A Fish in Water

It was September 1975 when I arrived as a new student at Yeshiva College. I had just finished three years of learning at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel and didn't know what to expect as I started this new chapter in my life. Actually I was reluctant to enroll at Yeshiva College. From my earliest memories as a child in Cleveland, I recalled how my teachers at the Hebrew Academy told me that no serious Torah student would go to Yeshiva University. From their more insular perspective, the combination of a Yeshiva with college simply wasn't acceptable. At best, YU was a compromise; at worst it was a "Makom Tumah," a place where one would be inspired to reject the Torah values that they had instilled in their students. Even the presence of Rabbi Soloveitchik wasn't a mediating factor. My elementary and high school rabbis had no respect for the Rav. They couldn't understand how a Torah scholar could have a PhD in philosophy and endorse secular studies.

My parents, however, knew that the Rav was the leading Torah scholar of our generation, and that YU was a great Torah center where one could learn Torah while pursuing a serious secular education. With their encouragement, and the realization that many of my friends from Kerem B'Yavneh were going to YU, I enrolled with ambivalent feelings, worried that I would be greatly disappointed in the Torah environment on campus.

Right before leaving for my first semester in New York, I met a family friend and neighbor, Mike Senders, who had attended YU many years before. When he heard that I had decided to enroll at YU he sensed my concerns and coached me for what to expect. He told me that I would find every type of student, just as in any Jewish community, including the entire spectrum from the seriously religious to the non-observant. It was up to me, he instructed, to choose my friends, knowing that this would define what kind of experience I would have at YU.

With all of these conflicting ideas running through my mind I arrived in Washington Heights for the first time in my life. That summer I had taken a few courses at John Carroll University in Cleveland, where the campus is located in a gorgeous suburban setting with stately buildings and beautifully manicured grounds. That, I thought, was what typical college campuses looked like. Imagine my shock when I saw garbage littered all over the streets leading up to the YU campus! "Oh No!" I thought, "Is this where I am going to spend the next six years of my life?!"

But my negative feelings quickly disappeared as I entered the Beit Midrash in the main building for my first "Chavrutah." I couldn't believe my eyes. Standing in front of me were some of the greatest Torah scholars in the world. As each Rosh Yeshiva appeared I thought to myself that nowhere else could one find so many outstanding Torah personalities in one location. I recall seeing on my first day in the Yeshiva, not only my Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yehuda Parnes, but also Rabbi Yosef Arnest z"l, Rabbi Michel Bernstein z"l, Rabbi Yerucham Gorelik z"l, Rabbi Dovid Lifshitz z"l, Rabbi J. David Bleich, Rabbi Abba Bronspigel, Rabbi Hershel Reichman, Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler.

After Shiur, as I was heading back to my dorm room in Rubin Hall, I saw a large group of students walking from Furst Hall towards Morgenstern Dormitory. They were surrounding someone and it appeared that everyone was straining to hear what the man in the middle was saying. I enquired what was going on, and was told, "Don't you know? That is the Rav, and you will see this every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Those are the days the Rav gives Shiur." And then the fellow added, "If you think that is a large crowd, just wait to see what happens when the Rav delivers a public address. Thousands of people come to hear him and it is a sight you will never forget."

The most amazing sight of all, however, occurred at night. I couldn't believe my eyes when I entered the Beit Midrash. There were hundreds of fellows learning until late at night. This was after a full day of both Shiurim and college courses. When, I wondered, would the students find time to complete their college assignments? Invariably, the answer was, "very late nights." Indeed, that was the typical experience. Rabbi Zevulun Charlop once remarked that he thought there were more students learning at night at YU than in any other Beit Midrash. I don't know if his observation was scientifically correct, but Rabbi Charlop was rightfully proud of the dedication and devotion that so many YU students had for Torah study.

After seeing all of this suddenly all of my concerns about YU dissipated, and I embarked on six years that I loved. At Yeshiva I received an outstanding Torah education as well as a first rate secular education. I met friends that I still have to this very day and I am grateful for all that YU offered me. My horizons were expanded and I found a home away from home.

Many years after I completed YU, and I was already a rabbi in Los Angeles, a very prominent American Halakhic authority who wasn't associated with YU at all, confidentially commented to me, "YU produces some of the finest Bnei Torah in the country."

Elazar Muskin graduated Yeshiva College in January 1978; RIETS 1980, and earned an M.S. degree from Bernard Revel Graduate School in 1980. He is rabbi of Young Israel of Century City in Los Angeles.