On the Matter of Student Governance

I began to be interested in the mechanisms of student government at Yeshiva University my Fall 2022 semester as I tried to learn more about what various positions did and the role student government played in the Pride Alliance litigation. I wrote an article for the Observer back then arguing that Student Government needed to be more transparent and take an active role in doing its own PR.

After carefully reading through the constitution that we used back then, I initiated a lawsuit against the General Assembly (which if you know, you know, I can't even begin to explain it here) the "legislative body" of the Wilf Campus Student Government apparatus. The GA has the power to do open meetings to allow students to be aware of what they are planning. There hasn't really been a true open meeting since 2006, which was the last such meeting that the Commentator reported on. 

I first thought I could force them to do it by trying them in Student Court. I was naive, but I prepared my case and tried to initiate a case. Unfortunately, my grandmother died while I was in the middle of the whole thing, and I really didn't want to keep up the fight while I was trying to mourn her, so I dropped the case. Which, in retrospect was probably for the better.

I was not the only person frustrated with the situation. Baruch Lerman, one of the rare students who spends four years at YU, a career politician in student government wanted to completely restructure the whole enterprise. 

So he assembled a constitutional committee to make a new constitution. I was invited to join, and I happily participated in the discussions. I read up on Roberts Rules of Order and offered my research abilities to analyze how student government behaved in the past. 

Our whole committee was rather unprofessionally run. We didn't actually produce a document for people to look at until the very last second, and in order for any legislation to pass it needs to go through a review process for the constituents to read it. Of course the document didn't even get a majority of votes cast. 

Internally, within the committee, we entered into a state of group think, where we just assumed that all the problems of student government were caused by the vague, unclear, and powerless rules that filled the existing constitution. If we could only make a constitution that clearly outlined a better organization that was filled with competent students, we could actually improve things. We could return autonomy to the students. There was discussion of returning students to the calendar committee so that we could have a say in the calendar so that it wouldn't be so inconvenient for us. We could present a united front of student advocacy and really make change. We could restore student control over the Student Union space in the Schottenstein Center and bring about a renaissance of student activities that people would actually attend. 

We were all living in a fantasy that these rules could somehow fix all of our problems. Now, I had some doubts that I would occasionally bring up in meetings. Will these rules really fix everything? Do we need to do an overhaul of this system to fix many of these problems? Even if we do get this whole thing passed, how will people know how to use it properly? Our ideas were not new. An older and more professionally run constitutional committee in 2001 successfully overhauled their constitution and it didn't really solve any problems. 

When our vote failed, some members of the group were angry that the students didn't listen to us. But I tried to talk sense into them, that it would make us all look like pieces of shit of we didn't take this lose graciously. The loss sent down a path of introspection. I reread some of the historical sources on student government. I tried to get a better understanding of the theory behind why it exists and how it exists. The more a rethought, outside of the eco-chamber of the constitutional committee, the more I was convinced that we students don't currently have the power and crucially never had the power to independently run student government. 

A much more lengthy treatment of this subject is necessary to hammer down all the details of the issue of student government at YU, but I want to summarize it as best as I can here.

Though we do find instances of students independently advocating for themselves in 1905 through 1908 during the years of turmoil in the early yeshiva, I find it unlikely that those primitive strike organizations formed the foundation of the school's oldest student council, the Student Organization of Yeshiva, or SOY. 

The earliest written record I have been able to find of it comes from the 1923 Talmudical Academy yearbook, which mentions the lag ba'Omer baseball game between the Yeshiva and the Talmudical Academy. The Students' Organization of the Yeshiva (SOY) and the Students' Organization of the Talmudical Academy High School (SOTAHS) arranged the annual baseball game. 

From then on we have the Hedenu newspaper that SOY published. Here we see their Hebrew name, הסתדרות תלמידי ישיבת ר׳ יצחק אלחנן. In the fact the first issue of the paper from May 1926 has an editorial from the president of SOY, Shlomo Wind (who would go on to teach at TI and Stern for many years) begging students to get more involved in the organization and to support it. Sounds a little familiar. It becomes immediately apparent that students at YU have never been entirely enthusiastic about student government type activities. We don't know exactly how this institution of SOY came to be. 

In addition to these early records of the SOY we also have writing from the Students' Organization of the Teachers Institute, הסתדרות תלמידי בית מדרש למורים. They published a yearbook called Nir, entirely in Hebrew. Once again we don't know exactly when the organization was formed, but both for SOY and SOTI, they needed to have been around for a bit to become established enough to publish their own magazines. There's no mention in these publications of the founding of the Students' Organization, everyone who's around just seems to assume it exists and doesn't feel the need to question it or be proud of its growth since its founding. 

I suspect that these organizations were created in shortly after 1915, when RIETS started to professionalize into an American seminary. It maintained its Yeshiva elements with Sedarim and Shiur on Talmud and Halacha, but it also incorporated classes on academic Jewish studies, language, and homiletics. Once the Teachers Institute was added in 1917, they started teaching pedagogy. The school was working to being professional. There is a longstanding practice of American schools having student governments to organize activities to keep up the spirits of the students while they engage in their studies. 

These institutions are intended to benefit the school, by ensuring there will be such activities to entertain the students and build comradery between then, and the students get to practice leadership skills in a controlled environment before they enter the real world.

It seems fairly likely that the school actively decided to adopt such a policy around 1915 to 1917ish, maybe a little later. That policy has not changed. The students are given a little funding from the school to arrange activities. They have to abide by the guidelines of the school's administration. 

When Yeshiva College was created in 1928, the school was quick to form its own Students' Organization of Yeshiva College or SOYC. Its similarity to SOY made then change the title after a year to be the Yeshiva College Student Council or YCSC. The student council answered to the dean of Yeshiva College. This arrangement was similar to how the SOTI worked with the dean of TI. These deans were able to arrange for meeting space for their school's student councils. They encouraged students to work with the faculty of the college to do academically oriented student activities. In the early years, the student council worked with the Yeshiva College librarians to purchase the textbooks needed for the courses being taught each year. The council even diverted some of its funding to that.

The YCSC, like all the other student councils likely worked closely with the deans of Yeshiva College, or the school it served, and the faculty of the school to accomplish its programing. YCSC organized athletic and intellectual competitions both within and outside of the school. They brought in guest speakers to talk about politics and intellectual pursuits, and paid for fun social events for people to just hang out in. 

We know that YCSC's relationship with the faculty was instrumental to its success, since it was one of the complaints they lodged against the dean of Yeshiva College, Dr. Shelly R. Safir, in 1936. During the very early years of the school, the Student Council directly collected the activity fee and managed its own banking. However fairly quickly, the activity fee collection was handled by the office of the Bursar (financial office.) 

The bursar then had to appropriate the money to the student council in order for them to spend it. I speculate that the process began with YCSC drafting a budget. This budget would plan out how their money for that particular semester would be spent. X amount would go to subsidizing the Commentator, X amount to the Yearbook committee, X amount to the chess club, and so on. The budget probably had to be approved by the dean of Yeshiva College before the bursar could authorize the funds. 

This whole process meant that the students had to pass a budget before anything could be done that semester, but it also meant that the students were the one's who directly spent the money on events. 

Even as far back as the 1940s, the school was trying to slowly professionalize its student services. Such as the career placement center, its dormitories, and health services. They created a position in the 1950s called the dean of men who supervised the men's housing and the dean of women who supervised women's housing. The dean of men/women and the deans of Yeshiv/Stern college worked with their respective student governments jointly. We can find an example of a training session these two deans did for the Stern College for Women Student Council during the early years of the school. 

The dean of the college still held the veto power for student activities during this era. A good example of this being exercised, was when Dean Isaac Bacon of Yeshiva College blocked the formation of a Student run radio station for several years until he was able to work out an agreeable arrangement with the Student Council in 1968. 

By the mid-1980s, the office of the dean of students was being solidified. The responsibilities of events planning were shifted away from the dean of the colleges and onto the dean of students. Since the dean of students office was created, the functional autonomy of the student government has decreased slowly over time. 

