Mechinah Receives Large Donations

After receiving promises of large donations, the Mechinah program is formulating many proposals for the advancement of the program. Although most of the funds are specifically earmarked for recruitment to the Mechinah program, no spending will be done for that purpose until a Director of Outreach is appointed.

The Mechinah program, one of the Judaic Studies morning programs, was created last year with the expressed purpose of attracting students who are not raised with the knowledge of the elements of Judaism. This has drawn many people who would not have attended YU without the existence of such a program. Its mission has drawn the attention of some wealthy philanthropists who believe in bringing more Jews into the fold of Yeshiva. Two in particular have left their estates, estimated at five and three million dollars a piece, to Mechinah in their wills. The latter donation has been given solely for enhancing recruitment. "Our donors are fascinated by recruiting students from non-Orthodox backgrounds," said Rabbi Zev Reichman, director of the Mechinah program.

Recruitment is a complicated process for Mechinah, as it searches for students outside of the usual Orthodox day school environment from which most YU students are drawn.

The main source of penetration into the non-yeshiva day school environment by Mechinah is through Jewish youth organizations. Mechinah has so far employed the National Council of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) for this purpose and is trying to work with the Bnei Brith Youth Organization (BBYO). But Mechinah is hoping to spread its influence to other parts of the Jewish spectrum as well. "We would love to be involved with NFTY (National Federation for Temple Youth, a Reform group), USY (United Synagogue Youth, a Conservative group), March of the Living, and Young Judea," said Reichman. "YU needs to reach out beyond yeshiva high schools."

Another idea for advancing recruitment for the program is the creation of a trip to Poland and Israel for high school students, similar to the trip run by the March of the Living. Although only in its planning stages, this excursion has already received a $100,000 donation.

Initiatives like this one can not progress in planning until a Director of Outreach is appointed for the exclusive task of recruitment. "We are looking for someone to fill the role of going out and recruiting and also doing programs under the YU banner with the goal of trying to recruit students to come to YU," said Reichman. The search has already begun to find such a person.

Recruiting for Mechinah is not solely a concern of the program; rather it is also a crucial part of a Yeshiva administrative initiative to expand the undergraduate student body of YU by one thousand students over the next five to seven years. Mechinah fills a void in attracting students who would not choose to study at Yeshiva in the absence of such a program. To accommodate such a large influx of students, Mechinah will be forced to grow quite quickly. Reichman says, however, that the program is up to the challenge even though YU is an Orthodox institution and the students he is hoping to attract may not be. "We do not view ourselves as a university only for Jews who are already Orthodox," said Reichman. "We are a Jewish university dedicated to spreading Jewish values and Torah to all Jews and to all of humanity."