIN AVE., PATERSON CONG. BENAI ISRAEL GODWIN AVE., PATERSON CONG. 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