Apr 29, 2005 — The second annual Yeshiva University Behavioral Sciences Student Research Conference takes place May 5 at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology on the Resnick Campus in the Max and Sadie Friedman Lounge, Forchheimer Building.

Students from Ferkauf, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Stern College for Women, Yeshiva College, and Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration will present research in the form of visual and written displays and will be on hand to discuss their work.

Listed below are research topics, authors, and titles.

School key: (A) Azreli Graduate School of Jewish Education, (F) Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, (S) Stern College for Women, (W) Wurzweiler School of Social Work, and (Y) Yeshiva College

ADOLESCENTS

(1). Fishman, P. & Arsenio, W. (F)
Emotion Knowledge and Psychological Functioning in Adolescents.

(2). Kilstein, J. (Y)
Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Peer Status in Adolescent Boys with ADHD

(3). Wapner, D. & Sunday, S. (F)
Physically Abused Adolescents: Social Networks and Gender Effects.

BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE

(4). Camille, J. & Tobin, J. (F)
Social Support Within Ethnically Diverse HIV Positive Women.

(5). Chen, M., Zemon, V., Tsai, C.,Forbes, M., Dhrami-Gavazi, E., Gordon, J., of Greenstein, V., Hu, G. & Strugstad, C. (F)
A Novel Electrophysiological Instrument for Rapid and Objective Assessment
of Glaucomatous.

(6). Cohen, O. & Suchday, S. (F)
The Effects of Sociotropy and Cognitive Rumination on Blood Pressure Reactivity.

(7). DeWitt, T., Abdo, N., Kofman, M.,Shelov, D., Feldman, J. (F)
Development of the Mindfulness Health Behavior Inventory.

(8). Edelblum, R. & DiLorenzo, T. (S)
Aging: A Natural Buffer Against the Effects of Multiple Sclerosis.

(9). Friedberg, J. Shelov, D., Weiss, K., Suchday, S. (F)
Relationship Between Anger Rumination and Cardiovascular Reactivity.

(10). Galian, L. & DiLorenzo, T. (S)
Pain and Gender: The Underlying Difference.

(11). Safier, M. & Bacon, J. (S)
A New Perspective on Locus of Control as a Predictor of MS Outcomes.

(12). Shelov, D., Friedberg, J., Weiss, K.,Suchday, S. (F)
Increased Concentration Predicts Reduced Heart Rate During a Math Stressor.

(13). Vanacore, K. & Stavrou, E. (F)
Adherence in Adolescents with Type 2 Diabetes: A Developmental Perspective.

(14). West, I., Benkov, K. & Arsenio, W. (F)
Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Psychosocial Functioning: A Focus on Social Competency and Quality of Life.

(15). Wiesen, T. & DiLorenzo (S)
Somatization in Dominican Individuals.

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH

(16). Adonis, M., Friedberg, J. & Suchday, S. (F)
The Effects of Acculturative Distress on Depression and Anxiety in Greek Immigrant Adolescents.

(17). Friedberg, J., Suchday, S., Adonis, M., & Almeida, M. (F)
Correlations of Rumination in Asian Indian College Students.

OBESITY

(18). Kofman, M. & Weiss, J. (F)
Review of Binge Eating and Weight Outcomes in Bariatric Surgery Patients.

(19). Shlank, D., Geliebter, A. & Gluck, M. & Suchday, S. (F)
Obese Binge Eaters Have More Atypical Depression Symptomatology than Obese Non-Binge Eaters.

(20). Zotta, M. & Stavrou, E. (F)
Psychosocial Factors Contributing to Obesity in Urban Latinas.

OLDER ADULTS

(21). Ballard, J., Kuslansky, G., Hilton, I., -& Lipton, R. (F)
Use of the GDS-Short Form in the “Oldest Old”.

(22). Harris, S., Schmutte, T., Levin, R. & Zweig, R. (F)
Effects of Poor Sleep on Non-verbal Abilities in Older Adults Without Dementia.

(23). Scherr, D. & Zweig, R. (F)
Personality Disorders in Older Adults: Emerging Models.

(24). Schmutte, T., Zweig, R. & Levin, R. (F)
Trouble Falling Asleep Related To Reduced Verbal Functioning in Older Adults Without Depression and Dementia.