I suspect that this loss of power directly translates to a frenzy of amendments to the constitution and even rewriting the whole document in an effort to reclaim control. Students don't really realize that the policy of the school has changed since previous generations, and they believe that the constitution is a respected document. If only the could change it, things would get better. So we see that the SCWSC produced a new constitution for itself in 1996 that clearly outlined how the treasurer of the council would do the banking. I speculate that this reflects a reality where student council was losing the ability to do its own banking, and they were trying to keep it by putting it into writing. 

The Yeshiva College Student Council saw over 30 amendments passed over the 1990s leading up to an overhaul of the whole student council system in 2001 that combined all the small student councils in a large Student Union body. 

Very quickly, the original student council basically separated again, and its unlikely that they ever functioned as the unified body that the framers intended. The 2014 amendments, made this arrangement official. 

By 2004 the Dean of Student had organized the Office of Student Affairs that managed student activities. Its hard to say the extent of the office's control of the process of event planning. We know that the Commentator was still doing its own banking during this period, but the YSU was less vocal about its plans to do things. Long gone were the days when the Student Council would draft a budget in the first few weeks of the semester. The YSU still did an opening meeting that mimicked the budget, but they were just taking suggestions for things to do, the meeting was under no obligation to produce an actionable budget. 

By 2011, the Office of Student Affairs was subdivided again, and the Office of Student Life was formed to specifically focus on managing events. At least five full time employees were devoted to this cause. The office produced a policy sheet directed at student leaders to explain how the office worked. No longer were students allowed to independently spend student activity money. Every single purchase was managed through the Office of Student Life. This intricate involvement of every step in the process of event planning meant that the office recommended you submit all the details of your event three weeks in advance to allow for everything to be cleared and managed by the office. 

Both the Commentator and the Observer changed their website domains from .com to .org around this time. We know from some issues that recently arose regarding both domains, that OSL makes the payments to maintain the domains, and nowadays OSL also manages the banking of both papers. I suspect that this change in domain was due to an OSL policy that wanted to control all the spending of student activity money. 

Oddly enough, the Seforim Sale was given immunity to the control of OSL. The seforim sale operates like an old school student organization, with more autonomy than anything else. I don't know why that is exactly, but perhaps someone high up enough in the YU administration knew that forcing the Seforim Sale to comply with OSL regulations would cripple it and destroy it. 

Under the current system, one has to wonder, what is the place of elected student officials. In the early days of OSL, the office actually directly managed the election, but they quickly saw how dicey counting ballots can be and quickly stepped out of it. So the students independently run an election and then OSL recognizes whomever the election committee declares the winner. There are so many rules in the election that are so specific that every year there's been some kind of court case to settle who actually won the election due to issues of eligibility to have that seat in student government. 

OSL wants to cater to the interests of the students, but they also have to follow university policy and will limit what student leaders can do. Our current imagination of the all the positions in student government is based on a time when OSL didn't exist and student government actually needed to manage things. 

I don't really know what the answer is, but I do know that our current constitutions assume that students are doing a lot more than they actually are in these elected positions. 

The constitutions did not always need to exist. In fact the early student governments didn't have one. They likely just functioned off of the policies set forth by the deans of the schools that created them. These constitutions mimicked those policies when they were eventually drafted, but the secrecy of what actually is policy at YU nowadays means that so much of the constitution might not actually be policy. Which discredits its legitimacy as a document. 

With all that considered, I propose that the Office of Student Life and the Dean of Students publish their policies. They can update them as often they like. They don't have to be accountable to the students, but the policies have to be open for us to see. 

The policies should include info about the limitations of what activities can be, like no alcohol and sex. They should include limitations on who can be student leaders, such as whether or not a student's standing with the registrar should affect their eligibility to be part of things. 

Once we know what the limitations of student autonomy within activities is, we can work with OSL to draft a set of by-laws that actually reflect the political reality of the school and allow for more natural and seamless collaboration between students, faculty and administrators.     

Jacob Heller and Orthodox Jewish Anti-Zionism

In 1945 Jacob Heller sued Aharon Pechenik for libel on the accounts of Pechenik calling him a meshugane, a chassar deah, and that he belongs in a meshuganem hoiz. Heller claimed these terms amounted to calling him a lunatic and that he belonged in an insane asylum. Pechenik had used the terms in an editorial for the Mizrachi monthly magazine, Der Mizrachi Veg, to critique the politics of the young advocates of Agudas Yisrael and its anti-Zionist ideology, Heller was included as one of the more radical among these. The following articles were included as evidence in the court case, which can be found here. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Supreme_Court/dTDfs1FDu4YC?hl=en&gbpv=1 

Great Britain and the East, Oct. 31, 1942

Letters to the Editor

ORTHODOX JEWRY AND PALESTINE

Millions of religious Jews are unalterably opposed to the machinations in Palestine of the Zionists. The latter, after all, represent but a section of Jewry: They may not speak for all Israel. But all Israel is deeply concerned. Surely the views of the whole Jewish people, not those of a single organization alone, should be taken into account in any plans that are formulated.

One is inclined to ask: Who gave the Zionists authority to be the custodians and guardians and overseers in Palestine—a sort of extra government, an imperium in imperio? How long is their pernicious influence to be suffered? They seek the benefit of Zionism, not of Zion. Perhaps if they stopped trying from without to determine the destiny of Palestine, advantage would accrue to Palestine and to the Jews therein.

It is possible that Palestine will be divided into cantons; eventually it may be incorporated into the British Empire as a dominion (not, of course, as a specifically Jewish dominion) on the Quebec model of provincial autonomy for the two racial elements. In any arrangements that may be set up complete autonomy in internal Jewish affairs is forecast.

Are the Zionists to assume control then over Jewish affairs? This is of supreme significance to true, undiluted, independent Orthodox Jewry the world over, organized under the banner of Agudas Yisroel: it is, indeed, a matter of life or death. Orthodox Jews in Palestine are at this moment being ground under the heel of Zionist tyranny through the instrumentality of the Zionist Chief Rabbinate and the Zionist 'Jewish Community.' (There is in the Zionist Organization a fraction of religious Jews known as "Mizrachi," who are regarded by most Orthodox Jews as appeasers or fifth columnists or quislings in Orthodoxy. They do not merit serious consideration.)

Zionist in Palestine and in Europe and America has wrought untold confusion and damage in Jewry. Isaac Breuer declared that Zionism has become 'the most formidable enemy that ever arose to the Jewish People.' At the World Congress of Orthodoxy at Marienbad in August, 1937, H. A. Goodman cried out: "We must put an end to the criminal monopoly of the Zionists."

The British Government would certainly defer to the advice of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in religious questions. Palestine is essentially a religious question. Why, then, is it not guided by the wishes of the great rabbis, always the acknowledged leaders of Israel? Why does it turn to secular political Zionist spokesmen?

It made the mistake of not consulting the Arabs with regard to the Balfour declaration and the terms of the Mandate. Let it not make the mistake of not consulting the Agudas Yisroel with regards to the conduct of internal Jewish affairs in Palestine. Orthodox Jewry earnestly hopes that the Government will protect it from the evil devices of the Zionists. It asks independence for itself.

Jacob Heller, Boston, Massachusetts, U. S. A.

The Springfield Daily Republican, Oct. 10, 1944.

ZIONIST AND PALESTINE

Former's Position Adversely Criticized—British Policy Approved

To the Editor of The Republican:—

The Republican and Democratic parties should not have yielded to the pressure of the importunate Zionists and inserted a plank about Palestine in their platforms. Neither should hearings have been held before the House committee on foreign affairs on Palestine resolutions concocted by the Zionist henchmen. America should not be involved in Zionists delusions. Britain, despite the ungrateful, querulous Zionists, has done a magnificent job in Palestine; it is not for us to make her lot harder.

