Simon Goldberg, President of the Student Holocaust Education Movement at YU, on Maintaining Humanity in Inhumane Times

On a spring day five years ago, I stood inside the Permanent Exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and prayed. I sought fervently to believe that what appeared so heartbreakingly before me was an illusion. That it could not have happened so transparently. I imagined the world from inside a German cattle car, which, only 65 years prior, served to actualize Hitler’s genocidal ambitions by carrying tens of thousands of Jews to the gas chambers.

I promised the six million souls looking down on me that I’d always remember them. But I have since, intermittently, found myself contemplating the ramifications of that commitment. What exactly are the responsibilities of the rememberer? Is he to sing? To safeguard? To study? Perhaps simply to know—to be aware of the horrors that once besieged a European Jewry in the heart of the Europe?

Too often, in the weeks leading up to Yom Hashoah, we forget how to remember. The lessons that emerged from the Holocaust—though all rooted in tremendous gravity—are not all centered around pain and suffering. Anecdotally, as well as in diaries, journals, and survivor testimonies, we bear witness to stories of profound decency in unthinkable conditions. We draw strength from the arresting bravery of some 400 ghetto fighters who mounted a rebellion in Warsaw on the eve of Passover 1943, with just a few automatic weapons. We learn of the poet Paul Celan who translated William Shakespeare’s sonnets while imprisoned in Romania. We turn our gaze to the pervasive stream of paintings, drawings, music and writing that were left behind in the camps. One teenager, Marcel Chétovy, wrote on a wall in Drancy that he and his father were leaving the deportation camp in France “with very good spirits and the hope of returning soon.” They were never heard from again, but we would do well to make them heard—aside from talking about of their tragic fate, to also speak of their lives—of the hope and humanity that their spirits exuded.

In the eyes of scholar John Felstiner, creative resistance is “more human than blowing up a train, because of everything it takes to make a piece of art or a poem. The personhood is what the Nazis were trying to destroy, to try to erase from the globe.” The rememberer, in my mind, exists primarily to champion the victory of personhood. To emulate the daring pronouncement so many victims made—that they were, albeit in bleak and deplorable circumstances, alive and breathing. He exists to assert the legacy of the victims as impenetrable and lasting.

We need to pay tribute to these courageous individuals because, in many ways, they show us how to live and how to remember; that to remember is to live, and that we have a choice now—as they did then—to maintain our humanity in a cry of tolerance against fascism or to remain reticent, apathetic and uninvolved.

In reflecting on the future of memory, Hedi Fried, survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen and founder of the Stockholm Storytelling Project, admits that the younger generation ought to learn her story because she can hardly understand it herself. But she begs us to remember another imperative: namely, that “democracy dies if you don’t work for it.” It crumbles, much as it did across this century of blood and loss—in Cambodia, in Rwanda, in Bosnia and now in Darfur.

We are not helpless, but we are also not as helpful as we could be. At this historic crossroads, we have a unique responsibility to validate the lessons of the past. At this juncture between life and death, between what we can see and what remains to be seen, passive commemoration does not suffice. It cannot. If we are to build a world centered on dignity, tolerance and respect for the Other, we have to make it such. Yom Hashoah, as the name implies, lasts for 24 hours. Yet the realities of the Holocaust are eternal. They require us to be constantly cognizant and vigorously vigilant.

Many today still do not taste the liberties a young Sophie Scholl once dreamed of when she left the word “Freedom” on a scrap of paper before being led to her execution. There are still dictatorships impinging on people’s basic human rights; there are still maligning grips of revisionism—those which seek to distort, deflect, twist and undermine our collective consciousness. There are still violent expressions of racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism—all of which threaten the welfare of our livelihoods. In some ways, none of us are really free—not until we have risen to the challenge that memory has bestowed upon our generation. For the world shakes as I write; it erupts with uncertainty and flings to the fore a barrage of recurrent tensions and chaos.

Our only hope lies in remembering how to remember.

Simon Goldberg is a third-year student at Yeshiva College majoring in history and political science. In 2009 he founded SHEM, the Student Holocaust Education Movement (SHEM) at Yeshiva University. On Monday night, May 2, SHEM will present a Yom Hashoah Ceremony featuring Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis in YU’s Lamport Auditorium at 8:30 p.m. The event will be webcast live at www.yu.edu/yomhashoa.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkvh1Woush4

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YU Establishes Graduate Level Professional Certification Program in Experiential Jewish Education

Yeshiva University’s commitment to Jewish education, its success in sending thousands of students internationally on Service Learning missions and its impact on communal life through its many leadership training programs has laid the foundation for a Certificate Program in Experiential Jewish Education.

