Kollel Yom Rishon presents two outstanding local opportunities to hear from renowned Roshei Yeshiva at Yeshivat Rambam on May 13, 20.Rav Michael Rosensweig (5/13)
Yerushalayim: The Center of the Jewish People
Rav Zvi Sobolofsky (5/20)
Who is a Jew? Contemporary Halachic Perspectives on Conversion
Schedule
Shacharis: 9:00
Breakfast and Preparation of Mareh Mekomos: 9:45
Shiur: 10:30
Back in my YU days, I was quite the hacker (or thought I was). I had, at one point figured out (or thought I had figured out) how to mass email the entire undergraduate population (I was wrong). Around Purim time, my roommate and I (he's now a rebbe, so I'll refrain from identifying him to preserve his good name) cooked up the following prank email to send to the undergraduate email list. The email never made it out, as I turned out to be a pretty bad hacker, so I am enshrining this little bit of history here for the world to appreciate; if you were in YU between '96 and '98, some of this might be funny, if not, no one is making you read this blog anyhow.
To: Undergrad
Subject: Notice of impending changes in Stern student policyDue to the extreme costs for the legal sercices in obtaining the 22 million dollars left to Stern College by the late Ms. Anne Schwiber, we are unable to continue to grant all the current services available to Stern students. We, therefore are forced to impose some minor changes on the student body. We hope that you understand, we hope you will comply accordingly, until we can return to providing normal services to you. Here is a list of the impending changes:
1) The mandatory meal plan for all dorm students will be increased from $1,300 a year to $1,500 a year.
2) The toll-free number for YU Safety and Security will not be available. Please use the local number, 340-7796.
3) There will be limited access to the Uptown Campus via van service. Each student will be limited to 2 rides per week.
4) There will no longer be a DAIRY menu provided in the cafeteria for dinner. We will continue to offer our MEAT menu.
5) Special meal themes (such as California Night and Pirate Night) will no longer be offered. However, we will still have Israeli Night on Yom HaAtzmaut.
6) Because of lack of sufficient dorm space, we will be rooming 5 students per room.
7) Bathrooms in rooms A,C, E, and G on each floor will be closed to save water. Students in these rooms should use the bathroom in one of their neighboring rooms.
8) Access to the elevator will be limited. Students below the eleventh (11) floor are asked to use the stairs.
9) Hot water will run only between 6:00-7:00 am, and 7:30-8:30 pm.
10) Due to high electric bills, all electricity in the dorms will be shut off at 12:15 am and re-connected at 9:00 am.
11) The Stern newspaper, The Observer, will now be issued in the mail boxes, one copy per student, each copy costing 75 cents. Proceeds will go to the School Safety Commission.
12) Any student caught wishing a happy Jewish holiday to any Security personnel will be fined 50 dollars, and will forfeit one ride on the van that week. Students will also be recommended for disciplinary action.
13) Students will rotate cleaning the hallways of the floors, and each floor will alternate cleaning the Main Lounge n the Lobby. Classes in operating the Carpet Steamer will be given the Friday before each assignment.
14) The Adopt-A-Bubbie club and BUDS will be disbanded.
15) There will be a limit to three (3) engagements per month. Request for engagement dancing must be filed ONE month in advance.All these new guidelines will take effect on March 23, 1997. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Yours Truly,
The YU Safety and Security Department
If there's anything worth appreciating about this, it's how we started off with minor changes that seemed to make sense and then escalated to really ridiculous things.
Baltimore Hebrew University is holding a screening of Lonely Man of Faith: The Life and Legacy of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik this Sunday, February 25th at The Charles Theatre. Although both the film's site and The Charles' website don't specify a time, I've heard it's showing around 2:00PM. Matinees at The Charles are usually $6.
This is a little stale, but I came across an article today and just had to post it:
$100 Million Gift To Yeshiva University - Fertilizer magnate hopes his mega-gift will spur other philanthropists to give Jewishly.
Wow. I'm trying to come up with some sort of manure/fertilizer joke, but I slept little last night.
