Until about 50 years ago, it was commonly accepted that the university was responsible for offering its students moral guidance. Professors regarded themselves as not only the teachers of knowledge and skills, but also as educational stewards of a special kind of wisdom: the nature of the good life; truth and goodness and beauty; and the value of thought and reflection. In time, that received wisdom came under progressive assault. Universities began to disseminate knowledge without reference to this ethos. Intellectual inquiry became an autonomous enterprise. The moral mission of higher education was denigrated as too parochial and amateurish and, in the sixties, as being hypocritical, a cover for imperialism. Not long ago, a noted British philosopher observed that philosophers have been trying all this century to get rid of the dreadful idea that philosophy ought to be edifying. If this is true of philosophy, what can one say of other branches of knowledge taught in our ivied halls?This despair about the larger questions of life having a claim on our attention has filtered down to our lower schools. Only a few weeks ago, New York’s Governor Cuomo created a stir when he suggested that values ought to be taught in New York State public schools. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett has repeatedly urged public school leaders to teach moral and ethical subjects that represent a consensus of the community.It is fairly obvious that this erosion of the teaching of values in our schools is a reflection of a deliberate turn of events in higher education and in the intellectual climate of this country. No wonder that George Bernard Shaw once said of us:"I doubt if there has been a country in the world's history where men were ashamed of being decent, of being sober, of being well-spoken, of being educated, of being gentle, of being conscientious, as in America." As usual, Spaw was exaggerating. But there is an undeniable kernel of truth in his criticism.Such value-agnos…

When we celebrated the ninetieth birthday of my dear father, zikhrono liverakhah, I cited the Mishnah in Avot 5:21, ben tish'im lishvach. Despite the standard explanation that at ninety years old a person is stooped and decrepit, and there is much truth to that. I offered a more sensitive and profound interpretation. Without going into all of the details, I observed that hishtachavayah, the prostration of the attendee at the Jerusalem Temple, was the final ritual performed as the culmination of the divine service. Through prostration pilgrims stopped to reflect on their heavenly encounter and offered their gratitude and appreciation for the opportunity to serve God through the divine service. At ninety, I suggested, a person stops to reflect on a life well lived, a family raised, professional and personal achievements, spiritual growth, accomplishments, mistakes, successes and failure-and pauses for hishtachavayah. a moment of reflection, gratitude, and appreciation.While I have yet to reach my father’s age, at this moment of transition in accordance with an agreement reached 3 years ago-as I step down from my position as Chancellor of Yeshiva University and Rosh Hayeshivah. ending over sixty years of official affiliation with my beloved Yeshiva University as student, faculty member. Rosh Hayeshivah. President, and Chancellor - I use this moment for mishtachavin u-modim - pause, reflection, and expression of gratitude. Yeshiva nurtured me, challenged me. and formed me. Yeshiva took me in as a young, untested, and unproven boy and gave me opportunities for religious and intellectual growth, personal development, and professional achievement. For these sixty years I lived and breathed Yeshiva. its problems, its challenges, and its successes. I enjoyed opportunities that I never dreamed would be offered me: leadership, responsibility, the trust of a community, the affection and support of many from world leaders to "drawers of water," and the pulpit of the Orthodox an…