YESHIVA UNIVERSITY • JUNE 2005 • VOLUME 9 NO. 5

www.yu.edu/news/publications

YUTodayIN

SID

E INCUBATORPROJECTDELIVERSPresidential FellowsSponsor SexualityProgram

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WATCH OUT,WORLD

Here TheyCome—YU’s2005 Grads

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A DEBTREPAID

Alumnus ClearsHolocaustHero’s Name

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LESSONSFROMHISTORY CSL Looks atNurembergLegacy

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Jeffrey Swartz Urges Graduatesto Apply Torah to Their Livesn ‘Take Torah to the Street’ says Timberland CEO at 2005 Commencement

Jeffrey Swartz, CEO of TheTimberland Company,charged 600 Yeshiva Uni-versity undergraduatesto apply the lessons of

Torah in all aspects of their livesduring his keynote speech atthe university’s 74th com-mencement exercises May 26at The Theater at Madison

Square Garden. Mr. Swartz alsoreceived an honorary doctorof humane letters degreefrom YU.

“Torah learning is not justsitting in the beit midrash,”he said. “Being active in thewords of the Torah means studyand action. You have to takeTorah to the street by being

active in your community.”Mr. Swartz is the third gen-

eration of his family to lead thesocially responsible footwear,apparel and accessories com-pany. Under his leadership, Tim-berland’s annual revenues havegrown from $156 million in1989 to more than $1.4 billion.

President Richard M. Joelconferred some 2,000 under-graduate and graduate degrees,and re-conferred degrees uponthe Yeshiva College class of1955 in celebration of its 50threunion, and acknowledgedthe reunion classes of 1980and 1995.

During his address, the presi-dent told students “to bringwisdom to life.”

“Today marks a great be-ginning,” he said. “You haveassembled the kite that is yourlife: You have crafted it,launched it, it has caught thebreeze, and now it soars towardyour future. So feel the tug of

continued on page 9

Professors Jay Ladin andWilliam Stenhouse re-ceived post-doctoral re-search fellowships to

pursue research interests duringthe 2005–2006 academic year.

Dr. Ladin, David and RuthGottesman Assistant Professorof English at Stern College forWomen and director of itsWriting Center, received aresearch fellowship from theAmerican Council of LearnedSocieties. His research willfocus on the history of Ameri-can poetry from 1850 to 1920and the origins of modernistpoetry, and will lead to the

publication of a book.Dr. Ladin taught narrative

poetry and American LiteratureII this spring at Stern, where hehas also taught composition,creative writing, and Americanpoetry.

The Stern professor was en-couraged in his fellowshipapplication by Morton Lowen-grub, PhD, vice president foracademic affairs, and KarenBacon, PhD, The Dr. MoniqueC. Katz Dean of Stern College.Dr. Ladin said both adminis-trators understand the impor-

Fellowship Awardeesto Pursue Research

Yeshiva University stu-dents were bolsteredby hundreds of sup-porters from other

regional universities on May 8when they gathered in Man-hattan’s Central Park to raiseawareness of the killing ofthousands of innocent peoplein Sudan.

Not Now Not Ever, a student-run humanitarian organiza-tion founded by YU students,organized the rally, whichdrew 1,000 participants.

The students partnered withgroups at other East Coast uni-versities, including Brandeis,Brooklyn College, Columbia,

University of Connecticut,Georgetown, Harvard, NYU,Penn State, Queens College,

Rutgers, Swarthmore College,Touro College, University ofPennsylvania, and Vassar.

David Weinberg, the orga-nization’s director and a YUsenior, said the inspiration forthe rally came from the HumanRights and Sovereignty lectureseries hosted by Stern Collegefor Women this spring com-memorating the 60th anniver-sary of the end of the Holocaust.

“It is our responsibility asJews to stand up and makesure that the kind of genocideour grandparents’ generationexperienced doesn’t happentoday,” Mr. Weinberg said.

Richard M. Joel, YU presi-dent, and Ruth Messinger,executive director of Ameri-can Jewish World Service and

former Manhattan BoroughPresident, spoke at the rally,which was covered by localand national print and televi-sion media.

Other speakers includedYahya M. Osman, general sec-retary of the Darfur RehabProject, who lost six membersof his family to violence inKutum, Sudan.

“People often use theexcuse, ‘We’re only human,”President Joel said. “But for usas Jews, humanity is not anexcuse; it’s an aspiration. It isour responsibility as humans to

William Stenhouse Jay Ladin

Students Urge Action on Darfur at Central Park Rally

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Inspiration for the rally came from Human Rightsand Sovereignty lecture series at Stern College.

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Valedictorians L-R: Ari Wainberg (IBC), Leeran Factor (JSS), Riva Preil (SCW-Jewish Studies), David Hellman (YC), Yael Wagner(SCW-General Studies), Eli Belizon (MYP), Rebecca Reback (SSSB),

and Michael Nahmias (SSSB). Not pictured is Ian Baine (BMP).

Chaim Feuerman, EdD, GoldaKoschitzky Professor of Jewish Edu-cation, AGS, offered faculty trainingprograms and staff consultationsin March at Stern Hebrew HighSchool of Philadelphia and Mai-monides School of Brookline, MA.

YC Writing Center staff—LaurenFitzgerald, PhD, director; AllisonSmith, assistant director; LieslSchwabe, faculty tutor; andundergraduate tutors Tzvi Kahn,Raimy Rubin, and Leib Zalesch (allYC seniors)—presented “Stigmasand Enigmas: Approaching Worldsof Difference in the Writing CenterSession” at the Northeast WritingCenters Association Conference,Long Island University-Brooklyn,on April 17.

Scott Goldberg, PhD, AGS assis-tant professor, spoke in May on“It’s Not the Media We Grew UpWith,” South Nassau CommunitiesHospital.

Ephraim Kanarfogel, PhD, YH,’77Y,R,B, E. Billi Ivry Professor ofJewish History and chairman,Rebecca Ivry Department of Jew-ish Studies at SCW, was scholar-in-residence at Mt. Sinai Jewish Center,Washington Heights, in February.He spoke on “Views of YemotHamashiach” and “Ashkenaz andSefarad: Similarities andDifferences.”

Prof. Edith Lubetski ’68B, headlibrarian of Hedi Steinberg Libraryat SCW, presented greetings viavideo to Yaakov Aronson, Bar-IlanUniversity librarian, at a yom iyun(day of study) celebrating his retire-ment.

Rabbi Alter B.Z. Metzger ’54Y,R,F,professor of Judaic studies, servedas simultaneous translator (Hebrew-English, Yiddish-English) at MadisonSquare Garden during the March 1Siyum HaShas commemoratingthe conclusion of the seven-yearcycle of Talmud study. This is thethird time he has functioned inthat capacity.

David Pelcovitz, PhD, Gwendolynand Joseph Straus Professor ofJewish Education at AGS, spoke on“Dealing with the Aftermath: ACommunity’s Response to Tragedy,”Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jer-sey; “The Recipe for a Mentsch” atCong. Sons of Israel of Cherry Hill,

NJ; and “Can We Help YoungPeople Affected by Domestic Vio-lence Build Healthy Relation-ships?” NYC Dept. of Youth andCommunity Development.

Daniel Pollack, MSW, JD, professorat WSSW, authored “IntercountryAdoption: Who are the GoodGuys?” in the American PublicHuman Services Association’s(APHSA) Policy & Practice, March’05.

Rabbi Hershel Schachter YH,’62Y,R, Nathan and Vivian FinkDistinguished Professor of Talmud,gave a shiur (lecture) in English,“Eilu v’Eilu—The Possibility andLegitimacy of Differing Opinions”at YU’s Caroline and Joseph S. GrussInstitute of Jerusalem in February.

