May 30, 2007 — At a ceremony that was at once intimate and momentous, Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, held its first commencement exercises May 29.

Attended by degree recipients, family, friends, faculty, and administration, there was a palpable feeling that the participants were part of a large family celebration. The speakers addressed the pivotal role that Jewish education plays in the intricate fabric that is today’s Jewish community.

In an address to the enthusiastic gathering, YU President Richard M. Joel said, “The task of education is vast and we invest in it because our community will be led by nothing but the best.” President Joel went on to say, “I have many hopes for the world that my children and grandchildren will inhabit, and none of them can be fulfilled by me. They will be fulfilled by you.”

Of the degree recipients, six were awarded Doctor of Education degrees, six were awarded a Specialist’s Certificate in Education and 69 were awarded a Master of Science degree.

Dr. Scott J. Goldberg, director of the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Division of Doctoral Studies at Azrieli, told the gathering that it was only a year ago that they were challenged to increase the numbers of doctoral students. Now, just a year later, those efforts have borne fruit that exceeds expectations not only in numbers, but in the quality of the applicants.

Azrieli Graduate School was established in 1983 in recognition of a major gift by the Montreal architect-builder and communal leader, David J. Azrieli. Since its founding, Azrieli has been a premier international center for the training of Jewish educators. Students come from every part of the United States, as well as Canada, Israel, and Europe Azrieli alumni serve at the helm of schools, educational agencies, universities, and communal institutions all over the world.

Dr. David Schnall, the school’s dean, spoke about the moral commitment and dedication that it takes to pursue a career in education in the face of more lucrative careers in such fields as medicine, law, and finance.

“All of you could have conquered any field of endeavor with ease,” he said, “and you chose another, more important path. Studies have shown overwhelmingly that the key to Jewish identity in the next generation is the Jewish day school.”

Azrieli’s mission is to train a cadre of Torah educators who will relay the rich knowledge and traditions of the Jewish heritage with warmth, joy, and intelligence. Its student body includes teachers and administrators, regardless of institutional or denominational affiliation, who seek to enhance their skills, and competencies while earning an advanced degree in Jewish education.

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May 29, 2007 — Fourteen Yeshiva University (YU) students spent Shavuot in various cities in the United Kingdom, where they ran Torah educational programs and met members of the local Jewish community. The trip was part of the Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future’s (CJF) Counterpoint Program, which enables students to experience Jewish life in different corners of the globe during summer break. This is the first time a Counterpoint Program took place over a Jewish holiday.

The students traveled to Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, and London, helping community members cultivate their understanding of Jewish religious texts and gaining leadership experience through their work with local yeshivot and synagogues. The group saw firsthand the many faces of community involvement—rabbis, synagogue presidents, school principals, and parents.

“Meeting Jews from other countries is an amazing experience,” Yeshiva College sophomore Ilan Tokayer, who spent Shavuot in Scotland, said. “For all our individual and community differences, we’re one people.”

In preparation for their trip, students met for six training sessions, where they worked on developing programs as well as creating and delivering discussions on the Talmud. Rabbi Kenneth Brander, CJF dean, prepared students by sharing with them information about the Jewish communities in the UK.

On May 27, the groups returned to London for five days where they met with local rabbis, students, teachers, and community and lay leaders. In addition, the YU students studied with the community and attended informal gatherings with high school and college students from all over London.

“The focus of the trip is for students to reach out to the community through divrei Torah [words of Torah] and ruach [spirit],” Aliza Abrams, CJF coordinator of Counterpoint UK, said. “At the same time, our students develop an understanding of the active members of the community.”

Aliza Glass, a sophomore at Stern College for Women, spent Shavuot in Leeds, where she had the “privilege of setting an example for people who have not had opportunities” that she and her fellow YU students have had. Said Ms. Glass: “The point is not to change people but understand and learn from them.”

