2008 Woodie Awards
"Enabled and Ennobled"
Aaron Kogut
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: Opinion
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President Joel's famous line about how YU students are "enabled and ennobled" has become somewhat of a cliché that we students have come to expect in both the town hall meetings and in the Purim shpiel. The truth is, though, that after all of the jokes have been made, President Joel really does speak words of truth.
As I stood in the small corridor beside the double-doors that lead to Lamport auditorium, fifty or sixty Yeshiva students made their way to the registration tables to pick up information on the different speakers presenting at the Student Medical Ethics Society's second annual conference. Student-volunteers began to hand out white folders with the society's blue tri-star logo and explained to them the schedule for the day. I walked over to one of these students, welcomed him to the conference, and we began to talk. After a few minutes I asked him what his major was. He shockingly revealed to me that he was a history major hoping to start law school in the coming year. I think that that one moment in time revealed more to me than did several days of reflection following the conference.
We students are truly amazing. Ten years ago, all talk of infertility was taboo. Those who suffered lived in secrecy and shame. Today, students, those who may never even have to think of this type of challenge, come with interest for the sole sake of expanding their horizons. We represent the next generation, one that embodies a society of more tolerance, yet one whose strict adherence to Halacha seems clear as evident by the influx of post-high school learning in Yeshivot and seminaries both in Israel and elsewhere. Yet I find it inspiring that we nonetheless have began to shed the last generation's stigmas and misconceptions and have become more open to learning and understanding.
There is also another important lesson I have taken away from this conference. We as Yeshiva students have tremendous tools. Running this conference was by no means easy, but it was possible. The resources that this university has set before us are handed to us on a silver platter; all we must do is recognize this and accept it.
I could have gone to a secular university, but I knew I wouldn't be content fighting to prove that Israel had a right to exist. This is by all means an important task and I commend those who have taken it on, but as students in Yeshiva we have tremendous opportunities to move beyond this as leaders of the Jewish community. As I watched the volunteers and members of the Student Medical Ethics Society, I saw dedication and drive, students who not only accepted a task but went above and beyond the call of duty and took on an ownership of these charges. When it comes down to it, this to me is what YU is all about. Mark Twain once said "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education", our classes are certainly something we must excel in, but there is ultimately so much more this institution can teach us. All we must do is answer the call to become "enabled and ennobled."
As I stood in the small corridor beside the double-doors that lead to Lamport auditorium, fifty or sixty Yeshiva students made their way to the registration tables to pick up information on the different speakers presenting at the Student Medical Ethics Society's second annual conference. Student-volunteers began to hand out white folders with the society's blue tri-star logo and explained to them the schedule for the day. I walked over to one of these students, welcomed him to the conference, and we began to talk. After a few minutes I asked him what his major was. He shockingly revealed to me that he was a history major hoping to start law school in the coming year. I think that that one moment in time revealed more to me than did several days of reflection following the conference.
We students are truly amazing. Ten years ago, all talk of infertility was taboo. Those who suffered lived in secrecy and shame. Today, students, those who may never even have to think of this type of challenge, come with interest for the sole sake of expanding their horizons. We represent the next generation, one that embodies a society of more tolerance, yet one whose strict adherence to Halacha seems clear as evident by the influx of post-high school learning in Yeshivot and seminaries both in Israel and elsewhere. Yet I find it inspiring that we nonetheless have began to shed the last generation's stigmas and misconceptions and have become more open to learning and understanding.
There is also another important lesson I have taken away from this conference. We as Yeshiva students have tremendous tools. Running this conference was by no means easy, but it was possible. The resources that this university has set before us are handed to us on a silver platter; all we must do is recognize this and accept it.
I could have gone to a secular university, but I knew I wouldn't be content fighting to prove that Israel had a right to exist. This is by all means an important task and I commend those who have taken it on, but as students in Yeshiva we have tremendous opportunities to move beyond this as leaders of the Jewish community. As I watched the volunteers and members of the Student Medical Ethics Society, I saw dedication and drive, students who not only accepted a task but went above and beyond the call of duty and took on an ownership of these charges. When it comes down to it, this to me is what YU is all about. Mark Twain once said "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education", our classes are certainly something we must excel in, but there is ultimately so much more this institution can teach us. All we must do is answer the call to become "enabled and ennobled."