Richard Joel

Domain's Guest

Richard M. Joel was inaugurated as Yeshiva University's president in on 2003. Since assuming the presidency Joel has ushered in an era of growth at the University.

Joel is renowned nationally and internationally as a talented leader and gifted speaker. Prior to his appointment he served as the President and International Director of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. During his fifteen-year tenure he was the driving force behind the metamorphosis of the Hillel organization (his full bio can be found here.

Joel believes in modeling education based on the notion of an integrated life and speaks of a Yeshiva University education as ennobling and enabling a generation of leadership. Education, Jewish education and Jewish values will be our topic of discussion. Readers can send questions to rosnersdomain@haaretz.co.il.


Dear President,

I keep hearing people talking about "Jewish education" as the cure for many illnesses. But what is Jewish education? If we just leave it as a general term it has no meaning. Can you specify your expectations from the Jewish educator? What should he teach, what is the curriculum?

Thank you,

Lisa Bitansky

Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Yeshiva University's and perhaps the world's leading Jewish philosopher/halachist of the 20th century, once commented on the role of a teacher. "The central figure in Jewish history has not been the king, nor the field marshal, nor the political leader, but the very old teacher surrounded by very young children. What does the teacher do? He tells a story."
(The Community, Tradition, 1978)

I am informed by Rabbi Soloveitchik's marvelously insightful comment. Jewish education is above all, an exercise in story telling. A good teacher does not simply relate facts and information. He or she brings students into the Jewish story and makes the characters come to life, and makes them a part of our mishpacha. Good teaching introduces students to the Jewish story and makes it a part of them. When students take ownership of the Jewish story they are prepared to begin their own beautiful Jewish journey.

There is an enormous and masterful canon of knowledge to be learned. We find the finest educators to develop learning skills in students and to engage in the dialectic that is Jewish learning. But true education is text and context, formal and experiential, and takes place in the home, the school, the shul, and the public square.

To be a successful teacher, much more than mere mastery of material is needed. The teacher needs passion, excitement and energy. He or she must focus on the goal and endeavor to instill the fervor and feelings of Yiddishkeit, the neshama, and not simply the specific text assigned. Whatever the course of study, the good teacher teaches the same thing: the Jewish story.



Dear President Joel,

You are talking about the "profound sense of responsibility to our fellow Jews," but recent studies show a decline in this sense of responsibility among American Jews. An article by Steven Cohen and Jack Wertheimer stated "something vital has changed a weakened identification among American Jews with their fellow Jews abroad, as well as a waning sense of communal responsibility at home." How can one change such trends not only among YU students but also rather across America?

There are several elements involved in the lessening of our sense of community and connectedness. In America, aside from the Orthodox, Jews do not live in homogeneous neighborhoods. We are part of a mass society with greater anonymity and less togetherness. Moreover, we have fewer unquestioned totems of Jewishness than in the past. Once upon a time Jews espoused monolithic support for Israel; embraced our singular link to the Holocaust; and united in the face of ongoing anti-Semitism.

In the Orthodox community there exists a real danger in the opposite direction, of only looking inward to particularistic needs, leaving few connectors to bind the global Jewish community. In this reality, how much more important is the sense of a shared story consisting of knowledge of Jewish ideas and ideals, of engagement with our heritage. We must recognize that Jewish education is more important than ever because the bonds of our shared knowledge are weaker.

The great news is that we are witnessing an increase across the board in young Jews going to day schools as well as programs like 'birthright' that engage our young people by connecting them to their homeland and to their Jewish journey. Part of our responsibility is to participate in these programs and forge communal links in activities with collective agendas. It is imperative that we reach out to Jews in need and remain open to building communities of Jews with other perspectives never compromising our commitment to Jewish tradition and Halacha.

Jews who are more engaged are more likely to take ownership of our covenantal heritage; more likely to inspire others with their wisdom and more likely to take responsibility for the Jewish future. In short, if we want to stem the tide of waning communal responsibility, we need to focus our energies on Jewish education.



President Joel,

You have spoken in the past about the role values play in a Yeshiva University education. You have noted that YU strives to educate the whole individual, to impart a core set of ideas and ethics, to imbue its students with Torah values that guide them in their engagement with the world, and not just to download facts and figures in a vacuum. But, what is the importance of a value-centered education?