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May 21, 2007 — Jacob Birnbaum, who received an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University at its annual commencement exercises May 17, is the founder and director of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, the Center for Russian and East European Jewry, and several other Soviet Jewry groups. Mr. Birnbaum initiated the grassroots struggle for Soviet Jewry in New York in 1964 and laid the groundwork for a national movement that energized an entire generation of Jewish activists.

In conferring the honorary degree on Mr. Birnbaum, Yeshiva University President Richard M. Joel said: “You and your wife, Freda, were convinced that American Jewry and the force of public opinion could transform the anti-Semitic practices of the Soviet regime, and you taught American Jews how to organize on a scale they had never considered possible. You were fully, utterly devoted to this cause. And where did you start your campaign? Right here at Yeshiva University, knocking on our students’ doors.”

Mr. Birnbaum derives from a distinguished European Jewish family of scholars, artists and poets. His grandfather, Dr. Nathan Birnbaum, was a Jewish Renaissance activist. Long before Theodor Herzl, Dr. Birnbaum was a seminal figure in the building of European Zionism; he coined the term “Zionism” and served as the first Secretary-General of the new Zionist Organization of 1897. Jacob Birnbaum’s father, Solomon A. Birnbaum, an expert in East European Jewry, was a pioneer in two areas of Jewish scholarship: the millennial development of the Hebrew scripts and diaspora Jewish languages. His brother, Professor Eleazar Birnbaum of Toronto is a recognized authority on Middle Eastern languages and cultures. He recently received a Festschrift from Harvard.

Mr. Birnbaum was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1926. His family fled the Nazis in the 1930s and resettled in the UK. He received an honors degree in modern European history from London University. In 1946, he hastened to assist victims of Nazi and Soviet totalitarianism and later was involved with the troubled Jewish communities of North Africa. He also served as the director of the Jewish Community Council of Manchester, UK.

Settling in New York in 1964, he established a core of teacher and student activists at Yeshiva University and went on to create the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry as a national student movement to activate grassroots American Jewry.

During the 1960s he built a significant institutional infrastructure in New York, where he mobilized a critical mass through a series of groundbreaking demonstrations. Having established the primacy of his “Let My People Go” campaign, his approach expanded, becoming known as “Let My People Know” (their heritage) with the aim of protecting Soviet Jewish underground educational groups. He continues his “Let My People Know” advocacy to strengthen the Jewish identity of Soviet Jewry.

A house of Representatives Resolution (HR137) “honoring the life and six decades of public service of Jacob Birnbaum and especially his commitment to free Soviet Jews from religious cultural and communal extinction” has reached the final stages of the House legislative process.

Today, Mr. Birnbaum’s collection of archival material from the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry is housed at Yeshiva University’s Mendel Gottesman Library on the Wilf Campus. The collection includes papers, photographs, and audio-visual materials, including a tape of the original presentation at the Jericho March in 1965 of the song “Am Yisroel Chai,” written by Shlomo Carlebach at Mr. Birnbaum’s request.

To see a gallery of archival photos, click here.

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May 18, 2007 — Distinguished honorees, distinguished guests, and the Class of 2007:

Before all else—congratulations! You finally made it.

[…]

Before you can begin to move on to the next phase of your lives, you must undergo the last grueling hurdle in your career here at Yeshiva University: the Commencement Address.

Let me be honest with you about my experiences with commencement addresses. I’ve been through several of my own and I’ve sat through dozens of others. And I can’t recall a single word or phrase from any of those informed, inspirational, and seemingly interminable addresses.

In preparing for today, I had thought about presenting a scholarly treatise on money and politics — but I thought better of it.

I guess I’m like that noted philosopher, Yogi Berra. I get it eventually. After Yogi had flunked his exam, his teacher came down the aisle, shook him and said, “Don’t you know anything!” Yogi looked up and said, “I don’t even suspect anything.” Yes, this is the same Yogi Berra who, when asked whether he wanted his pizza cut into six or eight slices replied “six–I couldn’t eat eight.”

