YU Center for Israel Studies Partners with MET on Middle East Exhibition On May 6, a group of students, alumni and members of the Yeshiva University community huddled around an ancient book. On its pages, in blue, red and yellow, were the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, carefully traced and shaded in by a child’s hand in the timeless tradition of children learning to read and write. The primer, found in the Cairo Genizah, was at least 900 years old. The artifact was one of many the group viewed in a behind-the-scenes tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition, “Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (600-900).” This is the first major exhibition to explore the religious and cultural change in the Middle East as it transitioned from being the wealthy southern provinces of the Roman/Byzantine Empire into the emerging Islamic world. For its presentation of Judaism—its history, art and literature within that context—the MET turned to an expert in Greco-Roman and Late Antiquity cultural Jewish history: Dr. Steven Fine, professor of Jewish History and director of the Center for Israel Studies (CIS) at YU. “Understanding the roles of Jews and Judaism in this time period is integral to understanding this moment of cultural change, and vice versa,” said Fine. “Though Jews were a minority even then, they were [and are] a minority through which one can understand other cultures in interesting ways.” [caption id="attachment_10511" align="alignright" width="386" caption="On May 9 the Center for Israel Studies led University faculty and staff on a private tour of the exhibition."][/caption] Assisted by CIS coordinator and MET intern, Yitzchak Schwartz ’11YC, a student at YU’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Fine has been deeply involved in the exhibition from its conception, writing a major catalog entry, “Jews and Judaism between Byzantium and Islam,” and playing an instrumental role in the choice and interpretation of artifacts that illustrate the Jewish experience at the crossroads of late Roman and Islamic cultures. Over 300 masterpieces of Christian, Islamic and Jewish art are displayed in the exhibition. During one of two special tours for members of the YU community, Fine and Schwartz spoke about their work collecting and studying the artifacts and provided intriguing contextual information about pieces such as the alphabet primer throughout the exhibition. Fine encouraged visitors to get as close as possible to the ancient works. “This exhibition is especially great for Jewish studies because it shows how Jews lived through the ages in a tactile way,” he said. Pointing to a bronze plate with scalloped edges that dates back to the middle of the first millennium, Fine said, “I taught that on a slide last week, but there is nothing better than coming here and studying the objects the ancient Rabbis were talking about and seeing them right in front of you, viscerally. To understand the world of our ancestors, you must understand where they lived and who they lived with.” [caption id="attachment_10514" align="alignleft" width="389" caption="Fine and Schwartz had been involved in the MET exhibition from its conception, writing a major catalog entry and playing an instrumental role in the choice and interpretation of artifacts."][/caption] For Schwartz, the opportunity to collaborate on this exhibition with curator Helen Evans and top academics in a multitude of fields has been one-of-a-kind. It has also given him the credentials to contribute research to other notable exhibitions, such as Fine’s forthcoming Museum of Biblical Art exhibition, “The Samaritans: A Biblical People,” which is rare for a new graduate. “I’ve always been fascinated by Jewish art and history, especially the art of the synagogue, and YU gave me the tools to explore these subjects I am so passionate about in a serious and informed way,” said Schwartz. “Since the beginning of my undergraduate studies at YU, Dr. Fine has been a very proactive and caring mentor and has opened doors for me in academia and museum work that have been transformative to my research and career.” Abby Schoenfeld Zimmerman ’09SC, who attended the tour with her family, was fascinated by the exhibition’s framing of three distinct but overlapping communities. “It’s interesting to view Jewish history in context,” she said. “You don’t usually get to see the relationships and cross-influences of that time and the influence Judaism had on other cultures. It’s incredible to have these experts and scholars at YU who can work together with experts of other fields of knowledge to figure out how we all got to where we are today.” “Byzantium and Islam” is on display at the MET through July 8. For more information about the Center for Israel Studies, visit www.yu.edu/cis. none