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
ANXIETY AND FEAR

(25). Cohen, J. & McGinn, L. (F)
Childhood Learning History, Diminished Control, and Vulnerability to Panic Disorder.

(26). Fine, J. & Auerbach, C. (F)
The Trauma and Post Traumatic Growth of Multiple Myeloma Patients Treated with Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation.

(27). Fried, T. & Rettinger, D. (Y)
Details unavailable.

(28). Massey, K. & McGinn, L. (F)
Cognitive Factors in the Maintenance of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Three Years after September 11, 2001.

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY

(29). Fiorillo, E., Ripstein, M. & Zach, L. (F)
Working Memory in Relation to Academic Achievement.

(30). Ginter, H. & Gerson, B. (F)
The Attitude of Psychologists toward the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities

(31). McNulty, A. & Givner, A. (F)
Personality Factors as Moderating Variables in Burnout in School Psychologists.

(32). Rabinovich, D. & Goldberg, S. (A)
Student Behavior in Dual-Curriculum Schools: A Study of the Perceptions of Students and Teachers.

SPIRITUALITY

(33). Humi, M., Beren, S. & Swencionis, C. (F)
Eating Disorders and Body Image Prevention Program in Single vs Coed Orthodox Jewish Elementary Schools.

(34). Langer, E. & Swencionis, C. (F)
Breast Self-Examination Performance Among Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women.

(35). Sweet, R. & DiLorenzo, T. (S)
Sociotropic Cognitions and Levels of Spirituality.

(36). Bergen, H., Friedberg, J. & Suchday, S. (F)
Socio-Political Distress and Trauma History Predict Physical Symptom Complaints in Orthodox Jewish Women.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

(37). Heitler, N. & McGinn, L. (F)
Increased Personality Symptoms and Axis I Comorbidity in Atypical Depression: Extending Findings to a Substance Abuse Population.

(38). Murphy, M., Copersino, M. & Gorelicks, D. (F)
Plasma Butyrylcholinesterase Activity in Cocaine Users.

(39). Murphy, M., Stratyner, H. & Ball, S. (F)
Utility of the Recovery Attitude and Treatment Evaluator (RAATE-QI) in
Predicting Treatment Adherence Among Substance Abusers: Pilot Data and Dissertation Proposal.

MISCELLANEOUS

(40). Piesco, J., Butler, P., Gordon, J., Jalbrzikowski, M., Javitt, D., Russo, J., Schecter, I. & Zemon, V. (F)
Dysfunction of Neural Mechanisms in Schizophrenia: Contrast-response Functions and a Nonlinear Model.

(41). Herzog, S. & Hilton, I. (F)
Variable of Control in the Ability to Balance Work and Family.

(42). Nash, L., Greenberg, W., & Suchday, S. (F)
Maintaining a Volunteer Recruitment Program for Multiple Research Studies.

(43). Marino, P., Silverstein, L., Simoni, J., & Auerbach, C. (F)
Assessing The Buddy Role in HIV-Positive Support Group.

Comments

Richard Dicker (front) director, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch; and Geoffrey Robertson, QC Chief Judge, Special Court for Sierra Leone, sit on the panel.

Apr 28, 2005 — After the Holocaust the world vowed “Never Again.” At a historic three-day conference on the Nuremberg war crimes trials held at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, participants were reminded that “Never Again” has become “over again” as human-rights violations continue.

A broad spectrum of participants –– including former Nuremberg prosecutors, government officials, participants at tribunals in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and Sierra Leone, and academics –– attended “The Nuremberg Trials: A Reappraisal and Their Legacy,” in order to analyze the impact of the Nuremberg principles on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the trials.

“We hope to reaffirm the lessons of Nuremberg,” said Sheri Rosenberg, deputy director of the program in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies, who along with Prof. Richard Weisberg, the program’s director, organized the conference.

The standing-room only crowd was introduced to the importance of the Nuremberg trials with a screening of the 1959 teleplay Judgment at Nuremberg, which contains an introduction by former Nuremberg prosecutor and Cardozo founding faculty member Telford Taylor. Actor Alec Baldwin, co-producer and star of the TNT mini-series Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial, and Prof. Michael Marrus of the University of Toronto offered comments.