The graduate-level program is one of the first of its kind, and in essence is formalizing the profession of informal education in the Jewish world. It is supported by the Jim Joseph Foundation Education Initiative, which has provided a total of $45 million in grants to YU, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Hebrew Union College to increase the number and enhance the quality of Jewish educators working with Jewish youth and young adults.

“Yeshiva University is proud to pioneer this program in Experiential Jewish Education, a field dedicated to shaping Jewish life in frameworks ranging from camps to campuses and from classrooms to communities,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, the David Mitzner dean of YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF). “Our goal is to professionalize the passion of individuals who are committed to Jewish faith, practice, identity and peoplehood and dedicated to utilizing this amalgam in the promotion of the experiential to empower vibrant Jewish life.”

“While preparing the program, we recognized if we are to train and support professionals we need to rethink how we understand the field,” said Shuki Taylor, who is overseeing the development of the program. “We have defined four foundations of Experiential Jewish Education that will be focused upon in the program: Imparting Values, which focuses on content development, spiritual growth, values education; Creating Experiences, which focuses on use of space and environment, innovation and multi sensory education; Cultivating Communities which focuses on the psychology and sociology of learners, staff, boards and donors; and Self Development which focuses on organizational skills, authentic use of self and the balance of personal and professional life.”

The one-year program, which will initially be open to 20 graduate level students consists of four seminars, each lasting about five days during breaks in the academic calendar. Each seminar will focus on one of the four foundations of Experiential Jewish Education. In addition, the seminars offer concentrations in Jewish camping, service learning, youth engagement, emerging adulthood and social innovation. Each seminar will culminate with an exposition called Merkaz Maase, providing participants with access to a world of practical applications relevant to the field of Experiential Jewish Education.

“Over the course of the year, participants will be privy to cutting edge seminars and retreats, ongoing networking and mentorship opportunities, and exposure to world-renown educators,” added Rabbi Brander.

The first seminar will begin in late May of this year, the second in January, and the third and fourth in June of 2012. The will also be a distance learning component, as well as a final project.

The funding from the Jim Joseph Foundation will also be utilized to create the Yeshiva University Innovators Circle, a year-long incubator project for select students of the certificate program who have a vision and venture that address local needs in the realm of education and social activism. Fellows of this circle will create, build, and facilitate their own ventures while receiving ongoing mentoring and support from professionals at YU. In addition to annual stipends and seed funding for their ventures, a full scholarship to the certificate program will be provided.

For more information, contact eje@yu.edu, call 212-960-5400, ext. 6826, or visit www.eJewisheducation.com

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Student-Run Program Assists Local High School Students in College Admissions Process

On Friday, April 8, more than 70 high school students from public high schools in Washington Heights and throughout New York City gathered on Yeshiva University’s uptown Wilf Campus to attend a college preparation day organized by the YU student-run College EDge program. High school students had the opportunity to hear about the different higher education options available and attend workshops on navigating the college admissions process.

Jonah Rubin ’12YC, came up with the idea for College EDge last December while tutoring students at neighboring George Washington High School through the Yeshiva University President’s Circle Literacy Program. “We realized that these students wanted to go to college but had very little knowledge on how to achieve that goal.” When he mentioned these concerns to Mrs. Lolita Wood-Hill, the pre-med advisor at Yeshiva College, she encouraged him to think of a way to “fix the issue.”

With Wood-Hill’s guidance over the next few months, Rubin developed a program that would help underrepresented students understand the college admissions process. What originally started out as an idea to offer admissions seminars ultimately transformed into a more dynamic program called College EDge, which would provide information about college life, as well as strategies for admissions and finance for college-bound students. As Rubin explained, “many of these students plan to attend college but lack crucial knowledge of its organizational structure and demands. We hope for College EDge to take the first step towards rectifying this situation.”

Invitations were sent out to different public schools across the five boroughs to send their students to Yeshiva University for a college planning day. Marsha Milan-Bethel, who works at George Washington High School and knew Rubin from his involvement in the tutoring program, readily accepted the invitation and played an integral role in reaching out to her colleagues at other schools to attend.

