Showing Their Appreciation, RIETS Alumni Sponsor Day of Learning

Every year, Rabbi Jonathan Gross and a few fellow graduates of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) get together to catch up, share their experiences as community leaders across the country and exchange ideas about how to best serve their congregations. At their last gathering, however, Gross started thinking.

“That we were able to learn at RIETS for free, with world-class rabbis who I can still call up today—not to mention the network of relationships we built with other rabbis and colleagues while we were there—is truly incredible,” he said. “My degree is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and I don’t owe a penny. I thought, ‘How can I in some way show my gratitude and acknowledge the value of my degree?’”

When he learned about RIETS’ parnas hayom program, which offers the chance to sponsor a day, week or even a month of learning, Gross shared it with the group. He wanted to sponsor a day of learning in recognition of the education he’d received. Everyone wanted to pitch in.

“There’s a lot about RIETS that I’m very appreciative of,” said Rabbi Yonah Gross (no relation). “The education and the background there really prepared me for the challenges I face in my daily work, and we covered a lot of things, like practical halachos (laws), which don’t get covered in many yeshivas.” Like Rabbi Jonathan Gross, he felt the friendships created in RIETS were critical, noting that it created a system of support for rabbis just starting out in communities across America. “Yesterday, a rabbi from South Carolina threw out a question about minyan, and I happened to have a book he didn’t have,” he said. “In some places, your library is the only thing you’ve got. But I could scan a couple pages and send it to him.”

The group of alumni hopes the sponsorship will set a precedent for other students and alumni to follow. “It would be great if it inspired students in Yeshiva right now to see a bunch of rabbis, not much older than they are, so appreciative of the education they received,” said Rabbi Yonah Gross.

Every RIETS student is provided with a full academic scholarship and many receive other benefits, such as living and housing stipends, which are made possible with the financial support of alumni and affiliates of the institution. This investment allows the Yeshiva to continue its tradition of providing tuition-free semikhah [rabbinic ordination] and post-semikhah kollel [advanced learning] study programs to attract quality candidates for rabbinical training.

“The truth is that all of our supporters have a cherished chelek [share] in the constant and vibrant Torah learning that takes place at our Yeshiva,” said Rabbi Yonah Reiss, the Max and Marion Grill Dean of RIETS.  “The notion of dedicating a day of learning has in its origins the famous statement of our Rabbis that the words of Torah should constantly be viewed as new and fresh each day, as if the Torah was given to us on that day (Rashi, Shemot 19:1).  Likewise, the fire of Torah in our batei midrashot [study halls] is rekindled each day through the parnas hayon program and the committed benefactors who help sustain our students one day at a time.”

To sponsor a day of learning, contact Genene Kaye, associate director of institutional advancement at RIETS, at gkaye@yu.edu.

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Yeshiva University President will Spend Weekend of Feb. 18-19 with Miami Beach Community

Yeshiva University (YU) President Richard M. Joel will visit the Miami Beach community over the weekend of February 18-19, Shabbat Parshat Ki Tisa. President Joel will spend Shabbat at Miami Beach’s Beth Israel Congregation and meet with alumni, community leaders and high school students over the weekend.

“The thriving Jewish community of South Florida models many of Yeshiva University’s ideals,” said President Joel. “YU hopes to learn from its vitality and share with it the full gamut of our educational and inspirational resources in an attempt to better weave together the patchwork of Torah U’Madda communities around this country.”

President Joel will deliver a drasha [lecture] during Shabbat morning services entitled “Seeing as G-d Sees” and will lead a question and answer session during seudat shlishit following mincha.

“More than 90 percent of our congregation has some affiliation with Yeshiva University and closely identifies with its mission,” said Rabbi Donald Bixon of Beth Israel Congregation. “We are honored to host Richard Joel.”

On Motzei Shabbat, February 19 at 9 p.m., the president will speak to the community about “Jewish Education: A Values Proposition” at the home of Lisa and Phil Baratz, 5920 Southwest 33rd Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. To RSVP, please contact lbaratz@bellsouth.net.

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Passing of Alumnus Evokes Memories of ’63 Yeshiva University College Bowl Squad

One of Yeshiva College’s greatest student stars passed away last month at the age of 69. In May 1963, Asher Reiss ’63YC was a member of Yeshiva University’s College Bowl team that thrilled millions of television viewers within and outside of America’s Orthodox Jewish community.

Hundreds of young men and women YU students traveled to CBS’s New York studios to cheer on Reiss and teammates Sheldon Fink ’65YC, Lawrence Kaplan ’65YC, Shifra Jungreis ’63S and Paul Gottfried ’63YC. “The College Bowl provided Asher with a chance to show off his talent on national television and was my brother’s grandest hour,” said Rabbi Ben Zion Reiss. Rabbi Reiss described his brother as someone who was “blessed with a brilliant memory” and a penchant for recalling “a remarkable number of facts.”

The General Electric College Bowl was a trivia quiz show that captured the attention of millions when the nationally syndicated television program aired in the late 1950s and ’60s. Given the show’s cultlike following and competitiveness, it was a major accomplishment for YU’s relatively small undergraduate programs to qualify to appear on the show.

Yeshiva easily handled its first opponent, University of Louisville, by a score of 335-140. A week later, they crushed University of Nevada, Reno. Unfortunately for those Yeshiva collegians, they came up short during the next match, losing to eventual champion Temple University by a margin of 280-235.

“The Temple match came down to the wire,” said Jungreis, who served as captain of YU’s team. “We were young but we knew that we had quite a following. Thirty five million people watched that show and we subsequently learned that Orthodox Jews were glued to their television sets and that a few weddings were even interrupted to watch that competition.”

Irving Linn, professor of English at Stern College for Women and coach for Yeshiva’s College Bowl squad, described Jungreis as “brilliant, mercurylike and vivacious; the first one to be chosen.”

“YU’s success in the College Bowl showed the world that Orthodox Jews could compete with the best young minds in secular studies,” said Jungreis. “And that our team was led by a woman was an even greater statement that we could compete with the best of America’s intellectual culture.”

Kaplan agreed with Jungreis’s assessment. “What College Bowl showed was that young Modern Orthodox college students—more specifically Yeshiva College and Stern College students—could be deeply rooted in and committed to traditional Jewish learning and practice and, at the same time, au courant with the sciences, humanities and general culture.”

“What I remember clearly is that it was not just our immediate families and friends and not even just the wider YU family—staff, students and alumni—who were rooting for us,” recalled Kaplan, who is now a professor at McGill University. “The entire Modern Orthodox community were our ‘fans,’ and we felt and, even more important, they felt that we were representing them.”

From a personal standpoint, Jungreis attributes her College Bowl experience to providing her with the credibility and confidence to become a successful school principal of Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel in Brooklyn.

Nicknamed “The Sponge,” by The Commentator, the Yeshiva College student newspaper quoted Linn describing Reiss as “an avid reader with powers of absorption and retention. He has the ability to visualize maps, charts, illustrations, perhaps even whole pages of print,” commented Linn.

Upon returning to campus after the Temple match, The Commentator spoke for the entire student body when it offered its “congratulations to our College Bowl quiz kids for their fine showing on nationwide television. With a boisterous supporting cast, our team displayed a vast knowledge of varied subjects” and “help[ed] to spread Yeshiva’s image.”

Asher Reiss lived most of his life at 72 Wadsworth Terrace in New York City. He had taught for some time at Brooklyn College’s history department and worked as a valued administrator at Washington Heights’ local post office.

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