Britain, with admirable understanding, saw that the policy of the 'white paper' announced five years ago was imperative on economic, political and psychological grounds. Who is qualified to reprove her, to favor her with safe advice? The plain truth is that the white paper is a guarantee of the safety and security of the 530,000 Jews (many thousands of whom, by the way, are anti-Zionists) now resident in Palestine. Withdrawal of British bayonets would inevitably mean that the throats of these Jews would be cut over night. 

The vociferous Zionists, with their unpleasant, incessant propaganda, would turn Palestine into a huge concentration camps for Jews. They willfully forget that Palestine is a small, barren country without natural resources, and inhabited by Arabs (who form more than two-thirds of the population) for 1300 years. The Arabs—with reason—fear domination by the Zionists. The terrible plight of Jewry cannot be assuaged at the expense of the Arabs. The moral conscience of the world will not permit treatment of the Arabs that flouts the canons of democracy and fair play. This matter must be settled on the basis of justice, not of Zionism. Let the nations only show good will, and there is plenty of room throughout the world for Jewish refugees.

The Zionists and unfit for self-government. Their attitude toward their Jewish opponents alone proves this statement. The shocking tyranny exercised by the high-handed, lordly Zionists for a quarter of a century over the defenseless, inarticulate Orthodox Jews in Palestine is a tale that needs telling. Such brutal persecution of people because of their adherence to the principles of a great faith—their reduction to helotry—can be matched only in Hitlerdom. 

There will be no Jewish (read "Zionist") state in Palestine. The Jewish population there will never rise to 51 per cent. The Zionists will resign themselves to the status of a permanent minority. The Arabs will be the masters in Palestine. The Jews' rights will be protected by the nations. Possibly the Holy Land, because of its peculiar interest to three religions, will be placed under and international trusteeship.

Let us wake up and face reality. Zionism is not a blessing to Jews or to non-Jews. Hundreds of thousands of solid substantial Jews are vigorously and unalterably opposed to this crass, materialistic, secular nationalism. And there is the grave problem whether it shall be permitted to create unrest and disturbance in the Near East, thereby upsetting the peace of the world. Is it not high time that Zionism be liquidated?

Jacob Heller, Boston, Oct. 8, 1944.

The Springfield Daily Republican, Oct. 17, 1944.

ZIONISTS AND ORTHODOX

Differences of Jewish Opinion Regarding Palestine

To the Editor of The Republican:—

The non-Jewish public, at the mercy of Zionist propaganda, is often, by statements in the press regarding the so-called 'Jewish agency,' led to believe that the body speaks for the Jews of the Holy Land (else why would it 'demand' the right to control Jewish immigration thereto?), if not of the world. This is an entirely erroneous conception. This agency is not Jewish, but Zionist; it is not representative and cannot pretend to be spokesman for Jewry.

In this connection, I should like to quote from a recent article by Jacob Rosenheim, president of Agudas Yisroel, the powerful international organization of Orthodox Jewry: "The one-sided, illegal, party character of this official body, that according to the unambiguous stipulations of the (Palestine) mandate was to secure 'the cooperation of all Jews willing to assist in the establishment of a Jewish national home,' has been revealed to a disastrous degree in the experience of the last few years . . . The agency under its present constitution does not deserve any confidence or support . . . This state of things cannot be allowed to continue. Non-Zionist Jewry and Orthodoxy above all heave a legal and moral claim before the allied nations not to suffer any longer a Zionist party-dictatorship under the deceptive name of a 'Jewish agency for Palestine.' A basic reconstitution of this Jewish agency must be enforced, limiting at the outset its competence and power to purely political economic and social matters (excluding disputed cultural and religious matters) and then securing—on the footing of equality—the cooperation of all Jews willing to assist in the establishment of a Jewish national home. The near future will show whether an internal Jewish understanding of this basis is possible or whether a protracted battle for emancipation among Jews themselves is inevitable."

Further comment is superfluous, Mr. Rosenheim, who for 40 years has enjoyed the confidence of the outstanding rabbinical luminaries, writes with restraint. If Americans were made aware of the unfair and abhorrent tactics to which this agency has repeatedly stooped in its ferocious eagerness to strangle Orthodox Judaism—and all this will the unconscious help of Britain—they would shudder with loathing. 

Jacob Heller, Boston, Oct. 15, 1944.

Der Mizrachi Veg, December 1944.

LIGHT AND SHADOW

From Newspapers and Periodicals

Efforts to Provoke Conflict—Mask of Nonpartisanship—A judgement of Maimonides—'Arguments' of and Ignoramus—In a Temple—Solace from the Poale Agudat Mizrachi—An Agudah Rabbi Preaches Zionism—Repentant Declarations from the Leftist Camp—Were it Not For Mizrachi—

By A. Halevi [Aharon Pechenik]

From all sides we receive inquiries as to our reason for devoting so much interest to the attacks of the Agudat Israel, and for creating so much ado over them at a time when they possess no significance in American Jewish Life, and when comments only create publicity for them. All those bringing this matter to our attention are quite correct; but it is precisely because these people have no significance and no responsibility and have nothing to lose through public expression of opinion, that the few young men occupied with the Agudat Israel in America can permit themselves to write whatever their hearts desire, and, as it were, to provoke quarrel in American Orthodoxy. It is this fact that must be brought to the attention of the Jewish public.

That they themselves are aware of their complete lack of value or significance in America can be seen from their machinations on two fronts. On the one hand, it is sought to besmirch Mizrachists in the press; naive writers are caught by this bait, and the quarrel between Mizrachi and the Agudah is taken up as an indication that not alone among others, but also among pious kosher Jews, is there general bickering . . . On the other hand, however, when it comes to practical work, they know well that they public cannot be fooled, and it is clear to all that the Agudat Israel is unable to point to any actual accomplishments either in America or Palestine; on this account they try to cover themselves under a mask of non-partisanship. Thys, the Beth Jacob schools were known in Poland as Agudah institutions; but here they are averse to making official acknowledgement that they are in any way connected with the Agudah, since the use of that name would be no great praise for them . . . Therefore the Agudats seeks to draw Mizrachi leaders into conflict, while loudly proclaiming their non-partisanship. The same applied to their Torah u-Mesorah, their rescue campaigns, and the others. They include in their roster the names of several Mizrachists, who cannot every day protest the misuse of their names; and they then proclaim in the public places that their lack of partisanship is proven by the Mizrachists who seem to be with them. 

And while we are discussing their aims of provoking warfare and dissension in Orthodoxy, let us present several out of many examples. One of their young men, who has pretensions to being a rabbi and pedagogue, and who holds a position in a yeshivah supported by Mizrachists, blossomed forth in the 'Forward' with an article studded with lies and inanities concerning Mizrachi. This article, under two large captions—'Mizrachi and Agudat Israel—What Is Their Quarrel About?' and 'The Schism in the Orthodox World'—and signed by the pseudonym, A. B. Ruthson, had the following among its pearls: 'Mizrachi maintains the principles taught by the constitution of Zionism; and when the Torah comes into conflict with Zionism, the final law remains in consonance with Zionist dictates. This has created the schism between the Agudat Israel and Mizrachi.' One can readily comprehend the cheap ignorantism fed to the readers of the 'Forward'—that the illustrious scholars, Rabbis H. L. Woloshiner, Samuel Mohilever, I. J. Reines, and A. I. Kook, of blessed memory, and their living compeer, Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog—that all these, the great spiritual leaders of Mizrachi, place the constitution of Zionism about the holy Law! Any child acquainted with the ABC of Mizrachi and Zionism knows the elementary fact that the Mizrachi Organization came in existence only in 1902 at the Fifth Zionist Congress, when Orthodoxy severed itself from the main body on the questions of Torah and culture; and that since that time it has gone its own way in all matters of Torah wherein other Zionists have opposing opinions. But Mizrachi always joins other Zionists in general political and economic matters, in accordance with the ordinance of the Law forbidding full severance from the generality of Israel. The sages teach that any prescribed fast-day not also observed by sinner in Israel is not considered a valid fast-day. This is not a fanciful statement lending itself to various interpretation, but a definite legal principle posited by Maimonides, that in Israel's community affairs one must proceed together even with sinners.