As part of a “recollections” panel, first-hand witnesses to the injustice shared their experiences. At the age of 22 and with only a 10th grade education, Richard Sonnenfeldt became the chief interpreter for the American prosecution team. Born into a Jewish family in Germany, Sonnenfeldt had the opportunity to speak with everyone during the trial and read the indictments. “I was a witness to that history,” he said.

Greville Janner, Member of the British House of Lords, was not at the Nuremberg trials, but at the age of 18 he was stationed at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. As a war crimes investigator in the British Army of the Rhine, Janner was responsible for arresting war criminals. In describing his first capture, a prison guard, Janner expressed surprise that the man was so ordinary. “They weren’t what you regarded as people who were killers,” Janner said.

One former Nuremberg prosecutor questioned whether we have become numb to the trials’ lessons. “What happened to the dream?” asked former Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz, who at the age of 27 tried his first case at Nuremberg.

According to Hassan Bucabar Jallow, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, while Nuremberg and Rwanda are far apart in time and geography, they are the same problem. “It continues to happen, Jallow said. “It has happened again.”

Although crimes against humanity continue, panelists reminded the audience that the work at Nuremberg was not in vain. In a keynote speech, Justice Theodore Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, said that although Nuremberg had flaws, without Nuremberg the establishment of an international criminal court at The Hague would not have been possible.

While the international community did not get involved in Rwanda until it was too late, according to Jallow, international criminal justice is slowly happening. In West Africa, the power of the law is becoming greater than the power of an AK47, according to David Crane, chief prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. “I believe the international community got it right this time around,” Crane said.

The questions of whether the international community got it right at Nuremberg and whether they will get it right in Iraq were also debated. “It’s not too late to correct the mistakes that have been made for the Iraqi tribunal,” Geoffrey Robertson, chief judge at the special court for Sierra Leone, said.

According to Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program, the problem with the Iraqi tribunal is that the death penalty is involved. “Death surely is too easy for crimes of this heinousness,” Robertson said, adding that it’s hard to teach reverence for life if Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death and made a martyr.

Preventing new victims is a priority, but as part of a panel on the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, participants discussed the conflict that is still producing victims every day. Stephanie Frease, director of programs at the Coalition for International Justice, expressed concern that the United Nation’s Commission of Inquiry on Darfur has concluded that what is happening in Darfur is not genocide.

“We need to respond to crimes against humanity whether they are genocide or not,” said John Prendergast, special advisor at the International Crisis Group, who has made three trips to rebel-held Darfur in the last six months. The failure to act forcefully shows that little has changed since the crisis in Rwanda, Prendergast said, and the government needs to impose sanctions on Khartoum. “We still have time to act,” Prendergast said.

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Apr 22, 2005 — Scott Apfelbaum has been named director of operations for Yeshiva University in Israel and the Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Institute.
Mr. Apfelbaum was the administrative director of Yeshivat Sha’arei Mevaseret Zion for 13 years.
Mr. Apfelbaum’s family made aliyah from Great Neck, NY, when he was 13 years old. He graduated from YU in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Before returning to Israel in 1992, Mr. Apfelbaum was assistant director of admissions at YU.
“I am pleased to announce Scott’s appointment,” said Howard M. Weisband, senior adviser on Israel Affairs. “He is energetic and creative, and a consummate professional. As a YU graduate and a professional, Scott shares in the vision for YU in Israel and truly cares about our commitment to our students, faculty, and the administrative leadership of the university.”
Mr. Apfelbaum’s duties are varied, and will include communicating with government, municipal, and Jewish Agency offices; overseeing budget and fiscal activities; completing special projects and programs; and providing support to alumni.
Mr. Apfelbaum is a member of the urban planning and development committee in Efrat, where he lives with his wife and their three children.
Yeshiva University’s S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program allows more than 500 young men and women per year to study at 40 yeshivot and other educational institutions in Israel.

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Apr 21, 2005 –
To the Yeshiva University Community:

Spring brings with it the freshness of renewal. Passover teaches us what we can achieve if we are free to commit ourselves to noble responsibilities. In that spirit, I greet you and share some “travels with Richard.”

Thank G-d, there is so much happening at YU, provoked by engaged faculty, deans, students, rebbeim and leadership, that I must refer you to our web site, www.yu.edu for ongoing programs and educational initiatives. Let me just offer an overview of some of the matters on our plate.

