New Students Arrive on Campus for Orientation 2011, Prepare to Embark on Their Collegiate Journeys

Following a weekend that saw Hurricane Irene wreak havoc all along the East Coast, more than 600 new students created a different kind of a stir as they arrived at Yeshiva University to begin their college careers.

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Under blue skies and sunshine, students flocked to the Wilf and Beren Campuses on Monday, August 29, wheeling new sheets and lamps to their dormitories in orange bins, meeting undergraduate and University leaders at casual luncheons, and relaxing at newly-installed picnic tables on 185th Street’s pedestrian-only plaza. They came from a wealth of religious traditions and countries around the globe, already thinking of futures in careers and fields across the academic spectrum. However, the beginnings of new friendships were already in evidence.

Josh Cohen, from Columbus, Ohio, and Jack Sztrigler of Mexico City, Mexico, met each other at a pre-season soccer practice last week and are both excited to be part of Yeshiva’s men’s team this year. “I chose YU because, not only is it a great place academically, but we’re getting a good foundation in Jewish values here,” said Cohen, who intends to pursue an accounting degree at the Syms School of Business.

Sztrigler, who is working toward a degree in political science at Yeshiva College, is already looking forward to the year’s first event: Wednesday’s conversation between Senator Joseph Lieberman, the “Shomer Shabbat Senator,” and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, at the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. “I can’t wait for their discussion,” said Sztrigler. “I came here to study politics and it’s fascinating to have someone like that right on campus.”

That interface of Torah Judaism and intellectual growth encapsulates YU’s mission. Speaking to parents of new students in the Nagel Family Atrium, a lounge in the Mendel Gottesman Library, President Richard M. Joel noted that the building was connected to The Glueck Center for Jewish Study, which houses the university’s biggest beit medrash.

“You recognize that these are critical years for your children to have the finest kind of education, where they will explore the different disciplines of life but understand, that to do so, they first must be bnei Torah,” said President Joel. “You’ve chosen to let them do that in an environment where they get to reaffirm, as they are defining themselves for the first time, that the quality existence is a commitment to Torah and Torah values, through which all of G-d’s other ideas are explored.”

President Joel also highlighted a host of renovations and new features around both campuses, including a new Student Life Center on the fifth floor of Stern College for Women’s 215 Lexington Avenue building, a revamped lounge and new café in the Morgenstern Residence Hall, and the introduction of an International Food Bar that will offer alternating Chinese, Indian, Mexican and Israeli Shabbat cuisine.

“I picked Stern for its Jewish environment and the fact that it’s in such a great location,” said Talya Noveck of New Bruswick, New Jersey, who hopes to pursue a nursing degree. “The most interesting part of Orientation so far has been meeting new people—I love my roommates!”

A new resource, Student Life Answers, will be available this year for students with questions—any questions, from “How do I find the right chavrusa? [study partner]” to “Who can I talk to about work-study?” Questions sent to answers@yu.edu will be answered by designated University personnel, drawing on their knowledge of key administrative offices and access to comprehensive information to provide students with the most accurate and complete responses.

New Faculty Members Appointed at Yeshiva University

New faculty members will be seen throughout Yeshiva University campuses this fall semester.

Dr. Abraham Ravid, an expert in economics and finance, was appointed as a professor at the Syms School of Business. Ravid joins Syms after teaching at other business schools including University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Cornell University’s Johnson’s School of Management, and Yale University’s School of Management, among others. Fluent in four languages, Ravid is the author of more than 40 articles and the recipient of many awards.  He received his PhD from Cornell University’s Graduate School of Business and Public Administration.

“As one who is himself a new member of the faculty, beginning to teach at YU this fall, I hope that all the new faculty are looking with excitement to greet the students and learn from their students and faculty,” said Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman, vice provost for undergraduate education at Yeshiva University and professor of Judaic studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. ”For many years now, YU has been bringing in top faculty members to provide the best possible education. And these faculty members, through their teaching and research, are what make this an excellent university.”

Dr. Harry Ostrer

Dr. Harry Ostrer, a prominent geneticist known for his expertise on the origins of the Jewish people, has been appointed professor of pathology and genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. For the past 21 years, he has served as professor of pediatrics, pathology and medicine and director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University School of Medicine. Ostrer is the author of more than 70 articles, two books on genetics and the recipient of numerous awards. He received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after receiving his MD from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

“Harry Ostrer’s recruitment provides Einstein with a faculty member who truly practices the bench to bedside ideal,” said Edward R. Burns, M.D., executive dean of Einstein. “His expertise in human genetics, experience with patients and reputation as an influential innovator in next generation molecular genetics should combine to put Einstein in the forefront of developing new genetic tests that have direct applicability to patient care.”

