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August 8, 1951

Invocation at Groundbreaking Ceremony for P.S. #8, NYC (1951)

General Education
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Address to Graduating Class of P.S. 82 (1952)

I can remember when I was in the position you boys are in now. It wasn’t so very long ago that I graduated from elementary school, and the only thing I really remember clearly is that I couldn’t wait until the long-winded speakers finished their talks and the fun started. So, you see, I can really sympathize with you – and therefore I will make every attempt to keep my talk as short as possible. What I want to give you is what I think is the best prescription for clean, healthy, successful, God-fearing American living. You boys are starting out on your high school careers now – you are at the beginning of your adolescence. Adolescence is a time when you can have a lot of fun and when you can build your bodies, your minds, and your characters. But it is also a dangerous age – and if you realize that beforehand, then you will be ready to accept my personal prescription for a character-tonic which will brace you for the long, exciting, and dangerous adventures ahead of you. The first ingredient in that prescription is hope. Hope is a very rare commodity these days. You are growing up into a very unstable world. People may laugh and joke and spend much time, money, and energy on entertainment – but deep down, underneath, people are very frightened. This is an age when people jump at their own shadows – they see atom bombs falling from every corner of the sky and they see spies under every bed. It may be true that things aren’t quite what they should be – but you can accomplish absolutely nothing by despairing. Once you give up hope, you can never hope to win. I know there’s a Cold War that may become a hot war, there’s a danger of inflation, and there are many other troubles. But you boys are young – you must be determined that you are going to set things aright when you get the chance. I am reminded of the story of the old gentleman who came upon a baseball game between two sandlot teams. He watched for a while and noticed the team at bat hitting some long drives, man…
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Commencement Address Roosevelt School (1970)

It is a double act of friendship which brings me here this afternoon – friendship for the Director Emeritus of the Roosevelt School, Dan Trotzky and his beloved wife Rhoda, to whom I wish many years of health and creativity on behalf of the community and the various charities to which he has dedicated his life; and profound and affectionate devotion to my friend Martin Schwarzschild, to whom I wish good luck and undiminished success on this new stage in his career as he takes over the reins of the Roosevelt School. He will, I am confident, make it the most eminent school of its kind in the country.There is always an inherent danger in commencement addresses—that of excessive solemnity. A graduation speaker sometimes feels that he has to distill all the world’s wisdom into the short time allotted to him, lest the poor graduates go into life uninstructed.Every tiine I feel that I am about to succumb to this sin of solemnity, I remember the gist of the commencement address given several years ago at a Western University by a distinguished citizen of this country, Bob Hope. The famous humorist told the assembled graduates and guests, "I am supposed to give you advice about how to go out into the world. So let me give it to you: Don’t! Last week I was there, and it is a mess.”I have the same report to bring you. I have been out there in the world quite recently, and it is an unholy mess. Part of that messiness is the pro­found suspicion that separates youth from the adult "establishment,” and it is that which I wish to discuss with you.I suppose that a certain amount of tension between the settled genera­tion and the emerging one is endemic to human society. It has always been so, and always will. But never before in human history, to my knowledge, has the hostility, the lack of communication, been as deep and as perilous as it is in our times.Now, I have not come here this afternoon to pass judgment on what is known, quite correctly, as the "youth revolution.” It is an…
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Invocation at N.Y. Credit and Financial Management Association (1960)

Avinu she’ba’shamayim – our Father in Heaven: do Thou bestow Thy divine blessings upon all those here gathered – them, their families, and our great country whose democratic mission is enhanced by the services they perform. Teach us that Thy word must be heard not only in sanctuaries but in the marketplace as well; that it is to be evoked in church and synagogue, but implemented in home and in office, in factory and in bank. Teach us to be aware of Thy will in every phase of our lives; to be devout not only when we pray but also when we engage in commerce; to achieve noble integrity even whilst we pursue our livelihood, to the end that the blessing of peace and tranquility, of serenity and harmony, be ours at all times. Remind us that we deal with more than monies and materials – but also with men and women, possessed of immortal souls. Help us thereby to spread kindness and gentleness, honor and decency, so that our labors and talents be used for the good of our country, the betterment of our fellow man, and the service of Thee our G‑d. Help us to remember at all times that life is a trust, that our years are given to us on credit, that we must invest heavily in faith in G‑d and decency towards man, and that only through righteous deeds can we forge a bond to Thee, O Lord. For we were created in Thy image, and our mission in life is to imitate, but never impersonate, Thee. May the practical prose of our professional lives be graced with the poetry of pure intentions and the principles of peace and piety. May this be Thy blessing upon us. Amen.
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