Helpful Advice for New Students from Dr. Chaim Nissel

With hundreds of new undergraduate students arriving on Yeshiva University’s campuses this week for Orientation, YUNews sat down with Dr. Chaim Nissel, YU’s recently-appointed University Dean of Students, to talk about his new role on campus and how incoming students can get off to the best start as they embark on their academic journey at YU.

Q: What is the role of the Dean of Students?

The dean of students oversees student life that occurs outside of the classroom—everything from the dormitories and student health to support services. I’m also happy to meet with any student to find out about their Yeshiva University experience and discuss ways to improve it. How are you adjusting to YU? How are you adjusting to life in New York? I want to hear how you’re doing.

Q: What’s your advice for new students beginning their college careers?

Make thoughtful decisions about how you spend your time to ensure your life is well balanced. Read the rest of this entry…

Commemorating the Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, YUTorah Offers a Tribute to the Rav

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the Rav, was born in Belarus, Russia in 1903, a scion of an enduring rabbinic dynasty. His grandfather, Rabbi Chaim of Brisk, developed an innovative system of Talmudic study-the acclaimed “Brisker method”-which stressed incisive analysis and precise classification.

This Chol HaMoed Pesach marks the 19th yahrtzeit of the Rav.

Trained by his father, Rabbi Moses Soloveitchik, in this approach, the Rav earned a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Berlin in 1932 and came to the United States the following year. He lived in Boston where he served as the spiritual leader of the community and started the Maimonides Day School in 1937.

In 1941, Rabbi Soloveitchik was appointed rosh yeshiva at YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, succeeding his father, who, as rosh yeshiva since 1929, had transplanted the Brisk legacy on American soil. The Rav enriched this system of learning through a creative fusion of Jewish and Western scholarship. In 1983, through an endowment by Maurice H. Saval, RIETS’ Semikhah Program was renamed the Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Center of Rabbinic Studies. The Rav’s ordination of some 2,000 rabbis over nearly half a century is unmatched and extends his influence beyond the borders of time and place.

Nissan 18, the second day of Chol Hamoed Pesach, marks the 19th yahrtzeit of Rabbi Soloveitchik zt”l. Download the Rav’s writings,  listen to his shiurim and watch a video of his students’ reflections at YUTorah.

Rabbi Benjamin Blech: The Five Most Important Things to Know About Passover

Scholars have long wondered why Jews who number less than one quarter of one percent of the world—as Milton Himmelfarb memorably put it, “The total population of the Jewish people is less than a statistical error in the annual birth rate of the Chinese people” – have had such a profound influence on almost every field of human endeavor.

Rabbi Benjamin Blech, YU professor of Talmud

What accounts for the remarkable fact that in the 20th century, Jews, more than any other minority, have been recipients of the Nobel Prize, with almost one-fifth of all Nobel laureates being Jewish?

Perhaps it all goes back to the very beginning of the birth of our people and the Passover holiday that we will shortly be celebrating.

Passover conveys five major concepts that became our mantras for how to lead successful and productive lives. They are the five most important things to know about Passover, and to incorporate into every day of the rest of the year. Because we’ve absorbed them into our national psyche for the thousands of years since the Exodus, we’ve been privileged to fulfill in great measure our prophetically mandated role to become a light unto the nations.

They are our greatest contributions to the world and can be summarized in five words: memory, optimism, faith, family and responsibility.

The Importance of Memory

The Irish Catholic writer Thomas Cahill was so overwhelmed by how the Jewish people literally transformed the world that he authored what proved to become an international bestseller, The Gifts of the Jews. One of the major gifts he credits to Jewish genius is the invention of the idea of history.

“Remember that you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” “Remember that the Lord took you out of the bondage of slavery.” Remember is a biblical mandate that had never seemed important to anyone else before the Jewish people came on the scene. It was the Passover story that initiated a commitment to memory.

Henry Ford was famous for his belief that “history is bunk.” The Ford motor company is also famous for producing the Edsel. And both were probably equally stupid blunders. History is the only way we can learn from the past. History allows us to grow by standing on the shoulders of giants. Make a mistake once, and you’re human. Never learn from what happened before, and you’re brainless. That’s why it’s so important to heed the famous words of George Santayana that “Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.” Read full article at aish.com…

Rabbi Benjamin Blech is Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and the Rabbi Emeritus of Young Israel of Oceanside. He is the author of 12 highly acclaimed books, including Understanding Judaism: The basics of Deed and Creed, If God is Good, Why is the World So Bad? and the international best-seller, The Sistine Secrets. The opinions expressed above are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to Yeshiva University.

Joshua Gortler Establishes Scholarship in Geriatric Social Work at Wurzweiler

Joshua Gortler ’54YUHS, ’58YC, ’60W had a more arduous journey than most young men enroute to Yeshiva University.