Additional new faculty hires at Yeshiva University include:

Stern College for Women

Marcia Young, instructor of music

Ran Shao, assistant professor of economics

David Nachbar, instructor of Bible and Talmud

Abigail Manzella, visiting assistant professor of English

Yeshiva College

James Camara, visiting assistant professor of chemistry

Benjamin Epstein, visiting assistant professor of political science

Ezra Frazer, instructor of Hebrew

Ran Shao, assistant professor of economics

Josefa Steinhauer, assistant professor of biology

Maria Van Ryn, assistant professor of sociology

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Michael Burstein, assistant professor of law

Deborah Pearlstein, assistant professor of law

Jessica Roth, assistant professor of law

Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology

Sarah Kate Bearman, assistant professor of school/clinical child psychology

Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration

Ilana Turetsky, instructor of Jewish education and administration

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Shankar Viswanathan, assistant professor of epidemiology & population health

Samuel Williams, assistant professor of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health

Quintan Ana Wikswo Explores History and Experience in Prophecy of Place at Yeshiva University Museum

In her first monographic exhibition and East Coast debut, internationally acclaimed visual artist and writer, Quintan Ana Wikswo, introduces her dreamlike and haunting large-scale, multi-panel photographs, poetry, video installations and interactive assemblages in Prophecy of Place, on display at Yeshiva University Museum (YU Museum) through January 22, 2012.

"Inquisition Plaza and Jewish Ghetto, Lisbon"

Wikswo uses damaged and salvaged antique military cameras and battlefield typewriters to explore the startling ecological beauty that obscures “traumatized” sites of crimes against humanity, and to uncover the intergenerational legacies surrounding them. These fiercely mysterious images and starkly graceful prose poems create a powerful encounter with violence and beauty revealed through a fractured, unsettling lens.

Created between 2008-2011 in Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Finland and Russia, Prophecy of Place presents kaleidoscopic portraits of the astonishing and often invisible histories hidden at the heart of communities where Jews encountered exile, shelter and trauma.

Traversing 10 centuries, eight countries and five languages, the exhibition is a deeply immersive engagement with the legacy of Jewish survival and the struggle with other cultures through luminous, prismatic, multi-part contemporary photographs of villages, cities, shtetls and camps – sites where Jews have faced devastating attacks or attempts at cultural annihilation.

The works reverberate with contrasting abstractions of man-made, natural and ephemeral elements that reveal medieval cities, ancient forests or fields of wildflowers where thousands of people were persecuted or killed: the fields outside Strasbourg where mobs burned Jews accused of spreading plague; the Inquisition Plaza in the Jewish ghetto of Lisbon; the unmarked site of the Forced-Sex Brothel at Dachau; mass execution sites in the forests of Lithuania; and the disquietingly tranquil facades of Nazi medical facilities in Berlin.

“As historian and artist, I’m intrigued by human and ecological echoes at places fractured by trauma and political violence–sites of communal catastrophe that bear often invisible records of deep traumatic emotion. I look for points of intimacy and tenderness in these places on the earth that seem to utterly deny safety and comfort,” said Wikswo. “In locations with particularly painful histories, a certain resurrection of luminosity and beauty seems to me both absurd and essential.”

Included within Prophecy of Place are more than 35 large-format, multi-panel photographs; 10 video installations integrating poetic text, field recordings, and original music by prominent collaborating composers; and an interactive assemblage of artifacts and talismans. Visitors will have the opportunity to use a typewriter to leave notes, poems and prayers beneath polished black rocks on the table overlaid with a shifting projection of the artist’s poetry.

“Quintan Ana Wikswo is a gifted and original artist who creates stunningly beautiful and moving imagery of places with horrifically ugly provenance and background,” added Dr. Jacob Wisse, director of YU Museum. “The tension within her work reflects back movingly on recent and not-so-recent Jewish history, playing an important role of memorialization while also suggesting the possibility of a more hopeful and humane future. I think visitors to the exhibition will be struck and touched by the beauty and power of Wikswo’s work.”