Alvin I. Schiff, PhD, ’47Y,F, IrvingI. Stone Distinguished Professor ofJewish Education, AGI, authored“Bashert—Partnership between Manand His Creator” in Chadashot, aquarterly published by the YoungIsrael of Oceanside, NY. He pre-sented an array of lectures at Cong.Torah Ohr, Boca Raton, includinga series of 15 on Haftarot focusingon the historic, social, philosophic,and linguistic background of theannual cycle of readings. The syn-agogue awarded him its MarbitzTorah award. Also, he was inter-viewed on Israel radio on “Assim-ilation in the United States and theRole of Jewish Education in Com-bating Assimilation.”

David J. Schnall, PhD, YH,’69Y,R,AGS dean and Herbert H. SchiffProfessor of Management andAdministration, was the keynotespeaker for the Chachmei LevNational Honor Society, HebrewAcademy of Long Beach; and wasappointed associate of theJerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Samuel Schneider, PhD, depart-ment of Hebrew language andHebrew literature chairperson,authored “Hebrew LanguageStudy in Jewish Day Schools,”Emunah magazine (spring/summer2005). He also received YU’s Murrayand Madeleine Baumel FacultyIncentive Award for 2005.

Victor Schwartz, MD, director,counseling and mental healthservices at YU, made a grand-roundpresentation to the psychiatry

department at St. Vincent’s Hos-pital titled “An Update on Issues inCollege Mental Health.” Also, heconducted a training session forthe student affairs division ofFordham University on suicideprevention and suicide responseon college campuses.

Moshe Sokolow, PhD, YH,’69Y,B,Fanya Gottesfeld-Heller Professorof Jewish Education, AGS, authored“Teaching Spirituality in DaySchools and Yeshiva High Schools,”Jewish Spirituality and Divine Law(The Michael Scharf PublicationTrust of the Yeshiva UniversityPress, 2005).

Publications by Manfred Weid-horn, PhD, Abraham S. and IreneGuterman Professor of EnglishLiterature, this year included “TwinStars: The Anxiety of Sibling Rivalrybetween Literary Titans,” Papers onLanguage and Literature (Spring2004); “Shakespeare’s SkepticismRedefined,” Orbis Litterarum (2004);“A Match Made in Heaven” (accep-tance speech for 1998 Farrow Awardfor Excellence in Churchill Studies),Churchill Proceedings 1998–2000;and “Pacifism Lost,” and “Noteson the Ambiguity of Violence,” TheInternational Journal of Humanitiesand Peace (2004).

CONGRATULATIONS TO

Rabbi Kenneth Brander ’84Y,R,inaugural dean of the Center forthe Jewish Future, and wife Rachel(Tambor) Brander ’84S on thebirth of their fifth child, ChaimYitzchak Amichai. Mazal tov tograndparents Rabbi Aaron ’59Rand Ellen Brander.

Chavi (Swidler) Eisenberg YH,’01S, director of undergraduatealumni programs, and her hus-band, Dr. Daniel Eisenberg YH'95,on the birth of a son, EliyahuShaul Eisenberg.

Rabbi Uriel Lubetski YH,’96Y,B,R,acting assistant principal at YH, onhis marriage to Shani Brukner.Mazal tov to parents Dr. Meir andProf. Edith Lubetski ’68B andHarry YH’72 and Linda Brukner.

Shoshana Margoliot of the YUIsrael office on the birth of agrandson and the marriage of herdaughter.

CONDOLENCES TO

Paul Brusiloff, CSL board member,on the loss of his father, Eugene.

Dr. Meir Havazelet ’68B, SCW pro-fessor of Bible, on the loss of hiswife, Sarah (Mirsky).

Irma Hilton, PhD, professor atFGS, on the loss of her mother,Alice Lubin.

Naomi Kapp, associate director ofYU’s Office of Career Services, onthe loss of her father, Josif Kapp.

Abraham M. Mann, PhD, ’59Y,B,R,director of development for RIETS,on the loss of his father, RabbiJacob. With his late wife, Isabelle,Rabbi Mann established scholar-ships at YC and SCW and was aGuardian of YU.

BOARD NEWS

Penny Randall, MSW, Lisa Hersh-berg Striar, PshD, ’97F, and ThereseRosenblatt, PhD, ’94F were electedto the FGS board of directors.

2 YUToday June 2005

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY

Morry J. Weiss, ChairmanYU Board of Trustees

Richard M. JoelPresident

Dr. Norman LammChancellor

Peter L. FerraraDirector of Communications and Public Affairs

Joshua L. Muss, Chairman, Board of Directors, Yeshiva College; Marjorie Diener Blenden,Chairman, Board of Directors, Stern College for Women; Bernard L. Madoff, Chairman, Board ofDirectors, Sy Syms School of Business; Ira M. Millstein, Chairperson, Board of Overseers, AlbertEinstein College of Medicine; Kathryn O. Greenberg, Chairman, Board of Directors, BenjaminN. Cardozo School of Law; Robert Schwalbe, Chair, Board of Governors, Wurzweiler School ofSocial Work; Mordecai D. Katz, Chairman, Board of Directors, Bernard Revel Graduate Schoolof Jewish Studies; Katherine Sachs, Chair, Board of Governors, Ferkauf Graduate School ofPsychology; Moshael J. Straus, Chairman, Board of Directors, Azrieli Graduate School of JewishEducation and Administration; Julius Berman, Chairman, Board of Trustees, (affiliate) RabbiIsaac Elchanan Theological Seminary; Erica Jesselson, Chairperson, Board of Directors, (affiliate)Yeshiva University Museum. Board listings as of June 1, 2005.

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY TODAY

Kelly BermanEditor

Jerry Bergman, Esther Finkle, Marcy Frank, June Glazer,Norman Goldberg, David Hillstrom, Cara Huzinec, Esther Kustanowitz

Peter Robertson, Hedy Shulman, Shira Weiss, V. Jane WindsorContributors

www.yu.edu/news/publications

Yeshiva University Today is published monthly during the academic year by the YeshivaUniversity Department of Communications and Public Affairs, 401 Furst Hall, 500 West 185th St.,New York, NY 10033-3201 (212-960-5285). It is distributed free on campus to faculty, staff, andstudents. © Yeshiva University 2005

YUTodayV O L U M E 9 • N U M B E R 5

People in the News

A, AECOM Albert Einstein College of Medicine • AG, AGI Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education andAdministration • BG, BGSS Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Sciences • B, BRGS Bernard Revel GraduateSchool of Jewish Studies • BSJM Belz School of Jewish Music • CTI Cantorial Training Institute • C, CSL CardozoSchool of Law • F, FGS Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology • I, IBC Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies • J,JSS James Striar School of General Jewish Studies • MSDCS Max Stern Division of Communal Services • Y, MYPYeshiva Program/Mazer School of Talmudic Studies • SBMP Stone Beit Midrash Program • R, RIETS Rabbi IsaacElchanan Theological Seminary • S, SCW Stern College for Women • SG Sue Golding Graduate Division of MedicalSciences • SB, SSSB Sy Syms School of Business • T, TI Teachers Institute • T, TIW Teachers Institute for Women •W, WSSW Wurzweiler School of Social Work • Y, YC Yeshiva College • YH, YUHS Yeshiva University High Schools(MSTA The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy) (SWHSG Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls)

Key to School Abbreviations

Scott Apfelbaum to DirectOperations in Israel YU’s presence in Israel recently received a boost with the appoint-ment of Scott Apfelbaum ’89Y as director of operations for YeshivaUniversity in Israel and the Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Institute.

Mr. Apfelbaum’s duties are varied. In addition to being respon-sible for the physical plant and the staff, he will communicate withgovernment, municipal, and Jewish Agency offices, oversee budgetand fiscal activities, complete special projects and programs, andprovide support to alumni.

