Message From Our President
Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Friends,
I am pleased to present to you this Guide to our plans for the upcoming fall semester and reopening of our campuses. In form and in content, this coming semester will be like no other. We will live differently, work differently and learn differently. But in its very difference rests its enormous power.
The mission of Yeshiva University is to enrich the moral, intellectual and spiritual development of each of our students, empowering them with the knowledge and abilities to become people of impact and leaders of tomorrow. Next year’s studies will be especially instrumental in shaping the course of our students’ lives. Character is formed and developed in times of deep adversity. This is the kind of teachable moment that Yeshiva University was made for. As such, we have developed an educational plan for next year that features a high-quality student experience and prioritizes personal growth during this Coronavirus era. Our students will be able to work through the difficulties, issues and opportunities posed by our COVID-19 era with our stellar rabbis and faculty, as well as their close friends and peers at Yeshiva.
To develop our plans for the fall, we have convened a Scenario Planning Task Force made up of representatives across the major areas of our campus. Their planning has been guided by the latest medical information, government directives, direct input from our rabbis, faculty and students, and best practices from industry and university leaders across the country. I am deeply thankful to our task force members and all who supported them for their tireless work in addressing the myriad details involved in bringing students back to campus and restarting our educational enterprise.
In concert with the recommendations from our task force, I am announcing today that our fall semester will reflect a hybrid model. It will allow many students to return in a careful way by incorporating online and virtual learning with on-campus classroom instruction. It also enables students who prefer to not be on campus to have a rich student experience by continuing their studies online and benefitting from a full range of online student services and extracurricular programs.
In bringing our students back to campus, safety is our first priority. Many aspects of campus life will change for this coming semester. Gatherings will be limited, larger courses will move completely online. Throughout campus everyone will need to adhere to our medical guidelines, including social distancing, wearing facemasks, and our testing and contact tracing policies. Due to our focus on minimizing risk, our undergraduate students will begin the first few weeks of the fall semester online and move onto the campus after the Jewish holidays. This schedule will limit the amount of back and forth travel for our students by concentrating the on-campus component of the fall semester to one consecutive segment.
Throughout our planning, we have used the analogy of a dimmer switch. Reopening our campuses will not be a simple binary, like an on/off light switch, but more like a dimmer in which we have the flexibility to scale backwards and forwards to properly respond as the health situation evolves. It is very possible that some plans could change, depending upon the progression of the virus and/or applicable state and local government guidance.
Before our semester begins, we will provide more updates reflecting our most current guidance. Please check our website, yu.edu/fall2020 for regular updates. We understand that even after reading through this guide, you might have many additional questions, so we will be posting an extensive FAQ section online as well. Additionally, we will also be holding community calls for faculty, students, staff and parents over the next couple of months.
Planning for the future during this moment has certainly been humbling. This Coronavirus has reminded us time and time again of the lessons from our Jewish tradition that we are not in full control of our circumstances. But our tradition also teaches us that we are in control of our response to our circumstances. Next semester will present significant challenges and changes. There will be some compromises and minor inconveniences--not every issue has a perfect solution. But faith and fortitude, mutual cooperation and resilience are essential life lessons that are accentuated during this period. And if we all commit to respond with graciousness, kindness, and love, we can transform new campus realities into profound life lessons for our future.
Deeply rooted in our Jewish values and forward focused in preparing for the careers and competencies of the future, we journey together with you, our Yeshiva University community, through these uncharted waters. Next year will be a formative year in the lives of our students, and together we will rise to the moment so that our students will emerge stronger and better prepared to be leaders of the world of tomorrow.
Best Wishes,
Ari Berman
so proud of all the MTA talmidim who were able to go to Seagate and Far Rockaway to help with the Super Storm Sandy disaster clean up. We took three trips from MTA, with more possibly to come, and helped many families literally and figuratively dig out of the disaster. We will know about future trips if the need is still there, as we are in touch with the many organizations assisting those in need.
I live in Far Rockaway and I have helped many of my friends in the community. I have also had the zchus to lead two MTA trips to Seagate. I thought it was "cool" that on my first trip we had the opportunity to help Mordechai Ben David clean up, but I must share with you an incident from our second trip that took place this week with Rabbi Danto and the members of his shiur. This story was a life changing moment for me and explains why these trips are more than just a chesed activity; they are another learning opportunity, outside the classroom.
On the first trip to Seagate, Rabbi Gopin and some members of his shiur spent many hours helping clean out a basement of a woman who lost many seforim and books, a wine cellar, exercise equipment and much more. Before we left for the second trip he told me to try and see if she still needed help, as she made a wonderful impression on the boys and needed a lot more help even after the first trip left. Towards the end of our second trip, about ten members of Rabbi Danto's shiur had a half hour until the bus left, so we called up this lady and she let us know "even a half hour would be a big help." We all piled into her now almost totally empty basement to finish sorting through wet books to separate the shaimos and secular books. As we were bagging the books and sending the bags down a "fire line" to the outside, she looked up and said, "I am so happy this happened to me." We all looked at her in wonderment and then she explained by saying, "If it were not for this experience, I would have never known how good Klal Yisroel is." I told the boys it was worth all we did that day to learn this lesson in a way we could never do in the classroom. As I said to the people running the Seagate clean up as we left, "I hope we helped you with the little we did; I know you helped the students of MTA become better people." We, of course, never want tragedies like this to occur, but I do know that in the event any of these students are called upon to be involved in clean-up again, they will be the first in line and will encourage others to join them.
