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
For a person who loves books, especially rare books, David Selis had the perfect internship in the Asian & Middle Eastern Division, Israel & Judaica Section of the Library of Congress, working on initial cataloging for recent Hebrew publications.
“My work involves taking volumes received from vendors, finding a record for them in the Library’s cataloging system and making them findable by assigning a Library of Congress Control Number and barcode. When the volume isn’t in the library’s cataloging system, I find a record using other databases and import that record. Essentially, what I’m doing is the first step in the cataloging process, which allows a volume to be located so that it can be made accessible even if it has not been completely cataloged.”
He also spent two days a week researching early Hebrew books in the Library’s collections as well as in other collections in the Washington, D.C., area with the results of his research being contributed to Footprints, a digital humanities project which traces the movement of Hebrew books. “For me, this work is like being a kid in a candy shop as I can see a first printing of Chumash, then the first book printed in North Africa (which happens to be in Hebrew), early editions of Josephus, a first edition King James Bible, and more.”
He also acknowledged that “none of my research would be possible without the hard work of librarians, catalogers and conservators who make these volumes accessible and preserve them for future generations. There’s something satisfying about making progress on a cataloging project and being able to point to books and say I helped catalog that and find my name in the record. Working with rare books is a distinct privilege, and I never know what I will find; sometimes a few handwritten annotations reveal a chain of ownership that lets me trace part of the book’s unique story.”
David first became interested in rare books at YU while taking a course on the history of the book with Dr. Jeffrey Freedman while volunteering at the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, “and I just got hooked.” Through a combination of coursework and close connections with professors and mentors, he has been able to acquire a working knowledge of medieval through modern Jewish history and European history during the Renaissance which allows him to contextualize the volumes he researches within their general and Jewish contexts.
“I plan to go into Judaica librarianship professionally, so having experience working in multiple Judaica libraries is invaluable in understanding how they function and the roles of different staff,” he noted. “My dream job would involve working with rare Hebrew books, what’s called special collections, not only by reading the books but also learning about things not on the printed page through such elements as the materiality of the book, any visual elements, how the book is bound and how it might have served as a status symbol.”
David among his precious books.