“I want to create a strong educational, cultural and social center,a place where students and alumni can gather and feel at home,”Mr. Apfelbaum said. “With new programs and initiatives, YU willhave an impact on Israeli society as a whole.”

Mr. Apfelbaum’s family made aliyah from Great Neck, NY, whenhe was 13 years old. He graduated from YU in 1989 with a bache-lor’s degree in economics. Before returning to Israel in 1992, Mr.Apfelbaum was assistant director of admissions at YU. He was alsothe administrative director of Yeshivat Sha’arei Mevaseret Zion for13 years.

“Scott is energetic and creative, and a consummate professional,”said Howard M. Weisband, senior adviser on Israel Affairs. “As a YUgraduate and a professional, Scott shares our vision for YU in Israeland cares about our commitment to students, faculty, and theadministrative leadership of the university.”

Mr. Apfelbaum is a member of the urban planning and devel-opment committee in Efrat, where he lives with his wife and theirthree children.

June 2005 YUToday 3

David Glaser, who hastaught music at YUsince 1996, receiveda music award from

the American Academy ofArts and Letters at a ceremonyon May 18. The award “honorsoutstanding achievement andacknowledges the composerwho has arrived at his or herown voice.”

Dr. Glaser, visiting assistantprofessor of music at SternCollege for Women, is a com-poser who writes frequently forsmall groups of virtuosic play-ers. He won the Academy Awardin Music for two pieces, Gold-Vermillion, a trio for flute, altosax, and piano; and Moonset #1,for soprano and clarinet.

One of four composers whowere honored, Dr. Glaser re-ceived a prize of $7,500 andan additional $7,500 toward arecording of one work.

“This will help me producea commercial CD, which is thebest way to reach a large audi-

ence,” he said.The award is the most senior

given by the academy’s musiccommittee and is presented tonon-members of the academy,said Jane E. Bolster, musicawards coordinator. The Ameri-can Academy, founded in 1898,disperses annual cash awardsto some 50 artists, architects,writers, and composers (whoare not members).

Among the classes that Dr.Glaser teaches are Sense ofMusic, Chamber Music Coach-ing, and Seven American Com-posers, a course of his owncreation that traces the evolu-tion of a distinctly Americanmusical style and philosophy,and features guest lectures bythree prominent composers.

“I like the idea of exposingstudents to music they would-n’t otherwise have a chance tohear,” said Dr. Glaser, whopreviously taught at YeshivaCollege and Columbia Uni-versity. What makes his own

musical style unique, he said,were “the way the melodiclines and instrumental colorsinteract. They influence eachother as well as the largershape of the piece.”

Apparitions, Dr. Glaser’s newwork for chamber orchestra,(based on collages by theartist Linda Plotkin) will pre-miere August 14 in Westhamp-ton, NY. His Piano Trio No. 2

will premiere this coming sea-son both at the University ofXalapa in Mexico and by theWashington Square Con-temporary Chamber MusicEnsemble in New York. n

David Glaser enjoys exposing students to new music.L-R: Ariela (Sherman) Orkaby, Rachel Krug, Malka Krupka, Elisheva Shulman, and Sarita Filler

David Glaser Hits a High Note with Music Award

Asixth-century mosaicfloor and rare Talmudtractates are on dis-play at Yeshiva Uni-

versity Museum as part of itslatest exhibit, “Printing theTalmud: From Bomberg toSchottenstein.”

The exhibit, which openedApril 12, explores the world ofTalmud study and illustrateshow technological advanceshave transformed the ancientdiscipline of Talmud studyinto an accessible pursuit.

“Our generation, whichlives in the midst of the digi-tal information age, can clearlyunderstand how the printingpress created an impact onthose who lived in the fif-teenth century,” said Sylvia

Herskowitz, YUM director.Never before displayed

outside Israel, the mosaicfloor, from a synagogue in theBeth Shean valley, weighs 3tons. It is the earliest surviv-ing rabbinic text, containing a29-line inscription aboutJewish agricultural laws.

Talmud examples on dis-play include a 13th-centurySpanish manuscript of AvodahZarah (a tractate on idolatryfrequently destroyed by theCatholic Church) and one ofthe few extant complete setsof the 16th-century BombergTalmud, which set the stan-dard for layout of the Talmudpage.

Other items include a copyof the Holocaust Survivors’Talmud printed by the UnitedStates Army in 1948.

“Printing the Talmud” alsofeatures an online display ofsample Talmud pages as wellas a multi-screen video instal-lation, “The Infinite Sea,”showing Talmud learning inthe United Kingdom, Iran,Poland, Peru, Australia, Lithu-ania, the United States, Israel,Mexico, and Russia.

“This exhibit highlightsthe fascinating journey fromoral text to handwritten docu-ments, to manuscript, toprinted book and beyond,”said Gabriel Goldstein, exhi-bition co-project director. “Itillustrates how printing theTalmud allowed this text toattain a preeminent positionin Jewish life.” n

Exhibit ShowcasesTalmud’s History

Anonprofit projectcalled Tzelem—“image” in Hebrew—is the inaugural un-

dertaking of the IncubatorProject, created by the YeshivaUniversity’s 2004–2005 Presi-dential Fellows to supportfledgling programs in need ofsponsorship.

The idea for Tzelem wasproposed by YU alumni JennieRosenfeld YH,’01S,AG, andKoby Frances, ‘97Y, who iden-tified a need for an honestexamination of sexuality andgender relationships in theOrthodox community.

“I noticed a lot of my singlepeers struggling with issuesaround their sexuality. Somefelt overwhelmed by theirfeelings,” explained Mr. Frances,a PhD candidate in clinicalpsychology at City University

of New York. “Many felt liketheir feelings and experienceswere out of sync with theirreligious identity.”

The Presidential Fellowscreated the Incubator Projectto encourage YU students todevote themselves to human-itarian projects.

YU President Richard M.Joel instituted the Fellowshipprogram in 2004 to maintainclose ties with promising uni-versity graduates.

“This is a critical area weneed to focus on to helpyoung people develop,” saidHillel Davis, PhD, vice presi-dent for university life.“Supporting this type of val-ues-based education is part ofthe university’s mission.”

Ms. Rosenfeld, who alsocompleted YU’s Graduate Pro-gram in Advanced Talmudic

Studies for Women and is aPhD candidate at the CUNYGraduate Center, suggestedthe topic of gender relation-ships to the Orthodox Forum,a think tank devoted toJewish thought organized byYU, and went on to co-chairits annual conference in April.She and Mr. Frances sat on thepanel that discussed Ortho-dox singles.

“Jews of all ages face ten-sions in life and are often leftto face them alone, unguidedby Jewish tradition,” Ms.Rosenfeld said. “I’m con-cerned that young Orthodoxpeople don’t know the basicsof sexuality—not just biologi-cal facts, but issues of socialinteraction, communication,and ways to be in a healthyrelationship.”

Ms. Rosenfeld and Mr.Frances plan to spend thesummer raising additionalfunds for their program.

In the fall, they hope todevelop seminars on YU’s Wilfand Beren campuses to helpstudents navigate the com-plexities of relationships withthe opposite sex.

In the future, they wouldlike to devise a premaritalcounseling curriculum focus-ing on gender and interper-sonal relationships that couldbe used by synagogues orindividual rabbis. Eventuallythey hope to create a drop-incounseling center. For moreinformation about Tzelem, e-mail tzelem@gmail.com. n

Presidential Fellows Project Focuses onAttitudes Toward Sexuality

Jennie Rosenfeld and Koby Frances conceived of Tzelem.

Benjamin Lefkove, a senior atYeshiva College, co-authoreda paper in the December 2004issue of Journals of BiologicalChemistry based on research heconducted last summer atEmory University.