[…]

This is the second most humbling day of my life. The first was in 1985. I was granted an extraordinary opportunity—a private audience with the Holy Father—the late great John Paul II.

I’ll never forget it. The door opened and there was the Pope, dressed in white. He walked solemnly into the room that at the time seemed as large as Yankee Stadium. I was there to convince His Holiness it was in his interest to appear on the Today show. But my thoughts soon turned away from Bryant Gumbel’s career and NBC’s ratings toward the prospect of salvation. As the Pope approached me, you heard this tough, no-nonsense hard-hitting moderator of Meet the Press begin our conversation by saying, “Bless me Father!” He took my arm and whispered, “You are the one called Timothy.” I said, “Yes, the man from NBC–yes, yes, that’s me.”

“They tell me you are a very important man.”

Somewhat taken aback, I said, “Your Holiness, with all due respect, there are only two of us in this room, and I am certainly a distant second.”

He put his hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye, and said, “Right.”

It’s not often you have a chance to meet and talk with people who share the same background and values.

So let me skip the temptation of lecturing to you.

Instead, let me take just a few minutes to have a conversation with you.
Like each of you, my life changed forever on September 11, 2001 at 8:46am.

The English language does not yet include the words we need to express our sorrow for what happened on that day when most of you were high school seniors. Only in our hearts can we give full and complete expression of our grief and the shocking sense of personal loss and agony of seeing our nation so violated. And yet we learned much about ourselves that day—about the fragility of life, about our deep love for our country, and about our real heroes.

I decided to write a book about my hero: my dad, Big Russ. He was a truck driver and a sanitation man. He worked two jobs for 30 years and he never complained—and that was after he nearly died when his B-24 Liberator went down in WWII. That is the story of his generation. He never graduated high school, but he taught me more by the quiet eloquence of his hard work, by his basic decency, by his intense loyalty. He taught me the true lessons of life.The response to the book was enormous. I received tens of thousands of letters and e-mails from daughters and sons who shared stories and lessons about their own dad. I used those letters to write a second book, Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons.

I am the first person in my family to have the chance to go to college.

I attended John Carroll University, where I received a superb education.

And so, too, with you. You chose a school that was different and you made the choice deliberately.

The education you’ve received at Yeshiva University isn’t meant to be the same as you could have received at a score of colleges—public and private—in New York or across this country.

You’ve been given an education that says it’s not enough to have a skill, not enough to have read all the books or know all the facts. Values really do matter.

It’s only justification for existing is because it has a special mission: training young men and women to help shape and influence the moral tone and fiber of our nation and our world. And that means now you have a special obligation and responsibility. President Joel says your mission is “nobility, excellence, Israel and community.”

Graduating from Yeshiva University has given you incredible advantages over others in your generation.

Yes – I have heard the sometimes dissenting views from Ivy Leaguers.

You think you’ve had it bad. You should try being a Buffalo Bills fan in Washington! I actually took Meet the Press to the Super Bowl a few years back. At the end of the program, I looked into the camera and said, “It’s now in God’s hands. And God is good. And God is just. Please God, one time. Go Bills!”

My colleague, Tom Brokaw, turned to me and said, “You Irish Catholics from South Buffalo are shameless.”

Well, as I moped back from the stadium after the Cowboys slipped by the Bills 52-10, the first person I saw was Brokaw. He yelled across the room, “Hey Russert, I guess God is a Southern Baptist.”

You have something others would give most anything for!

You believe in something—in your God, in your country, in your family, in your school, in yourself, in your values.

Remember the message our parents and grandparents and teachers repeated and repeated—and have tried so hard to instill in us—a belief [that] if you worked hard and played fair, things really would turn out all right.

And you know, after working for Senators and Governors, meeting Popes and interviewing Presidents, I know they are right.