I hope many of you participated in an extraordinary conference on the Nuremberg Trials at Cardozo School of Law, led by Prof. Richard Weisberg and Prof. Sheri Rosenberg. It dovetails beautifully with a series of Human Rights lectures, put together by Prof. Bryan Daves and offered by Stern College’s Dr. Marcia Robbins-Wilf Scholars-in-Residence Program.

I am proud to take note of several members of our undergraduate faculty who have distinguished themselves recently through awards and fellowships: Paula Geyh (English Literature; NEH award), David Glaser (Music; American Academy of Arts and Letters award), Jay Ladin (English Literature; American Academy of Learned Societies research fellowship), and William Stenhouse (History; Italian Academy for Advanced Studies research fellowship).

If you are in New York, you must not miss YU Museum’s extraordinary exhibition, Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein. The museum is a gem and must be part of a visit to New York, or a day in New York.

More and more men and women are participating in our Sunday morning learning programs on the Wilf Campus, Kollel Yom Rishon and Midreshet Yom Rishon — it is a delightful and important way to study with our Rabbinic and Jewish Studies faculty.

A visit to the Resnick Campus will reveal that construction is underway for the new Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine at the Harold and Muriel Block Research Pavilion. Our deans’ searches at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Yeshiva College are in full swing.

A wonderful, anonymous $5 million gift brings us closer to being able to erect a magnificent Glueck Center for Torah Study at the Wilf Campus. More to follow.
Many of us were fortunate to hear Dr. David Pelcovitz’s inaugural lecture as the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Professor of Education and Psychology at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education, held at the Geraldine Schottenstein Cultural Center.

I so enjoyed a reception this week that paired our undergraduate scholarship donors with their young scholars. Seeing the mutual admiration of students and patrons needs no further elucidation.

Many of us participated in numerous activities that marked the undergraduate Arts Festival and reminds us of our students’ enormous creativity.

A RIETS Yom Iyun brought together faculty from RIETS, Azrieli, Wurzweiler, Einstein and Ferkauf in exploring issues of mental health and methodologies of dealing with crisis situations.

Esther and I hosted a breakfast for faculty and students to welcome Mrs. Linda Hooper, principal of the Whitwell School in Whitwell, Tennessee. Mrs. Hooper will receive an honorary degree at Commencement for her wonderful “Paper Clips” project. Mrs. Hooper brought the tragedies of the Holocaust to an understandable and meaningful experience for many in her state by assisting her eighth-grade students in collecting six million paper clips representing each of the victims of the Holocaust. Her project was developed into a remarkable documentary film.

Finally, over the last several weeks, Esther and I have visited alumni communities in Englewood, New Jersey, Dallas and Houston, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, Miami Beach and Boca Raton, Florida. A tremendous sense of excitement is generated as we launch a national conversation on how YU goes to the next plane in demonstrating its character as America’s Jewish university in service to humanity and as the university with a Yeshiva at its heart.

I thank you so much for all the expressions of interest made to date. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liady in his work Likutei HaTorah tells us that we should speak of Passover as marking not just “Yitziat Mitzrayim,” the exodus from Egypt, but “Yitziat Mitzarim” – the transcending of limitations. Many will have the joyous determination to go beyond our limits and together with our students, advance the values we together cherish.

Richard M. Joel

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Apr 21, 2005 — Dr. Philipp Scherer has been named the 2005 recipient of the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The award recognizes research in diabetes that demonstrates particular independence of thought and originality. It is the highest honor given by the association and will be presented on June 13, at the 65th Annual Scientific Sessions of the ADA.

Dr. Scherer, who is associate professor of cell biology and of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, first made his major impact in the field of diabetes while still a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute. It was there that Dr. Scherer discovered the protein adiponectin/Acrp 30, which has since been found to have great physiological importance in causing the metabolic and vascular problems associated with diabetes. Following this breakthrough, he has continued to be a leader in this field, making key discoveries that are recognized worldwide.

Dr. Scherer is the third Einstein researcher to receive the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award from the ADA. Dr. Michael Brownlee, who is the Anita and Jack Saltz Professor in Diabetes Research, received it in 1993, and Dr. Luciano Rossetti, who is the Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Professor of Diabetes Research, received the award in 2000.