The Atlanta native re-searched tuberous sclerosis, agenetic disease that causesbenign and malignant tumorson the brain and in other vitalorgans, under Jack L. Arbiser,MD, PhD, associate professorof dermatology at Emory Uni-versity School of Medicine. Inthe lab, Mr. Lefkove’s researchfocused primarily on finding anovel treatment for melanoma.

The paper is titled “Trans-genic expression of dominantnegative tuberin through astrong constitutive promoterresults in a tissue-specific tuber-

ous sclerosis phenotype in theskin and brain.”

“To me, research embodiesthe ideals of a doctor: to useall of one’s given potential toheal and better the world,”said Mr. Lefkove, who begandoing research at Emory insummer 2003.

“Seeing my name in printis a trophy of accomplish-ment and a sense that I haveaided in a new understandingand furthering of scientificprogress.”

After graduation, Mr. Lef-kove plans to continue doingresearch at Emory, pursue amaster’s degree in either biol-ogy or biochemistry, andattend medical school. He willalso hike the AppalachianTrail, of which he has alreadycompleted 100 miles. n

Four Stern College studentspresented physics research atnational meetings of variousscience societies over the pastyear. The students worked onan investigation of nanoparti-cles, each focusing on theirown part of the project underthe supervision of AnatolyFrenkel, PhD, associate profes-sor of physics at YU.

“When materials are brokendown, the atoms form uni-que, exotic shapes,” Dr. Frenkelsaid. “That’s predicted theo-retically, but no confirmationof theories existed. We syn-thesized particles in our lab atStern College and investigatedtheir structure using advancedx-ray techniques.”

In March 2005, Ilana Pisterdiscussed size control fornanoparticles at the NationalSynchrotron Light Source(NSLS) seminar at BrookhavenNational Laboratory, and pre-sented on a similar topic atthe American Physical Societymeeting in Los Angeles.

“Initially, I was nervous topresent my work to graduatestudents and post-docs,” saidMs. Pister, a shaped bio-physics major due to graduatenext year. “But I knew thematerial. Once I got to theconference, I was confident.”Ms. Pister’s research focusedon the techniques used tosynthesize and analyze goldnanoparticles.

At the 229th AmericanChemical Society meeting inSan Diego in March, seniorSarah Nemzer gave a posterand oral presentation on“characterizing nanoparticlesize” using x-ray and trans-mission electron microscopytechniques.

At the National Meeting ofthe Materials Research Societyin Boston in November 2004,junior Louisette Soussan pre-sented a talk confirming theprediction that certain nano-particles will adopt regularpolyhedral shapes as their sizechanges.

Over the past year, juniorDana Glasner made threeposter presentations, one atthe American ChemicalSociety, the second at theAmerican Physical Society,and the third at the AnnualNSLS Users’ Meeting atBrookhaven.

“Giving a talk in front of adistinguished audience, withthe best scientists in your fieldpresent in the room, is atremendous experience foryoung scientists,” said Dr.Frenkel. “It was most fulfillingfor me to witness my studentsdefending their results in amajor conference setting.” n

4 YUToday June 2005

UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE RESEARCH

On Memory Deborah Lipstadt, author of Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault onTruth and Memory, spoke at YU’s annual Yom Hashoah observance May 4.

At the event, sponsored by YU’s Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International Affairs andorganized by the undergraduate student councils, Dr. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of ModernJewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, gave a personal perspective on Holocaustdenial and anti-Semitism.

Her emphasis was on honoring the memory of those who died. “We owe them something,”she said. “If only to live as Jews.”

The Yom HaShoah event honored Rabbi Herschel Schacter, a YC alumnus and the first USArmy chaplain to enter the Buchenwald concentration camp after its liberation in 1945.

YC Senior LandsJournal Placement

For Stern Researchers, NanoparticlesCreate Mega-Opportunities

Yeshiva University stu-dents have raised morethan $70,000 sinceFebruary as part of a

campaign to help alleviatehunger and poverty in Israel.

The campaign, “Feed Israel’sHungry,” is an initiative ofL’man Achai (for the sake ofour brothers), a grassroots,student-run organization thateducates American Jews aboutpoverty in Israel.

“L’man Achai is an out-standing student-driven proj-ect that proactively respondsto issues affecting the Jewishpeople,” said Rabbi KennethBrander, dean of YU’s Centerfor the Jewish Future, whichplays a mentoring role for thestudent leaders of L’manAchai.

“The experience of helpingto feed Israel’s hungry willleave a life-long impression onthe students involved, inspir-ing future initiatives, both oncampus and in the outsideworld.”

Following a campaign kick-off event in February, studentspartnered with schools andsynagogues nationwide to col-lect tzeddakah (charity money).Also, students hosted a varietyof events, such as shiurim (lec-tures), and a matanot l’evyonim(gifts to the poor) drive for thePurim holiday.

“Because of the tremen-dous efforts of students at YU,together with Jews from allover the US, we were able tohelp 652 families in Israelhave food for Passover,” saidBaruch Deutsch, a representa-tive for Lev Chessed CharityFund, which benefited fromL’man Achai’s contributions.

The campaign wrapped upJune 5 at the Israel Day Paradein New York City.

Students from YeshivaCollege and Stern College forWomen collected moneythere to distribute to Israelisoup kitchens and charityorganizations. n

Students Raise More Than$70,000 for Israel’s Poor

Ben Lefkove researched tuberous sclerosis.

L-R: Sarah Nemzer, Louisette Soussan, Dana Glasner,and Ilana Pister in Dr. Frenkel’s lab.

2005Commencement2005June 2005 YUToday 5

Rabbi Herbert Bomzer, assistant professor of Talmud, celebrated thegraduation of his three grandchildren: (L-R) Yonina Bomzer (SCW),

Joel Bloom (YC), and Meshulem Rapps (YC).

Abraham Gdanski (second from left) became the youngest YU alumnus in his family(L-R): Jeffrey ’93Y, Melissa (Gdanski) Keiser ’96S, Scott ’93Y, and Jonathan ’03Y.

Jonathan Stavsky and his mother,Ruth, graduated on the same day,from SSSB and WSSW respectively.

A life-size figurine of Albert Einstein brought a light-hearted touchto AECOM’s commencement. At right are Stephen H. Lazar, EdD,

assistant dean of AECOM, and President Richard M. Joel.

YC’s Class of 1955 held a reunion for their 50th anniversary. Miriam Zucker, a 1971 WSSW alumna, hoods her son,Jonathan, at Wurzweiler’s commencement.

NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer deliveredthe keynote address at Cardozo’s graduation. President Richard M. Joel welcomes Stern students into The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Dr. Morton Lowengrub, vice president of academic affairs, handsa diploma to Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology graduate

Paul Ferbank, while Professor Moshe Anisfeld looks on.

6 YUToday June 2005

PROFILES IN EXCELLENCE

Sy Syms School of Business graduate Dali Ben-David will soon start working for PerelsonWeiner LLP, a midsize accounting firm in mid-town Manhattan. It will be a far cry from thedays not long ago, when she spent hours onher feet making pastrami sandwiches at a deliin Forest Hills, Queens.

But Ms. Ben-David has come an even longerway than that.

In 1979, at the age of 10, she and her familyemigrated from Kutaisi, Georgia, in the formerSoviet Union, to Naharya, Israel. Her familywas part of a generation of Russian Jews whomoved to Israel in the late 1970s and early1980s.

In 1996, Ms. Ben-David, possessing only ahigh-school education, moved with her hus-band, Chaim, and two young children to theUnited States, where she hoped to achieve her

dream of a college degree. That she did, withhonors, when she walked across the stage atMadison Square Garden during YU’s 2005commencement.