On the morning of the event, 18 student volunteers from Stern College for Women and Yeshiva College gathered to welcome the students and give them brief tours of the Yeshiva University campus. Gabriel Cwilich, director of the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program and Barry Eichler, dean of Yeshiva College, also spoke to the high school students. Wood-Hill moderated a panel discussion with representatives from Columbia University, CUNY, Fordham University, Hostos Community College and SUNY about the different options for college education.

Students heard about the different processes for admissions, as well as the variety of opportunities to take advantage of when in college, including sports activities, and student and cultural clubs. Students were then led on campus tours, seeing firsthand how a college laboratory is run, as well as other aspects of college life, such as the gym and library.

After a quick pizza lunch where the students had the chance to talk in a relaxed, informal setting with YU volunteers, seminars were held in SAT prep and financial aid opportunities, as well as a workshop session on writing a personal statement, given by members of the Wilf Campus Writing Center. The program concluded with a college fair comprised of some 25 colleges and trade schools.

Looking towards the future, Rubin hopes to make College EDge more than an annual event. “We are extremely gratified by the turnout of both colleges and high school students in this, our rookie year, and we are moving forward with plans to further improve and expand College EDge. This will hopefully generate even more YU student involvement, attract more schools to attend, develop the organization and ensure its continuity.”

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Yeshiva University Mourns the Passing of Rabbi Dr. Aaron Levine

The University is saddened by the loss of Rabbi Dr. Aaron Levine, Samson and Halina Bitensky Professor of Economics at Yeshiva College, who passed away on April 20. A noted authority on Jewish commercial law, Rabbi Levine’s research specialty was the interface between economics and halakha [Jewish law], especially as it relates to public policy and modern business practices.

Elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Brooklyn College, Rabbi Levine received his MA and PhD from New York University. He was ordained in Jewish ritual and civil law at the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School. Rabbi Levine was widely published on the topic of Judaism and economics.

“Rabbi Dr. Aaron Levine, devoted much of his intellectual career in creating an academic discipline which brings the long tradition of Jewish law and thought  to bear on the field of economics—its theory, business practice and ethical problems,” said Barry Eichler, dean of Yeshiva College and professor of Bible and Cuneiform studies. “Students of Jewish law and ethics have always delighted in the knowledge and wisdom gained from reading his many monographs on this subject. More recently Rabbi Levine’s work has gained the attention of a wider audience of economists and ethicists. Such recognition is reflected in Oxford  University Press’ publication of  Dr. Levine’s The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Economics (2010), which has been acclaimed by such eminent  professors as Robert Aumann (Hebrew University), co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic for 2005, Benjamin Freidman (Harvard University), and Dennis Carlton (University of Chicago).

“When we spoke this fall, he quietly mentioned in his characteristically modest and unassuming way, that the Oxford Press had encouraged him to create an entire series devoted to studies in Economics and Jewish law.  His untimely passing is a tragic loss to us at Yeshiva  College and to the entire academic community at large.”

Rabbi Levine’s books include Free Enterprise and Jewish Law (1980), Economics and Jewish Law (1987), Economic Public Policy and Jewish Law (1993), Case Studies in Jewish Business Ethics (2000) and Moral Issues of the Marketplace in Jewish Law (2005). He served as associate editor of Tradition, was a member of the advisory council for the International Center for Jewish Business Ethics and a fellow at the World Jewish Academy of Science.

“Dr. Levine was a dedicated scholar and teacher, and a fine human being,” said James Kahn, the Henry and Bertha Kressel Professor of Economics at YU. “Right up to the end he continued to teach and to write despite his illness. He was extremely gracious and helpful to me when I came in 2009 and took over the department that he had so capably run for decades. We will miss his presence and strong voice in the economics department.”

Rabbi Levine, longtime rabbi of Young Israel of Avenue J in Brooklyn, NY, was also active in the area of conflict resolution and served as an ad hoc rabbinical judge and arbitrator in the bet din of the Rabbinical Council of America.

“Rabbi Levine was a prodigious Torah scholar, a gentle and humble person, and a quintessential Torah Umadda personality,” said Rabbi Yona Reiss, the Max and Marion Grill Dean of YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). “As an economics professor and a dayan [judge], he masterfully demonstrated how Torah principles relate to contemporary economic issues and provided a framework for ethical behavior in business situations. Rabbi Levine was also an embodiment of the Torah values that he taught and was a deeply beloved figure at Yeshiva.”

We ask students and colleagues to share their condolences in the comments section below.

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