To comment on all the absurdities in this article would require ten times its own space. One can only refer to such as: 'Dr. Herzl drew a black line through all of Jewish history when he declared. "Zionism has no relationship with the Jewish religion."' Thus novel expression of ignorance indicates that the young writer had never perused Herzl's writings. For therein he would have discovered scores of positive statements, such as, 'Zionism means, above all, the return to Judaism,' and the end of his book 'Altneuland,' where realization of the dream of Zionism is ascribed to the Master of the universe . . . And had the young man read only what his own leaders wrote, he would have known what the ideological leader of the Agudat Israel, Dr. Isaac Breuer, set down about Herzl—that he was a great Jew and an agent of Divine Providence. And had he read further what Dr. Breuer wrote concerning the ugly discomfiture and bankruptcy of the Agudah ideology, he might never have composed this article. 

Here is but one more pearl from this piece: 'For this reason the Agudat Israel did not attend the Jewish (read Zionist) Conference which took place last year in New York, because the Conference gave prominency only to demonstrations in favor of Palestine, and gave insufficient expression to the agony of European Jewry.' Everyone knows how much truth there is in this statement, but it is curious that the Agudah knew in advance that the Conference would occupy itself only with Palestine—all of which is in full accord with the saying of the sages: 'From the day that the Temple was destroyed, the art of prophesy was granted only to fools.'

And while we are on the subject of Agudah provocation, may we be permitted to refer to another product of the Agudah—one Jacob Heller, who evidently is a resident of Boston, and with whom we have previously dealt in the pages of The Mizrachi Weg. This man has made himself known, with his provocative informations against Zionists and Zionism, to the London Colonial Office; and the organ of the Agudah zealots in Jerusalem, Kol Israel, has published his work quite frequently. Recently this Jacob Heller fastened himself upon the English daily, the Springfield Daily Republican, to which he carried his provocations. He writes therein that England is justified in instituting the White Paper, and that if the Zionists were to attain power over Palestine they would immediately transform the land into a great concentration camp; also that the Arabs are the majority there and to them belongs the land; and that places can be found elsewhere for the Jewish refugees; and so on.

Further does this Jacob Heller declare in his pieces for the English newspaper, that the enslavement of the Orthodox Jews in Palestine through the Zionists can only be likened to Hitlerism; and that the Jewish Agency represents no one, adducing proof therefor from an article by Jacob Rosenheim, 'president of the powerful international orthodox organization, the Agudah Israel' (so writes Jacob Heller), in which Rosenheim 'openly' asserts that non-Zionist dictatorship'—and the like.

We have taken the trouble to present quotations of all the 'arguments' this Jacob Heller had adduced before the non-Jewish world, but entirely with the favoring purpose that we cannot pass adverse judgement upon him insomuch as we are dealing with a person of confused mind . . . But if so, why does the Agudah permit him to speak in its name, and why is he not confined to an asylum, to prevent him sending his accusations and treacherous writings to the non-Jewish newspapers?

Nevertheless, to be honest and objective, we must admit that not all active Agudists have crept into such impasses as have their local representatives. We have already quoted Dr. Isaac Breuer, and other of their workers in Palestine who joined in open combat with the so-called 'Universal Agudat Israel.' Well remembered is the revolt of the 'Poale Agudat Israel,' who could not wait until the Agudat Israel should do something in the Holy Land, hence wen the way of Mizrachi and established their colonies on National Fund land under a budget derived from Zionist funds. And we have had true solace from the Poale Agudat Israel. They recently held a conference in Petach Tikvah and in the village Saba, at which Chief Rabbi Herzog delivered an extended address, and, according to press reports, at which there reigned a feeling of amity toward Mizrachi. A. J. Goldroth, a leader of the Poale Agudat Israel, asserted: 'Instead of the general organization of the Agudat Israel devoting themselves earnestly to assisting the Poale Agudat Israel in its labor and colonization projects, they concern themselves only with their divisiveness among Jews and with creating sundered communities . . .' The Palestine press also reports an address at the National Fund conference held last September on Mount Scopus, by a representative of the Hapoel Agudat Israel colony 'Hafez Hayyim;' 'I have the honor today to take part in this national conference as a representative of the new colony Hafetz Hayyim of the Poale Agudat Israel, just established on National Fund soil. We thank God that we have become partners of all those building up our Holy Land . . . May it be His will that we bring good fortune and serve as exemplars to all the members of the Agudat Israel, so that they too may become partners in the upbuilding of our Holy Land, to assure the continued existence of our people now suffering and bleeding in such fearful agony.'

And to round out the picture, let us quote from an article by one of the few American rabbis who have offered their names as members and actives workers of the Agudat Israel. This is Dr. Leo Jung, who writes as follows in Talpioth: 'The present period is an nationalistic one to an unprecedented degree, but this nationalism displays a valuable attribute for our inner life. Zionism has taught all Jews the central importance of our Holy Land, and has completely electrified Jewish energies. Together with anti-Semitism, Zionism has become a significant factor in turning many Jews back to their people and there is added hope that they will also return to Judaism. On this road one sees perspective of Zionism helping to develop in Jewish hearts that faith which will hold back the stream of assimilation by means of a religious revival and through the revival of Hebrew literature. Through Zionism we shall be enabled to transform the American chaoticism into an American Judaism that will be strong and established and create a milieu that will prove a splendid proliferation of our past . . .'

Where now stands the A. B. Ruthson and the other combative Agudists, who still carry on their foolish attacks and conflicts?

Finally, may we be permitted to quote from the other opposition camp, which also gives evidence of incidental Mizrachi influence, and of the expressions of repentance which seem to have captured the entire camp of Israel. In the Poale Zion publications (Yiddisher Kempfer, Verband Stimme) there was prominently published an impassioned appeal in favor of the Sabbath by M. Moshevitzky, who demands discontinuance of the secular meetings held each Friday night—'A Friday evening gathering should be permeated with the spirit of holiness and with Sabbath sentiment.' Pleads the writer further: 'From the Jewish homes and their windows there must gleam and resound the greeting accorded the Sabbath Queen!' To this we give hearty assent. For long years we have hammered away in our publications and everywhere against the Sabbath desecration of the Poale Zion, and we trust that the emotional appeal in their own paper will have its effect. Incidentally, that appeal was that appeal was reprinted and quoted in many other periodicals. 

Dr. Simon Bernstein, noted Zionist and author, writes in Das Yiddishe Folk, organ of the Zionist Organization of America: 'It is the present task of American Jews not along to succor Jews throughout the world, but also Jewishness among themselves . . . American Jews must themselves become more Jewish, must be the kind of Jews upon whom we could fully rely in previous generations—this is the new responsibility devolving upon American Jewry. It must be clear to everyone, young or old, that from now on upon him alone lies the responsibility for maintaining Judaism, for prolonging the life of Judaism . . .'

Dr. Bernstein, discussing the duties and tasks of Zionism in America, ends: 'No matter how important this may be, it is only part of the general tremendous task before us of returning to Judaism, to Jewishness. The old generation as well as the young must be yoked together in the duty of assuring our continuity as a people, with its own Law, tradition, and Land. Basle and Sinai must be united for all time!'

We can add dozens of such citations from the Palestine press. For lack of space, however, we shall content ourselves with excerpts from an address by A. Lieberstein under the auspices of Mapai, the leftist workers' organization in Palestine: 'We must serve as example for our remnants in Europe, and for the Jewish masses in exilic lands who are threatened by assimilation. We must return to our old tradition, to the Bible and the Jewish Sabbaths and holy day; and thereby we shall avoid the peril of assimilation throughout the world. It is no accident that the colonies of Hachalutz (The Pioneer) in England have resolved to observe the Sabbath and all Jewish traditions, and that their kitchens should be completely kosher. We must prepare along these lines all our representatives that travel to Europe . . .'

Not for naught did the Chief Rabbi of Palestine declare that to evaluate Mizrachi properly one must try to envision Palestine without Mizrachi . . . And the writer of these lines has heard Rabbi J. L. Seltzer, leader and honorary president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, utter similar words at a Mizrachi convention—'We cannot envisage the existence of orthodox Judaism in America without Mizrachi . . .'

