2008 Woodie Awards
Israel is for Two Years, YU is Four
Zev Eleff
Issue date: 9/4/07 Section: Editorials
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Early last May, a discussion appeared on a popular Jewish blog, Hirhurim Musings, discussing the highlights of the final issue of The Commentator. The conversation involving over 400 posts covered everything from Dr. Joel Roth's comments on YCT to undergraduate dating. At one point during this sinuous dialogue, provoked by a statement in my column in that edition of the newspaper, the topic of staying four years on campus was debated.
Every angle to the issue was touched upon. They covered financial considerations, pressures to get married before graduate school, and curriculum considerations. In fact, some of the thread got quite personal. "And as someone who knows of Mr. Eleff," wrote someone using the alias 'Zuckman,' "he has absolutely no reason NOT to stay an extra year, hameyvin yavin."
Hoping that 'Zuckman' doesn't have insider information into my social life, I will assume that he was referring to my commitment to the Torah and Madda aspects of our curriculum. And he's undoubtedly right; I'm not smart enough, efficient enough, and altogether talented enough to get out of this place with any sort of formidable education in just three years.
For an editor who tries his best to reflect the views of the students, I couldn't pick a more unpopular topic on which to write; three years on campus might be the only issue on which most of our student body can agree. It might be safe to say that practically nobody thinks about spending four years on the Wilf Campus. Even former, Commentator editors who claim to have been four-year students all along still registered on the newspaper's website as three-and-out students when they first arrived on campus.
Therefore, I submit that this opinion is in the minority among my peers. This may be due to the fact that everyone who confidently chooses to graduate in the minimum time are better students than I. I can accept that. It's probable that those same students look at the list of YC and university administrators roster replete with quite a number of Ivy League PhDs and scoff because that's exactly their point. "Most of the people making decisions in this place didn't even go to YU!" these students say while printing out their dual curriculum schedules at the Registrar's Office.
All of that is expected, and to some degree, even warranted. Still, it is astounding that students seem to attack the College while conveniently ignoring the other individuals on the list of people who support a four year stay on campus. Last September, Rabbi Hershel Schachter was quoted in The Commentator endorsing longer undergraduate careers and questioned those who pass on the opportunity. "They are just fooling themselves in to thinking that they are accomplishing something," challenged Rabbi Schachter. Rabbi Michael Rosensweig echoed similar sentiments when he spent Shabbat in Yeshiva last Spring. Yet, it doesn't matter what they say either because they're both geniuses and how can they relate to smart, but not that smart, students?!
Of course, it makes sense that leadership for these four-year detractors stems from a much more relatable group. In fact, there is a longstanding tradition of brothers, brothers-in-law and 25 year old kollel guys in Israeli yeshivot who are firmly devoted to the proposition that Yeshiva is just a three-year college.
This nearly unbreakable culture is the same one that is responsible for the growing popularity of shana bet. And in this respect, it's hard to argue against them. By design, and necessitated by poor Judaic studies education offered in most yeshiva high schools, most yeshivot in Israel are framed around a two year curriculum. No matter the level of the yeshiva, a second year in Israel without distraction allows students to cultivate intellectual creativity and break free of Aramaic-Hebrew-English dictionaries. Upon recollection, with the exception of one of my dearest and most brilliant friends, the most sincere and thoughtful students in my secular courses remained in Israel for longer than just one year. Sure, they attended a variety of yeshivot. But they all took the extra year to mature their minds and secure their creative juices for limudei kodesh and as it turns out, limudei hol, too.
So there lies the conundrum. The same compelling culture that made these students so desirable to the administration in the first place is also a major reason for their lack of success in what YC Dean David Srolovitz calls the most important issue facing our campus today.
YU never really stood a chance against this culture. Learning in Israel was an ideal situation for all of us. We had the freedom to sit and emulate what men 30 years our senior, our teachers, were doing all day long; we could just sit and learn. We never had to worry about responsibilities or crucial decision making. Unlike those men we mimicked all day, we returned back to the yeshiva dormitory - not to a wife and four children.
Just because we had an all expense paid trip to an emerald city doesn't mean that Oz is any less fictional. Reportedly, most of us were fortunate to have a second year of pause and preparation in Israel. Yet college, especially Yeshiva College, is still not the real world. We have more responsibilities than we had in Israel, but few of us receive weekly paychecks or worry about feeding our children. Even here, we still have our fair share of wonderful wizards and flying monkeys. Yet, we insist on fixating on the monkeys because there weren't any back in Israel.