Joshua Gortler

He arrived in the United States with his parents from Germany, where they had spent the previous five years living in three different Displaced Persons camps following World War II. At the start of the Holocaust, when Gortler was three years old, the Nazis occupied his shtetl (village) in Poland. With the assistance and protection of non-Jewish friends, the Gortlers managed to escape Poland and fled to Siberia and then Uzbekistan, where they stayed until the war ended. When they returned to Poland, they found a cold reception, and moved to German DP camps, awaiting resettlement in the U.S.

In 1951, sponsored by the Jewish Family Services of Phoenix, the Gortlers were brought to Arizona.

“At the time, there was little yiddishkeit there,” recalls Gortler, “so my parents decided to send me to New York so I could receive a Jewish education.”

Through the help of a rabbi, a YU graduate, at the local Conservative synagogue (there were no Orthodox synagogues in Phoenix at the time), the Gortlers were told that Yeshiva University High School, then called Talmudical Academy (TA), had agreed to educate and house their son for free. He also received a modest stipend from TA, since his parents had virtually no money.

Gortler, who knew no English when he arrived with his family in Arizona, was sent on a Greyhound bus by his parents. They had only packed a couple of sandwiches for him, not realizing the trip would be four days long. Read full article at Faces at YU…

Graduating Students Secure Impressive Residency Spots in Competitive Fields and Prominent Hospitals

Members of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University’s graduating class celebrated another strong year for residency placements in competitive specialties and prestigious programs at this year’s Match Day. Representing the culmination of their medical school education, Match Day marked the transition of Einstein’s class of 2012 into the post-graduate phase of their training—when they will practice medicine in a clinical setting under the supervision of fully licensed physicians.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXvMVs7r0w0&feature=youtu.be

Match Day is the much-anticipated annual event at medical schools around the country during which fourth-year medical school students learn where and in what specialty they will spend the next three to seven years of residency training. The “match” ultimately determines the course of their medical careers. After a ritual opening ceremony involving the clanging of a brass gong, personalized envelopes were distributed to students at high noon. What followed was a catharsis of emotion as students tore open the envelopes containing the match to their future professional paths.

In an increasingly competitive matching environment—due to the number of residency slots not keeping pace with the growing number of American medical graduates in recent years—Einstein’s 165 graduating medical students displayed a strong showing in completive specialties, including anesthesiology, dermatology, ophthalmology, radiology and orthopedics. Among the highlights were three matches in radiation oncology—a specialty with only 150 spots in the country—and 14 matches in emergency medicine, a field that has proved extremely popular this year. In residencies with a high number of offered spots, such as pediatrics and internal medicine, Einstein students secured positions at top institutions, including Yale, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Cornell and Columbia. Read full article at Einstein News…

RIETS Presents March 22 Reunion Shiurim for Students of Rabbi Aharon Kahn, Rabbi Yaakov Neuberger and Rabbi Michael Rosensweig

Yeshiva University affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) will host reunion shiurim for the talmidim of Rabbi Aharon Kahn, Rabbi Yaakov Neuberger and Rabbi Michael Rosensweig on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jacob and Dreizel Glueck Center for Jewish Study, 185th Street between Audubon and Amsterdam Avenues, New York City. Each rosh yeshiva will speak on Inyanei Pesach [Passover topics] followed by Maariv at 9 p.m.

Rabbi Aharon Kahn, Rabbi Yaakov Neuberger and Rabbi Michael Rosensweig will deliver shiurim for their former students on March 22.

“It is part of our Torah tradition for students to be mekabel penei rabbo—to visit their Rebbeim on holidays,” said Rabbi Yona Reiss, Max and Marion Grill Dean of RIETS. “For us, convening these reunion events where our Yeshiva alumni can re-experience the presence of their rabbinic mentors is a special ‘mini-holiday’ opportunity for Torah learning, inspiration and the rekindling of an everlasting relationship.”

Rabbi Kahn is the Joel Jablonski Professor of Talmud and Codes and is a specialist in rabbinic law. He was ordained at RIETS in 1969 and later earned Semikhah Yadin Yadin, the highest level of rabbinic ordination, as well as a degree from YU’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies in 1977. Rabbi Kahn is currently rabbi of Congregation Bais HaKnesseth in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, NY.

Rabbi Neuburger holds the I. Meier and Henrietta Segals Chair in Talmud. A 1977 graduate of Yeshiva College, he received Yadin Yadin semikhah from RIETS in 1979 and holds a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University. Rabbi Neuburger serves as the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Abraham in Bergenfield, NJ.

Rabbi Rosensweig occupies the Nathan and Perel Schupf Chair in Talmud and received his semikhah from RIETS in 1980 and was a distinguished fellow of its post-semikhah institute, the Gruss Kollel Elyon. He graduated from Yeshiva College in 1980, Wurzweiler School of Social Work in 1986 and earned his PhD in medieval Jewish history from Revel in 1996. Rabbi Rosensweig resides in the Kew Garden Hills section of Flushing, NY.