Dear Incoming Students,

The administration and staff of Yeshiva College, Stern College and Syms School of Business has been working to make sure that, even in the difficult circumstances in which we find ourselves, we will be able to welcome you and to get our academic year off to as smooth a start as possible. It is already clear that many students will arrive late and that we will have to play catch- up in many ways as students move through the various processes and orientation activities.

I want to assure you that with some patience and flexibility on all our parts, everything will work out, even if we have to work together to overcome glitches along the way. Virtually all of our administrative and academic departments will be happy to see you and help you whenever you come. You certainly don’t need to call or email to find out if it’s ok to show up late if you have to. Please just come as soon as you can.

We have a wonderful Orientation planned for you so try to get here and enjoy it. Whenever you arrive, I wish you a great first year at YU.

Sincerely,

Lawrence H. Schiffman
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Yeshiva University

The following protocols were written by Rabbi Kenneth Brander, David Mitzner Dean of the CJF, with guidance from Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Nathan and Vivian Fink Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud at RIETS. Please consult with your own congregational rabbi in specific instances where a hurricane is expected.

1. Minyan

If a hurricane is happening on Shabbat, stay home!
Try to prearrange with your rabbi to have the congregation lain two parshiyot on the next Shabbat.

2. Electricity

If there is no electricity on Shabbat and the storm is over AND if civil authorities declare the area safe…

Minyan should take place only during daylight hours.

If there is electricity, services are held as regularly scheduled.

3. Assume no Eruv

Carrying permitted for life/limb threatening situations.

Carrying permitted for individuals who need medical attention without which a person’s functionality is compromised, (even for a bed-ridden headache). In this case carrying should be done, only if possible, in an irregular fashion (i.e. carrying medicine in ones belt or shoe).

Carrying permitted to allow a baby, infirm seniors or a child traumatized by the event to function without compromise. In this case carrying should be done, if possible, in a irregular fashion (i.e. two people carrying or wheeling the stroller/person.)

4. Use of Candles & Flashlights

Use yahrzeit or hurricane candles lit before Shabbat placed in designated locations.

Hang/place lit flashlights with fresh batteries in key locations before Shabbat.

If flash light/candle goes out:

When necessary (to take care of children, to eat etc.) and there is no other light a non-Jew can relight or change batteries

If not having the light may create a life threatening situation, you may do it yourself

Moving candles and flashlight is permitted in the following situations:

For any medical concerns no matter how slight

Carrying permitted for comfort and welfare of seniors and children under eight (or above eight years old when child is traumatized by the event)

When possible, moving a candle, should be done by two individuals

5. Television or Radio

TV or radio should be left on in a side room

Channel should not be changed

Volume on radio may be adjusted on Shabbat. Better to keep it on low for it preserves the battery and only raise it when necessary.

Please be advised that it is highly recommended to stock up on supplies prior to Shabbat as many items may no longer be available in stores on Motzei Shabbat. For further questions, please consult with your local rabbi.

The Shabbat Protocols in Case of a Hurricane were originally produced by in 2003.

CJF Service Learning Missions Take Students Across the Globe to Educate and Inspire

With a double course load, internships in science, finance and fashion design, and extracurricular activities that range from organizing a medical ethics conference to acting in a dramatics society production, you would probably expect to find Yeshiva University students at home over their summer vacation, seizing a much-needed opportunity to sit back and relax.

34 YU students participated in the sixth annual Counterpoint Israel program.

Instead, 34 YU students participated in the Center for the Jewish Future’s (CJF) sixth annual Counterpoint Israel program, in places like Dimona, Arad and Yemin Orde. From July 12 to August 18, students served as counselor-teachers in summer camps for impoverished Israeli youth, organizing classes that would enhance campers’ English skills and their connection to core Jewish values as well as boost their self esteem. They also created workshops in arts, fashion, music, dance and sports to foster a fun experience and a positive self-image among the children.

The Yemin Orde program, which was run as an overnight camp, had an additional focus: addressing the needs of Israeli teens affected firsthand by the devastation of December’s forest fires in Carmel.

“The teens in this town are tough, proud and remarkably open to learning more and creating new relationships,” said Chesky Kopel, who is double-majoring in history and English literature at Yeshiva College and worked in the Dimona camp. “Part of the intention of the program is to help us better understand the history and challenges of the Negev and what still needs to be done here, in terms of the communities and resources in this region. I feel that my friends and I are gaining so much from these children and hopefully they’re getting something from us as well.”