Hey! - Hey! - Nu?

The men of RIETS published a bilingual Hebrew and English newspaper called Hedenu (Our Echo) in the 1920s and 30s. In the late 20s they included a satirical page titled "Hey! - Hey! - Nu?" The issue from May 1928 included a satirical account of the dedication of the Main Building on Amsterdam Avenue and 187th Street, now called Zysman Hall. 

The Dedication

(As viewed from a different angle, which is either acute or right or straight, according to the viewpoint of the reader.)

    And so we went to the Dedication. At least, we tried to. Let us admit candidly that our attempt did not succeed. The reasons for our non-admittance were numerous. If, dear reader, you are desirous of ascertaining the exact number of reasons, you may do so by inquiring at headquarters just how many myrmidons of the law were stationed at the various entrances to the noble edifice on the corner of One hundred Eighty-sixth Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Each of these alone would have proved a sufficient reason; how much more so, then, so vast an aggregation.

    We had the pleasure and the privilege of interviewing several of the officers guarding the various portals. Indeed they seemed quite a jolly lot of Irishmen, and were not averse to indulging in conversation, in a somewhat jocular vein, it is true.

    We approached the first pair of minions with a confident bearing, but found our passage obstructed by four brawny, blue-clad arms. We looked up interrogatively.

    "Yer can't get in!"

    "!הלא ברב עם הדרת מלך" we retorted wittily.

    They saw that we had them there, for they kept quiet. Immediately pursuing our advantage, we extracted all the tickets which we had in our possession, each of which read somewhat as follows:

YOU ARE CODIALLY INVITED

TO ATTEND THE DEDICATION CEREMONIES

OF THE

YESHIVA COLLEGE

ETC.

    We had one white ticket, three blue tickets and four or five of a non-committal character. We boldly produced these and flaunted them before the eyes of the officers in triumph. There was no visible effect—not a flicker of an eyelash or the turn of a hair.

    I^*) departed without the courtesy of saying goodbye, determined to seek elsewhere, and approached the next pair of officers.

    I now assumed an attitude of youthful innocence.

    "Can you tell me," I asked solicitously, "What this ticket is good for?" I herewith presented a blue ticket, hoping the gentlemen would feel flattered by the color-match between the blue pasteboard and their uniforms.

    "Well," one replied, "not exactly. Maybe if you had some more you might be able to do something. You might—"

    "Make a fire and warm yourself," interposed the other, benignantly.

    "Or use it for a page in a book," suggested the first.

    "You mean a book-mark," corrected the second, wisely.

    "But I thought this was an admission card," I remonstrated.

    "It was, at eleven in the morning," said one. "You got up too late."

    "But it says four o'clock," I sputtered.

    "We know what it says, but we don't give a hang. We're telling you."

    "Oh," I remarked, "You're telling me!"

    This superb bit of sarcasm seemed to pass completely over their heads. They did not utter a word.

    Thus I strolled past the several entrances, holding fruitless conversations with numerous policemen. That is to say, fruitless as far as my entrance was concerned, but serving to give me a deeper insight into human nature.

    In the course of my meanderings, I happened to repass the portal where the first conversation occurred, and who should appear before my eyes but one of the fifteen or twenty—I am not exactly sure of the number—members of the presidium of a certain organization of Rabbis, who was trying with might and main to obtain entrance into the auditorium.

    "We got our order," was the only satisfaction he could get from the officers.

    "But here is my card," he ejaculated in astonishment, "I am the president!"

    "We got our orders!"

    We^**) decided to explore the edifice, with a vague hope in the back of our mind that there might be an unguarded side-entrance somewhere. We succeeded merely in stumbling over some dark staircases and finally in getting within hearing range of the applause in the auditorium, which served merely to whet our desire. 

    As we were upon the point of departing, defeatedly, we heard a personage who is intimately connected with the Yeshiva urge a well-known restaurateur in a stage whisper:

    "Go up on the third floor, and tell them you are a member of the Agudas Harabbanim, and since you wear a beard, they will surely let you enter."

    Having taken a razorless shave some days previous, we decided not to follow. . . .

    Soon thereafter we noticed a young gentleman with an artificial carnation in his buttonhole earnestly trying to avoid being heard while he urged a party of young men and women:

    "Follow me."

    We immediately took advantage of the invitation. He led the party, followed by us, up the stairs, through a corridor, and over to a small door in an out-of-the-way alcove. Being too far away to see how the door was opened, we reached it just in time to find it locked. We murmured several incantations, including "Open Sesame," followed by "פתחו לי שערי צדק"—all to not avail. The door, strange to say, with an insufferable persistence, remained firmly closed.

    We descended the stairs with a slow and thoughtful step, pondering upon the injustice of the world and its ways. We noticed several cantors departing, also several young gentlemen with artificial carnations in their buttonholes seemed to be upon the point of leaving. The officers were beginning to invite people to enter. . . .

    We buttoned our coat and started out for the subway. 

    Note: Others who may have found themselves in the same predicament as ourselves on the day of the dedication may find consolation in the hope that when the new buildings become too humble to house the entire student body, and a new group of buildings are dedicated, then, surely, better provision will be made for the accommodation of those who found themselves out of things on the recent occasion.  

---

*) At this point the writer seems to have lost a great deal of his self-complacency and confidence, probably due to his inability to gain admission to the auditorium. This would explain the abrupt change from the editorial "we" to the singular "I."

**) Here, evidently, the writer regained a modicum of his former easy bearing, not doubt taking comfort in the fact that so eminent a personage as the one just mentioned was also refused admission—thus accounting for the reassumption of the editorial "we."

A History of Alma Mater Songs at YU

Hedenu April 1929

Elchanan

Times of old return to us

While sitting within thy walls;

The wonderful ages of our faith,

While learning in thy halls.

Thy glorious name brings memories

Of names our chapters filled.

Their lofty thoughts our hearts sing out

Within thy doors not stilled.

Throughout the world thy motto shall spread,

A culture wise and true.

They spirit of the Yeshiva shall fill

The heart of every Jew.

Thy heartstrings shall from everywhere

Where Godly truths are sought,

Attract to thy walls our noble youth

For nobler to be wrought.

Elchanon, how clear thy echo resounds,

As though these portals dear,

We voice thy thoughts and those of our sages

Taught by disciples here.

And as the true angel to his God

Does worship, mind and soul,

So shall thy children, adding their heart,

Thy holy name extol.

H.S.

Note—"Elchanan" is presented as a possible Yeshiva song. We shall be glad to receive other poems thought fitting to this end.—Ed.

The first graduating class of Yeshiva College included a poem directed at their Alma Mater, the school that they were graduating from. It is not clear if these poems were ever intended to be sung, especially since they were placed at the beginning of the year book, suggesting a dedication of some kind to the school they had just graduated from. The first three graduating classes included such a poem in their year books, they were the classes of 1932, 1933, and 1934.

Masmid 1932

TO ALMA MATER

Thou, noble seat of science and of art,

    Thou, sacred home of great Hebraic lore!

    E'en from the day thou first oped wide they door

Thy fame has been proclaimed in home and mart;

E'en from thy glorious, momentous start

    Thy praise has been relayed from shore to shore,

    And love for thee, engendered more and more

In every true and loyal Jewish heart.

We, too, thy sons, O Alma Mater dear,

    Who have long dwelt amid they holy "ells,"

Who have drunk of the waters, fresh and clear,

    That e'er gush forth from thy two-cultured wells,

We pledge to thee our love and high esteem;

Thou art a fact now, risen from a dream.

—Joseph Kaminetsky  

Masmid 1933

To Alma Mater

O thou who did'st with tenderness and care

    Aid us the rocky cliffs of truth to scale,

And from the flames of youthful doubt to bear

    The spark of faith, whose light shall never fail.

To thee we raise our voice in grateful song;

    'Twixt memory and hope are built our lives,

The spirit of the East of ages long,

    Thou bringest to the West — the union thrives.