It sure seems funny—the older I get the smarter my mother and father seem to get.

The values you have been taught, the struggles you have survived, and the diploma you are about to receive, have prepared you to compete with anybody, anywhere.

People with backgrounds like yours and mine can and will make a difference.

Like the past, the future leaders of the country and the world will be born not to the blood of kings and queens, but to the blood of immigrants and pioneers.

It is now your turn. You will now have the opportunity to be doctors, nurses, lawyers, bankers, accountants, social workers, rabbis, soldiers, journalists, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, teachers, and more. And in those vital professions, your contributions can be enormous. You can help save lives, provide prosperity, record history, prevent disease, and train young minds. Your family and education and values have prepared you for this challenge as well as anyone in this country.

And always remember it is your grandparents and your parents who defended this country, who built this country, who brought you into this world and [gave you] a chance to live the American dream. Will your generation do as much for your children?

You know you must. Every generation is tested and given the opportunity to be the “greatest generation.”

And so, too, with the Yeshiva University graduates of 2007. You were born and educated to be players in this extraordinary blessing called life.
But please do this world one small favor.

Remember the people struggling along side you and below you. The people who haven’t had the same opportunity, the same blessings, the same Yeshiva University education.

Eight children a day are shot dead in the streets of America. Twenty-five percent of eighth-graders will never graduate high school. We have 35 million adults in our country without a high school education.

If we are serious about continuing as the world’s premiere military, economy and moral force in the world, we have no choice. We will need all of our children contributing and prospering.

We can build more prisons and we will, and put more police on the streets and we should, but unless we instill in our young the most basic social skills and cultural and moral values, we will be a very different society. We must motivate, inspire—yes insist—our children respect one another, yes, “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

We must teach our children they are never, never, entitled, but they are always, always loved.

And we must do everything in our power to make sure schools are meaningful, skills are learnable, jobs are available, and that we protect our environment and make our world—their world—safe and secure.

No matter what profession you chose, you must try, even in the smallest ways to improve the quality of life of the children in our country.

No matter what your political philosophy, see if there isn’t a child you can tutor or mentor or just help—some are sick, some are lonely, some are uneducated. Most have little control over their fate. Give them a hand. Give them a chance. Give them their dignity.

The best commencement speech I ever heard was all of 16 words: “No exercise is better for the human heart than reaching down to lift up another person.”

That is your charge. That is your challenge. That is your opportunity.

That’s what I believe it means to be a member of the Class of 2007 of Yeshiva University. For the good of all of us, please build a future we all can be proud of.

You can do it. But please get busy…you only have 2,300 weeks before you’ll be eligible for Social Security!

Have a wonderful life. Take care of one another. Be careful tonight.

And for the rest of your life, “work hard, laugh often, keep your honor.”

Goodbye, Shalom, and go Maccabees!

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May 18, 2007 — Four students from Stern College for Women presented their research at the Spring National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago.

Sarah Guigui, Nilly Brodt, Rachel Yamnik, and Nina Bursky-Tammam presented their research during the Undergraduate Poster Session, along with students from universities all over the world.

Ms. Brodt and Ms. Yamnik studied the S6K1 protein under the supervision of Stern College for Women professor Dr. Marina Holz. The S6K1 protein is found in higher than usual numbers in people with certain kinds of breast cancer.

The first part of their research investigated whether having higher levels of the protein gives breast cancer cells an advantage when they are placed in adverse conditions.

In the second part of their research, the students generated viruses that specifically target S6K1 and lowered the levels of this protein in the cells.
“We are now in the process of studying how the cells are affected by the decreased amount of protein,” Ms. Brodt explained. “We hypothesize that by knocking down the presence of only this one protein in the cell, we may very well be able to affect the growth of the mammary cancer cell as a whole.”

Sarah Guigui of France researched the thermodynamics of DNA. Her major finding was that instead of hydrogen bonding, it is base stacking that really plays a major role in the stability of DNA.