Israel wasn’t the only country where YU students made an impact. Following the success of last year’s inaugural Counterpoint Program to Brazil, a group of eight YU students returned to Sao Paulo from August 3 through August 18. They conducted two weeks of interactive Jewish identity seminars and workshops, including a memorable Tisha B’av program and a Shabbaton for local high school students. Students also met with local rabbis, lay leaders and members of the Sao Paulo community during their stay.

Eight YU students took part in the second Counterpoint Brazil program.

Adam Berman, a recent graduate and valedictorian of Yeshiva College, found the Shabbaton especially powerful. “By being with our students for a meaningful four-day Shabbaton, we were able to show them that religious university students also know how to have fun in addition to teaching Torah and running educational programs,” said Berman. “By showing them a way to be both religiously committed and part of modern society, we provided these students with a model by which they can also live their lives.”

Back home in the United States, 27 undergraduates participated on a service mission to New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama, which gave students an opportunity to witness and aid in the rebuilding of communities ravaged by natural disasters. Conversations with communal leaders in New Orleans, including Arnie Finkelow, former executive vice president of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, provided students with a framework to think about the tragedies. In Birmingham, they assisted with necessary clean up and repairs to damaged homes.

For Faygel Beren, a senior majoring in biology at Stern College for Women, the mission built a deeper understanding of the critical role teamwork plays in all aspects of life. “We were carrying heavy things all day long and working really hard, but everyone encouraged each other and helped each other out,” said Beren. “What’s really amazing is that none of us could do any of it alone—it had to be a group effort. It reinvigorated me with the idea of achdus [unity], and I felt that as students at YU, we were doing exactly what we were meant to do.”

Students on the YU Kansas City Summer Experience volunteered for disaster relief clean-up after a tornado hit Joplin, MO.

In addition to the Counterpoint programs and service missions, the CJF and YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) hosted an assortment of learning and internship programs in cities across the United States, including Kansas City, Missouri; Denver, Colorado; Los Angeles, California; Teaneck, New Jersey; Chicago, Illinois; Stamford, Connecticut; and Atlanta, Georgia. Ranging in length from two to six weeks, these summer internships and kollels [Torah Study programs] offered students the chance to develop their own Torah learning through rigorous daily study and shiurim [lectures], while enriching their host communities by sharing that knowledge.

Various supporters made these missions possible, including the Zusman Family, Sharon and Avram Blumenthal, the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, Congregation Beth El-Atereth Israel of Newton, Massachusetts, the Jewish Federations of North America, and Repair the World.

Check out pictures from all the CJF Summer Missions here.

EL AL President and CEO to Speak to YU Students about Israel’s Business Landscape

Elyezer Shkedy, president and CEO of EL AL Israel Airlines, will discuss Israel’s business climate with Yeshiva University students on Wednesday, September 14 at 7:00 p.m. in Belfer Hall, Room 1214, 2495 Amsterdam Ave., New York City. The lecture is hosted by TAMID, a student-run organization that connects American business-minded students with the Israeli economic landscape.

Elyezer Shkedy, EL AL President and CEO, will speak to YU students on Sept. 14.

“Israel is one of the world leaders in technology and innovation,” said Michael Strauss, associate director of student advising and administration and clinical professor of management at Syms School of Business. “There are nearly 60 Israeli technology companies listed on the NASDAQ exchange, second only to China, I believe. It is incumbent for our students to connect with Israeli companies and gain a better understanding of their inner workings.”

Shkedy joined EL AL in January 2010 after a distinguished career of nearly 33 years in the Israeli Air Force, earning the rank of major general. He served as commander of the Air Force from 2004-2008 and prior to that, was its Chief of Staff from 2002-2004. Shkedy holds a BSC in mathematics and computer science with honors from Ben-Gurion University and an MA in system management with honors from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

“This event is another example of the unique experience Yeshiva University students receive from world-renowned business professionals,” said Tzvi Solomon, director of TAMID’s YU chapter and a Syms student. “This year we hope to develop a core group of motivated students who are eager to learn about the Israeli economy and serve as an incubator to develop ideas.”

The event is open to the public and will be followed by a question and answer session. Please RSVP to tsolomon@yu.edu as soon as possible as space is limited.