Light refreshments will be served. To register and to secure free parking, please register online at www.yu.edu/roshyeshivareunion or contact Genene Kaye at 212-960-0137 or gkaye@yu.edu.

From the Land of Purim, Jews with Complex Identities

For many American Persian Jews, self-identification can be complicated. Whether they were born in Iran or they are first-generation Americans, the culture and patriotism of their parents’ homeland can clash with their lives in America. This inner conflict has been exacerbated by the ongoing political tensions between Iran and the United States. Mix in some public musings on the possibility of war with Iran from Israel, and Persian American Jews (or are they Jewish Persian Americans? American Persian Jews?) are effectively being pulled in three directions.

The Persian Jewish community in American remains quite insular, concentrated in a few close-knit enclaves, including one on Long Island. And while the western label Orthodox doesn’t quite apply, Persian Jewish religious practice certainly has more in common with contemporary Orthodox Judaism than it does with any of the liberal streams. Because of all of these factors, Yeshiva University, the Modern Orthodox university with its various schools scattered around the city of New York, has a particularly high concentration of Persian Jews.

“I feel an internal conflict,” admitted Sarit Bassal, a student at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University. Bassal’s family is the paradigm of this cultural potpourri: Her father is from Iran, and her mother from Israel, but she and her siblings were born in New York. The possibility of a war involving two or all three of these homelands has left Bassal feeling a bit lost.

“It’s really sad when we hear that the country our parents grew up in wants to destroy the country I identify with, the Jewish homeland,” explained Bassal.

At the time of the interview, Bassal was holding down a booth in a lobby at Stern advocating for women’s rights in Iran. Another Persian student, Sarah Mansher, sat next to her. Mansher said she feels less conflicted about the situation, although both feel strongly enough about their parents’ homeland to fight on behalf of citizens there whom they’ve never met, Jewish or not. Read full article in New Voices…

The author, Simi Lampert, is a senior at Stern College for Women.

Yeshiva University Personalities to Speak Throughout Toronto Community on Shabbat, March 9-10

The Toronto and Thornhill Jewish communities will host Yeshiva University scholars over Shabbat, March 9-10.

Sponsored by the Jesselson Family Community Grant, the Shabbaton—organized by YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) —will feature renowned Yeshiva personalities including YU President Richard M. Joel; Rabbi Hershel Schachter, RIETS rosh yeshiva; Rabbi Kenneth Brander, David Mitzner Dean of CJF; Rabbi Meir Goldwicht, RIETS rosh yeshiva; Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff, Judaic Studies instructor at Stern College for Women; Dr. Rona Novick, director of the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Doctoral Program at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration and senior fellow at the Institute for University-School Partnership; Rabbi Michael Rosensweig, RIETS rosh yeshiva; and Professor Smadar Rosensweig, Judaic studies orofessor at Stern College; and Rabbi Eli Baruch Shulman, RIETS rosh yeshiva.

“We are excited that the ties between the Toronto community and Yeshiva University have been growing over the last few years,” said President Joel. “We are honored to have the Yeshiva University Torah Mitzion Beit Midrash Zichron Dov in Toronto and hope that the number of students attending Yeshiva University from Toronto will only continue to increase. The Toronto community plays an integral role in the future of Jewish education and we are delighted to be able to spend this Shabbaton sharing the ideas and Torah of YU and learning from such an important community.”

Speakers will spend Shabbat rotating between Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, Or Chaim, Beth Avraham Yosef of Toronto, Congregation B’nai Torah, Aish Thornhill Community Shul & Learning Center, Congregation Ayin L’Tzion, Temmy Latner Forest Hill Jewish Centre, The Village Shul Kehillas Mishkan Noach, and Zichron Yisroel Congregation of Associated Hebrew Schools.

For detailed schedule information about the Shabbaton, please visit www.yu.edu/cjf/shabbaton or contact Stuart Haber at stuart.haber@yu.edu. To learn how you can book a YU speaker in your community, please visit www.yu.edu/speakers.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, left, visited Yeshiva University on Feb. 27

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer visited Yeshiva University’s Wilf Campus in Washington Heights on Monday, February 27. Stringer was greeted by YU President Richard M. Joel, Vice President and Chief of Staff Joshua Joseph, Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel Andrew Lauer, and Vice President for Administrative Services Jeffrey Rosengarten. Borough President Stringer toured the campus, including the Glueck Beit Midrash, above, where he and President Joel briefly spoke with a student.  The YU executives also thanked Borough President Stringer for providing $500,000 in support of the University’s Streetscape pedestrian mall project on 185th Street between Amsterdam and Audubon Avenues in Washington Heights, below. Vice President Jeffrey Rosengarten is at left.

10 Questions for Sam Ulrich: Sam Ulrich is the chief executive officer of the Seforim Sale at Yeshiva University. The three-week extravaganza, which features more than 15,000 titles, is the largest Jewish book sale in North America. Click here for a PDF of the Mishpacha Magazine article. Seforim Sale 2012, Mishpacha