From Interrogation Techniques to Detaining Terrorists, Former Attorney General Offers Legal Insight at Straus Center Event

On the evening of March 5, students, faculty, alumni and guests filled the Schottenstein Cultural Center on Yeshiva University’s Beren Campus to hear a discussion between former United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik on the topic of “Religion and Ethics in an Age of Terror.”

Mukasey and Soloveichik discuss legal responses to terrorism at March 5 Straus Center event.

The third of this year’s Great Conversations on Religion and Democracy series of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, the event followed on the success of the two earlier installments in which saw the Straus Center hosted Senator Joseph Lieberman and Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.

As director of the Straus Center, Soloveichik introduced and conducted the event. He explained how the topic was chosen because of its timeliness to the holiday of Purim, in which the Jewish people commemorate the vanquishing of their foes while living in the Persian Empire. He used this parallel to segue into a discussion regarding Mukasey’s involvement with the legal response to terrorism during his tenure as a judge in New York and later working for the administration of President George W. Bush.

The conversation focused on topics including how to legally deal with the rise of terrorism, the Bush administration’s legacy regarding interrogation techniques and how best to detain individuals who wish to harm the United States.

Soloveichik brought up the 1995 trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the Blind Sheik and the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, presided over by Mukasey. Many of the terrorists involved were caught by the FBI and brought to trial in New York as criminals. Mukasey noted that in retrospect this was not ideal. “The mistake was that we did not see this as a war against the United States but as a crime,” he said. “In reality, this was a military effort that required a military response.”

After the jury found the terrorists guilty, Mukasey sentenced them to life imprisonment as their crime of seditious conspiracy was not eligible for the death penalty.

From there the discussion shifted gears to the Bush administration’s handling of detainees during the War on Terror. Here Mukasey shared his disappointment regarding the public view of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” utilized by the CIA. He said that referring to the intelligence gathering method as such was the “worst form of branding since New Coke.” He would have preferred that it had been called “harsh” or “coercive” interrogation instead.

“What this label suggested was that what was being done was so horrible that it could not be accurately described as harsh, which it was, or coercive, which it was,” he said. “Instead they used a weasel term like enhanced integration techniques. I thought that that was a huge mistake. It suggested that something unspeakably bad and probably illegal was being done, neither of which was true. They should have just said harsh interrogations.”

To help further prevent international terror, Mukasey recommended the setting of special legal parameters to handle the detention of enemy combatants to ensure that the CIA or other government organization can properly interrogate them without worrying about breaking the law.

Upon exiting the Cultural Center, Kimberly Khay, a Stern College for Women student in Soloveichik’s Judaism and American Democracy class said, “Tonight’s event was required for our course but I would have come any way. This offered great insight into important legal and political issues of our day.”

Students Celebrate Purim at Yeshiva University Men’s and Women’s Chagigot

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Download the Latest Edition of Purim To-Go

The Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah Web site, a project of YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF), presents Purim To-Go 5772.

The  online-only publication features articles by Yeshiva University roshei yeshiva and faculty, including:

• Rabbi Yosef Blau, senior mashgiach ruchani [spiritual advisor], on “Remembering Purim During the Messianic Age”
• Rabbi Joshua Flug, director of Torah research at the CJF, “The Relationship Between Mishlo’ach Manot and Matanot La’Evyonim”
• Dr. Shalom Holtz, assistant professor of Bible, “Whose Battle? Whose Victory?”
• Shoshana Schechter, assistant professor of Bible and director of the Basic Jewish Studies, “Purim – Fulfilling Jewish Destiny”
• And many more…

In addition, hundreds of  shiurim [lectures] related to Purim are available at YUTorah.

Straus Center Presents Pre-Purim Conversation with Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey on March 5

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik will discuss “Religion and Ethics in an Age of Terror: A Pre-Purim Conversation” on Monday, March 5, 2012. The event begins at 7 p.m. and will take place in YU’s Schottenstein Cultural Center at 239 East 34th Street in Manhattan. It is free and open to the public.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey will speak at the March 5 Straus Center event.