How the Ancient Rabbinic Courts Prevented the Perils of Groupthink

When Alan Greenspan was chairman of the Federal Reserve, he reportedly conducted meetings of the Fed’s Open Market Committee by going around the table and asking the 17 members for their opinions. Only after the others had spoken would Greenspan, a towering figure in American economic policy, render his own judgment.

Dr. Eliezer Schnall, clinical assistant professor of psychology at Yeshiva University

With the U.S. economy currently in shambles, one can easily question the wisdom of the decisions Greenspan presided over during his 19 years at the Fed. But his practice of having junior group members speak before their seniors is an excellent way to avoid the sort of myopia to which elite groups, operating under high pressure, often succumb.

That, at any rate, is the argument advanced in a paper presented this month to the American Psychological Association by Eliezer Schnall, a clinical assistant professor of psychology at Yeshiva University, who finds a precedent for Greenspan’s format in the Sanhedrin—the 70-member rabbinic court of ancient Israel.

The crux of Schnall’s thesis is that this format, practiced by Greenspan in the boardroom and the Sanhedrin in adjudicating capital cases—can offer valuable lessons in countering the psychological phenomenon known as groupthink. In groupthink, a group’s desire for unanimity trumps its interest in dispassionately weighing all potential options.

“The rabbis, through their study of the Torah and their insight into human nature, had some intriguingly insightful methods,” Schnall told JTA in a recent interview.

Among those methods was the Sanhedrin’s requirement that matters of capital crimes be discussed separately in small groups before a final verdict was reached. Schnall also cites several procedures aimed at ensuring that divergent views were given a fair hearing, including the requirement that outside experts be summoned in certain situations, and that a “devil’s advocate” be appointed to argue on behalf of the accused if the accused declined to do so. Read the full article at the JTA…

Read more about “Irving Janis’ Groupthink and the Sanhedrin of Ancient Israel”—which was presented by Dr. Schnall and his student, Michael Greenberg, at the American Psychological Association’s Annual Convention on August 7—at The New York Times…

Yeshiva University Students Travel to Sao Paulo as Part of the Center for the Jewish Future’s Counterpoint Brazil Program

A group of eight Yeshiva University students traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil from Aug. 3 through Aug. 18 as part of YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) Counterpoint Brazil program—a service-learning initiative aimed at empowering the next generation of Jewish youth.

“Counterpoint empowers teens to discover their heritage, own their identity and kindle their passion for Judaism,” explained Aliza Abrams, assistant director of CJF’s department of service learning and experiential education. “The result is a joyous mixture of lasting friendships and Jewish pride.”

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Following the success of last year’s inaugural mission to Brazil over the Sukkot holdiay, the local Jewish community and Colegio Iavne—a Jewish day school in Sao Paulo—asked YU to return. Over the course of two weeks the Counterpoint team conducted several interactive Jewish identity seminars, workshops and a Shabbaton for local high school students, as well as a memorable Tisha B’ Av program. The group also met with local rabbis, lay leaders and members of the community.

“It is very important to show our students that it is possible to study in the university and in the Yeshiva at the same time,” said Carmia Kotler, Hebrew coordinator at Colegio Iavne. “This kind of experience can increase the possibility of our students returning to the community after university and adding a lot to Jewish community life.”

The Counterpoint program has existed for more than 35 years, affecting the lives of tens of thousands of Jewish teens worldwide in countries such as Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and Israel. Undergraduates with experience in informal education serve as guides who create and run all the programming.

Led by Abrams, the Counterpoint Brazil team included YU students Adam Berman, Ezra Blaustein, Benjamin Blumenthal, Adina Borg-Blaustein, Nora Ellison, Rebekah Friedman, Zach Mammon and Elianna Pollak.

“The CJF runs programs in which a student has the opportunity to truly experience the methodology of experiential learning and see the results firsthand,” said Ellison, of San Diego, CA.

“My experience has been very positive and I am now considering a career in teaching,” said Pollak, a native of New York City who took part in a CJF program to Germany last year. “Informal education had not been my area of focus but I wanted to take this chance to experience a different and dynamic approach to education. After participating, my desire to go into the education world has only been strengthened.”

To learn more about the CJF and its upcoming programs visit www.yu.edu/cjf.

Stern Student Avital Chizhik Speaks with Literary Icon Amos Oz During YU Counterpoint Mission

I’ve always been intrigued by the conflict of setting – where we find ourselves versus where we feel we truly belong. Perhaps it’s because I grew up at a crossroads: the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants in New Jersey, in a family of passionate Zionists who had somehow gotten off the boat at the wrong stop.

