Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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n Dedication to the twenty-five years of Yeshiva College. They hove, indeed, been years of achievement if only because they represent an experiment v hich once again is proving that Judaism is ever a dynamic way of life readily giving of its timeless values and constantly adopting itself to progress. What is most important, Yeshiva College is young and it is its youth which impels it onward to greater things. The future not only ofFers an oppor- tunity to smooth out the rough edges that still may exist; the future represents a fertile field in which Yeshiva will continue to make its contribution to the American Jewish community. The Class of 1953.

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Foreword Four years are but a brief span in history bjt to the young men who are this year being graduated from Yeshiva College the four-year period which now comes to a close will forever be significant. These years, however, mean something more than that a prescribed course of st dy has been completed. Like childhood and adolescence they are to be con- sidered a formative period, a period in which all-im- portant attitudes are developed — attitudes which are to last a lifetime. They are, in addition, to be looked back upon as a source of pleasant sentiments which will serve as elevating influences when we are humbled by diffi- culty. It is the yearbook ' s purpose to concretize the spirit of these four years, and therefore, the value of a yearbook, like that of wine, increases with the pass- ing of time, because when the memories become dimmed it is to the MASMID that we shall then turn in our attempt to revitalize the sentiments of these, our younger years.

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A History of Yeshivo With the completion of the 1952-53 academic year, Veshiva College reaches its twenty-fifth birthday. Although young by American college standards, Yeshiva now, more than anything else, represents a glowing tribute to those practical idealists who foresaw the vital role that it would play in the American Jewish community. The editors of The MASMID thought it would be fitting at this time to trace the development of Yeshiva College as part of its parent institution — Yeshiva University, whose growth has paralleled that of many great American academies of learning which also began as theological seminaries. Yeshiva College, with its inception on September 25, 1928, was o natural outgrowth of the Yeshivath Etz Chaim, first founded in 1886. Ten years after the Etz Chaim Yeshiva began to function, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Semi- nary was founded in memory of the revered sage of Kovno, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor, who had re- cently passed on. This was the first advanced yeshiva in North America in which the curriculum was exclu- sively devoted to Talmud and Rabbinic literature. Situ- ated at 156 Henry Street in downtown New York City, the school was supervised by Rabbi Benjamin Arono- witz, its one-man faculty. In 1908, a conference of rabbis, recognizing the students ' growing needs for a more general education, permitted them to also attend secular institutions. It was felt that the future rabbis would thus be better prepared to serve on the American scene. And sig- nificantly enough, it is this idea of service to the com- munity that has been the guiding principle in the development of Yeshiva University. In furtherance of this idea, the Talmudical Academy High School was organized in 1915 as an integral part of the Yeshiva. That year also witnessed the merger of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Semi- nary with the Yeshivath Etz Chaim. The enlarged institution, with Dr. Bernard Revel as Rosh Ha-Yeshiva, moved to more spacious quarters at 9-1 1 Montgomery Street. The first Smicha Convocation was held on March 23, 1919. The Teachers Institute, originally opened by the Mizrachi Organization of America in 1917 for the 301-3 East Broadway Amsterdam Avenue at 186th Street