The discussion is part of YU’s “Great Conversations on Religion and Democracy” series, convened by the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. Mukasey’s presentation will mark the third talk in the “Great Conversations” series. Previous guests included Senator Joseph Lieberman and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth.

“I am honored that such a distinguished jurist and extraordinary public servant has agreed to visit Yeshiva and the Straus Center,” said Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center. “Throughout his career, Judge Mukasey has addressed the most critical national security questions of our age. He is the perfect person to take part in a conversation on religion and democracy, and to help us prepare for Purim, a holiday during which we are called upon to ponder how to deal with enemies who seek destruction. I look forward to an intellectually and religiously invigorating evening.”

Mukasey, who graduated Yale Law School in 1967, served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Criminal Division of the Southern District of New York during the mid-‘70s and then as chief of that office’s official corruption unit from 1975-1976. From 1988 to 2006, he served as a district judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, becoming chief judge in 2000. Mukasey served as the 81st attorney general of the United States from November 2007 to January 2009. He oversaw all activities of the Justice Department and advised on critical issues of domestic and international law.

Since February 2009, Mukasey has been a partner in the New York office of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he is a member of the litigation department and focuses his practice primarily on internal investigations, independent board reviews and corporate governance. The honors he has received include the Federal Bar Council’s Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence and an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Brooklyn Law School. He and his wife are members of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s East Side.

The Straus Center is named in honor of Moshael J. Straus, an investment executive, alumnus and member of YU’s Board of Trustees, and his wife Zahava, a graduate of YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The Center’s mission is to help develop Jewish thinkers and wisdom-seeking Jews by deepening their education in the best of the Jewish tradition, by exposing them to the richness of human knowledge and insight from across the ages, and by confronting them with the great moral, philosophical, and theological questions of our age.

Please RSVP to strauscenter@yu.edu. For more information, please visit www.yu.edu/straus.

Yeshiva University Students Celebrate Purim at Men’s and Women’s Chagigot

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Dr. David Pelcovitz Offers Parents Seven Tips for a Safe and Meaningful Holiday

Dr. David Pelcovitz, The Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Professor of Psychology and Jewish Education at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, offers parents seven tips to prepare their teens for a safe and meaningful holiday.

Dr. David Pelcovitz

1. Don’t wait until Purim rolls around. Find a quiet and receptive time to talk to your child about your expectations and guidelines for ensuring that they have a safe and meaningful holiday.
2. Model good behavior! If you set expectations for your child on Purim, be sure to model responsible behavior in your own Purim drinking.
3. Help your adolescent develop refusal skills. Sometimes teens need the language to help them stay away from risky situations. Before Purim, make sure they know how to say no.  Some examples of such statements that you can rehearse with your child include:  “My dad or mom would kill me if they knew I was around drugs” or a simple “No, thanks. It’s not for me.”
4. Know where your teen will be on Purim night, who they will be with and what he or she will be doing during unsupervised time.
5. Trust but verify. Call the parents whose home is to be used for a party. And don’t be afraid to stop by and say hello on Purim night (and make sure that adult supervision is in place).
6. Make it easy to leave a party where alcohol is easily available. Discuss in advance how your child can signal you or another designated adult who will come get your son or daughter the moment he or she feels uncomfortable. Later, be prepared to talk about what happened.
7. Remember that rules without relationships equal rebellion. In finding the right balance between trust and supervision, a good relationship is the most powerfully protective ingredient.

Check out Dr. Pelcovitz and YU’s Institute for University-School Partnership webinar for parents and educators on how to effectively deal with substance abuse with your children or students. The webinar includes advice on how to identify the symptoms of substance abuse and how to effectively respond.

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Yeshiva University’s A Cappella Group Follow Up Chanukah YouTube Hit with “The Purim Song”

Following its hugely successful Chanukah-themed hit, “Candlelight,” the Maccabeats released its latest single, “The Purim Song,” just in time for the upcoming holiday. The song, set to the tune of Pink’s “Raise Your Glass,” tells the story of Purim, a holiday commemorating a time when the Jews of Persia were miraculously saved from extermination (Learn more about Purim at YU Torah).