Though proud of how far she has come, Ms.Ben-David says her family is the most impor-tant part of her life.

She credits her husband, son, and daughterwith patience and tolerance during what shecalled “all those isolating days when I dedicatedmyself to my studies.”

Ms. Ben-David also paid tribute to “thewhole YU family” for making her experience soenjoyable. “I cry when I think about leavingthis place. Everyone, even the librarians, werehelpful,” she said. “I owe so much to ProfessorDavid Hornung [adjunct assistant professor ofaccounting at SSSB]. He made accountingmuch more than dry number crunching.”

“A huge transition into the real world” is howFrancine Garrett describes graduating fromAlbert Einstein College of Medicine after nineyears in its MD/PhD program.

For the newly minted doctor, that world willbe Cornell Weill Medical College–New YorkPresbyterian Hospital, where she begins a three-year internal medicine residency in June.

With a PhD in the field of immunology, Dr.Garrett now hopes to get her feet wet in clinicalresearch at Cornell. “The next year or so will bean adventure, finding the area I’d like to workin,” she said.

Dr. Garrett was born in the United Statesand grew up in Israel. A gymnastics scholarshipbrought her to California State University atFullerton, where she studied biochemistry.

Back in Israel for a summer term abroad, sheworked in a cancer center and, for the firsttime, “saw how powerful the combination ofscience and medicine can be,” she said.

While a student at Einstein, Dr. Garrett vol-unteered for the Student National MedicalAssociation, the oldest and largest medical stu-dent organization dedicated to people of colorand underserved communities. A board memberand former chair of the organization, she wasrecently named emeritus chairperson, a rarehonor.

She is also a recipient of a Bristol-Myers SquibbAcademic Medicine Fellowship, given to minor-ity students by National Medical Fellowships,and the Herbert W. Nickens, MD, MinorityMedical Student Scholarship of the AmericanAssociation of Medical Colleges.

Dr. Garrett plans to serve humanity wherehelp is most needed, regardless of where hercareer takes her. That, she said, is thanks to“everyone at Einstein who helped me alongthe way. I wouldn’t be where I am today, andwhere I’m heading tomorrow, without them.”

He started law school at New York Universityin 1946. Fifty-nine years later, on June 7, 2005,Jack Hartog is graduating from the BenjaminN. Cardozo School of Law.

Mr. Hartog, a Holland native in his late 70s,came to the United States in 1940 during theGerman airborne invasion of Holland.

He studied engineering at NYU, and hadgone on to start law school there when he wasoffered a job managing a shoe factory in Penn-sylvania. He took the job instead of finishinglaw school. It was a hard decision, Mr. Hartogadmitted. “But I don’t regret it, particularlynow that I’ve had my cake and eaten it too.”

He later moved on to other ventures,

including running a family business, HartogFoods Inc., in New York City. That step markedthe end of his hopes for finishing law school,Mr. Hartog said. “Life went on.”

But when he retired in 1999, he decided togive law school another try.

While he does not intend to practice law,Mr. Hartog said that he wanted to go to lawschool for the intellectual training and condi-tioning. He has returned to work full-time atthe family business, where he plans to work fora few more years.

“I’ve had an exciting life,” Mr. Hartog said.“Law school was the icing on top of the cake.”

Dali Ben-David

Francine Garrett

Jack Hartog

June 2005 YUToday 7

PROFILES IN EXCELLENCE

A well-read physician—that’s what DavidKastner intended to be when he enrolled inYeshiva College as an English major. But afterfour years of undergraduate study, duringwhich he chose two additional majors—inbiology and chemistry—Mr. Kastner, 23, willenter the prestigious MD/PhD program atStanford University this fall.

During the summer of 2002, the native ofTeaneck, NJ, worked as a lab assistant atRegeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, NY.The experience solidified his interest in research.

The following summer he conductedresearch at the Weizmann Institute of Sciencein Rehovot, Israel, and found his interests shift-ing to biology.

He spent the summer of 2004 in the SummerUndergraduate Research Fellowship Program atthe Rockefeller University, where he helped

map parts of the signal transduction pathway,which is the means by which cells convert onekind of signal or stimulus into another.

Last summer also marked his receipt of theBarry M. Goldwater Scholarship, granted tocollege sophomores and juniors who intend topursue careers in mathematics, the natural sci-ences, or engineering.

Mr. Kastner is interested in studying neuro-logical diseases and would like to combinepatient treatment with research.

He chose the Medical Scientist TrainingProgram at Stanford because it stresses an inter-disciplinary approach. “[It] combines differentfields and fosters collaborative efforts amongprograms,” Mr. Kastner said.

The program, which typically admits onlyeight to 10 students at a time, requires anintensive seven to nine years to complete.

Chanita Warn has a string of academic achieve-ments to her name. The biology major is thisyear’s recipient of the Ida Lamport HurewitzMemorial Award for Excellence in Biology atStern College for Women. Last year, she wasawarded the American Chemical Society’sPolymer Education Committee Honor for Out-standing Performance in Organic Chemistry.

Vice president of Stern’s Chemistry Club,she also made the Dean’s Honor List duringeach of her three years as a student here.

But these honors comprise only half of thisnew graduate’s accomplishments. Throughouther years at Stern, she matched her academicsuccess with a desire to serve the community.

As a high-school student in Cleveland andwhile studying for her undergraduate degree,she worked as a volunteer for YACHAD, theNational Council on Synagogue Youth’s pro-gram for mentally disabled children and adults.

Attending shabbatons and workshops withthe children taught Ms. Warn how to reactwith aplomb, even in difficult situations—askill she developed further as a teaching assis-tant and tutor in the organic chemistry lab thispast year.

“Working as a TA was a confidence-buildingexperience,” said Ms. Warn. “It was very satis-fying to help other students gain confidence intheir own abilities.”

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terroristattacks, Ms. Warn was one of a handful of Sternstudents who participated in the act of shemi-rah, accompanying victims’ remains until burial.

“That was an unforgettable experience,” shesaid. “It was very shocking, but it was a way togive something back and pray for the victims.”

A native of Beachwood, Ohio, Ms. Warn willattend SUNY State College of Optometry inManhattan this fall.

Social workers want to change the world andhelp people in need. But for 50-year-oldKenneth Wigginton, social work—specificallyhis years studying for his master’s degrees atWurzweiler School of Social Work—saved him.

His mostly administrative role as the recordscompliance specialist at an employment organ-ization had him “almost fading away,” Mr.Wigginton said. His next job, as a publicguardian at Self Help Community Services,“rescued [him] from stagnation.”

For the last eight years he has helped peopledeemed incapacitated by the NY State SupremeCourt to deal with financial and medical issues.Most of his clients are hoarders scheduled foreviction because they’ve accumulated so muchtrash. One of them kept a small stable horse inhis fourth-floor walk-up apartment.

“I clean their houses out, give them therapyfor obsessive-compulsive disorder, which mostof them have, and make their lives livableagain,” Mr. Wigginton said.

At this year’s Wurzweiler commencement,Mr. Wigginton received the Irwin and SylviaLieferman Award for Care of the Elderly.

“He is a champion for the aging,” saidJoanna Mellor, DSW, assistant professor atWurzweiler, citing the “remarkable empathy heshowed clients in his fieldwork” as one of thereasons he was selected for the award.

The Bronx native hopes to focus on clientswho don’t want to be helped, a populationneglected by academic research, he said. “Insocial work schools, it is projected that mostclients seek help,” Mr. Wigginton said. “Butmost clients I serve don’t fully acknowledgethat they want help.

“Social work is an art form more than a sci-ence,” said Mr. Wigginton, himself a formerfilmmaker and musician. “I look at people aspieces of art in progress and try to assist themin finding their specific medium in dealingwith life.”

