A Generation Comes and A Generation Goes

Correction: After attending a presentation at the NYPL on their Yiddish sheet music collections, I learned that Pinchos Jassinowsky was not a student of RIETS at the time. Rather, he was a prolific composer. So this raises the question of what his composition is doing in this student publication. [March 19, 2025].

Our Organization - A Glimpse of Student Life at 1920s RIETS

In May 1926, the students of the Rabbi Elchanan Theological Seminary, yeshivas rabbeinu yitzchok elchonon as they would have known it, published their first newspaper named hedenu or Our Echo. It ran for over a decade, printing infrequently, but aiming for an issue for each month. Hedenu was bilingual, Hebrew and English, and was intended to provide an opportunity for the yeshiva students to practice their Hebrew and English composition. In the first few years, the paper was mostly in Hebrew, but by the 1930s the English section had grown to be about half of each issue. The publication of this paper was facilitated by the Students' Organization of the Yeshiva or histadrus talmidei yeshivas rabbeinu yitzchok elchonon as they called it in Hebrew. 

With hedenu, the S.O.Y. had a mouthpiece to encourage students at the yeshiva to participate in its activities and administration. In the first issue of hedenu, published on May 18, 1926, the president of the S.O.Y., Shlomo Wind, wrote an essay to encourage his peers to participate in the activities of the S.O.Y. I found his commentary on the nature of student life shockingly relevant to my own experience at the same school almost a century later. 

As a fun fact, Shlomo Wind went on to teach at the Teachers Institute, The Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls (before it was transformed into Stern College for Women), and Stern College for Women during its first decade. 

I transcribed the original Hebrew text of the article and wrote an English translation below. 

הסתדרותנו

ש[למה] ווינד

 

חברים, בני הישיבה!

הגיעה השעה שנכּנס בשיחה גלויה בדברים הנוגעים לחיינו החברתיים. נסיר את המחיצות המבדילות בינינו ונבוא לידי התענינות כּללית — ליצור סביבה יפה ומתוקנה בתוכנו.

לכו נא ונוכחה! אם בּקרב לבּנו שוֺרה איזו דאגה המכאיבה אותנו, אם בּקרב נפשנו הומות הרגשות המבקשות בּטוי, נודיע איש לרעהו את הדבר המעיק אותנו, וגם את הדברים שלפי דעתו יובילונו להתרוממות הנפש ולמצב כלכלי נכון.

הלא כולנו יחדו בּני-ישיבה, וגורל משותּף לכולנו, ולמה נהיה כזרים איש לרעהו בחיינו החברתיים? שמעתּן קובלנא רגילה בפי כמה תלמידים: הלא זה מאָז ומעולם שהיתה לנו הסתדרות, האם הצליחה אַף פּעם לעורר את לבנו לרעיון של התאַחדות, לרגש של אַחוה ואַהבה?

לענות על השאלה הזאת קשה באמת עד מאד. היחס בינינו לא היה כיחס אברי הגוף הניזונים מלב אחד. כּל תּלמיד התרכּז בּעולמו הוא — למצוא תנאים נוחים רק בּשבילו, קרובים אָנו, אבל רחוקים היינו. אחדים הצליחו המגמתם שבּחרו להם, ואחדים מבּלי עזרה, נכזבה תוחלתּם. התּוצאה: אי-התענינות בּחיינו החברתיים, קפאון הנפש ושפלות הרוח.

כּמו כן, אין ההסתּדרות אחראית בּעד מצב של פּירוד כּזה. כּי מה היא הסתּדרות ולשם מה היא באה? הסתּדרות היא בטוי-כּח של לבּות השואפים לאידיאל אחד, למחשבה עקרית המכילה מגמות שונות. הסתּדרות הנוצרת מאיחוד-כחות מדרכת את נטיות חבריה להצלחת כּולם. ואם אין כּחות מאוחדים, אם כּל אחד עושה בשלו ולעצמו — מאיזה חומר תּוצר הסתּדרות נשגבה ומוצלחת, וכח השפּעתה מאַין יבוא?

למה לא תהיה התאַחדות לבבית בּינינו שתּפיח בּנו רוח של חיים ומרץ, התלהבות נאותה ונשגבה למען נוכל התקדם בּחיינו באופן הכי נעלה? "או חברותא או מיתותא" אָמרו חז"ל. כּמה רעיונות נשגבים בּפתגם זה! נבוכי-רוח אָנו בחיי בדידות. חיים כאלה אינם שוים כלום.

כּולנו צריכים חזוק בּעבודתנו. ולמען הלהיב ועורר מרצנו, צריכים אָנו לחלופי רעיונות, לרוח שיחדש בּנו את כּחותינו. גם העולם לא היה יכול להתקיים אלמלא נתחדשו מעשי בראשית בּכל יום ויום. עבודתנו הבּלתּי נעימה בחיי בּדידות יכולה להשנות לעבודה הכי נעימה בחיים חברתיים. בּחיי אחוה ורעות, בּחיים המושפּעים מאידיאל נעלה ונשגב.