Navi Teachers from Across Tri-State Area Convene to Share Ideas, Discuss Technique How do you teach Sefer Yeshayahu [Book of Isaiah]? [caption id="attachment_10480" align="alignleft" width="368" caption="Dr. Shawn Zelig Aster, assistant professor of Bible at YU, presents methods to enhance understanding of Yeshayahu's vision by comparisons to Asyrian culture."][/caption] Fourteen yeshiva high school teachers came together on Yeshiva University’s Wilf Campus in late March to ask each other and themselves that question, under the auspices of YU’s Institute for University-School Partnership. Hailing from a range of schools across the tri-state area, the teachers were united by the subject they all taught (Navi, or The Prophets), their desire to enhance their own approach, and the opportunity to learn from others. “The purpose is to expand teachers’ thinking about what’s possible in the classroom and to help them clarify their own particular focus,” said Dr. Scott Goldberg, director of the YU School Partnership. “Even though their individual schools are so different, it’s productive and important for them to talk about Navi together. They can relate to each other, but the diversity creates a great learning environment.” The group started as an offshoot of YUHSChinuchCommunity.org—one of the YU School Partnership’s seven online Communities of Practice. These online communities allow educators to organize discussions around a plethora of topics, from incorporating technology into a lesson to creating more meaningful Judaic studies classes for younger children, and provide a forum for shared experiences, ideas and questions. The Navi teachers, now meeting in person for the second time, had already been in touch with each other and additional educators for over a year as part of an online sub-group specifically for Navi teachers, where they compared the specifics of their classrooms and curricula, posted lesson plans and suggested helpful links. As the teachers sat together around a conference table, Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz, who serves as Rosh Beit Medrash at Ramaz and the Navi group’s facilitator, framed the conversation: “What are our long term goals for teaching Sefer Yeshayahu? What is the value of sharing this discussion with the broader community of teachers?” [caption id="attachment_10482" align="alignright" width="387" caption="Racheli Weiss of The Frisch School demonstrates the use of technology in the teaching of Yeshayahu."][/caption] According to Schiowitz, the opportunity for high school teachers to come together to discuss technique is rare but critical to continue their development as educators. “At every convening, including this one, teachers are very appreciative at the end and can’t believe how much they gained,” he said. “This is one of the things necessary to take our field to the next level of advancement and professional growth.” Miriam Krupka, who also teaches at Ramaz, agreed. “In Jewish education, your demographic as a teacher is so much more limited,” she said. “This community expands that group, allows you to bounce ideas off each other and hear stories about others who are doing what you’re doing.  In general, convening like this is an energizing experience and a good reminder of how much talent is out there in the field and how great some of these educators are.” At this year’s gathering, teachers presented sample lessons, explaining how they contextualized the sefer and what priorities and ideas they hoped to transfer to students. Their colleagues listened, took notes and asked questions. How could Smart board technology be manipulated to offer a layered experience for students of varying capabilities? What chapter serves best as an introduction to the material? How could the harsh mussar [rebuke] segments of the sefer be made relatable to young students? “Convening like this, both online and in person, provides teachers with emotional support and practical solutions to individual dilemmas, but it also enables them to create new knowledge together,” said Dr. Naava Frank, the YU School Partnership's director of continuing education and professional development. “You have these experienced professionals in a room, talking about how they each approach the material and they’ll start coming up with a whole new way of teaching a particular chapter. We think that connectivity makes for better teachers who will reach more students more of the time.” By the end of the day, the group was already planning to visit each other’s classrooms and post their presentations online for the benefit of other Navi teachers across the country. “It was invigorating to interact with a good cross section of teachers, both veteran and less so, who have good command of the material and are excited about exploring interesting ways and ideas of conveying the richness of the Navi and its message to students,” said Rabbi Nati Helfgot, who teaches at SAR. “I particularly appreciated seeing how some of the younger teachers use the media frameworks at our disposal today to teach a lesson or have students engage in meaningful learning. A number of the motivations and techniques that were used were ones that I am thinking about integrating into my own teaching.” For more information about how YU School Partnership convenes Jewish educators in Communities of Practice, please visit www.yuschoolpartnership.org/cops. none