Under the guidance of Stern College for Women professor Dr. Anatoly Frenkel, Ms. Bursky-Tammam of Great Neck investigated tiny collections of atoms – nanoparticles. She used X-ray analysis to evaluate their possible application as catalysts in fuel cells. Ms. Bursky-Tammam conducted her research at the Nanoparticle Factory, a facility developed by Dr. Frenkel and his students at Stern College for Women, as well as Brookhaven National Laboratory. There, Ms. Bursky-Tammam used a dedicated facility (a synchrotron) which generated powerful beams of X-rays to probe atomic positions inside the nanoparticles and investigate their structure and properties.

“The conference was a unique, wonderful experience,” Ms. Bursky-Tammam said. “I had not anticipated how exciting it would be to have other undergraduate students and even professional scientists approach me during the poster session, expressing interest in my poster and asking me to explain it.

Ms. Guigui, Ms. Brodt, and Ms. Yamnik will be part of the Roth Scholars program this summer, where they will help researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine with their investigations.

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May 18, 2007 — When students from nine day schools and yeshivas in the United States joined thousands of others in Jerusalem on May 16 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its reunification, they may not have been there in person, but they were certainly “seen and heard,” says Nathan Kruman, associate director of the Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools and Yeshiva High Schools (AMODS).

To mark the day, participating schools—in Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Memphis, Miami, and Pittsburgh—connected with each other and with school alumni now in Israel through video conference technology set up by AMODS, sending international messages of goodwill and joining in educational activities.

Calling the event “a global celebration,” Mr. Kruman notes that the nearly 500 who participated in the AMODS initiative were able “to feel part of Klal Yisrael [the people of Israel] and as though they, too, were joining in Jerusalem’s celebrations. For the participating students, the experience was very real.”

Following up on the success of last year’s program, which linked six schools to the Jerusalem celebration, this year’s event—conducted in two separate sessions—allowed US students and alumni from their schools to virtually join hands on this special day, relaying messages in each direction. In addition, through the strategic placement of three cameras around the Western Wall, North American participants got a bird’s-eye view of the Jerusalem festivities and the tunnels underneath the Kotel.

According to Mr. Kruman, whose AMODS program is run under the auspices of YU’s Center for the Jewish Future and who traveled to Jerusalem for the occasion, US youngsters sent school banners to Israel for their alumni to display while celebrating. And if the American children could not dance near the Kotel, they could at least watch as their counterparts in Israel participated in the joyous celebration.

In addition to the exchange of messages, US students took part in an educational interactive Jerusalem quiz, while alumni were treated to a special program on Tuesday night in which Rabbi Binny Freedman, educational director of Isralight, shared stories about Jerusalem from his office overlooking the Kotel.

“We hope our students felt more involved in the celebration in a global sense” through this program, says Mr. Kruman. “They were joining in the celebration of an event that occurred before some of their parents were born and connecting with our history in a meaningful way.”

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May 17, 2007 — Journalist Tim Russert, moderator of the influential Sunday-morning talk show “Meet the Press,” emphasized the generational transmission of values in building American society when he addressed the graduates at Yeshiva University’s 76th Annual Commencement Exercises at Radio City Music Hall on May 17. Mr. Russert received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from YU President Richard M. Joel.

Mr. Russert, Washington bureau chief for NBC News, commended the students on their deliberate choice of a school with a strong foundation in ethics. “You’ve been given an education that says it’s not enough to have a skill, not enough to have read all the books or know all the facts,” the award-winning journalist said. “Values really do matter.”

The students’ spiritual orientation was an asset that would guide them through the rest of their lives. “You have something others would give most anything for! You believe in something—in your God, in your country, in your family, in your school, in yourself and your values,” he said.

“Remember the message our parents and grandparents and teachers tried so hard to instill in us—a belief if you worked hard and played fair, things really would turn out all right. And you know—after working for Senators and Governors, meetings Popes and interviewing Presidents—I know they are right.”

