Home Home / Keep Looking: A Message From the Presid…

Assorted

2000

Keep Looking: A Message From the President (2000)

Yeshiva University Jewish Education
View The Text

This content is currently available in its original PDF format. As we expand the library, we plan to add a text version as well.

RELATED CONTENT

Speech

2001 Statement to RIETS Dinner (2001)

My predecessor, Dr. Belkin, o.b.m., determined at one point in his career that the function of Yeshiva/RIETS was to be primarily educational, and leave communal affairs to other relevant organizations, such as the RCA and OUJCA. In other words, he decided that YU’s business was educational, not that of a communal movement. When I came into office twenty-five years ago, that problem was uppermost in my mind, and there were forces agitating for both points of view. I decided that without ever giving up our primary educational goal, YU/RIETS must undertake greater communal responsibilities. Let me explain why the change.Yeshiva’s policy made sense in the conditions that prevailed at that time. The RCA, together with the Rabbinic Alumni of Yeshiva, was a force in both Orthodox and general Jewish communal life. Pulpit rabbis were prominent, their synagogues were strong, their voice was heard and respected. The UOJCA had begun to come into its own as a significant element in communal life. The OU was especially strong in unifying and promoting Kashrut in American Jewry. It made sense, therefore, for Yeshiva to limit itself to and focus upon formal education, and that is why it was decided that Yeshiva’s superb achievement in fostering youth work be transferred to the Orthodox Union, which accepted the challenge and fulfilled its responsibilities with a high degree of success. Yeshiva, which had done so much constructive work in fostering new communities and creating new synagogues, decided to suspend those operations as well; surely, that was a task which belonged to both rabbis and synagogues, not to schools. Of course, at that time Yeshiva’s financial condition had begun to worsen, and this contributed as well to its decision to slim down its operations.However, twenty-five years ago during the transition between two administrations, life had begun change. I noticed that the RCA had grown much weaker: the Rav was ailing, Rabbi Israel Klavan of the RCA was soon passing …
Yeshiva University Jewish Education

Article

Special Message to the Yeshiva University Community (1980)

Several months ago, in a “Special Message to the Yeshiva University Community,” I described the steps that the University has taken to assure fiscal stability. I also told of how the University has been attempting to restructure its debts, and of the difficult ongoing negotiations with our lending institutions. I was encouraged by the reaction to that letter. The candor of my message elicited appreciation, concern, and promises of support no matter which route the University would be required to take. I therefore turn to our YESHIVA UNIVERSITY family with a second message. I am most pleased to report that on Monday, July 14, YESHIVA UNIVERSITY executed a series of historic agreements with our secured and unsecured lenders, which provide for a comprehensive debt restructuring plan of the University’s long and short term debt. This plan, approved by the Board of Trustees on July 8, has been formalized, documented, and made a matter of record. This essential phase of our program to assure the financial stability of the University has been consummated through negotiation. We have, in effect, taken a firm and secure step into the future. 2 The agreement, the result of nine and a half months of effort by University Board members, administrators, and public officials will, if successfully implemented, allow the institution substantially to discharge its debt and to continue relatively debt-free for the foreseeable future. It represents one of the greatest challenges and opportunities YESHIVA UNI- VERSITY has ever faced. If we seize the opportunity and rise to the challenge, we can become free at last of the crushing burden of huge monthly financial obligations which have sapped our strength and enthusiasm. Basically, the success of the debt restruc- turing effort and the significant benefits to be derived from the agreement rest upon the University’s ability to remit some $35 million by the Spring of 1982. The first payment of $5 million was made July 14, 1980, when the a…
Yeshiva University

Speech

Commencement Address (1990)

It is an established custom at this university that, at commencement, the President addresses a few brief remarks to the graduates of the undergraduate colleges. I shall therefore proceed to do so, and then share with the rest of you, in a sentence or two, the gist of my message. תלמידים ותלמידות יקרים, למדתם אצלנו כמה שנים גם תורה וגם מדע, ועכשיו הגעתם להיכל הכבוד של לימודיכם. למעט שזה קשה עליי, מפני דרישתכם, תרשו לי לתת לכם מתנה – עצה אחת שתועיל לכם כשאתם עומדים על סף הכניסה לעולם הגדול. עצתי היא – שתלמדו היטב היטב את מלאכת קביעת הזמנים ללימודיכם. חכמי התלמוד מודיעים לנו שכשאדם נפטר מן העולם, מעמידים אותו לפני כיסא של מעלה ושואלים אותו כמה שאלות לקבלת הדין, ואחת מהן היא: "קבעת עתים לתורה?" הדרך הכללית להבין את השאלה היא אם למדנו תורה לפי קצב מסוים, לפי סדר כלשהו. אך אחד מגדולי המפרשים – גדול במלכותו כהילל הנשיא, כעל הפר "מפני שהם מפליאים" – אמר שיש לפרש את המילה "קבע" לא לפי לשון חכמים, אלא לפי לשון מקרא. בלשון מקרא יש למילה "קבע" משמעות אחרת לגמרי – לפידושו: לקפח, לגזול, ליטול בכוח. וכדברי הנביא מלאכי: "היקבע אדם אלוקים כי אתם קובעים אותי." נמצא שאם נשתמש בלשון מקרא, המשמעות שתישאל לכל אחד ואחת מאיתנו לעשרים שנה מהיום היא: האם גזלת זמן לתורה? כיוון שמעשית כשאתם עולים למקצוע כלשהו, תתחילו להתעסק בכל מיני דברים, עמוסים בהתחייבויות שונות ומשונות, ללא פנאי אפילו לנשימה קלה. לתורה זמן אתם תמצאו? לכן, מעצם מציאותכם כאן: תקבעו לתורה עתים – חצי שעה כאן, רבע שעה שם – ללמוד משנה, לעיין בפרשנות, ללמוד על נושא מעולם הגמרא. ואם אין לכם פנאי לקבוע עתים לתורה כפי לשון חכמים – תעשו את זה כפי לשון מקרא: תגזלו לתורה זמן! תלמדו, תקשיבו לדברים שעולים מתוך התורה ומעמיקים בלבכם.
Yeshiva University