New Journal from the Beth Din of America and RIETS Sheds Light on Practices of Rabbinical Courts The Beth Din of America (BDA), in collaboration with the Rabbi Norman Lamm Yadin Yadin Kollel of YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), recently published its first journal for spring 2012. The Journal of the Beth Din of America, sponsored by the Michael Scharf Publication Trust of RIETS/Yeshiva University Press, contains articles on Jewish jurisprudence and beth din practice, with a particular emphasis on the policies and practices of the BDA—North America’s most active rabbinical court. Each issue will include actual din torah or decisions rendered by the BDA (appropriately anonymized and approved for publication by the involved parties), exposing readers to the practices of contemporary beth din and the intellectual foundations for its work. The journal will primarily feature articles by dayanim [judges] of the BDA. Topics covered in the inaugural issue range from “The Prenuptial Agreement: Recent Developments” by Rabbi Mordechai Willig, Rabbi Dr. Sol Roth Professor of Talmud and Contemporary Halacha at RIETS and Segan Av Beit Din at BDA, to “Jewish Law, Civil Procedure: A Comparative Study” by Rabbi Yona Reiss, Max and Marion Grill Dean of RIETS and Chaver Beth Din at BDA. “It is our hope that this journal and the study it enables will serve as a vehicle for the clarification and dissemination of the Torah’s laws relating to the beth din process,” said Rabbi Yaacov Feit’02YC, ’06R, ’06A, who along with Rabbi Shlomo Weissmann ’92YUHS, ’96YC, ’03R, serves as co-editor of the journal. Since its inception nearly 50 years ago, BDA has been recognized as one of the nation’s pre-eminent rabbinic courts. It serves the Jewish community of North America as a forum for obtaining Jewish divorces, confirming personal status and adjudicating commercial disputes stemming from divorce, business and community issues. For more information or to download the Journal of the Beth Din of America, visit www.bethdin.org/journal. none

In Rwanda to Teach Others, Ferkauf’s Carl Auerbach Learns Something New Himself Dr. Carl Auerbach, professor of psychology at YU’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, recently returned from Rwanda where he taught courses in the Department of Clinical Psychology at the National University of Rwanda as part of a Fulbright Fellowship. [caption id="attachment_4177" align="alignleft" width="157" caption="Dr. Carl Auerbach spent the fall semester teaching trauma in Rwanda as  a Fulbright Fellow."][/caption] In the fall semester of 2011 I traveled to Rwanda on sabbatical, having been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach and conduct research at the National University of Rwanda. I went from classrooms where the largest class size was 20 to 30 students, most of whom were white and all of whom spoke English, to classrooms of 80 to 100 students, none of whom were white and only about half of whom spoke English. I went from a cozy apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to an African hotel, where the fact that the power failed at least once a day was compensated for by the invariable cheerfulness of the desk clerk who assured me that the power would be back in no time at all, which it usually was. I went from a culture of rushing to a culture of greeting. From a work environment where I would nod to my colleagues in passing as we hurried to our offices, to a work environment where it was rude not to shake hands with someone you know when you encounter them and to inquire about their health and state of mind. In short, my sabbatical in Rwanda was a life-changing experience. In Rwanda, I taught a lot of the same material that I teach at Ferkauf. I taught a course on the psychology of trauma and trauma treatment, and a course on qualitative research methodology. I also taught a course on psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy to the clinical psychology undergraduates. My emotional reactions to Rwanda were complex and contradictory. Rwanda was horrifying and appalling, yet it was also inspiring and amazing. I was horrified when students told me stories of unimaginable trauma, of hiding in the bush and watching their families killed, of somehow surviving after being left to die, of brutal rape and sexual violence. I was inspired when I heard one student say to another, “It is possible that your father killed my father, but that is in the past. Now we are both students at the university and we need to work together if we are to have a future.” The Fulbright experience changed me, both professionally and personally. Professionally, it forced me to rethink our Western theories of trauma and recovery. In the West, an individualistic society, we conceive of trauma as something that happens to individuals and trauma therapy as work with these individuals. In Rwanda, a communal society that experienced the collective trauma of the genocide, our Western theories do not directly apply. [caption id="attachment_10286" align="alignright" width="394" caption="Auerbach with students at the National University of Rwanda."][/caption] I am currently planning research on collective trauma and recovery. I am also rethinking my views on resilience, having witnessed the incredible recovery of the Rwandan people. I intended to study trauma in Rwanda, and there was a lot to be found. But there was an amazing amount of resilience there as well, as is shown in the students’ capacity to move on with their lives. My future research will also be concerned with the psychological and social processes that make such resilience possible. Rwanda also changed me personally. When I first returned from Rwanda I was struck by the incredible wealth of America and how much we take it for granted. The money my wife and I spent on the dinner to celebrate my return would have fed a Rwandan student for a month. Even something as prosaic as Internet access was dictated by one’s wealth. When I first thought about teaching in Rwanda, I planned to put my course material online so that the students could print it out. Upon arrival, I learned that only the relatively rich students own computers and others make do with the computers they can borrow. Moreover, students don’t print out articles; they read them on the computer screen because paper is expensive. My hope is that Yeshiva University will develop more connections with Rwanda, both at the individual and the institutional levels. It would be wonderful to create more student exchanges, in which students from YU travel to Rwanda to meet students at the National University, and vice versa. It would also be desirable to set up official ties between Yeshiva University and the National University of Rwanda. Rwanda enriched my life and it could enrich the life of others as well. Dr. Carl Auerbach is professor of psychology at Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. He can be reached at Carl.Auerbach@einstein.yu.edu. The opinions expressed above are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to Yeshiva University. none