Mr. Russert also spoke movingly about the hard work and sacrifices of his father, the subject of his book Big Russ and Me: Father and Son—Lessons of Life. “He never graduated high school but he taught me more by the quiet eloquence of his hard work, by his basic decency, by his intense loyalty—he taught me the true lessons of life.”

For photos of the event, click here.

To read excerpts of Tim Russert’s speech, click here.

President Joel also conferred honorary degrees on philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, chairman of the boards of the Jewish Life Network and birthright israel; Jacob Birnbaum, founder of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry; and philanthropist Stanley Silverstein, founder and chairman of Nina Footwear.

This year’s Presidential Medallion was awarded to YU coach Stanley Watson, who received a standing ovation from the student body as soon as his name was mentioned by President Joel. Mr. Watson is Yeshiva College’s assistant athletic director and director of intramural athletics, a position he has held since 1986. His uncompromising dedication to the students as a teacher, coach, and counselor has earned him campus-wide respect and affection.

More than 2,000 students—including undergraduates from Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, and Sy Syms School of Business and postgraduates in law, medicine, social work, Jewish education, Jewish studies, and psychology—are being awarded degrees this commencement season, which ends with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law’s commencement on June 8.

This year’s student speakers were Stern College for Women valedictorian Shari Shanin and Yeshiva College valedictorian Avraham Cooper, who both spoke about how YU’s dual emphasis on values and academic excellence had prepared them for the challenges ahead.

“Yeshiva has given us something invaluable—solid roots in both Judaism and the non-Jewish world,” Mr. Cooper said. “We can suffuse our lives with what we learned here, and turn abstract ideas into tangible ways of living. And if we do that, it will be as if we had never left.”

Honorary Degree Recipients:

Stanley Silverstein is the chairman of Nina Footwear, a manufacturer of shoes, handbags, and accessories, and a director of the Children’s Place chain of retail stores. Born in Vilna, Lithuania, his family immigrated to Cuba where Mr. Silverstein was educated and where his father established a shoe company. After coming to the United States and serving in the United States Army, Mr. Silverstein founded Nina Footwear, now one of the few privately owned companies in the shoe business. One of the founders of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business, Mr. Silverstein, along with his wife, Raine, are active in Jewish education and philanthropy.

Michael Steinhardt is known for his philanthropy and also for his passion for art and antiquities. Once a prominent hedge-fund manager, he retired from asset management and in 1994 founded the Jewish Life Network “to strengthen and transform American Jewish life so that it may flourish in a fully integrated, free society,” and birthright israel, a program of the Jewish Life Network, was started by Mr. Steinhardt and others in 1999 to enhance Jewish identity and create a central place for Israel among young Jews in the Diaspora. The program affords every Jew between the ages of 18-26 the opportunity to spend time living and learning in Israel by giving him or her a free round-trip ticket and 10 days of intensive Jewish educational experiences in Israel. Mr. Steinhardt is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Jacob Birnbaum initiated the grassroots struggle for Soviet Jewry in New York City in 1964 and laid the groundwork for a national movement that energized an entire generation of Jewish activists. He is the founder and director of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) and other Soviet Jewry organizations. Mr. Birnbaum derives from a distinguished European Jewish family of scholars, artists and poets. These include his grandfather, Nathan, a Jewish activist and a seminal figure in early Zionism, who is credited with coining the term Zionism, and was elected to the post of Secretary General of the first Zionist Congress in 1897. His father, Solomon, was a pioneer in two areas of Jewish scholarship. Mr. Birnbaum’s family fled the Nazis and settled in England. After World War II, he worked with the victims of Nazism and Soviet totalitarianism and later the troubled Jewries of North Africa. He also served as the director of the Jewish Community Council of Manchester, England. After he settled in New York City, he created a teacher and student core of Soviet Jewry activists at Yeshiva University, and went on to build a significant New York institutional Soviet Jewry infrastructure in the 1960s. This established the primacy of “Let My People Go” and then “Let My People Know (their heritage)”. Today he continues his efforts to strengthen the Jewish identity of Jews from the former Soviet Union. A United States House of Representatives resolution (HRes 137) “honoring the life and six decades of public service of Jacob Birnbaum” is in the final stages of the legislative process.

