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September 15, 1986

Opening Assembly/Stern College for Women (1986)

Bereishit General Jewish Thought Torah Umadda Yeshiva University
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Outline

Commencement Address (1999)

What is it, in perspective of ½ century, that we learned from our undergrad experience at Yeshiva University? What connects me – who was graduated in mid-century – to you, who leave YC during last year this terrible and glorious century? I wish to focus on one issue only – that of knowledge. It is knowledge, after all, that a university purports to transmit to its students. And it is knowledge – ידיעת התורה and דעת השם – that the yeshiva classically strives to imbue its disciples. Our question, then, is at once both universal and intimate, personal. To understand this simultaneously abstract and relevant question, let us begin at the beginning: בראשית, the Torah’s conception of the origins of humankind.Torah: 2 trees: עצה"ד טו״ר ועצה"ח. . .Both forbidden to Adam and Eve. . . Let’s take them one at a time.Tree of Knowledge. “The knowledge of good and evil” = off-limits for man. Punishment for transgression=death. Serpent—metaphor for human concupiscence, human propensity for overreaching, or simply: human weakness—tells our firstלא מות תמותון, כ׳ יודע אלקים כ׳ ביום אכלכם ממנו ונפקחו עיניכם והייתם כאלהים :couple ...יודעי טוב ורעMaimonides question in Guide: Was “punishment” the gift of reason? ...My answer: In Eden, before the primal sin, mankind knew clearly the distinction between Good and Evil. Man admired the purely good, and abhorred the wholly evil. It was the serpent—the human יצר הרע—that threw a monkey wrench into this idyllic scene. He sought to convince our first grandparents that if they ate of the forbidden fruit, the knowledge they possessed would grant them unimaginable gifts, namely, knowledge is power. It is this distortion of the telos, the end and purpose of knowledge, that corrupted humankind. The blessing of knowledge was transformed into a curse: the use or misuse of knowledge for the purpose of control, domination, enrichment. All the good that might have come from the accumulation of knowledge has now been compromised by substituting knowledg…
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Yeshiva University in the World Today (1965)

YU not only institution, also idea and symbol. Synthesis. The modern Orthodox Jew as expression of this educational philosophy. Not a comfortable proposition. Synthesis, living in two worlds at same time, always has concommigant tension. Therefore, never complete success. Tension revealed in famous story of early Rosh Yeshivah, who walking through the then new halls of Yeshiva College one morning greeted other faculty members who passed by: Good morning. Dr. Churgin, Dr. Revel, Dr. Mirsky, Dr. Belkin... then said to an student nearby: "Vos iz dos, a Yeshiva oder a hospital?"Origins: Medieval Spain Yeshiva of Rabbi Reines. Idea of Rav Kook on the sacred and profane having mutual roots in theholy of holies , and function of holy to sanctify profane, and all profane as the not — yet — holy. S.R. Hirsch — as follows, shortly.YU began as high school ( 1886) worked up to thirteen schools plus four high schools (in addition to the present one on tha Pacific Coast); more than 6,660 students, 1200 faculty.But more than double curriculum. Three great ninteenth century interpretations of a principle of Judaism are incorporated in Yeshiva. The principle is from Perek: the study of Torah is beautiful with derekh eretz.S.R. Hirsch — the educational — cultural interpretation.R. Hayyin of Volozhin — the intellectual - metaphysical interpretation.The Hasidic interpretation, which is the practical-existential.S.R.H. — Incorporated in student studying in Yeshiva and at same time, Yeshiva College, Stern College, the high schools.Hayyim of Volozhin — incorporated in Riets, and Kollel.Hasidic, with emphasis on out-going, practical effects of education, in schools such as TIM, TIW, Medical School, Social Work.Emphasize J.S.P. personal stories about Jeff Tillman and his questions about tfillin in afternoon.Thus too: CSD — educational servicing of synagoggues such as educational servicing NCSY youth groups, place rabbis.Has transformed American Judaism. Imagine American Jewry without YU.No…
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