Dec 13, 2005 — The Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) at Yeshiva University (YU), in partnership with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), located a Torah for a flood-ravaged synagogue in Panvel, India, just in time for Rosh Hashanah in October.

The Beth-El Synagogue in Panvel, India was flooded with eight feet of water after severe storms hit the Maharashtra State in Western India this summer, damaging the synagogue’s Torah scrolls and prayer books. The synagogue contacted the JDC, which called YU for help in obtaining a Torah scroll for the congregation.

“Part of our goal at the CJF is to strengthen and reinvigorate Jewish communities on the local, regional, and international level,” said Rabbi Ari Rockoff, director of community initiatives at the center. “Our Blanche Schreiber Torah Tours program has sent hundreds of students out to bring the Torah’s teachings to many different locations. But the chance to connect a Torah that was not being used with a community that desperately needed it was a shidduch (match) that the CJF was born to make.”

Lisa Feldman, gifts-in-kind associate at the JDC and a 2002 graduate of YU’s Stern College for Women, said she turned to the center “as someone whose sense of global Jewish responsibility was fostered and developed at Yeshiva University.”

Within hours, CJF staff members—including Rabbi Rockoff and Aaron Leibowitz, coordinator of Torah Tours and a rabbinical student at YU’s affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary—located a sefer Torah for donation from the Inwood Hebrew Congregation in Upper Manhattan. The synagogue in Washington Heights was closing, but one of its few surviving members, Jason Rosenberger, who was in charge of its Judaica items, wanted to ensure the shul lived on in other communities (Torah scrolls were also sent to synagogues in southern Spain, Argentina, and a new Jewish chapel at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.)

Within 24 hours, the Torah was examined, minor repairs were made, and the scroll was declared kosher. Ms. Feldman picked up the Torah from YU and arranged for transport to India. The Torah arrived just in time for Rosh Hashanah, along with a shipment of High Holiday prayer books and copies of the Bible that the JDC obtained at a discounted rate with support from a private donor.

May 27, 2005 — Jeffrey Swartz, CEO of The Timberland Company, charged 600 Yeshiva University undergraduates to apply the lessons of Torah in all aspects of their lives during his keynote speech at the university’s 74th commencement exercises May 26 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Mr. Swartz also received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from YU.

“Torah learning is not just sitting in the beit midrash,” he said. “Being active in the words of the Torah means study and action. You have to take Torah to the street by being active in your community.”

Click here for video of the commencement address.

Mr. Swartz is the third generation of his family to lead the socially responsible footwear, apparel and accessories company. Under his leadership, Timberland’s annual revenues have grown from $156 million in 1989 to more than $1.4 billion.

For more commencement photos click here.

President Richard M. Joel conferred about 2,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees, and re-conferred degrees upon the Yeshiva College class of 1955 in celebration of its 50th reunion, and acknowledged the reunion classes of 1980 and 1995.

During his address, the president told students “to bring wisdom to life.”

“Today marks a great beginning,” he said. “You have assembled the kite that is your life: You have crafted it, launched it, it has caught the breeze, and now it soars toward your future. So feel the tug of Torah; feel the tug of learning.”

President Joel also bestowed honorary degrees upon Linda M. Hooper, creator of the Children’s Holocaust Memorial and Paper Clip Project; Leon Charney, host of The Leon Charney Report and member of the Board of Directors of YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; and Barry Shrage, president of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.

Mr. Charney dedicated his degree to Ezer Weizman, president of Israel from 1993 to 2000, who died earlier this year, calling him a warrior in times of war and in peace.

Mrs. Hooper, principal of Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee, received a standing ovation. Mrs. Hooper stressed the power of the individual to make a difference. “You can do anything if you decide to do it. Just do what is right.”

President Joel lauded Mr. Shrage as a personal example of Jewish communal leadership. “You are a wonderful role model to our students of how devotion to community leadership can make a difference,” President Joel said.

Anat Barber, one of the 2005 Graduate Fellows, explained the impact
of the program. The Graduate Fellowship in University and Community Leadership program was instituted by President Joel to keep top graduates connected to YU. It places recent graduates in university departments and exposes them to leadership and decision making opportunities at the highest levels

This year’s student speaker was Stern College for Women graduate Yael Wagner of Woodmere, NY, one of nine undergraduate valedictorians. Ms. Wagner explained that reaching any goal is a process.

“There is always more to undertake, and there is always more potential to realize,” Ms. Wagner said.

Apr 15, 2005 — Students of Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) attended a Yom Iyun (day of learning) on Wednesday, April 13. Lectures delivered by esteemed psychology professors and rabbis at Yeshiva University (YU) focused on major depression, a disorder that plagues an estimated 19 million Americans, and its effects on members of the Jewish community. The sessions highlighted the profound impact of mental illness on individuals and their families, and Torah views on treatment options.

“Depression is another issue that the Jewish community must tackle head on, and I am pleased that we were able to offer this introduction to the subject from a Torah perspective,” said Rabbi David Israel, director of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services (MSDCS) – RIETS, an affiliate of Yeshiva University, “Because depression is a widespread problem that plagues all communities, our rabbis must be able to identify it and provide the necessary compassion and understanding to offer guidance and counsel. They also have to be familiar with the communal resources which are available to help their congregants or students.”

Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, Max and Marion Grill Dean of RIETS, welcomed the participants with a keynote address. His talk was followed by a detailed discussion on the effects of depression on community and family life led by Dr. David Pelcovitz, professor of education and psychology at YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration and occupant of the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in Jewish Education. Rabbi Mayer Twersky, Leib Merkin Professor of Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at RIETS spoke on the Torah’s perspective of depression, and Dr. Victor Schwartz, Student Counseling and Mental Health Services director at YU, addressed participants on modern science, the study of depression and treatment options.

Afternoon sessions were presented by Norman Blumenthal, educational director of the Bella and Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon and Semikhah Honors Program; Rabbi Jacob J. Schachter, incoming University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University; and Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Nathan and Vivian Fink Distinguished Professor in Talmud at RIETS, who answered students’ questions regarding laws pertaining to the Passover holiday. His session is available at www.yutorah.org.

For more information on this program and similar initiatives of MSDCS-RIETS, contact 212 960 5266.

Oct 13, 2004 — Rabbi Nosson Slifkin – also known as the “Zoo Rabbi” – came to the Beren Campus Oct. 13 to give two talks about the animals, Torah, and evolution.

Rabbi Slifkin is an author and teacher at Midreshet Moriah, Peninim seminary, and Yeshivat Lev HaTorah. He also leads “Torah tours” at Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo.

His afternoon discussion, “Zoo Torah: Jewish Perspectives on the Animal Kingdom,” discussed several aspects of the relationship between Judaism and nature, including the process of identifying animals of the Torah and their symbolism and the Jewish perspective on human interaction with the animal kingdom.

In the evening, Rabbi Slifkin explained the various theories of evolution and explored potential conflicts between these meanings and Torah in his lecture “Untangling Evolution.”

Sep 27, 2004 — Students and alumni of Yeshiva University and its Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), will enrich the holiday celebrations of Shemini Atseret and Simhat Torah in more than 65 Jewish communities.

As part of the annual Blanche Schreiber Torah Tours, groups of four to eight men and women will visit Orthodox congregations across North America to infuse ruach (Jewish spirit and passion) into the holiday celebrations.

This year, more than 400 students and alumni have chosen to spend the holidays away from their families to sing, dance, and share Torah ideas with members of other Jewish communities from Portland, OR, to Springfield, MA. They will also host activities for youth and offer Torah learning sessions on timely Jewish topics.

Sponsored by RIETS’ Max Stern Division of Communal Services (MSDCS), the tours are organized by Robert Shur. For more information, contact Mr. Shur at 212-960-5400 ext. 6013.

L-R: Rabbi Bleich, Rabbi Willig, Rabbi Rosensweig, and Rabbi Schachter.

May 6, 2004 — Some 800 guests gathered yesterday at Manhattan’s Grand Hyatt to experience Jewish scholarship firsthand and honor individuals who have devoted their lives to Torah lishmah—learning for its own sake.

The venue was the annual dinner of Yeshiva University’s affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), and attendees—including RIETS and YU graduates and an array of Jewish communal professionals—used the occasion to honor four of its distinguished roshei kollel, Rabbi J. David Bleich, Rabbi Michael Rosensweig, Rabbi Hershel Schachter, and Rabbi Mordechai I. Willig.

They did so in speeches that lauded the academic and pedagogic efforts of each honoree, and of the seminary, that have produced so many top-flight pulpit and communal rabbis, teachers, principals, and roshei yeshiva.

The evening began with shiurim (lectures) delivered by the roshei kollel — a RIETS dinner first. More than 250 guests, many standing shoulder-to-shoulder, packed a separate reception room to hear lessons that reflect the depth of Torah learning and commitment of the honorees to Yeshiva.

The main program also honored long-time communal leader Carmi Schwartz, who received the Eitz Chaim (Tree of Life) Award, the highest honor RIETS bestows.

Mr. Schwartz was the ninth recipient of the Eitz Chaim Award and inductee into the Tree of Life Society.

YU President Richard M. Joel presented Mr. Schwartz with the award and used his remarks to salute the enduring link between RIETS and Yeshiva University. “This is a time of celebration and triumph,” he said. “The opportunity to build and strengthen Community based on the values of the Torah is ours. That’s what the future holds if we work together.”

The dinner chairman, RIETS alumnus and board member Rabbi Hyman Arbesfeld, extolled the value of the kollelim in cultivating scholars and communal leaders of exceptional quality who devote their academic energies to Talmud and service to the Jewish community. His remarks included praise for both the men who head the kollelim and the benefactors for whom the programs are named.

In particular, Susan Wexner, Robert Beren, and Marcos and Adina Katz, kollel creators and supporters, were recognized by the audience for their leadership and extraordinary generosity. The Jesselson family and YU Chancellor Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm were also enthusiastically acknowledged at the dinner for their leadership of their eponymous kollelim.

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Rabbi Bleich is rosh kollel of the Rabbi Norman Lamm Kollel Le’Hora’ah Yadin Yadin and the Ludwig Jesselson Kollel Chaverim and holds the Herbert and Florence Tenzer Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics at RIETS; Rabbi Rosensweig is rosh kollel of the Israel Henry Beren Institute for Higher Talmudic Studies and holds the Nathan and Perel Schupf Chair in Talmud; Rabbi Schachter is rosh kollel of the Adina and Marcos D. Katz Kollel and holds the Nathan and Vivian Fink Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud at RIETS; Rabbi Willig is rosh kollel of the Bella and Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon and holds the Rabbi Sol Roth Chair in Talmud and Contemporary Halakhah at RIETS.

Founded in 1896, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) is the Western Hemisphere’s leading center for Torah learning and training for the rabbinate.