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May 10, 2007 — More than 300 attendees came from all over the world when Wurzweiler School of Social Work celebrated its 50th anniversary with a three-day conference, “Celebrating a Tradition of Caring: Social Work Practice Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” at the New York Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan May 6-8, proving that the school has made an international impact in the field. With more than 200 presentations ranging from gerontology and ethics symposia to community development and advocacy workshops, social work professionals were treated to a broad range of topics.

To see a gallery of photos from the event, click here.

Wurzweiler 2004 alumna and conference presenter Jessica Rosenberg, PhD, a social work professor at Long Island University, expressed her gratitude to the school: “I am truly indebted to Wurzweiler—the best of any scholastic program—and came to celebrate.”

Fellow presenter and 1999 alumna Selina Higgins, a social worker with the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, came “to see all the great faculty and friends of Wurzweiler, and of course, to hobnob with fellow alumni,” she said.

Sunday’s events began with an address by keynote speaker Fernando Torres-Gil, PhD, director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. He spoke about the new politics of aging and the diversity of younger generations and how these factors will alter the field of social work in the future. Edwin Mendez-Santiago, Commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging, gave a response address that focused on the local challenges facing the graying of the Baby Boom generation.

An Evening Gala Celebration on Sunday night honored US Representative Charles Rangel and four members of the school’s board—Joel Daner, Herb Barbanel, and Elaine Schott and her husband, Rudy.

Monday’s events opened with a plenary moderated by Dr. Michael Reisch, professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work, who outlined the challenges facing the social work workforce. Participating in the panel discussion were Jane Bowling, PhD, director of social work at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Elvira R. Gonzalez, vice president of the Puerto Rican Family Institute; Robert S. Schachter, DSW, executive director of the New York City Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers; and Alan Siskind, PhD, executive vice president and CEO of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.

During a special luncheon later in the day, Dominic Carter, political reporter and anchor for NY1 and host of “Inside City Hall,” gave a powerful speech about growing up with his abusive schizophrenic mother. He described the life-saving role that social workers played during his childhood. “I want you to know that you are all heroes, and that without people like you, I would not be standing up here today,” Mr. Carter said.

After Mr. Carter’s speech, Catherine Papell, DSW, a 1978 graduate of Wurzweiler and professor emerita at Adelphi University, received Wurzweiler’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her more than 65 years of pioneering achievements in group work. “I have been a social worker, heart and soul, for all my many years,” Dr. Papell said on accepting the award.

Wurzweiler’s alumni director, Mark Miller, said the conference was a “huge undertaking. Most of the social work schools do not take on this kind of task, as it is very daunting, but this was a great opportunity for us. We have had a remarkable amount of community support.”

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May 10, 2007 — A group of 85 top international entrepreneurs who attended an industry conference in April heard from sales and marketing gurus, management consultants, the founder of a major Internet company, work-balance coaches—and one rabbi. For the first time ever, a member of the clergy—Rabbi Benjamin Blech, assistant professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University—addressed executives at the annual Gathering of the Titans conference at MIT Endicott House in Dedham, MA.

The Gathering of the Titans is a peer-to-peer learning event organized by the Entrepreneurial Organization. Other speakers this year included sales management expert Jack Daly; founder of Monster.com, Jeffrey C. Taylor; parenting and family experts, Linda and Richard Eyre; and Michael E. Sloopka, an expert in negotiation in business.