From the YU Commentator:
In an effort to reverse trends of disconnect between secular and rabbinic faculty, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) Rosh Kollel Hershel Schachter and Yeshiva College (YC) Dean David Srolovitz met to discuss issues surrounding YC and its curriculum. The two influential Wilf Campus personalities joined members of The Commentator on Thursday, August 31 in the dean's office for an hour-long conversation.
Lots of interesting tidbits here, such as R. Schachter's comments about treating Yu like a trade school, a possible pre-semicha track offered as a college major and R. Schachter's comments on those who rush through YU:
They are just fooling themselves in to thinking that they are accomplishing something. They are not.
My opinion, for what it is worth, is that YU is in a unique position to offer an integrated curriculum that could, possibly, produce a new kind of orthodox Jew; post-modern orthodox, if you will. I could see this as working in that direction, or, quite possibly, not. The Rav was created by a new combination of circumstances: the talmudic scholar who also went to university. If we're going to find the next Rav (not just those who can teach in the same manner as he taught, but those who can take our current condition, which has changed, and provide for it a context within the Jewish tradition), this is where he would be found.
...here's a link to YU's 2006-07 tuition rates for Yeshiva College. Notice the significant increase over last year 's rates (scroll down). All in all, it's about $10K more expensive than when I attended, about 10 years ago.
The good news is that it's relatively easy to get a decent scholarship to YU, and there's little to no guilt factor.
This year's ultimate edition of The Commentator has an article detailing Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert Aumann's recent visit to Yeshiva University. Dr. Aumann was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in developing game theory, and has applied it in various halachic contexts.
A few highlights from the article:
"Science is one way of dealing with certain aspects of the world, and Torah is a way of dealing with different aspects of our world," he explained. "As observant Jews, it is not the same kind of activity as when acting as a scientist. One is an experience and the other is a way of explaining observations." Dr. Aumann admitted freely that these assertions contradict Maimonides' views on the relationship between science and Torah.
And:
Dr. Aumann discussed various games mentioned in the Torah, including Sarah's demand that Abraham ban Ishmael from their home to prevent his game-playing from influencing Isaac negatively. Dr. Aumann challenged the assertion some commentators make that Ishmael's games included idolatry, sexual rapacity, and murder, arguing that Judaism's founding father most likely would not have ignored such atrocities committed by his own son.
A RIETS rosh yeshiva mentioned in the discussion that followed that, according to the Tosefta, Rabbi Shimon ben Yokhai held similar doubts about these commentators' assertion and interpreted the games as referring to Ishmael's mocking Isaac's claims to his inheritance.
I believe this is brought down in the Ramban.
I wish YU had speakers like this when I was there; it's entirely possible that they did, and I wasn't paying attention.
Tags: science, torah, game theory, yeshiva university
[via Fiddish]
YUTorah.org provides shiurim by the roshei yeshiva of Yeshiva University, in audio, video and text formats.
In addition, there's a nice page of biographies of the roshei yeshiva, both past and present. There's also a section for YU courses, which includes a significant collection of daily gemara shiurim from R. Schachter, R. Simon and others, as well as RIETS smicha classes, even a R. Jeremy Wieder Intro to Bible class. Most of the Torah U'Madda Journal is also available at the new site (minus any articles by The Rav that are now sold in book form).
Even more interseting, the Daf Yomi page appears to contain inline commentary from YU rabbanim. For example, go to Makkot 13A, click on the commentary link on the side; a window pops up with a comment on the text by R. Daniel Feldman. There's very little at this point, but over time this could turn into an incredibly useful resource.
All in all, a very nice job. I'd like to see this expanded to include lectures from the college as well: Jewish history, philosophy, Bible and so on. Is YUTorahUMadda.org available?
The YU Commentator has a new website (registration required). It looks as if it is student-run, most likely without support, financial or moral, from YU itself.
What I find so amusing about this is the links at the bottom, especially YUMesorah.com, a student-run repository of notes, old tests and all the other good stuff you need to get through a semester without ever actually attending a class. There is also a YUStudents.org, which also looks to be unaffiliated with the university. It is amazing to me that, despite the increasingly high tuition, the students still get so little support from the school and have to do so much for themselves. Just like when I was there.