2008 Woodie Awards
Inside and Outside the Classroom
Donald S. Davis
Issue date: 4/18/05 Section: YUdaica
I arrived at Yeshiva College in September 1961, after a seven hour drive from Montreal, Canada; a trip that traversed worlds and changed my life. Of all the incoming freshmen, I was the only Montrealer, though there was one other Canadian, from Ottawa. The vast preponderance of our class came from the greater New York area. While the "New Yorkers" tended to stick together, the "out of towners" quickly became close friends, developed life long relationships.
At the time the college campus consisted of the Main Building [now called Zysman Hall], Furst Hall, the library (its adjacent barrack style buildings) and the Rubin Dorm.
We all lived in the Rubin Dormitory, about twenty-five rooms to a floor, two or three to a room, paper thin walls and one payphone on each floor. Life, to say the least, was interesting. The dorm emptied out for the weekend on Thursday night when the "New Yorkers" went home, but us "out of towners" remained. We created our own Shabbat atmosphere. We ate Parker's food. We explored the sights of New York, it culture, theatre and kosher restaurants (most of us, if we were lucky, had one kosher restaurant in our hometown).
During my sophomore year, along with five other "out of towners," I rented the top two floors of a brownstone on Washington Terrace (the dead end street behind the library off 186th street). We were the first students to live on campus, but not in the dormitory. We were three sophomores and three juniors in the apartment. In my senior year, together with my roommate Michael Chernick, I returned to the dorms and took up residence in Morgenstern which opened in the fall of 1964, and we brought our television set along. The first and only one in the dorm.
When I reflect back on my four years at Yeshiva College, I remember not only my classmates, the friends that I made and retain to this day, but as well the extra curricular activities and experiences and our rebbeim and professors.
My Yeshiva experience extended well beyond the classroom. I remember with nostalgia the late Thursday night bridge games, heart games and early (4 am) Friday morning breakfast at Ratners on the Lower East Side. In the main building, the gym - if you would call it that - had a ceiling that was no more than eight feet high, the basketball team practiced and played its home games at Powell Memorial High School, swimming was at Washington Heights High School, tennis practice was at the armoury. The social highlight of the year was the Dean's Reception and the Dramatic Society Play.
At the time the college campus consisted of the Main Building [now called Zysman Hall], Furst Hall, the library (its adjacent barrack style buildings) and the Rubin Dorm.
We all lived in the Rubin Dormitory, about twenty-five rooms to a floor, two or three to a room, paper thin walls and one payphone on each floor. Life, to say the least, was interesting. The dorm emptied out for the weekend on Thursday night when the "New Yorkers" went home, but us "out of towners" remained. We created our own Shabbat atmosphere. We ate Parker's food. We explored the sights of New York, it culture, theatre and kosher restaurants (most of us, if we were lucky, had one kosher restaurant in our hometown).
During my sophomore year, along with five other "out of towners," I rented the top two floors of a brownstone on Washington Terrace (the dead end street behind the library off 186th street). We were the first students to live on campus, but not in the dormitory. We were three sophomores and three juniors in the apartment. In my senior year, together with my roommate Michael Chernick, I returned to the dorms and took up residence in Morgenstern which opened in the fall of 1964, and we brought our television set along. The first and only one in the dorm.
When I reflect back on my four years at Yeshiva College, I remember not only my classmates, the friends that I made and retain to this day, but as well the extra curricular activities and experiences and our rebbeim and professors.
My Yeshiva experience extended well beyond the classroom. I remember with nostalgia the late Thursday night bridge games, heart games and early (4 am) Friday morning breakfast at Ratners on the Lower East Side. In the main building, the gym - if you would call it that - had a ceiling that was no more than eight feet high, the basketball team practiced and played its home games at Powell Memorial High School, swimming was at Washington Heights High School, tennis practice was at the armoury. The social highlight of the year was the Dean's Reception and the Dramatic Society Play.