Committing to a four-year Yeshiva education is certainly not an easy decision. Many factors are involved. But after those issues have been dealt with, and it comes down to two questions, the answer should be clear: Will four years be more work? Certainly. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
But then again, nobody said that becoming a talmid hakham was easy. Isn't that what they taught us on the first day of shana bet?
Every angle to the issue was touched upon. They covered financial considerations, pressures to get married before graduate school, and curriculum considerations. In fact, some of the thread got quite personal. "And as someone who knows of Mr. Eleff," wrote someone using the alias 'Zuckman,' "he has absolutely no reason NOT to stay an extra year, hameyvin yavin."
Hoping that 'Zuckman' doesn't have insider information into my social life, I will assume that he was referring to my commitment to the Torah and Madda aspects of our curriculum. And he's undoubtedly right; I'm not smart enough, efficient enough, and altogether talented enough to get out of this place with any sort of formidable education in just three years.
For an editor who tries his best to reflect the views of the students, I couldn't pick a more unpopular topic on which to write; three years on campus might be the only issue on which most of our student body can agree. It might be safe to say that practically nobody thinks about spending four years on the Wilf Campus. Even former, Commentator editors who claim to have been four-year students all along still registered on the newspaper's website as three-and-out students when they first arrived on campus.
Therefore, I submit that this opinion is in the minority among my peers. This may be due to the fact that everyone who confidently chooses to graduate in the minimum time are better students than I. I can accept that. It's probable that those same students look at the list of YC and university administrators roster replete with quite a number of Ivy League PhDs and scoff because that's exactly their point. "Most of the people making decisions in this place didn't even go to YU!" these students say while printing out their dual curriculum schedules at the Registrar's Office.
All of that is expected, and to some degree, even warranted. Still, it is astounding that students seem to attack the College while conveniently ignoring the other individuals on the list of people who support a four year stay on campus. Last September, Rabbi Hershel Schachter was quoted in The Commentator endorsing longer undergraduate careers and questioned those who pass on the opportunity. "They are just fooling themselves in to thinking that they are accomplishing something," challenged Rabbi Schachter. Rabbi Michael Rosensweig echoed similar sentiments when he spent Shabbat in Yeshiva last Spring. Yet, it doesn't matter what they say either because they're both geniuses and how can they relate to smart, but not that smart, students?!
Of course, it makes sense that leadership for these four-year detractors stems from a much more relatable group. In fact, there is a longstanding tradition of brothers, brothers-in-law and 25 year old kollel guys in Israeli yeshivot who are firmly devoted to the proposition that Yeshiva is just a three-year college.
This nearly unbreakable culture is the same one that is responsible for the growing popularity of shana bet. And in this respect, it's hard to argue against them. By design, and necessitated by poor Judaic studies education offered in most yeshiva high schools, most yeshivot in Israel are framed around a two year curriculum. No matter the level of the yeshiva, a second year in Israel without distraction allows students to cultivate intellectual creativity and break free of Aramaic-Hebrew-English dictionaries. Upon recollection, with the exception of one of my dearest and most brilliant friends, the most sincere and thoughtful students in my secular courses remained in Israel for longer than just one year. Sure, they attended a variety of yeshivot. But they all took the extra year to mature their minds and secure their creative juices for limudei kodesh and as it turns out, limudei hol, too.
So there lies the conundrum. The same compelling culture that made these students so desirable to the administration in the first place is also a major reason for their lack of success in what YC Dean David Srolovitz calls the most important issue facing our campus today.
YU never really stood a chance against this culture. Learning in Israel was an ideal situation for all of us. We had the freedom to sit and emulate what men 30 years our senior, our teachers, were doing all day long; we could just sit and learn. We never had to worry about responsibilities or crucial decision making. Unlike those men we mimicked all day, we returned back to the yeshiva dormitory - not to a wife and four children.
Just because we had an all expense paid trip to an emerald city doesn't mean that Oz is any less fictional. Reportedly, most of us were fortunate to have a second year of pause and preparation in Israel. Yet college, especially Yeshiva College, is still not the real world. We have more responsibilities than we had in Israel, but few of us receive weekly paychecks or worry about feeding our children. Even here, we still have our fair share of wonderful wizards and flying monkeys. Yet, we insist on fixating on the monkeys because there weren't any back in Israel.
Committing to a four-year Yeshiva education is certainly not an easy decision. Many factors are involved. But after those issues have been dealt with, and it comes down to two questions, the answer should be clear: Will four years be more work? Certainly. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
But then again, nobody said that becoming a talmid hakham was easy. Isn't that what they taught us on the first day of shana bet?