After receiving the award, which is sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, Dr. Scherer will present the Lilly Lecture, which he has titled “Adipose Tissue: From Lipid Storage Compartment to Endocrine Organ.”

“I am truly humbled to have been chosen by my peers for this award,” said Dr. Scherer of his selection. “At Einstein, there are many outstanding diabetes researchers and two esteemed colleagues, Michael Brownlee and Luciano Rossetti have previously received this honor. To be in their company makes my selection particularly special.”

Dr. Scherer joined the Einstein faculty in 1997. Among his major contributions, he has demonstrated how adipocytes (fat cells) respond to extracellular stimuli and discovered the role they play in the immune system and in regulating energy equilibrium in the body. He also is a sought-after mentor whose passion for teaching and training attracts promising young scientists to his laboratory at Einstein.

Prior to joining the Einstein faculty, Dr. Scherer completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, MA. He earned his bachelor’s degree and his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Basel, in Switzerland.

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Apr 21, 2005 — Yeshiva University alumna Miriam (Shaffren) Hirschman, a 2002 graduate of Stern College for Women, appeared as a contestant on the popular television game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, Friday, April 15 and Monday April 18. The program airs weekdays at 12:30 pm on ABC.

Although Miriam appeared on the show in April, the two connected episodes were taped in November after the busy 24-year-old teacher and mother of two passed a 30 question multiple-choice test last summer, was interviewed by a producer, and received a postcard in the mail informing her that she was in the ‘Millionaire’ contestant pool.

When asked by show staff what she would do if she were to win the titled sum of $1 million, Miriam said she would move her family out of their apartment in Teaneck, NJ, and purchase a home in Israel.

On the episode that aired April 15, Miriam used one of her five “lifelines” (experts pre-selected by contestants to help with difficult questions via telephone) for a geography query, a childhood friend and elementary school classmate. His correct answer left Miriam with $8,000 at the end of the day and she continued playing on the show that aired April 18. Because producers had explained to contestants beforehand that all questions would be random, Miriam was surprised when host Meredith Viera presented her with the following: “European followers of which religion are divided into Ashkenaz and Sephard?” Her reply, “I’m Ashkenaz so I would have to say Jewish,” elicited a smile from Viera.

She decided to “walk,” or stop playing the game and leave with the money she had already won, after being stumped by a difficult chemistry question regarding the periodic table of elements.

In the six months since Millionaire was taped, Miriam could not discuss the outcome until after both shows had aired. Otherwise, she risked losing the $16,000 that she ended up taking home.

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Apr 20, 2005 — In the final event of the Human Rights and Sovereignty lecture series, sponsored by the Marcia Robbins Wilf Scholar-in-Residence Program, two people from different generations met and discussed their efforts to save children during genocides on different continents.

Simone Weil Lipman helped save hundreds of Jewish children living in France during World War II, and Rev. Carl Wilkens saved hundreds living in an orphanage during the genocide in Rwanda. In his introduction, Prof. Bryan Daves, coordinator of the series commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust, called them two people who said “no” to genocide and proved that every individual can make a difference.

During the roundtable discussion moderated by Ann Cooper, a former NPR correspondent and executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, these contemporary heroes told similar stories of courage, compassion, and selflessness.

Rev. Wilkens emerged after hiding in his home for three weeks to find that he was the only American and one of very few Westerners who stayed in Rwanda during the genocide. He also found devastation. He explained that when the fighting began he and his wife decided he would stay to help, perhaps for two or three weeks, and she and their children would leave the country. They had been living in the capital city of Kigali where Rev. Wilkens was director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency. Wilkens stayed 100 days, and took it upon himself to save more than 100 children who were dying of dysentery, overcrowded conditions, and lack of water in an orphanage that had become a refuge during the height of the fighting.

Ms. Weil Lipman told of affiliating herself with OSE, a child care agency that was helping children in the internment camps in France. At first she worked as a social worker in the camps–one of a team that tried to alleviate the conditions for children who suddenly found themselves orphans.

Both Rev. Wilkens and Ms. Weil Lipman spoke of the role that luck played in their acts of heroism. Wilkens spoke of the people who helped him find the resources and assistance he needed, including the extremist Hutu prime minister. “How do you know who to trust? You don’t,” he explained.