David Kastner

Chanita Warn

Kenneth Wigginton

8 YUToday June 2005

David Pelcovitz, PhD,professor of educa-tion and psychologyat Azrieli Graduate

School of Jewish Educationand Administration, was in-stalled as the occupant of theGwendolyn and Joseph StrausChair in Jewish Education atan official ceremony inGeraldine Schottenstein Cul-tural Center March 31. Thechair, endowed by Moshaeland Zahava Straus in memoryof their parents, is at theAzrieli School with a jointappointment at YU’s SternCollege for Women.

“I would like to thankMoshael Straus for his gen-erosity and vision, and for thewonderful appointment of Dr.Pelcovitz to this chair. Thisgift will allow us to expandthe vision that Moshael’sleadership has brought to theschool,” said David J. Schnall,PhD, Azrieli dean.

Mr. Straus, founding chair-man of the Azrieli board, sec-retary of Rabbi Isaac ElchananTheological Seminary’s boardand a YU board trustee, said

he was honored thatDr. Pelcovitz acceptedthe position of chairoccupant. “We needresources to trainteachers and rabbis,”he said.

YU President Rich-ard M. Joel empha-sized the critical roleDr. Pelcovitz plays inadvancing Azrieli andits commitment toJewish education. “Inmoving the universityforward we needed aserious scholar, a pro-fessional, and a benTorah [observant Jew]to spearhead efforts tohelp the Jewish com-munity, which he hasdone throughout his career,”President Joel said. “We honorDavid Pelcovitz with theStraus chair at the same timethat we honor the Straus chairwith David Pelcovitz.”

Dr. Pelcovitz delivered theStraus chair inaugural addresson “The At-Risk Adolescent inthe Orthodox Jewish Com-munity.” He sketched out the

scope of behavioral difficultiesin Orthodox teenagers andsuggested ways for educatorsto intervene.

Dr. Pelcovitz concluded bypaying tribute to supportersof the chair for “lightinglights of inspiration for thecommunity, educating educa-tors, and helping parents tohug their children.” n

David Pelcovitz Invested as StrausProfessor in Jewish Education

Competing studentsfrom 12 area Jewishhigh schools couldhardly contain their

enthusiasm at the first annualSy Syms School of BusinessStock Market Trivia Contest onApril 13. During each round,teammates met the correctanswers with applause, laugh-ter, and high-fives.

One teacher from The FrischSchool of Paramus, NJ, saidstudents there had looked for-ward to the contest for days.

In each contest, two teamsof four students were asked thesame set of questions relatingto Wall Street and the stock

market. The first team to hitthe buzzer got to answer.

The Moshe Aaron YeshivaHigh School (MAYHS) of SouthRiver, NJ, won the champi-onship, beating out Rav TeitzMesitva Academy of Elizabeth,NJ. The Frisch School capturedthird place.

All 12 teams, their teachers,and a number of Syms studentsand professors gathered inWeissberg Commons duringthe break for an address byPeter M. Kash, chairman ofTwo River Group Holdingsand author of Success ThroughFailure. Mr. Kash told students“never to fear failure.” n

No Question Too Trivial forStock Market Contestants

In June 1940, Aristides deSousa Mendes, the consul-general of Portugal inBordeaux, made a decision

that would irrevocably alterthe course of his family’s life.Defying government orders,Dr. Sousa Mendes workedaround the clock processingthousands of visas to Jewsfleeing Nazi-occupied France.

The diplomat helped savethe lives of about 30,000 peo-ple—including 10,000 Jews—who gained safe passagethrough Portugal.

It was an act of moralcourage that plunged the largeSousa Mendes family, descen-dants of a Supreme Court judgeand members of the Port-uguese aristocracy, into dark

times. Dismissed from his job,Dr. Sousa Mendes sold off hisfamily estate and died a pauperin 1954.

About 40 years later, RobertJacobvitz, then the executivedirector of the Jewish Com-munity Relations Council forOakland, CA, read in a localnewspaper about the efforts ofDr. Sousa Mendes’ son, JohnPaul, to clear the family name.He felt compelled to help.

“I thought, if I were a Jewstanding in front of his doorat the time and someoneother than him had been inhis place, my children and Iwouldn’t be alive today,” saidMr. Jacobvitz, a 1975 alumnusof Wurzweiler School of SocialWork.

“Sousa Mendes consultedwith his wife and childrenand they decided they had ahigher value to uphold thanthe Portuguese government atthe time. I could not but workon their behalf.”

In 1986, Mr. Jacobvitzfounded the InternationalCommittee for the Commem-oration of Dr. Aristides deSousa Mendes with John Pauland his wife Joan Abranches,and Anne Treseder, an attor-ney in San Francisco.

The group mounted an

international campaign topressure the Portuguese gov-ernment to restore Dr. SousaMendes’ reputation. Theyworked with Jewish commu-nities in Lisbon, France, andCanada, gained major mediacoverage, and rallied the sup-port of US politicians, includ-ing Tony Coelho, then USRepresentative of Californiaand a Portuguese American;Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ);and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

“Through our internationalcontacts, we created a mo-mentum and consistuency forthe family’s cause that theynever had,” said Mr. Jacobvitz.

Their efforts culminated ina public apology from MarioSoares, Portugal’s first demo-cratically elected president, in1995. During a ceremony atthe Portugal National Theaterin Lisbon, Dr. Sousa Mendeswas awarded the Medal ofLiberty, the country’s highestcivilian honor, and advancedto the most senior grade dip-lomatic rating posthumously.

For the surviving familymembers, a long shadow waslifted.

“They have a sense of satis-faction that the world nowknows the pain they went

through and the good worktheir father did,” Mr. Jacobvitzsaid.

For his efforts, Mr. Jacob-vitz was awarded the Aristidesde Sousa Mendes Medal bythe International Raoul Wallen-berg Foundation at theMuseum of the Jewish HeritageApril 6. The reception markedthe opening of the museum’sexhibit of the registry bookused by Mr. Sousa Mendes forthe first 2,000 visas issued and

of the pen he used to enterthose names.

Mr. Jacobvitz, now execu-tive director of the BuildingOwners and Managers Asso-ciation (BOMA) of SiliconValley, said he was inspired bythe man whose cause hechampioned. “Sousa Mendeswas one of those individualswho sought justice and truthin his life, no matter the con-sequences,” he said. “It was partof the fiber of who he was.” n

Alumnus Helps Clear Holocaust Hero’s Name

WSSW alumnusRobert Jacobvitz

Robert Jacobvitz (second from left) withAristides de Sousa Mendes’ grandchildren.

President Joel installs David Pelcovitzas Straus Professor.

Students from 12 area Jewish high schools competed.

tance of scholarly research in maintaining high academic stan-dards at YU.

“It certainly creates organizational complications for a full-time faculty member to leave for a year,” Dr. Ladin said. “ButDean Bacon’s response was, ‘These are complications we love.’”.

Dr. Stenhouse, assistant professor of history at both Stern andYeshiva College, received a fellowship from the Italian Academyfor Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, whichsponsors research relating to Italian history, society, and science.

Dr. Stenhouse will analyze how museums in Italy affected his-torical research and writing between 1550 and 1620, a timewhen collectors held important cultural roles and historiansused material objects to reconstruct past events, therebyexpanding the range of sources used to write history.

Dr. Stenhouse, whose research focuses on the history ofarcheology, this semester taught two courses at YC and one atStern, an honors seminar on the history of travel writing andethnography. He will maintain an office at the Italian Academyon Columbia’s campus next year.

“Taking the year off from teaching means that I can lay thefoundation for my next project,” he said.