As a child and teenager, I struggled with the understanding that I belonged everywhere and nowhere. At home I heard nostalgic songs about the blossoming chestnut trees of Kiev; on the street I played in the shade of American oak trees; and in my yeshiva day schools, I was taught to dream of the cedars of Jerusalem. Three languages, three sets of literature, three codes of etiquette and humor. While my parents had supposedly left the icy depths of galuth life behind, I wondered whether I was even more of a rootless Diaspora Jew than my predecessors had been.

It was probably this inner turmoil – the tug of Diaspora and Promised Land, the ghosts of Jewish history and the hint of a different future – that drew me to the books of Amos Oz.

Born in Jerusalem a decade before the birth of the State of Israel, Oz is decidedly modern, emphatically Israeli. His narratives take place in the streets of Jerusalem, in the hills of the desert, in the fields of the kibbutz. Oz became a symbol of the new and redeemed Jew: blonde-haired, blue-eyed, penning poetry after a long day in the kibbutz field.

Yet, however “Israeli” his writing may be, his crisp Hebrew prose is inescapably haunted by the lyricism of another language and culture: that of the forests of Russia and of the European cities of his parents’ past. Oz had grown up in a home in which Europe “was a forbidden promised land.” In his memoir, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” Oz describes his parents as yearning for a “landscape of belfries and squares paved with ancient flagstones, of trams and bridges and church spires, remote villages, spa towns, forests and snow-covered meadows.”

I was fascinated by the duality of nostalgia and belonging in Oz’s writing, both in his memoir as well as in his other novels, to the point where I realized I simply had to write my undergraduate thesis on this subject. Working under the direction of Dr. Linda Shires, who heads Stern College’s English department, I began sketching the outline for a research project on the immigrant narrative of early Israel and mapped out a work schedule.

Thank goodness, my research and summer plans melded perfectly. I was offered a position as a counselor for Counterpoint Israel – Yeshiva University’s annual summer service learning initiative that sends delegations of students from the university to the Negev to run summer camps for (and teach English to ) teenagers from low socioeconomic backgrounds – and by coincidence (or not), I found myself in the group headed for Arad, hometown of Amos Oz himself.

Perhaps, I thought hopefully, I’ll see him. Bump into him in the corner grocery as he’s picking up a carton of milk. Or I’ll wake up at dawn and walk casually by his house, where he’ll no doubt be sitting writing alongside a cup of tea.

I set off for Israel this past June, a few weeks early, so as to embark on my own personal study of Oz and his works. By the time my friends arrived, I had already read his books in both Hebrew and English, studied the analytic papers written on the myriad themes and images and allusions that appear in them, and even met with professors of modern Hebrew literature.

And while I continued to toy with the idea of speaking to the writer himself, to get authoritative answers to some of my questions, I was sure the world-renowned author wouldn’t have time for an overeager undergraduate student. I mentioned the idea to Gila Rockman, Counterpoint Israel’s director, hoping she would say just the right thing to finally dissuade me of the notion. To my surprise and delight, she agreed to take on the challenge immediately. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the hot Negev afternoon in which my camp supervisor approached me, cellphone in hand, saying, “Avital, Amos Oz is waiting for your call.”

An hour later, I was on the phone with the prolific writer, cultural ambassador of Israel and my own literary role model. The interview that then followed, and the experience of speaking to the writer whose writing I’ve emulated for years, was everything I could have hoped for, and then some.

“I think many Israeli writers are either immigrants or children of immigrants,” he explained. “And they still share this ambivalence, this love-hate relationship with the Old Country.”

We discussed history, religion, personal stories, literature, immigration and all of its painful implications. I asked him all the questions that had arisen as I read his books, the paradoxes I had wondered about, the subjects I could not find in any previously published interview with him. Mr. Oz answered each question patiently, eloquently.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t meet with you personally,” he added at the end, explaining that he was unwell at the moment. “Please give me a ring next time you are in the country. I’d love to have you for a cup of coffee.”

I happily agreed and quickly began calculating when I could make my next trip to Israel.

“Avital, I hope you make aliyah some day,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “And soon, you, too, will develop this love-hate relationship.”

This article first appeared in Haaretz.com

Avital Chizhik is an undergraduate student in Stern College for Women’s S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program and president of the Yeshiva University Israel Club.