When the camps closed and children faced deportation to Auschwitz, Ms. Weil-Lipman began to work with the underground network, finding hiding places and false identities for them. “I was in charge of a region where 350 children were hiding,” she said. Sometimes she had only 24 hours to provide them with new identities, coach them, and take them to a new environment.

“I’m glad that I didn’t understand childhood trauma,” she said, explaining it would have been more difficult to do the job. “I couldn’t assure them of the well being of their families.” Upon moving to the United States after the war, she earned a master’s degree in social work.

These children were placed by non-Jewish agencies in foster homes, convents, private schools, and orphanages. Ms. Weil Lipman, who worked under an assumed identity, said the children were accepted as Catholic and assisting agencies and families never asked whether they were Jewish. She said it was the Catholic archbishop who provided help and access to the cooperating institutions, emphasizing that more French families opened their homes and institutions to foster children than any other nationality during the Holocaust.

Rev. Wilkens said his experience provided him with “no luxury to feel frustration and anger,” although for years afterwards he couldn’t salute the flag because of American policies toward Rwanda.

“There were simple things the US government could have done, but we were limited by the lack of will,” he said.

Ms. Weil Lipman said she continued her work after the war by telling her story to school children.

“It takes only the silence of one person. If you don’t speak out you participate in the evil,” she said. “I’m not an activist or demonstrator. But it’s important to bring awareness to people to see humanity and value in each other.”

When asked by Ms. Cooper what people can do today to stop human rights abuses, Rev. Wilkens said he too traveled and spoke at schools. In his current job as chaplain/pastor at Milo Adventist Academy in Oregon, he teaches his students the value of humans, an important continuation of his work.

Prompted by a question from the audience, Ms. Weil Lipman told of being caught by the French police and how she both narrowly escaped imprisonment and was able to destroy lists of hiding children, documents, and items used by the Underground. “I was caught and I wheedled myself out of it. It was luck and luck and luck,” she said.

Rev. Wilkens spoke of returning to Rwanda and seeing former neighbors and the children, some of whom are still in the orphanage. “We have so much to learn from these survivors.” He suggested that individuals can write letters to government officials, inform themselves, establish relationships to people suffering inhumanities, and “treat the people in Darfur like those closer to home.”

At the close of the discussion, Saul Kagan, member of the Board of Governors of Wurzweiler School of Social Work, a cosponsor of the evening, gave awards to Rev. Wilkens and Ms. Weil Lipman saying, “We are proud of these people and their selflessness, and an inner courage that is almost inconceivable.”

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Apr 18, 2005 — Printing The Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein opened April 12 at the Yeshiva University Museum.

Photos from Exhibit Gallery

This remarkable exhibit spans five centuries of Jewish history and assembles an unparalleled selection of Talmud texts published throughout the world.

In conjunction with the exhibit, a special symposium “The Vital Talmud: The World That Made It and the World It Made” will take place April 11 at YUM at 6:15 pm.

Printing The Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein succeeds in vividly illustrating how technological advances over time have transformed the ancient discipline of Talmud study by a limited circle of scholarly sages into an accessible pursuit now available to all. The exhibit also examines printing history in the context of larger themes of Jewish history and communal life, highlighting international Jewish cooperation and communication, Christian-Jewish relations, censorship and intellectual property.

As the framework for the entire body of Jewish observance, the Talmud (from the Hebrew term for “study” or “learning”), compiled between the 3rd to 5th centuries, has long been at the center of Jewish learning, and it continues at present to play a vital part in Jewish ritual practice and culture. To this day millions around the world — private individuals, community groups, schools and seminaries — actively engage on a daily basis in the continuing study of this central text of Judaism

The exhibition provides the visitor a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view outstanding examples of early Talmud manuscripts, such as an exceptionally rare Spanish 13th-century copy of Avodah Zarah (a tractate that was frequently destroyed by Church censors), and rare examples of early printed volumes, including one of the very few extant complete sets of the famed 16th-century Bomberg Talmud, the publication that established the layout of the Talmud page for future generations. Also on display is a rare copy of the Holocaust Survivors’ Talmud, published in 1948 in Heidelberg, Germany with the help of the U.S. Army.