From "Jews and American National Holidays" to the "History of Jews in New York," Stern College Presents Exciting New Lecture Series Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women will host a series of cutting-edge lectures in Jewish studies on the Beren Campus, delivered by leading academics. Dr. Beth Wenger, professor of history and director of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, will deliver the inaugural lecture on May 1 at 7 p.m. in Room 1015, 245 Lexington Ave, New York City. Titled “Civics Lessons: Jews and the American Holidays,” the talk will highlight the opportunities celebrations such as Thanksgiving and Independence Day afforded early American Jews to declare their allegiance to the United States and write themselves into the narratives of American history, thereby making themselves and their culture pivotal actors in the creation of the nation. Wenger is the author of History Lessons: The Creation of American Jewish Heritage (Princeton University Press, 2010), The Jewish Americans: Three Centuries of Jewish Voices in America (Doubleday, 2007) and New York Jews and the Great Depression: Uncertain Promise, (Yale University Press, 1996), among others. The series is sponsored by a generous grant from the Robert and Susan Weiss Family Foundation. In Fall 2012, Dr. Sid Z. Leiman, professor of Jewish history and literature at Brooklyn College, will teach a course on 18th-century Jewish European intellectual history at Stern College. Stern College will also host an evening symposium on the history of the Jews in New York City during the 19th and 20th centuries, led by a group of distinguished scholars who are completing a three-volume work on the subject, as part of the series. More lectures, symposia and course offerings for coming semesters are in the works, according to Dr. Ephraim Kanarfogel, chair of Stern’s Rebecca Ivry Department of Jewish Studies and E. Billi Ivry Chair and Professor of Jewish History. “Professor Wenger and Professor Leiman are distinguished and outstanding scholars in their fields and are both well-known for their stimulating and challenging lectures and analyses,” said Kanarfogel. “We are deeply grateful to the Weiss Family Foundation for funding and supporting these exciting initiatives which will undoubtedly contribute a great deal to the intellectual richness throughout the field of Jewish Studies that our students can experience on campus.” To learn more, email Estee Brick estee.brick@yu.edu. none

Study by Ariel Malka Explores Connection Between Being Religious and Politically Conservative A common refrain in commentary on the primaries has been that Mitt Romney is regarded as insufficiently conservative. [caption id="attachment_10235" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Religious Americans are no more inherently politically conservative than non-religious Americans, according to a new study by YU"][/caption] This is said to account for a difficulty garnering support from the religiously traditional segments of the Republican base. This claim is consistent with a broader theme in American political commentary during the last four decades: religiosity is said to go naturally with political conservatism. And a regular consumer of political news will receive a preponderance of messages implying that these characteristics are organically linked. But to what extent are highly religious Americans actually more politically conservative than are less religious and secular Americans? And if they are more conservative, what are the real reasons for this? My colleagues and I conduct research on this topic, so permit me to share what we and others have found. Religious Americans are, on average, more politically conservative than are less religious Americans, but they are so to an extent that varies substantially across different issue domains. Religiosity -- how important a person considers religion to be in his or her life, as well as an individual's frequency of religious behaviors such as church attendance -- has its strongest correlations with the "moral" issue stances. To a relatively strong extent, highly religious people are more pro-life and opposed to same-sex marriage than are less religious people. But when it comes to other political issues, the links between religiosity and conservative positions are tenuous. For example, consider the long-running political division between Americans who support larger government and greater social welfare spending -- generally characterized as liberals -- and Americans who support smaller government and lower social welfare spending, whom we regard as conservatives. Religiosity possesses a weak to non-existent