“The fellowships awarded to Professors Ladin and Stenhouseare concrete indications of the importance of their work to theadvancement of knowledge,” Dean Bacon said. “I know thatafter a year spent immersed in research and writing they willreturn to us as even more creative teachers and colleagues.” n

Torah; feel the tug of learning.”President Joel also bestowed honorary degrees upon Linda M.

Hooper, creator of the Children’s Holocaust Memorial and PaperClip Project; Leon Charney, host of The Leon Charney Reportand member of the Board of Directors of YU’s Benjamin N.Cardozo School of Law; and Barry Shrage, president of theCombined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.

Mr. Charney dedicated his degree to Ezer Weizman, presidentof Israel from 1993 to 2000, who died earlier this year, callinghim a warrior in times of war and in peace.

Mrs. Hooper, principal of Whitwell Middle School inTennessee, received a standing ovation. Mrs. Hooper stressedthe power of the individual to make a difference. “You can doanything if you decide to do it. Just do what is right.”

President Joel lauded Mr. Shrage as a personal example ofJewish communal leadership. “You are a wonderful role modelto our students of how devotion to community leadership canmake a difference,” President Joel said.

Anat Barber, one of the 2005 Graduate Fellows, explained theimpact of the program. The Graduate Fellowship in Universityand Community Leadership program was instituted byPresident Joel to keep top graduates connected to YU. It placesrecent graduates in university departments and exposes them toleadership and decision-making opportunities at the highestlevels.

This year’s student speaker was Stern College for Womengraduate Yael Wagner of Woodmere, NY, one of nine under-graduate valedictorians. Ms. Wagner emphasized that reachingany goal is a process.

“There is always more to undertake, and there is always morepotential to realize,” Ms. Wagner said. n

June 2005 YUToday 9

In the final event of theHuman Rights and Sov-ereignty lecture series April18, sponsored by the

Marcia Robbins Wilf Scholar-in-Residence Program, two peo-ple from different generationsmet and discussed their effortsto save children during geno-cides on different continents.

Simone Weil Lipman helpedsave hundreds of Jewish chil-dren in France during WorldWar II; Rev. Carl Wilkens savedhundreds of orphans during thegenocide in Rwanda. Prof.Bryan Daves, coordinator of theseries that commemorated the60th anniversary of the end ofthe Holocaust, said Ms. WeilLipman and Rev. Wilkensproved that every individualcan make a difference.

The two heroes told similarstories of courage, compassion,and selflessness.

Rev. Wilkens emerged afterhiding in his home for threeweeks to find that he was theonly American and one of veryfew Westerners who had re-mained in Rwanda during thegenocide.

Rev. Wilkens was directorof the Adventist Developmentand Relief Agency in the capi-

tal, Kinali. He stayed 100 days,and saved more than 100 chil-dren who were dying of dysen-tery, overcrowded conditions,and thirst in an orphanagethat had become a refuge.

Ms. Weil Lipman joinedOSE, a child care agency thatwas helping children in the in-ternment camps in France. Atfirst she was a social worker inthe camps.

When the children faceddeportation to Auschwitz, Ms.Weil Lipman worked with theUnderground, finding hidingplaces and false identities forthem. In charge of a regionwhere 350 children were hid-ing, she sometimes had only 24hours to provide them withnew identities, coach them,and take them to a new envi-ronment.

The children she helpedwere placed by non-Jewishagencies in foster homes, con-vents, private schools, andorphanages, where they wereaccepted as Catholic.

Rev. Wilkens said his expe-rience did not provide him with“the luxury to feel frustrationand anger,” although for yearsafterward he couldn’t salute theUnited States flag because of

American policies towardRwanda.

“There were simple thingsthe US government could havedone but was limited by thelack of will,” he said.

Ms. Weil Lipman, who even-tually moved to the US andearned a master’s degree insocial work, said she continuedher work after the war by tell-ing her story to school children.

“If you don’t speak out youparticipate in the evil,” she said.“I’m not an activist or demon-strator. But it’s important tohelp people to see humanityand value in each other.”

Rev. Wilkens said he alsotraveled and spoke at schools.In his current job as chaplain/pastor at Milo Adventist Aca-demy in Oregon, he teaches hisstudents the value of humanlife, an important continua-tion of his work.

Saul Kagan, board memberof Wurzweiler School of SocialWork—which cosponsored theevent—presented awards toRev. Wilkens and Ms. WeilLipman. “We are proud ofthese people—of their selfless-ness and inner courage that isalmost inconceivable,” saidMr. Kagan. n

Commencement, continued from page 1

Darfur Rally, continued from page 1

Profiles in Courage: RighteousProtectors Confront Genocide

Simone Weil Lipman and Rev. Carl Wilkens

Stern Faculty Fellowships, continued from page 1

Almost 1,000 students dancedand sang late into the night incelebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut(Israel Independence Day) at the Max Stern Athletic Centeron May 11. Earlier, the studentspacked into Lamport Auditoriumin Zysman Hall to commem-orate Israel’s 57th birthday,which featured a multimediapresentation about YU students’experiences in Israel through-out the years. The eveningbegan on a more somber notewith a memorial program forYom Hazikaron (Israel MemorialDay), which remembers themany soldiers who gave theirlives for the Jewish State.

involve ourselves with others.”Rally sponsors included Human Rights First, the Anti-Def-

amation League, the American Jewish World Service, andYeshiva University.

Dr. Bryan Daves, a political science professor at Stern Collegeand coordinator of the human rights lecture series that inspiredthe students’ involvement, said he had been hoping the pro-gram would move students to work for change.

“Students involved in this effort have learned that they cantake the lessons they have learned as Jews and relate them to therest of the world. In a remarkably short period of time they areraising awareness of the tragedy that is unfolding in Darfuramong students and non-students alike,” Dr. Daves said. n

10 YUToday June 2005

Shalom Sokolow ofManhattan, a seniorat Yeshiva UniversityHigh School for Boys

(YUHS) in WashingtonHeights, received a $2,500National Merit Scholarshipfor his performance on the2003 Preliminary SAT/National Merit ScholarshipQualifying Test.

Mr. Sokolow, 17, receiveda score of 224 out of 240 onthe PSAT and was one of2,500 high school seniorsacross the country to receivethe scholarship. The stu-dents were chosen from apool of 15,000 finalists.

Mr. Sokolow will study at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israelnext year, after which he plans to attend ColumbiaUniversity to study political science. At YUHS, he is vicepresident of both the debate team and ARISTA, theschool’s National Honors Society. Mr. Sokolow is also edi-tor of The Academy News, the school’s newspaper.

“I was very surprised and pleased to have received thescholarship,” Mr. Sokolow said.

One of his favorite subjects is history, which enableshim to “understand the circumstances that created theworld in which we now live.”

Scholarship recipients were selected by a committeethat evaluated each candidate’s skills, accomplishments,and potential for success in college studies.

“Shalom’s academic achievements, along with hisdemonstrated leadership ability and maturity, explainwhy he is so highly regarded by teachers, administration,and peers,” said Ya’acov Sklar, YUHS principal. “He is anindependent thinker and needs virtually no direct guid-ance on how to tackle complex issues.” n

‘Independent Thinker’ EarnsNational Merit Scholarship

Yeshiva University’sWurzweiler School ofSocial Work recentlyreceived quadruple

kudos for its role in improv-ing the quality of life of NewYork’s City’s Latino communi-ties. Sheldon R. Gelman, theschool’s Dorothy and David I.Schachne Dean, and threegraduates of the doctoral pro-gram—Evelyn Laureano, Car-men Ortiz Hendricks, andEvelyn J. Nieves—were hon-ored by the Latino SocialWork Task Force at a lunch-eon March 31 for their effortsto bring more culturally sensi-tive social services to the city’sLatinos.