British poet laureate John Masefield described a university as a place that engages the free minds of men to full and fair inquiry - where seekers and learners alike, banded together in search of knowledge, will honor thought in all its finer ways. Many, including Harvard President Derek Bok and author John Sommerville have noted the decline in contemporary university education. In todays increasingly complex, global society, too often conflict trumps dialogue and ideals and ideas are sacrificed.

I fervently believe that the role of any university cannot just be the down-loading of knowledge or preparing students to succeed in the global economy. A university must be much more. Its goal must be to instill in young men and women the highest ethical values and moral principles, and to develop leaders.

What is distinctive about Yeshiva University is that it is at once a high-ranking American university, where our students can immerse themselves in the best of Western civilization, and a world-class yeshiva where our students may cull inspiration from the millennia of Jewish thought and values. This affords our students the opportunity for Torah values to inform and enrich their secular learning. It is for this reason that Yeshiva University students graduate ennobled with wisdom and energized to inspire the world by bringing the values they cherish into the public square. Our students take ownership of the timeless Jewish story and strive to become modern day Abrahams and Sarahs - individuals who advance civilization by spreading, wisdom, virtue and values.

This is the background for the many chesed initiatives our students take part in, and represents the realization of our profound sense of responsibility to our fellow Jews, to Israel and to humanity. Just recently, our students traveled to Israel to help restore areas damaged by last summer*s war in Lebanon and trekked to Guatemala to assist villagers in a very remote area. In the past several months, they have also been to New Orleans to help rebuild the Jewish community devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and last year to Honduras, where they helped build a school. These initiatives reflect the Jewish values we so deeply cherish and represent the method through which the Jewish people can live up to our covenantal mandate to enrich civilization.



You speak about a covenantal relationship with Judaism. What is your view of the how the Jewish people should perceive and relate to the creation of modern Israel? For the first time in 2000 years we have Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. Yet, it's my view that few rabbis in the orthodox world in general and YU in particular, try to address this seminal event in Jewish history. How would you explain Israel and Jewish peoplehood in the 21st century?

I am a YU graduate, who was in TA, the YU high school at the time of Israel's creation. What has changed since then in terms of the orthodox worldview?


B'Shalom

David



The Land of Israel and the State of Israel are central to the future vision of the Jewish people and have always been central to the reality of the Yeshiva University community. Over the years, the YU-Israel connection has not only endured, but has been strengthened - from the War of Independence, the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, through the Gulf War, the Intifada - to this very day. During times of conflict YU students, faculty, administration, and alumni have flown to Israel to fill positions vacated by soldiers, traveled to rallies in Washington DC and elsewhere, and poured endless resources and energies to support our extended- and often actual families living there.

Yeshiva University's commitment to Israel is even more pronounced during periods of peace. Each year, approximately 700 YU students spend their post-high school year studying in Israel. More than 3,000 of our alumni have made aliya and contribute significantly to bridging the corrosive gaps in Israeli society, through their unique Torah Umadda philosophy of life. Yeshiva University educated rabbis and teachers articulately present to their communities the significance of Israel for Jews around the world; they encourage their schools and communities to visit and support our brothers and sisters in Israel, and actively promote aliya as viable, laudable, and essential for the future of Klal Yisrael. Our Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Soloveitchik, z"l, wrote Kol Dodi Dofek, perhaps the seminal work on the central role Israel must play in our developing history. I could go on. Suffice it to say that the centrality of Israel to Yeshiva University's mission will only continue to grow and deepen.

So much has changed since the early days of Yeshiva University. My predecessor, Dr. Bernard Revel z"l had no glimmer of the Jewish State; we cannot imagine life without it, and never will. Even so, if you visit our New York or Jerusalem campuses today you will find scores of dedicated, devoted Religious Zionists who are preparing to make significant contributions to Israeli society. You will be captivated by the large segments of our student body that share the same fervor for Medinat Yisrael as was felt by the generation that founded the State. You will reconnect with the ideals of Religious Zionism, that sadly are too often absent from some communities.

I cannot speak for the entire Orthodox world, but I can attest that our Modern Orthodox communities have an inextricable tie to the modern State of Israel - spiritually and politically - and we will continue to remain steadfast through travails and triumphs.