The vine's sweet fruit, the grape, can never grow

    Upon the stem of prickly pointed thorn,

Nor thistles bear, no matter who may sow,

    The fig whose juice feeds nations yet unborn.

Implanted deep thy seeds of mind and heart

    That grow as one in consummated art.

—Abraham S. Guterman

Masmid 1934

To Alma Mater

When whimsic, plastic adolescent years

Are gravely stilled to manhood's calm reserve;

When, out of season, grizzled age would serve

A cloying feast of gloomy sullen fears . . .

When sparkling laughter haply disappears

And vain attempts to light a smile unnerve;

When life is 'reft of eager, glowing verve

And earth remains a dismal vale of tears—

Yet is such grief more sweet than any draught

That blissful ignorance would have us breathe,

Far more serene than leisure winds that waft

The soul along and give it folly's wreath:

For there is joy to hearts that sadly weep

Unknown to lightsome breasts that, waking, sleep...

So, Alma Mater, you have bid us sip

From out the brimming cup that knowledge fills

A sweet ambrosial wine-drink which instils

With sun-kist glow life's drab apprenticeship;—

Though first it seemed too bitter to our lip

And seemed to grip us with convulsing chills

We drank it down, and learned of joyous thrills

That grew more pleasing with its tightened grip...

When soon thru life we take our varied course—

No longer fed from Alma Mater's hand—

Our eyes shall often turn upon the source

Of all that helped us erst to understand . . .

For with the past there is a mystic bond

Through wisdom's soul—to heaven and beyond.

by Bernard Dov Milians 

The class of 1939 was the first class to include an Alma Mater song. Though music notes for this song have not been preserved, a comment elsewhere in the yearbook suggests that the tune sounded "suspiciously like 'I've been working on the railroad.'" The melody from the first part of that folksong works quite well with this Alma Mater's lyrics.

Masmid 1939

Yeshiva College Alma Mater

On the heights of New York's island

Stands Yeshiva strong,

She's but one in the entire land,

To her we sing this song.

    Shout her praises far and nigh,

    For to her our hearts are true.

    Raise the banner up on high,

    Hail for the white and blue.

Oh Yeshiva, mother dear!

Molder of thy youth!

Thou hast spread thy rays of cheer

To sons who love the truth.

    Tho' we wander far and wide,

    True to thee our hearts will be,

    And we'll rally to thy side,

    Hail dear old Y.C.

On the field of life's endeavor

When we take our stand,

Friends we've made will live forever

In our hearts so grand.

    Tho' we wander far and wide,

    True to thee our hearts will be,

    And we'll rally to thy side,

    Hail dear old Y.C.

—Joseph Rothstein

The Alma Mater that was printed in the 1957 yearbook was created by a Student Council appointed Alma Mater committee to write and compose a Yeshiva College Alma Mater song. This Alma Mater retained some notoriety over the years, so it was actually recorded in 2005. 

Masmid 1957

Golden Domes across the sky,

A heritage of years,

These humble hearts are mindful now

Of your pride, your joys, your tears.

Citadel of mind and faith

endow us with your soul,

Inspire our days, our years, our lives

to fulfill your lofty goal.

Oh, spark of light throughout the ages,

Guardian of the solemn truth,

To thee we sing our Alma Mater,

From hearts with love imbued.

Golden Domes for ever be

a symbol 'cross the land,

That where e'er your sons

under heaven reside,

They shall strive both for God and man.

—Joel M. Schreiber

The students at Stern College for Women composed their own alma mater song in 1958. Though we don't have an audio recording of it, the notes for the melody were printed in the 1959 yearbook. 

Kochaviah 1959 Musescore

To thee our Alma Mater, 

    a song of love and praise

Thy spirit everlasting

    will guide us in our ways

The light of Torah teaching 

    so brightly shining through

Will be our inspiration forever

    loyal pure and true,

Devotedly we sing Stern College,

    Hail thy white and blue.

תּוֹרַת חַיִים מַבַּעַת בִּינָה דֵּעָה הַשְׂכֵּל

מִמַּעְיָנָה נִשְׁאָב מָקוֹר חָכְמָה לֶהֶגְלוֹת בָּהּ נִשְׁתַּדֵּל

וְהָעוֹלָם יַבְרִיק מֵהוֹד כּוֹכָב בּיִשְׂרָאֵל

(The Torah of life expresses understanding, knowledge, and wisdom

From its spring we will draw the source of wisdom, we will try to reveal it

And the world will glow from the glory of a star in Israel.)

—Barbara Gross

A Eulogy for Zevulun Hirschensohn

Here is a eulogy for Zevulun Hirschensohn that was printed in the Hebrew newspaper Havatzelet in 1896 in Ottoman Palestine. Zevulun Hirschensohn was my great-great-great-great-grandfather (my mother's father's mother's mother's father's father, if you're following.) He moved from Bialystok to Jerusalem in around 1872¹ to work as teacher in the Grodno Kollel's small yeshiva in Jerusalem, Beis Hillel². Since he only lectured at Beis Hillel in the afternoons, he volunteered in the mornings to lecture at the cheder outside of the Churva Shul (Beis Yaakov)³. The following eulogy was written by one of his students from the Churva Shul Cheder. 

אבל יחיד.

אבל יחיד עשיתי לי במקומי בעירי, בפינת ביתי, קרעתי את בגדי, - וישבתי על הארץ, ובכיתי בכי רב, כשנודעתי מפטירתן של שני רבותי, דיינים מומחים, בבתי דינים בעיה״ק ירושלים תו״ב, אשר מבארם חשקוני מים של תורה, הראשון הוא הרב הגדול ר׳ זבולון מבייאליסטאק זצ״ל, אשר למדתי אצלו חמש שנים, מבן שלשה עשר עד בן שמונה עשר, והשני הוא הרב ר׳ יהודא ליב חפץ זצ״ל, אשר למדתי אצלו אח״כ כמו שנתים. את שני רבותי אלה, הכרתי היטב, את מדותיהם ותכונותיהם ואמר להציב להם מצבה פה על הגליון.

הרב ר׳ זבולון מבייאליסטאק היה למדן גדול, מרביץ תורה הרבה לתלמידים בעודו בחו״ל ואח״כ גם בבואו לירושלים; שקדן גדול, ביום היה לומד עם התלמידים, ובלילה כתב חידושי תורה, כי היה בעל שכל עמוק עמוק עד שנקרא בשם "מהרש״א למדן". הוא היה מתלמידיו של הלל הזקן, ענותן גדול,‬ והיה דן את כל האדם לכף זכות, ואף כשספרו לפניו בגנותן של יחיד או רבים, היה מרגלא בפומיה לאמר, הגלות המר גורם, העניות הגדולה גורמת, היסורים גורמים, אדם זה עני הוא, ואדם זה בעל יסורין ומכאבים. וגם את תלמידיו היה דן לכף זכות, זכרני כי פעם אחת גער רבי זה בתלמיד אחד, ובכה אותו התלמיד הרבה, כשיצא אותו התלמיד, בכה רבי ואמר אבותיו של זה ענים הם ומסתמא לא אכל היום, והרעבון הציק לו עד לבכיה, ושלח רבי וקנה לחם ולפת והאכילהו בצנעה. דרכו היה להשתתף הרבה בצער של יחיד ורבים, וכאשר בעוה״ר צרות רבות לא יחסרו לנו בכל עת ובכל שעה, ע״כ מעולם לא ראיתיו שימלא שחוק פיו, ואפילו אם ראה תלמידיו שוחקים הרבה, היה דרכו לאמר להם "למה תשמחו? העולם חשך בעדינו, . . . ." ואעפ״כ חזק את לבנו תמיד במאמרים מתוקים, כי עץ חיים היא התורה והיהדות למחזיקים בה, אפילו חרב חדה מונחת על צוארו של אדם אל יתיאש עצמו מן הרחמים וכ״ו וכדומה במאמרים ומשלים. הוא סבל הרבה מצער גִדּוּל בנים , וגם מדוחק הפרנסה בירושלם ואעפ״כ היה ותרן בממונו, וטוב לבבו ומזגו המתון מתון עשו אותו כי חי חיי מנוחה והשקט, ובא בימים כמדומה לי כמו חמש ושבעים שנה. תנצב"ה. 