“The last video exceeded our wildest expectations,” said Maccabeat Immanuel Shalev of “Candlelight,” which drew more than 4.7 million views on YouTube and garnered national media attention. “We’re touring the country, we’ve been on radio and TV, but the most rewarding thing about this whole experience was being able to tell the Chanukah story to millions of people. Jews who haven’t lit a menorah for years went out and bought Chanukah candles, and non-Jews who may not have known the story were interested in learning more.”

Shalev, who graduated from Yeshiva College in 2008, hopes the Maccabeats latest music video—filmed and edited by fellow YU graduate Uri Westrich—will accomplish something similar with the Purim story, “which is less known, but definitely not less important.”

The Maccabeats, Yeshiva University’s all-male a cappella group, formed in 2007 and released its first album, Voices from the Heights, in March 2010. According to Shalev, YU and its mission of Torah Umadda have strongly influenced the group. “In general, we like to take secular songs that are really well known and use them for a meaningful purpose. We’re doing it now with ‘The Purim Song’ but we’ve done it in the past with ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Candlelight’ and with Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ and our ‘Lecha Dodi.’

“Torah Umadda is about being religious in a modern world,” added Shalev, who is currently enrolled in Fordham Law School. “We like to have fun just like everyone else but we’re also passionate about what we believe in.”

Yeshiva University Presents Annual Jewish Studies Day of Learning on March 6

Join Yeshiva University faculty and administration for a day of learning at the annual Jewish Studies Yom Iyun on March 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m, in Furst Hall, Room 501, 500 West 185th Street, New York City. This year’s Day of Learning will focus on the topic of Purim in Tanach, Talmud and Jewish History. There is a $10 admission fee to the Yom Iyun with online registration or $15 at the door. Admission is free to YU students with valid IDs.  Light refreshments will be served and courtesy parking is available.

Speakers include Rabbi Kenneth Brander, David Mitzner Dean of the Center for the Jewish Future; Dr. Steven Fine, professor of Jewish history and director of YU’s Center for Israel Studies; Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Kanarfogel, E. Billi Ivry Professor of Jewish History; Dr. Jill Katz, professor of anthropology and archeology; and Dr. Lawrence Schiffman, vice provost, Yeshiva University.

To view a full list of speakers and lecture topics, to pre-register or for more information visit YU Torah.

Apr 9, 2008 — On Purim, over 60 Yeshiva University students helped spread the holiday festivities to fellow Jews by participating in the annual Simcha Deliveries program. Dressed in costume, the young men and women visited patients, sang, and delivered mishloach manot, traditional holiday gifts of food, to eight different hospitals and nursing homes around Manhattan and the Bronx.

“Everyone we visited was so appreciative of our efforts,” said Aliza Berkowitz, a junior at Stern College for Women who helped organize the event. “It was a thrill to be able to celebrate the holiday in the true spirit of Purim, by bringing joy to others who needed our help.”

Simcha Deliveries, a project of the student-run Torah Activities Council and the Student Organization of Yeshiva, takes place on Purim and Hanukkah and allows students to share the holiday with the sick and elderly. This year posed a particular challenge as Purim took place on a Friday. The requisite festive meal and preparations for the Sabbath left little time for the deliveries.

The young men and women met on the night of March 19 to pack over 200 gift bags with food and drinks. They then gathered early on March 21 to pray and read the megillah or Book of Esther, before leaving on their fun-filled mission.

For a gallery of photos of Purim celebrations on campus, click here.

Mar 9, 2004 — More than 130 Yeshiva University students in costume fanned out to 10 hospitals and nursing homes in Manhattan and The Bronx and delivered 350 baskets to patients to help them celebrate the festive holiday of Purim on Sunday, March 7. In addition to baked goods, fruit, and the traditional hamantaschen, a three cornered pastry, the baskets contained original poems and crossword puzzles. The students danced, sang, and read the Scroll of Esther at some locations. Pictured are YU students at Mt. Sinai Hospital’s Peck Jewish Chapel with chaplain, Rabbi Aryeh S. Oberstein, a YU alumnus, in the back row.

YC senior, Ariel Bayewitz, and SCW sophomore, Tirza Schlanger, spearheaded this charitable effort with support of the Office of Student Affairs.