Exhibited alongside these rare manuscripts is a floor mosaic from the ancient synagogue at Rehov in Israel’s Bet Shean Valley. Dating back to the 6th century, this unique mosaic is the oldest preserved copy of a Rabbinic text, and the only example to survive from the time the Talmud was compiled and redacted. Property of the Israeli Antiquities Authority and permanently on exhibit at the Israel Museum Jerusalem, this is the first appearance of the mosaic outside of Israel.

Linking past and present through conceptual artwork, the exhibition features a video installation capturing the excitement and energy of Talmud study with live footage from five continents, including countries from Iran to Peru and from Moscow to Glasgow. It demonstrates the living, breathing human interactions of argument and counterargument that are still the defining characteristics of the study of the Talmud into the 21st century.

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Apr 15, 2005 — Students of Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) attended a Yom Iyun (day of learning) on Wednesday, April 13. Lectures delivered by esteemed psychology professors and rabbis at Yeshiva University (YU) focused on major depression, a disorder that plagues an estimated 19 million Americans, and its effects on members of the Jewish community. The sessions highlighted the profound impact of mental illness on individuals and their families, and Torah views on treatment options.

“Depression is another issue that the Jewish community must tackle head on, and I am pleased that we were able to offer this introduction to the subject from a Torah perspective,” said Rabbi David Israel, director of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services (MSDCS) – RIETS, an affiliate of Yeshiva University, “Because depression is a widespread problem that plagues all communities, our rabbis must be able to identify it and provide the necessary compassion and understanding to offer guidance and counsel. They also have to be familiar with the communal resources which are available to help their congregants or students.”

Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, Max and Marion Grill Dean of RIETS, welcomed the participants with a keynote address. His talk was followed by a detailed discussion on the effects of depression on community and family life led by Dr. David Pelcovitz, professor of education and psychology at YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration and occupant of the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in Jewish Education. Rabbi Mayer Twersky, Leib Merkin Professor of Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at RIETS spoke on the Torah’s perspective of depression, and Dr. Victor Schwartz, Student Counseling and Mental Health Services director at YU, addressed participants on modern science, the study of depression and treatment options.

Afternoon sessions were presented by Norman Blumenthal, educational director of the Bella and Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon and Semikhah Honors Program; Rabbi Jacob J. Schachter, incoming University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University; and Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Nathan and Vivian Fink Distinguished Professor in Talmud at RIETS, who answered students’ questions regarding laws pertaining to the Passover holiday. His session is available at www.yutorah.org.

For more information on this program and similar initiatives of MSDCS-RIETS, contact 212 960 5266.

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Students of the Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School, winner of the First Annual Sy Syms School of Business Stock Market Trivia Bowl.

Apr 13, 2005 — Those who thought high school kids would be bored by answering questions about the stock market should have seen the students at the first annual Sy Syms School of Business Stock Market Trivia Contest on April 13.

Enthusiam displayed by students and teachers from 12 area Jewish high schools could hardly be contained within the halls of Belfer Hall. One teacher from The Frisch School of Paramus, NJ, said the students there had looked forward to the competition for days. That was clear from the start. During a contest between Frish and MTA, correct answers by each team were met with applause, laughter, and high-fives.

A total of 12 teams from area Jewish high schools competed for three prizes. Each contest pitted two teams of four students against each other. Six different Belfer classrooms were used. Each group of two was asked the same set of about 40 questions relating to Wall Street and the stock market. Each player had a buzzer to press when they had the right answer. The two teams that correctly answered the most questions then faced each other for the championship. The Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School (MAYHS) of South River, NJ, won the overall championship, beating out Rav Teitz Mesitva Academy of Elizabeth, NJ. The Frisch School captured third place. First place team members will share $750. Second place shares $500, and third shares $250. All three teams received a trophy.

The MAYHS team was made up of Nathan Hammer, Ariel Brenman, Jeremy Kaplin, Dimitri Llambiri and Louis Goodman.

For lunch, all 12 teams, their teachers, and a number of Syms students, professors, and administrators gathered in Weissberg Commons. Peter M. Kash, chairman of Two River Group Holdings and author of “Success Through Failure,” addressed the audience of about 200 and told students to not fear failure. For inspiration, he pointed out numerous well-known people who failed before finally succeeding. Among these were Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jordan, JK Rowling, and Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express.

The only all-female team competing in the stock bowl was from YU’s own girls high school. They lost their matchup to an all-boys team who squeaked out their victory by one right answer on the last question of their contest.

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