[הספד של רב יהודה ליב חפץ, אינו נעתק כאן]

ואלו זכיתי והיתי בירושלם, הייתי הולך אחרי מטתם, והיתי מרטיב את עצמותיהם בדמעותי הרבים, ועכשיו שלא זכיתי הרי דמעותי נופלות על הגליון, לקרר מעט את חום לבבי השבור, והמנחם ציון ינחם את כל המתאבלים עליהם.

חיים דוד [קנטור] ב״ר שלמה זללה״ה במושבה שפֿפֿייעה [כפר נוער ע״ש מאיר שפיה]⁴

A Private Mourning

I privately mourned in my place in my city, in my house, I tore my clothes, and I sat on the ground, and I cried a lot, when I was informed of the passing of my two masters, expert judges, in the courts of the holy city Jerusalem may it be rebuilt speedily, from their wells I desired the water of Torah. The first is the great master Rabbi Zevulun of Bialystok of blessed memory. I studied with him for five years, from when I was thirteen until eighteen years of age. The second is the master Rabbi Yehuda Leib Hefetz of blessed memory, with whom I studied for about 2 years. I knew these two masters well, their traits and characteristics, so I desire to erect a monument for them here on this page. 

The master Rabbi Zevulun of Bialystok was a great scholar, a disseminator of much Torah to students while he still lived abroad and afterwards when he moved to Jerusalem. He was very diligent, by day he would teach the students, and by night he wrote chiddushim on the Talmud, as he had a deep deep intellect to the point that he was called a "Maharsha Lamdan." He followed the teachings of Hillel the elder, he had great humility, and he would judge everyone favorably. Even when he was informed of the misdeeds of any individual or group, he would say with a pearl in his mouth, "The bitter exile caused it", "The great poverty caused it", "The agony [of living here] caused it", "This man is a pauper", or "This man lives in agony and pain". He would also judge his students favorably. I recall an incident in which Rebbe admonished a student, and the student cried a lot. When that student left, Rebbe cried and said, “His parents are poor, so he probably did not eat today; his hunger brought him to tears.” Rebbe arranged for bread and turnips to be privately delivered to the student. He was always empathizing with the pain of any individual or group. The great difficulties of life in Jerusalem prevented Rabbi Zevulun from ever laughing. Even if he saw his students laughing, he would say to them, "Why are you happy? The world darkens around us,  . . . ." Despite this he constantly strengthened our hearts with sweet sayings. "Torah and Judaism is a tree of life for those who possess [them]", "Even if a sharp sword is placed on the neck of a man, he shall not despair from the mercy [of God]" and other similar sayings and proverbs. He was very burdened with the pain of raising children, and from the stress of making a living in Jerusalem. Despite this he was generous with his money. The goodness of his heart and his moderate temperament made him a moderate person, so he lived a life of peace and calm. His life span seems to me to have been about 75 years. May his soul be wrapped in the bundle of life.  

[Eulogy of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Hefetz, not translated here] 

Had I merited to be in Jerusalem, I would have walked behind their stretchers, and I would have soaked their bones with my many tears. Alas I did not merit [to be there], so my tears fall upon this page, barely cooling the heat of my broken heart. The consoler of Zion shall console all who mourn for them.     

Haim David [Cantor], son of Rabbi Shlomo of blessed memory, in the village of Shfeya. [Youth Village Meir Shfeya]        

---

1. ^ Moses Montifiore 1875 Census of Jews in Palestine. https://www.montefioreendowment.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/scans/11980022.pdf
2. ^ Ibid. https://www.montefioreendowment.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/scans/11980039.pdf
3. ^ Ibid. https://www.montefioreendowment.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/scans/11980037.pdf
4. ^ Haim Cantor, "Eivel Yachid," Habatzeleth, (Jerusalem), Nov. 13, 1896. https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/hzt/1896/11/13/01/article/5

Yeshiva College Alma Mater

In the good old days, by which I mean from the 1930s until the 1960s or so, it was popular YU undergrads to compose and sing songs directed at their Alma Mater, the school that they attend. Though many such songs were composed before and few after it, the only Alma Mater to slightly remain in historical memory was the one written by Joel M. Schreiber in 1956. Possibly because Joel M. Schreiber returned to YU to serve on the board of directors of RIETS. 

Golden Domes across the sky,

A heritage of years,

These humble hearts are mindful now

Of your pride, your joys, your tears.

Citadel of mind and faith

endow us with your soul,

Inspire our days, our years, our lives

to fulfill your lofty goal.

Oh, spark of light throughout the ages,

Guardian of the solemn truth,

To thee we sing our Alma Mater,

From hearts with love imbued.

Golden Domes for ever be

a symbol 'cross the land,

That where e'er your sons

under heaven reside,

They shall strive both for God and man. 

Versions of the song were printed in the Commentator and in the yearbook of 1957.

The recording below was made in 2005, the performing choir was conducted by Matthew Lazar.

On the Beit Midrash at Stern College for Women

At the moment there is a woman at Stern College who is volunteering her time and working to reorganize the Eisenberg Beit Midrash. It seems strange that there wasn’t already someone to manage the collection as is the case in the Glueck Beit Midrash on the Wilf Campus.

I don't know for certain why this is the case, but perhaps some context on the development of the Beit Midrash at Stern College will assist in providing perspective into what our next steps should be to improve the situation.

The Wilf Campus, which is the main campus has always had a Beit Midrash. The reason for this is quite simple, this part of the university grew out of a small Yeshiva on the Lower East Side. During the school's first 10 years, the Beit Midrash was its only real facility, and a Beit Midrash was included in all the buildings that it would inhabit in the following years.

In 1928, when the Yeshiva moved uptown to the corner of 187th and Amsterdam, its new building as contained a rather small Beit Midrash on the first floor. This was probably because the College intended to expand across the street and to build a much grander Beit Midrash, leaving the smaller one for the High School. These expansion plans fell through, and it was only until the mid-1940s when the school would be able to expand its physical facilities. The Beit Midrash room within the main building was expanded to include the synagogue room next door. (I haven't been able to determine the exact date for this.) This expanded room, known as the Fischel Beit Midrash, named for the philanthropist Harry Fischel, served as the main Beit Midrash for the school until 2008.

The year 2008 witnessed the completion of the YU's newest academic building, the Glueck Center for Jewish studies. It is a 6-story building with a basement. The first two stories are occupied by a Beit Midrash, with classrooms and offices filling the upper four stories.

This is all good and well for the Men of Yeshiva University, whose campus was built and expanded around the Yeshiva that forms the core of the University (if we disregard the fact that it is legally independent of the University.)

Stern College for Women developed from a very different type of institution. The Beit Midrash or Yeshiva was and remains largely restricted to men in Jewish society. Though there are a few historical examples of women attending Batei Midrash, there were generally excluded from such activities. The movement for higher education for Jewish women developed very differently from the parallel movement for men. While the men's schools developed around the nucleus of a Yeshiva, women's schools developed out of Hebrew school teachers' training programs. The need for women to work in elementary Jewish education was felt by Jews across the religious and political spectrum.

The religious Zionist wing of the RIETS community started a school called the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls, or Beit Midrash la'Morot in Hebrew, in 1928¹. Pinchos Churgin from the Teachers Institute of RIETS was involved in its creation and a graduate of RIETS, Rabbi Joseph Lookstein served as principal for much of the school's life.²

For its first decade, the school met in Rabbi Lookstein's synagogue, Kehilath Jeshurun³ on the upper east side. In 1941, the school acquired a more permanent home in the lower east side at 311 East Broadway⁴. The Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls shared a committee that administered Hebrew school teaching certificates, for which Pinchos Churgin was the chairman. Another significant scholar employed by both schools was Dr. Sidney "Simcha" Honig.

