Yeshiva College (Yeshiva University)

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This article is about the college in New York City. For the high school in Melbourne, see Yeshivah College, Australia.
Belfer Hall, named for philanthropists Diane and Arthur Belfer, is one of the tallest educational structures in the world.[1]
Belfer Hall, named for philanthropists Diane and Arthur Belfer, is one of the tallest educational structures in the world.[1]

Yeshiva College is located in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood in Upper Manhattan. It is Yeshiva University’s undergraduate college of liberal arts and sciences for men. (Stern College for Women is Yeshiva College’s counterpart for women.)

Roughly 1,100 students from some two dozen countries, including students registered at Sy Syms School of Business, attend Yeshiva College.

David J. Srolovitz, Ph.D., is dean of Yeshiva College.

Contents

[edit] Philosophy

Students at Yeshiva College pursue a dual educational program that combines liberal arts and sciences and pre-professional studies with the study of Torah and Jewish heritage, reflecting Yeshiva’s educational philosophy of Torah Umadda, which translates loosely as “Torah and secular knowledge” (the interaction between Judaism and general culture).

[edit] History

Yeshiva College was founded in 1928 as the first college of liberal arts and sciences in the United States under Jewish auspices.

[edit] Academics

Majors offered include:

  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Classical languages
  • Computer sciences
  • Economics
  • English
  • French
  • Hebrew
  • History
  • Jewish studies
  • Mathematics
  • Music
  • Philosophy
  • Physics
  • Political science
  • Pre-engineering
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Speech and drama

Combined and joint programs in business administration, dentistry, engineering, Jewish education, Jewish studies, law, occupational therapy, optometry, podiatric medicine, and social work are also available.

Minors offered include:

  • American studies
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biology
  • Business
  • Chemistry
  • Classical languages
  • Computer sciences
  • Economics
  • English (Literature and Writing tracks)
  • Foreign languages
  • French
  • Hebrew
  • History
  • Jewish studies
  • Mathematics
  • Music
  • Philosophy
  • Physics
  • Political science
  • Psychology
  • Public health
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Speech and drama

The Robert M. Beren Department of Jewish Studies unifies and centralizes all academic Jewish studies offerings at Yeshiva College: Bible, Hebrew, Jewish history, Jewish philosophy, and Judaic studies.

In addition to courses leading to the B.A. degree, all students undertake Jewish studies requiring intensive analysis of classic texts in Hebrew and Aramaic. Students are enrolled in a full course of study in one of the following options:

  • James Striar School of General Jewish Studies/the Mechinah Program
  • Yeshiva Program/Mazer School of Talmudic Studies
  • Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies
  • Irving I. Stone Beit Midrash Program

Yeshiva College's Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors program stresses writing, critical analysis, cultural enrichment, and individual mentoring.

The S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program allows students who wish to spend a year in Israel to take courses at one of 51 different Israeli institutions.

[edit] Student life

Athletics include Maccabees basketball, tennis, fencing, cross-country, golf, soccer, volleyball, wrestling, and baseball. Other student activities include the newspaper The Commentator and the radio station WYUR.

David H. Zysman Hall, on the Washington Heights campus of Yeshiva College, is home to the main beit midrash (study hall).
David H. Zysman Hall, on the Washington Heights campus of Yeshiva College, is home to the main beit midrash (study hall).

[edit] Student Government

The student government, the Yeshiva Student Union, includes the Student Organization of Yeshiva (for students in MYP and RIETS), the IBC, JSS, and SBMP Student Councils, the Sy Syms School Of Business Student Association, and the Yeshiva College Student Association.

[edit] Dormitories and student housing

Approximately 90% of the undergraduate student population(s) lives on campus.

The Wilf Campus includes three main dormitory buildings: Morgenstern, Muss, and Rubin Residence Halls. Many upperclassmen live in the surrounding independent housing that is run by the university or in other nearby buildings.

[edit] Notable Alumni

Matthew Levitt

Hillel Furstenberg

Shlomo Sternberg

Shaye Cohen


[edit] Notable faculty

Joshua Aaron Fishman

Joseph B. Soloveitchik

[edit] Facilities

  • David H. Zysman Hall
  • Sol and Hilda Furst Hall
  • Belfer Hall
  • Schottenstein Center
  • Mendel Gottesman Library
  • Max Stern Athletic Building and Benjamin Gottesman Pool
  • Ruth and Hyman Muss, Morris and Celia Morgenstern, Joseph and Dora Strenger, and Leah and Joseph Rubin Residence Halls
  • Glueck Center for Jewish Studies (under construction)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Menachem Butler and Zev Nagel, eds., My Yeshiva College: 75 Years of Memories (New York: Yashar Books, 2006) ISBN 1933143126.
  • Victor Geller, Orthodoxy Awakens: The Belkin Era and Yeshiva University (Jerusalem; Urim Publications, 2003) ISBN 9657108470
  • Jeffrey S. Gurock, Men and Women of Yeshiva University: Higher Education, Orthodoxy and American Judaism (New York; Columbia University Press, 1988) ISBN 023106618X
  • Aaron Rothkoff-Rakeffet, Bernard Revel: Builder of American Jewish Orthodoxy (Philadelphia; Jewish Publication Society, 1972) ISBN 0873062841
  • Gilbert Klaperman, The Story of Yeshiva University, the First Jewish University in America (Macmillan, 1969) ISBN 0684823411

[edit] References

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