Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 32 text:

every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only in the history of penholes. —Oliver Wendell holmes the hectic atmosphere at yeshiva affects not only the life-styles of many students but also the functioning of various institutions. tal e the library, for example, for most of the semester the library rarely serves as a place of study or meditation; rather the library is merely utilized as a spot to relax between classes, however, when reading week arrives, the situation changes dramatically, students strive to catch up on all the outside readings they had neglected, some carry the additional burden of endeavoring to piece together a last-minute term-paper, the frenzied state of affairs reaches Its peak when a student has to frantically search for a good set of class notes, it is at this point that the library facilities really come in handy, for the yeshiva student, it is not the volumes of books which prove valuable but rather the photostat machines. the richest minds need not large libraries. — amos bronson alcott

Page 34 text:

there is no education like experience. outside of their dorm rooms, the classroom was the only place many -students could be found, the daily schedule for these students was always the same, study, study, study-and sometimes sleep and eat. there was no thought of involvement in school or outside activities, after all, there was that orgo test on friday, that bio quiz on Wednesday, and the boards were only IVi years away, once in a while these students might pick up a commentator and find out about the latest senate resolution, but that was it. these students, happily enough, were offset by those who took full advantage of the wide range of extracurricular activities offered them, these students would be found awake at four in the morning — not studying for finals but collecting copy for commie and hamevaser. the degree of involvement in outside activities at times overstepped the bounds of sanity, one station manager of wyur would never turn off his radio, and would only go to sleep after the station signed off. (3:00 a.m.) providing that the static had sounded good, one editor of masmid would spend nights sleeping in the yearbook office and would go weeks without touching food or water (or soap). many students involved themselves not only in school affairs, but in the affairs of the world around them, techiya and dirshu were founded and organized basically by yeshiva kids, rallies for Israel and soviet Jewry were initiated and attended to a large degree by yeshiva students, students gave up terms of college to work and study in Israel during the trying times of the yom kippur war. many students felt that a large portion of their education was attained not in the classroom, but through a radio broadcast, a governing board meeting or a soviet Jewry rally. 30