Not only was the faculty between the Teachers Institute of RIETS and the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls share, but the students at both schools seem to have shared a social life. The students of the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls posted an advertisement in the Nov 16, 1944 issue of The Commentator, inviting the Yeshiva College students to their "Annual Chanukah Affair" assuring their peers at Yeshiva College that "A Good Time Will Be Had By All."⁵

Though it had the word Beit Midrash in its Hebrew name, the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls did not have a traditional Beit Midrash. Its instruction was given in classrooms with set curriculums in a more rigid and structured manner. This method of instruction did not encourage the kind of independent study common in men’s education that could develop their ability to research and parse rabbinic texts on their own.

In 1953, Max Stern, the President of the board of the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls, merged his school into Yeshiva University. Once part of Yeshiva University, the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls was renamed to the Teachers Institute for Women, making its parody to the Teachers Institute for Men official. These two schools functioned somewhat differently from each other, the Teachers Institute for Men was only really attended by full time Yeshiva College students, while the Teachers Institute for Women offered night classes for Jewish women attending secular colleges in the city.

It seems reasonable to assume that the faculty from the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls formed the core faculty of the Judaic Studies department at Stern College for Women. I was not able to find faculty lists for either the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls or Stern College for Women that was close to the time of the merger. However, you do find Dr. Shlomo Wind working for the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls in 1944⁶, and he also appears in the 1958 yearbooks for Stern College for Women as one of the Jewish Studies faculty⁷. Shuli Berger, Yeshiva University Library’s Curator of Special Collections and Hebraica-Judaica, in a 2018 blog confirms Dr. Shlomo Wind’s continuity of work within school before and after it became part of Yeshiva University⁸.

It was until 1977 when the need for a Beit Midrash for independent study arose. However, the mid-town campus had a Beit-Midrash for close to a decade before this point. This Beit Midrash developed out of the dormitory.

It was only in 1965 that Yeshiva University acquired a permanent dormitory for Stern College for Women. Before then, the school had been leasing space in several different residential buildings in the area for out-of-town students. Initially, the out-of-town “dormitory” was on the upper west side, in the heart of a Jewish community with plenty of synagogues to attend. When YU moved the dormitory to mid-town to be closer to its classroom building, there wasn’t much of a Jewish community for the students to participate in.

The women of Stern quickly recognized this problem and advocated for the creation of a synagogue space in the new classroom building that YU was planning to build at 245 Lexington Avenue⁹. Despite the students’ request, the university administration never included such a room in the plans for the building¹⁰.

Taking the initiative themselves, the Torah Activities Committee (at the time a division of the Stern College for Women Student Council) arranged to convert room 2E on the second floor of the dormitory to be a Beit Midrash for independent prayer and study¹¹. The exact location of this Beit Midrash moved between different rooms on the second floor over the years, but it remains there to this day.

In the mid-1970s students and faculty at Stern college began to reform the Jewish studies program to provide more advanced studies. A significant part of these reforms was creating an environment for women to study with a Chavruta to practice their independent study skills and partake in a more traditional method of Torah study, historically reserved for men. The first iteration of this was fully organized by students in 1973 and was called Beit Midrash le-Banot¹². Lacking a real Beit Midrash space, the students who participated used the library¹³.

In 1976, the administration of Stern College began to formulate an advanced Jewish studies curriculum. The purpose was to provide women who had already learned the more fundamental knowledge the opportunity to advance their independent study skills in a Beit Midrash environment with independent study time and Yeshiva style lectures. The program launched in Fall 1977 with Rav Soloveitchik’s widely publicized shiur to the inaugural class of this program. Rabbi Saul Berman, one of Stern’s faculty who was deeply involved with the development of this program, recalls that the Beit Midrash space that the program initially used was located on the first floor of 253 Lexington Avenue¹⁴.

The location of the Beit Midrash in the library did not last very long. The librarians and students were frustrated by not being able to use the periodical reading room during instructional hours. By Spring 1978, the Beit Midrash was relocated¹⁵.

It seems likely that the Beit Midrash was relocated to room 619 in 245 Lexington Avenue¹⁶. The Beit Midrash would remain there until Fall 2007 when the new 7th floor Beit Midrash was opened¹⁷.

The evidence from the Observer and other published sources indicates that the roots of the 7th floor Beit Midrash on the Beren Campus lie within the Beit Midrash program that was inaugurated in 1977. Before then, the administration had no need for a Beit Midrash space, with the Brookdale Beit Midrash being created by Student Council.

This doesn’t really answer any questions about the nature of the collection within the Beit Midrash. Much of it is labeled as if it belongs to TAC, the Torah Activities Council, and it clearly lacks any permanent position for someone to curate and organize the collection.

In the 1980s, TAC seems to have been able to hire student employees to take care of the collection in the Brookdale Beit Midrash¹⁸. Perhaps this model can be copied for the current Beit Midrash to ensure that its collection is cared for and that the people who invest their time in organizing it can be properly compensated for their public service.

---

1. ^ “Haynt Konferentz Vegen ‘Beis Midrash la-Moros’,” Der Morgen Zhurnal (New York, NY), Oct. 6, 1938. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/tjm/1938/10/06/01/article/27
2. ^ Jeffery Gurock, The Men and Women of Yeshiva: Higher Education, Orthodoxy, and American Judaism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), pg. 196.
3. ^ “Beis Midrash la-Moros Ofen Far Naye Talmidos,” Der Tog (New York, NY), Sept. 20, 1935. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/dertog/1935/09/20/01/article/32
4. ^ “Registratzia In Dem ‘Beis Midrash la-Moros’ Vet Zikh Onfangen Akhten Sept.,” Forverts (New York, NY), Sept. 5, 1941. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/frw/1941/09/05/01/article/76
5. ^ [Advertisement], “Beth Hamedrash Lamoroth,” The Commentator (New York, NY), Nov. 16, 1944. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5154
6. ^ [Advertisement], “Dringender Ruf Tsu Yidishe Eltern,” Der Tog (New York, NY), Jan. 28, 1944. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/dertog/1944/01/28/01/article/64.1
7. ^ Masorah 1958, (New York: Stern College for Women, 1958), pg. 13. https://archive.org/details/masora1958stern
8. ^ Shulamith Z. Berger, “The 60th Anniversary of the Pioneers of Stern College for Women: The Class of 1958,” YU News (blog), June 12, 2018. https://www.yu.edu/library/2018/06/12/the-60th-anniversary-of-the-pioneers-of-stern-college-for-women-the-class-of-1958
9. ^ [Editorial], “We Propose…” Observer, Jan. 7, 1965. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5049
10. ^ Sue Amin, “Vogel Addresses Alumni Gathering,” Observer, March 1, 1966. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5060
11. ^ [Announcement], “The Small Room 2E in the dorm . . .,” Observer, Dec. 8, 1970. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5997
12. ^ Raina Urbaitis, “Beit Midrash L’Bnot: Intensive Learning L’Shma,” Observer, Sept. 24, 1973. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6032
13. ^ It is not clear which library they were using, the old wing located on the first floor of 253 Lexington or the newer wing on the second floor of 245 Lexington. I suspect it was probably in 253 Lexington, since the official Beit Midrash program that would come towards the end of the decade used the old library in 253 Lexington.
14. ^ Saul Berman, “Forty Years Later: The Rav’s Opening Shiur at the Stern College for Women Beit Midrash,” Lehrhaus, Oct. 9, 2017. https://thelehrhaus.com/commentary/forty-years-later-the-rav%e2%80%99s-opening-shiur-at-the-stern-college-for-women-beit-midrash/
15. ^ Barbara Michael, “Bookends,” Observer, Jan. 19, 1978. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6108
16. ^ Rachel Katsman, “Where Freedom Ends,” Observer, Jan 13, 1982. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6167
17. ^ Yael Wolynetz, “Donors Back New Beit Midrash,” Observer, September 2007. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8494
18. ^ Lisa Korman, “Beit Midrash to Open Soon,” Observer, Sept. 25, 1981. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6163