Sep 13, 2010 — Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), an affiliate of Yeshiva University, will honor dedicated leaders and educators of the Jewish community at its Annual Dinner of Tribute on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at The Grand Hyatt in New York City. Honorees include Guests of Honor Joel and Judy Schreiber and Dr. Joel Wolowelsky, who will be awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Jewish Education. The dinner will also pay tribute to Alvin Blumenfeld z”l through the establishment of a scholarship fund in his name.

Joel Schreiber has served as a member of the RIETS board of trustees since 1996. He is a graduate of Yeshiva College, Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies and RIETS. His wife, Judy, is a graduate of YU’s Brooklyn Girls High School and received a master’s degree from YU’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work. The Schreiber family’s generosity has supported many YU initiatives including the Aaron and Blanche Schreiber Torah Tours Program that provides critical Jewish education and outreach around the world.

Dr. Wolowelsky is dean of the faculty at the Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn, NY, where he teaches math and Jewish philosophy. He is associate editor of Tradition, the journal of Orthodox Jewish thought published by the Rabbinical Council of America and the series MeOtzar HoRav: Selected Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

Mr. Blumenfeld, a distinguished and widely admired trustee of RIETS and a former board member of the Yeshiva University High Schools, was a graduate of YU High School for Boys and Yeshiva College. Together with his wife, Lois, they established the Lois Blumenfeld Personal Endowed Scholarship Fund at YU’s Stern College for Women and the Lois and Avi Blumenfeld Kollel Fellowship in Israel and supported many other YU initiatives.

Founded in 1896, RIETS is the leading center for education and ordination of Orthodox Rabbis in North America. To learn more about the RIETS Annual Dinner of Tribute, make a reservation or to participate in the Scroll of Honor visit www.riets.edu/dinner, call 212-960-0852 or email rietsdinner@yu.edu.

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Career Development Center Program Offers Parents Tools to Help Students Succeed

Upperclassmen who mentor incoming students are supported by a variety of programs on Yeshiva University’s undergraduate campuses, but parents helping other parents? That is something new. On October 17, YU’s Career Development Center hosted, “Parents to Parents: Employment Trends, Job Readiness and Lessons from the Business World,” in which two current YU parents, Dr. Steve Safier and Dr. Elly Lasson, discussed how parents can effectively assist their undergraduate children to enter the working world.

Lasson is the executive director of Joblink, a nonprofit job placement organization serving the Baltimore, Maryland community and is also an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore. His son Yaakov is in Yeshiva College; his daughter Yaelle is currently enrolled in the S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program. Beginning with a “state of the union” on the current job market, Lasson detailed the skills and knowledge that current graduates need to enter today’s challenging environment. Highlighting strategies as simple as preparing short summaries of one’s expertise and experiences and emphasizing one’s preparedness to make adjustments for and to a career, Lasson explained to parents how they can best encourage and assist their children to find and sustain careers. He also opened the floor to a conversation with the parents on appropriate behaviors, dress and interpersonal communications for interviews and the workplace.

Safier spoke more directly to the behavioral aspects of job searching and ongoing career development and listed “Five Things Parents Can Do to Help Their Children Get Jobs.” Safier’s son Yehuda is in Yeshiva College; his daughter Michal is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Formerly a chief operating officer within the SUBWAY Sandwich company, Safier is now CEO at Of Both Worlds, a coaching business he founded to help college students and recent graduates find their first jobs. Noting that one’s behavior directly affects one’s employment opportunities and experiences, Safier said that self-image, personality and bearing are important differentiators of entry-level employees who have similar technical skills. In addition to a student’s education, he said, students must develop, and parents can assist in developing, five critical skills: reading comprehension, writing, presence, responsiveness and the ability to network — both to get interviews and to succeed in their jobs. Safier advised the parents on how to help their children and also asked the parents for some of their own ideas, which they were happy to share.

Marc Goldman, executive director of the Career Development Center, said the event developed because he separately came into contact with both speakers and wanted to think of a creative way to allow them to jointly share their enthusiasm with others. The information they offered was “very useful” said Goldman, who was glad to see “much of what they said was in sync with what we already do here.” The speakers had “a balance between knowledge about both the job market and the specific community that really engaged the audience, who obviously are invested in their children’s successes.”

Reaction to the event from the parents was equally positive. Will Schwartz, parent of a Stern College for Women freshman, said that he “enjoyed the event, which provided practical advice for both parents and students. The tips and advice were helpful, as in today’s tough environment any leg up can be a step in the right direction.”

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