relation with conservative economic attitudes. The highly religious are either no more likely or ever-so-slightly more likely to hold conservative economic attitudes. Moreover, religious people tend to be no more conservative than the less religious on many other political issues, such as gun control, racial policy, and the death penalty; in fact, they may actually be more liberal on the latter. "God and guns" do not go together naturally in the way that some media commentary suggests. Why, then, does religiosity relate to conservatism at all? One possibility is that there is some type of organic connection between being a religious person and being a conservative person. Perhaps the traits, moral standards and ways of thinking that characterize religious people also naturally lead them to prefer conservative social outcomes and policies. Another possibility, however, is that this relation really has to do with the messages from political and religious discourse, and how some people respond to these messages. Two pieces of evidence support this latter explanation. First, the relationship between religiosity and conservatism varies across people exposed to different religious messages. This tends to be strongest among white evangelical Protestants, the very group whose elites have been the most vocal supporters of a religiously based conservatism. But this connection tends to be weaker among white mainline Protestants as well as white and Latino Catholics. And black Protestants -- whose religious tradition has emphasized rectification of prior injustice -- display a relation between religiosity and many liberal political attitudes. If being religious were naturally associated with political conservatism, then the relation between these characteristics would not vary so much across groups receiving different religious messages. Second, if the religious tend to be conservative because they are responding to political messages, one would expect a reliable relationship between religiosity and conservatism only among Americans who are highly exposed to such messages. Our recent findings suggest that this is in fact the case. When one looks only at the politically engaged Americans -- those who are very politically knowledgeable and interested -- the religious are more conservative than are the less religious on almost all political issues. However, when one looks at the Americans who are not that interested in or knowledgeable about politics, the religious and the less religious tend to hold very similar political attitudes. That is, exposure to messages that point to a bond between religiosity and conservatism seems to be necessary to translate one's religiosity into conservative positions on most issues. Such findings run counter to the narrative depicting a psychologically deep-seated schism between religious conservatives and secular liberals. Rather, they suggest that if Americans were exposed to different political messages, the relation between religion and political attitudes would likely be different. Perhaps there is no enduring feature of human psychological makeup that favors a link between religiosity and political conservatism. Ariel Malka is an assistant professor of psychology at Yeshiva University. He conducts research in political psychology and public opinion. Read the full study here. This article first appeared on FoxNews.com. The opinions expressed above are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to Yeshiva University. Learn more about the role of religion and its impact on the 2012 presidential election from leading political experts at the Dr. Marcia Robbins-Wilf Scholar-in-Residence program on April 30. none

Yeshiva College Writing Faculty Publish Books, Plays Several professors who teach writing courses in Yeshiva College’s English department are also award-winning authors, playwrights and poets whose works have been published on a national scale or soon will be. [caption id="attachment_10151" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="Hugh Sheehy"][/caption] Hugh Sheehy, a second-year faculty member at Yeshiva College, recently won the Flannery O'Connor Prize, a prestigious annual competition that grants aspiring writers the opportunity to have their work published. Sheehy’s “The Invisibles” is a collection of short fictional stories that includes “literary mysteries, thrillers, coming-of-age stories, recognition narratives and other kinds of genre stories intended to be page-turners,” according to Sheehy. The book—Sheehy’s first—will be published by the University of Georgia Press and will be coming out in October 2012. Sheehy’s fiction has already been published in several literary journals, including Crazyhorse, Glimmer Train, The Kenyon Review, The Antioch Review, The Saint Ann’s Review, The New Orleans Review, Southwest Review, Redivider and in the anthology The Best American Mystery Stories 2008. He is now working on a second novel. Barbara Blatner, who has been teaching at Yeshiva College for close to a decade, is an established poet. At the end of March, a book of her poetry called “Living With You” was published. The book is a collection of lyrical, abstract poems centering on her marriage to her husband of over 20 years. In September 2010, her first book of poetry, “The Still Position,” came out, a memoir written in verse about the last five days of her mother’s life. [caption id="attachment_10153" align="alignright" width="175" caption="Barbara Blatner"][/caption] Blatner is