ועוד זאת, חברים, הסתּדרות כּשהיא חזקה ומבוססה, ושיש לה הכּחות המשותּפים של כּל התלמידים, יכולה לשכלל את המצב הרוחני והכּלכּלי של חבריה. כּחות משותּפים מולידים כחות אחרים. כּחות טמירים ונעלמים מוצאים את בּטויים בּנקל על-ידי עזרה הדדית. עבודה משותּפת תּוסיף לנו אומץ והתאוששות להרחיב ולהגדיל את חוג השפּעתנו לטובתנו במדה שלא שערנו מאז.

בטוח אני, שבּקרב נפשנו אָנו קובלים על פּזור-נפש כּזה במעלה חלודה על כּחותינו הנפשיים. בּטוח אני, שעומק עמוק בּלבּנו מפכּים גלי חיים. אלא מפּני סבּה אחת או אחרת, אָנו מונעים אותם מעבור את גבולם.

ובכן, חברים, אליכם אקרא: "למה נוסיף סרה?" הבה נגול את האבן המעמסה מעל לבּנו, ויקלח הזרם של אחוה ורעות. יעשה הזרם הזה למעין מים חיים ואי-מפסיקים. יצא כל אחד מחוג הצר של עולמו הוא. נעבוד בּכחות מאוחדים ומרץ משותּף. ניצור חבורות שונות: חובבי פּלפּול, זמיר, שירה וספרות. ניצור סביבה יפה, שתּחת השפּעתה נחיה כחברים גמורים, ולבּותינו הקפואים מקור יחמו, ונרגיש את האחריות הנעימה של חיים צבוריים ונעלים, ואז נבין איש את שפת לבו ונמלא את דרישתו.

ואל כּל זה נוכל להגיע אַך ורק על-ידי הסתּדרות מוצקה המאחדת את כּלנו לשם שאיפה ומטרה אחת. זהו האמצעי היותר בּדוק בּחיים החברתיים והמעשיים. ארגון כּחותינו הוא עיקר גדול. נרכז אותם לנקודה אחת, נחזק ההסתּדרות ותקווֺתינו בע"ה תּתגשמנה.

Our Organization

Sh[lomo] Wind

Friends, members of the Yeshiva!

The time has come for us to enter in open dialogue on matters that affect our social life. Let us remove the barriers that divide us and join in the general interest to create a pleasant and improved environment among us.

Come and let us consider! If some anxiety that pains us dwells in our hearts, if there are strong emotions demanding expression in our souls, each one should tell his friend that issues oppressing him, and also the things that he believes will bring us an elevated spirit and general well-being.

Are we not all members of the Yeshiva, there is a shared lot for all of us, so why must we be like strangers to each other in our social life? I have heard a common saying among many students: Was it not a while ago that we had an Organization, if only we could succeed to awaken our hearts to the idea of unity, the feeling of brotherhood and love?

Answering this question is truly very difficult. The connection between us is not like the connection between limbs of a body that are sustained by one heart. Every student is centered in his own world — finding conditions that are pleasant only for him, we are close, but we have been distant. A few have succeeded in the direction they chose for themselves, and a few, lacking aid, have had their expectations disappointed. The result: No interest in social life, a frozen soul and a depressed spirit.

The Organization is not responsible for this situation of separation. For what is the Organization and for what purpose did it come into being? The Organization is the expression of power of hearts that desire a unified ideal, for a root philosophy that includes different directions. An Organization created from a union of powers directs its diversity of members to a collective success. But if there are not united powers, if everyone does his own thing — from what material can a successful Organization be created, and where will its power to influence come from?

 Why will there not be unity of heart between us that express in us a spirit of life and vigor, proper and elevated enthusiasm so that we can proceed with our lives in the move elevated way? “Friendship or death,” said our sages. How many great ideas in this message! We are depressed in this lonely life. Life like this is not worth anything.

We all need strengthening in our work. In order to ignite and awaken our vigor, we must exchange ideas, for the spirit that will renew our strengths. Even the entire world would not be able to continue existing without the renewal of the act of creation every day. Our unpleasant work in our lonely lives can transform to become pleasant work in social life, in a life of brotherhood and friendship, in a life that is influenced by an elevated and sublime ideal.

Friends, the Organization when it is strong and established, and it has the united powers of all the students, it can perfect the spiritual and material state of its members. Powers of union birth other powers. Powers hidden and obscured present their expression with ease through mutual aid. Shared work will increase our strength and recovery to widen and grow the sphere of our influence to our benefit to an extent never measured before.

I am certain, that within our souls we are accepting this scattering of souls to degree that rusts our emotional strength. I am certain that deep down in our hearts we are resisting the waves of life for one reason or another, we are preventing them from passing over their boundaries.

So, friends, to you I call: “Why do we continue to stray?” Let us roll the burdensome stone off our hearts, and the flow of brotherhood and friendship will spray. It will make this flow into a constant spring of water that never stops. Everyone will leave the narrow sphere of his world. We will work in united power and with shared vigor. We will create different clubs: Lovers of pilpul, song, poetry and literature. We will create a beautiful environment, which beneath its influence we will be complete friends, and our frozen hearts will thaw, and we will feel the pleasant responsibility of social life and we will ascend. Then we will understand our own individual hearts and fulfil their desires.

We can only achieve all of this through a grounded Organization that unites all of us with the same desire and goal. That is the central concept in social life and activity. Organization of our powers is a large foundation. We will centralize them to one point. We will strengthen the Organization and our hopes, God willing, will materialize.

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."