Rabbi Blech’s talk, titled “Taking Stock: So You’re a Titan, Now What?,” stood out from the roster of speakers topics for its unprecedented focus on spirituality. He encouraged the executives to clarify the values and vision guiding their businesses and personal lives.

“You need to have a strong sense of your mission—in business and in life,” he said. He reviewed the mission statements of some Fortune 500 companies, showing in each case how their values and their vision helped guide them to success.

“A major difference between the mission statement for a corporation and the one for our own lives is that success for a business is determined by making money; success for ourselves is measured by our understanding of how to spend it wisely,” said Rabbi Blech, whose 11 books include both highly popular and scholarly works including Taking Stock: A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life’s Financial Ups and Downs, three volumes of the best-selling Idiot’s Guide series, and If God is Good, Why is the World So Bad?, translated into three languages.

Rabbi Blech, who has taught at YU since 1966, is a nationally recognized educator, religious leader, author and spokesman on a spectrum of spiritual and Jewish communal concerns. A graduate of YU’s Yeshiva College (1954) and affiliated Rabbi Issac Elchanan Theological Seminary (1956), he is a frequent lecturer in global communities such as Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel. He was handpicked to speak at the conference after his successful presentation at a previous business conference on “Spirituality and Leadership” for 75 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in Dallas last September.

Rabbi Blech is a tenth-generation rabbi born in Zurich, Switzerland. He has served as rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Oceanside in Oceanside, NY, since 1993 and has written f

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May 10, 2007 — Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work celebrated its 50th anniversary at a gala dinner for over 300 people at the New York Sheraton Hotel on Sunday, May 6. The event celebrated the vision of Wurzweiler’s founders, the accomplishments of its graduates, faculty, students, and deans, and the dedication of its leaders and friends. Honorees included Congressman Charles Rangel, a 19-term member of the US House of Representatives from Harlem, and three board members.

YU President Richard M. Joel presented Congressman Rangel with a special humanitarian award for his decades of support for seniors, the underprivileged, and the underserved.

In accepting the award, Congressman Rangel lauded the impact of Wurzweiler on advancing social justice and human dignity. “How do you treat the lesser among us? This is what makes all the difference,” he said. “It’s what you do at the end of the day. Did you give someone the hope to dream, to inspire and make the world better for him and for his children?”

Members of Wurzweiler’s Board—Herbert Barbanel, Joel Daner, and Elaine Schott and her husband, Rudy—received awards for outstanding service and for their commitment to Wurzweiler.

“We are blessed with a wonderful dean, a prolific and caring faculty, terrific students, and a board that cares passionately about the school. We are deeply grateful to them for their vision and dedication,” said President Joel.

Dr. Robert Schwalbe, Board chair, called the honorees examples of the concept of tikkun olam (healing the world).

Joel Daner, a 1962 alumnus of Wurzweiler, was recognized for his 40 years of Jewish communal leadership and his commitment to training social work professionals. “You are the epitome of kindness and Torah leadership,” said President Joel.

Herb Barbanel-“a lay leader who cares with grace and compassion” in President Joel’s words—was honored for his more than 10 years of service on Wurzweiler’s board. Mr Barbanel endowed a scholarship for Wurzweiler students with his wife, Alice, and helped establish the Wurzweiler Board Crisis Fund, which gives students the opportunity to offer their services on site in response to local, national, or international emergencies.

Dr. Sheldon Gelman, the Dorothy and David I. Schachne Dean of Wurzweiler, introduced the dynamic Elaine and Rudy Schott as two people who have made a difference. The Schotts established the Elaine Schott Advocacy and Social Action Initiative at Wurzweiler, which teaches students how to be effective advocates for social policy.

Dr. Morton Teicher, the founding dean of Wurzweiler, was a special guest at the gala celebration. The dinner kicked off a three-day conference, “Celebrating a Tradition of Caring: Social Work Practice, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” at the Sheraton Hotel.

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