also an accomplished playwright. Her short play, “Guernica 2003,” will be performed at the American Globe Theater in Manhattan on April 25. She described it as “a surreal play about Colin Powell making his speech at the United Nations about going to war in Iraq, and Picasso painting Guernica and undermining Powell’s confidence because Guernica is an anti-war masterpiece.” Next winter, another one of Blatner’s plays, “Years of Sky,” is slated to be produced by the Scripts Up company and performed off Broadway at the 59E59 Theater. Blatner wrote a version of the play in the 1990s, when it was performed in Boston, and later did a reading of it several years ago for YU students and faculty. “It’s about a bi-racial couple who witnessed John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 and then they meet again in 1968 after Robert Kennedy’s assassination and once again in Dallas in 1992 to try to figure out what happened in their relationship,” said Blatner. Several of her other works were aired on National Public Radio, performed in workshops and theaters in Boston and New York and published in various acclaimed literary journals and anthologies. Blatner’s talents extend beyond the literary realm. In addition to teaching English composition, poetry and script-writing courses, she is a musician, having worked as a cocktail pianist, performing in lounges and bands early in her career. At YU, she has been involved in several productions of the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society (YCDS)—writing songs, playing piano and acting as the musical director for “1776,” which was performed this past fall and for the 2007 production of “Newsies,” among others YCDS plays. Johanna Lane, who's been teaching full-time at Yeshiva College for the past five years, was recently awarded a contract with Little Brown for international rights to her novel. Though she and her editors have not yet settled on a title for the book, it is a work of literary fiction set in the late 1990s in Ireland—Lane’s native country. “The novel is about a family who has had an ancestral home for hundreds and hundreds of years and can’t afford to take care of it anymore, and so it gets turned into a tourist attraction and the family has to cope with all these tourists coming through their space,” said Lane. The novel—Lane’s first—is based on her thesis project from Columbia University, where she earned a master’s degree in fiction writing. “I’ve always wanted to be a writer and I never actually thought it would happen, so this is a dream,” she said. After the final rounds of editing are complete, her book will be published in fall 2013, in English-speaking countries around the world. She hopes to continue writing, in addition to teaching at Yeshiva College, where she enjoys the “nice, very supportive English department that lets me pursue interesting courses in creative writing,” said Lane. none

Looking Beyond the Upcoming "Bully" Documentary, Dr. Rona Novick Offers Another View of Bullying I haven’t yet seen the much anticipated and publicized soon-to-be-released "Bully" movie. I am certainly pleased with the attention and awareness it has already generated, with movie stars, advocates, educators and politicians weighing in on the R rating it was given for “language.” When I have wondered aloud to friends and colleagues why the movie makers, hoping the film would be shown to schools and other teen or children’s groups, would include material that might be inappropriate, I’ve been told that the harsh language may be central to bullying, and removing it, bleeping it or any other editing would compromise the power of the story. [caption id="attachment_10074" align="alignleft" width="178" caption="Dr. Rona Novick is a clinical child psychologist and noted parenting expert."][/caption] I am very hopeful that a film that is receiving such widespread national attention will make a difference. But the conversations I am having even before seeing it are causing me some worry. I worry about what I often experience in consulting with school and parent groups that I call the “not here” phenomenon. This is the all too common denial, as I describe or discuss bullying, that such things do not happen in “our school” or are not done by “my child.” The "Bully" movie, I would expect, likely portrays powerful examples that clearly exemplify bullying, children using harsh language, physically violent acts, emotional harassment writ large. So much of the devastating bullying I see would not play on the big screen. It is the popular girl who flicks her hair, sucks her teeth and rolls her eyes as a less popular classmate joins her lunch table, all barely noticeable by others but painfully felt by the victim. It is the overweight boy who joins the laughter of his classmates when they use the nickname “blubber” they have given him, making it appear to all that this is typical male middle school bonding. It is the subtle social machinations and undercurrents that tell students who to avoid as a social “cootie” and whose good graces to cultivate. So much of it looks fairly innocent and so much of it is complex and continuous and without understanding the larger social context it is difficult to discern. I once visited a third grade classroom and observed one girl ask another for a pencil. “Did you see that?” the astute teacher asked, “she is such a bully.” I responded that I didn't see any evidence of bullying and the teacher enlightened me. The pencil requester is the richest girl in the class. While holding her fancy, fluffy topped pen, she asked her peer, a rather disorganized student in tattered shirt, who lives in the poorest area of town to borrow a pencil to highlight that she has nothing, and often needs to get her school supplies from class donations. What looked to me as an innocent gesture could now be seen as a cruel, deliberate and hurtful interaction. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a picture, because it is so specific, can make material less relatable and easier to deny. When we see images of ravished far-away lands and starving children, do we realize that within US borders, many children are malnourished and hungry? Do pictures of industrial dumping and waste prompt us to pick up the litter in our environs? I hope that this movie, in documenting evident and painful realities of bullying that translate to the big screen will help parents, educators and students become more aware. I hope it will help all of us see both the obvious and the subtle bullying that is under our noses and not see bullying as a story that happens to someone else, a tragedy “that doesn’t happen here.” After a high-profile bully related suicide, I asked a group of middle schoolers in a faith based school if they thought this could happen in their school. Quickly and in unison they replied, “no, never, not here.” I told them, that’s exactly what the students at the school of this young suicide said until it happened to them. Bullying is in every school and every community.  Maybe not looking like it does in the movies. Maybe different from the over the top portrayals in Hollywood or in child and teen literature. It’s hidden in the social details and small comments and everyday actions that can be brutally cruel and cripplingly painful. It is time we commit our attention, our resources and our efforts to battling bullying. If we continue to say “this doesn’t happen,” if we fail to see it and if we fail to address it, we expose our children to much more danger than an R rated movie. Watch the "Bully" trailer below: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1g9RV9OKhg&feature=youtu.be The author, Dr. Rona Novick, is the director of the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Division of Doctoral Studies at YU's Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration and a senior fellow at YU's Institute for University-School Partnership. A noted clinical child psychologist, parenting expert, author and lecturer, Novick helped develop the BRAVE bully reduction and social emotional leadership development program at YU School Partnership. Read her blog, Life's Tool Box, a guide for parents and educators. one

Stern College Ensemble's April 3 Performance will Include World Premiere of David Glaser's Polaris The Beatrice Diener Ensemble -in-Residence at Stern College for Women, The Momenta Quartet, will perform at the Center for Jewish History on Tuesday, April 3, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. The program will feature guest artists Blair McMillen (piano), Christopher Grymes (clarinet) and Sooyun Kim (flute), as well as the world premiere of David Glaser’s Polaris for clarinet, piano and string quartet. [caption id="attachment_10043" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Beatrice Diener Ensemble-in-Residence will perform at the Center for Jewish History on April 3."][/caption] The concert will also present two classic pieces in chamber transcriptions, Copland’s energetic, rhythmically propulsive Sextet (1937) and Arnold Schoenberg’s septet version of Johann Strauss Jr.’s lyrical Emperor Waltz (1889/1925). “Polaris pays homage to music that has had a strong influence on my artistic development, in particular the modernist trend in 20th Century composition,” said Glaser, assistant professor of music at Stern College. “Aaron Copland has long been a favorite composer of mine for the sonorities in his music and my sextet is scored for the same ensemble as his.” The Ensemble-in-Residence program at YU is part of a continuing series of annual concerts that focuses on the contributions made by Jewish composers to modern and contemporary concert music. The program provides an invaluable experience for students to help them grow as performers and composers by interacting directly with professional artists. The concert is free for all students, faculty and staff of YU and will take place at the Center for Jewish History at 15 West 16th Street, New York City. none

With Faculty Support, Helen Unger Discovers Her Passion for Cancer Research at Stern; Wins Prestigious Award Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, Helen Unger watched her mother battle cancer and initially decided to join the fight by becoming a doctor. [caption id="attachment_10000" align="alignleft" width="387" caption="Helen Unger chose Yeshiva University for its many research opportunities and supportive Torah environment."][/caption] Eager to roll up her sleeves and get to work, she graduated high school early and enrolled in pre-med studies at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program—a plan Unger formed in ninth grade. “I recognized that my situation in public school wasn’t ideal for me,” said Unger. She had recently become religious on her own and struggled to lead an Orthodox lifestyle in a secular world. Unger was anxious to launch her career in cutting-edge science and medicine, but she also longed to expand her understanding of religious Judaism and be part of an environment where its intricacies would be built into daily life. “I knew I wanted to go to a college where being Jewish wasn’t something I just did on the side,” Unger said. When a little bit of research told her that YU had a high graduate and medical school acceptance rate, she knew she’d found the right place. “I knew that Stern would allow me to focus on excelling in Jewish studies and learning as well as the sciences.’ ” As a freshman, Unger found her envisioned career path had evolved. Excited by the amount of research opportunities available to undergraduates on campus, she had started work in the breast cancer research laboratory of Dr. Marina Holz, assistant professor of biology. “In Dr. Holz’s laboratory, we work to identify therapeutic targets against which new cancer treatments can be developed,” said Unger. Holz’s problem-solving approach to cancer research fascinated her. [caption id="attachment_10005" align="alignright" width="387" caption="Unger and Holz, right, are working to identify therapeutic targets against which new cancer treatments can be developed. "][/caption] “I fell in love with research,” Unger said. “I love how it allows scientists to innovate and design new and more effective therapies for disease without the pressure of following clinical protocols. I also like the fact that my work could develop therapies that will help a multitude of patients, not just one at a time.” As a junior majoring in cellular and molecular biology, Unger was encouraged by Holz to apply for the Thomas J. Bardos Science Education Award for Undergraduate Students. She was recently selected as a winner and is the first YU student to be chosen. The two-year award, given to a handful of students across North America, is intended to inspire young science students to enter the field of cancer research. It provides them with unique educational opportunities in the development of their careers in science and a $1,500 stipend to attend the next two American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meetings, where Unger will have the chance to meet and hear from leading researchers and potentially present her research with Holz. “I’m looking forward to the award putting me in touch with people who are higher up in the cancer research realm,” Unger said. “It provides me with good contacts and a lot of exposure to what’s going on in research around the world. I’m also excited to represent YU and Orthodox Jewry at the conferences and to show them what we’re all about.” [caption id="attachment_10007" align="alignleft" width="387" caption="Unger with Anna Sedletcaia, a postdoctoral fellow in Holz's lab, who assists undergraduates with their research projects."][/caption] In addition, Unger recently co-authored an article with Holz and other students which has been published in the January 30, 2012 online edition of Oncogene, a high-impact research journal. “Helen is a very successful student researcher who has contributed a lot to our work,” Holz said. She added that Unger’s award was an indicator not only of her personal achievement, but the caliber of the science students and faculty at Stern in general. “Many of our faculty have active research programs which allow us to involve undergrads in our work,” said Holz. “We have real, relevant, nationally-acclaimed, nationally-funded programs and the latest biological and molecular techniques to employ in our labs. The fact Helen won this prestigious national award is a sign that we’re on the same level as any other major research university.” She added: “Helen is the first to win, but more will follow her.” For Unger, relationships with faculty like Holz were enriching both academically and personally. “Dr. Holz has been a wonderful mentor,” she said. “The professors at Stern are there for you from everything, from your big questions about molecular biology to what kind of shoes you should wear to a conference. It’s like a little family.” Unger also felt the warm, supportive atmosphere at Stern encouraged students to compete with themselves to do their best, rather than forcing rivalries with other students. “Stern is a small school and that means each student in my biology class is a person, not a number,” she said. “We all want to see each other succeed and get into top graduate schools and I think that’s the best environment for learning.” [caption id="attachment_10004" align="alignright" width="387" caption="Unger credits the warm, supportive atmosphere at Stern for bringing out the best in students."][/caption] Holz emphasized Stern’s collaborative approach to science. “When students do research here, they really have a home base,” she said. “They have a lab to come to between classes where they can hang out and get to know professors as they do research together, which allows them to form a personal mentorship with the faculty that leads to more career advancement opportunities and a better-rounded science education.” This summer Unger will participate in the Sloan-Kettering Summer Undergraduate Research Program, an extremely selective program that gives students opportunities for hands-on research experience in cutting-edge biomedical research laboratories. Next, she hopes to pursue a doctorate at a New York City school—and possibly teach as well. “I’d love to educate the next generation of scientists,” said Unger. “Biology is the study of life and there are so many things people don’t understand. I’d love to be a role model that could help students with that process.” none