Dean Gelman is a memberof the Latino Social Work TaskForce, which was convenedby the NYC chapter of theNational Association of SocialWorkers (NASW) and the

Puerto Rican Family Instituteto address the shortage ofbilingual Latino social work-ers. For the past two years, DeanGelman has worked withother members on initiativesto train more Latino socialworkers.

The three Wurzweiler grad-uates were recognized fortheir achievements as Latinosocial work professionals.

Dr. Laureano is executivedirector of Neighborhood SelfHelp by Older Persons Project(SHOPP), which provides socialservice programs for Latinoelderly in the South Bronx.

Dr. Laureano, also an ad-junct professor at Wurzweiler,sits on Mayor Michael Bloom-berg’s Senior Advisory Councilfor the Department for theAging.

Dr. Nieves is executivedirector of Fordham-Tremont

Community Mental HealthCenter in the Bronx, whereshe oversees 16 outpatientprograms for adults and chil-dren, substance abusers, andvictims of domestic violence.She teaches at ColumbiaUniversity as an adjunct assis-tant professor.

Dr. Ortiz Hendricks is asso-ciate professor at HunterCollege School of SocialWork. She has researched,written, and taught courseson diversity and culturallycompetent social work prac-tice, and contributed toNASW’s Standards for Cul-turally Competent Social WorkPractice, published in 2001.

Proceeds from the TaskForce’s luncheon helpedestablish a scholarship pool tofund Latino students in socialwork programs. n

Latino Task Force Honors WurzweilerDean and Three Alumni

Winning Smile Sy Syms School of Business student Joey Bohmpresents his business plan for a teeth-whitening company calledHollywood Smiles to judges at the second annual Dr. WilliamSchwartz Business Plan Competition. Mr. Bohm was placed first inthe competition, winning a prize of $5,000. He said his proposedcompany would be a lower-cost competitor to Brite Smile, whichtargets more affluent customers. Judges were Josh S. Weston, hon-ory chairman of Automatic Data Processing, Inc.; Gerry L. Golub,chair of American Express Tax and Business Services; and MichaelJ. Connelly, president and CEO of Mosaica Education, Inc.

Portraits of Creativity YU’s annual arts festival gave students a chance to show offtheir creative talents in exhibitions, performances, and readings both on and off campus.Refael Omer Cohen (top left), a SSSB senior majoring in marketing and minoring in fineart, displayed his self-portrait in a student exhibit at Weissberg Commons, Belfer Hall.Students from the Beren Campus participating in a concert at the Eldridge StreetSynagogue on the Lower East Side included (bottom left) SSSB junior Rena Needle onvocals and SCW junior Hillary Lewin on guitar, and (right) SCW senior Leora Sarna on flute.

Sheldon R. Gelman Carmen Ortiz Hendricks Evelyn Laureano

June 2005 YUToday 11

Among observant Jews,a pervasive trend islearning Daf Yomi, apage of Talmud a day,

in preparation for a large-scaleSiyum HaShas, a ceremonyheld every seven years mark-ing the completed study cycleof the Talmud’s 2,711 pages.In world technology, a majortrend is the iPod, a light-weight personal listeningdevice with a large memorycapacity for storing music.

Recognizing the potentialin marrying these two trends,Yeshiva College graduateYehuda Shmidman ’04Y sawthe iPod as an ideal format forstoring all 66 Talmudic trac-tates.

“I thought it would be coolto make Daf Yomi learningaccessible anywhere,” said Mr.Shmidman, chief operatingofficer of Heck Yeah, a licens-ing and branding company inNew York.

For $100 more than a regu-lar iPod, Mr. Shmidman sendshis customers a 20-gigabyte“ShasPod” loaded with Talmudlectures by Rabbi Dovid Gross-man of Los Angeles. Com-muters can listen in a car or onthe subway, or open a gemaraand follow along. “Put head-phones on and you’re there,”said Mr. Shmidman.

“The recordings take the lis-tener through every singleword of the text,” he said.“After you finish all the shiurim[lectures], you literally havestudied the entire Shas.”

The device was launched

on March 1 at Madison SquareGarden, main site of the mostrecent Siyum HaShas, where itattracted considerable atten-tion, including an article inThe New York Times. Hundredsof ShasPods have since beensold to laypeople and rabbisall over the world. Customersinclude the chief rabbi ofVenezuela and Rabbi ShmuelKaminetsky, Rabbi Gross-man’s rebbe.

For customers who alreadyown iPods, Mr. Shmidmanloads the lectures and returnsthe MP3 players to their owners.

The 24-year-old’s entrepre-neurial initiative was alreadyevident during his undergrad-uate education at YU. TheTeaneck, NJ, native was theexecutive editor of The Com-mentator, the men’s under-graduate student newspaper,and was one of the co-presi-dents of the Operation TorahII mission to Israel in 2001.Three years ago as presidentof the Israel Club, his passionfueled YU’s first participationin the Salute to Israel Paradein almost a decade. n

How to Daf-a-DayWhen You’re on the Go

The annual Red Sara-chek High SchoolBasketball Tourn-ament ended the same

day as the NCAA Champion-ship, on April 4. But the Sara-chek game, while hard-fought,was a little more one-sided.

The Los Angeles team for-merly known as YULA and nowcalled Young Israel of CenturyCity emerged from a field of 20Jewish high schools nation-wide to capture the tourna-ment championship by de-feating The Frisch School ofParamus, NJ, by a score of 53-36.

The 14th annual tourna-ment, named for YU’s leg-endary former basketball coachBernard “Red” Sarachek, fea-tured 20 high schools repre-senting 14 US states and twoCanadian provinces. Sara-chek, now 92 and living inFlorida, coached the YeshivaCollege Maccabees for morethan 25 seasons.

He was inducted into theNew York City Basketball Hallof Fame in 1991 and theJewish Sports Hall of Fame in1997. In later years, CoachSarachek was a consultant tothe NBA’s Miami Heat.

This year’s tournament wasa five-day mix of nail-bitingcontests and dominating per-

formances. Among the closestgames was a 42-41 victory bythe Weinbaum Storm of BocaRaton, FL, over Kansas City’shard-charging Rams ofHyman Brand HebrewAcademy.

Another down-to-the-wirematch-up featured YU’s ownboys high school, The MarshaStern Talmudical AcademyLions, who lost a close battleto downtown rival Ramaz

(also known as the Rams) by ascore of 40-37.

The most impressive victo-ry occurred on the first day ofthe tournament when theeventual champs, YoungIsrael of Century City, bestedYavneh Academy in Dallas bya tally of 68-26. Yavneh’sBulldogs came back later inthe tourney to defeat theMaimonides M-Cats fromBrookline, MA, 59-56. n

A Frisch player pressures an opponent fromRamaz during the Sarachek tournament.

Three faculty membersof the Benjamin N.Cardozo School ofLaw—Professors Barton

Beebe, Daniel Crane, andMyriam Gilles—were chosento present their work at thesixth annual Stanford/YaleJunior Faculty Forum at Stan-ford Law School on May 27–28.No other law school has mul-tiple faculty members present-ing their work this year.

“Cardozo has been knownsince its founding for ayoung, vibrant, and prolificfaculty. We are delighted thatthe junior members of ourfaculty, who follow in thattradition, are again being rec-ognized for their scholarshipby the larger scholarly com-munity,” said David Ruden-stine, JD, the school’s dean.

The forum encourages thework of young scholars byinviting professors with oneto seven years of teachingexperience to submit unpub-lished papers for evaluation.This year’s topics will coverprivate law and dispute reso-lution. Since the forum beganin 2000, seven Cardozopapers have been selected for

presentation, five of whichwere selected since 2003—more than any other schoolexcept Harvard University.

Professor Beebe, who hastaught at Cardozo since 2000,presented “Search and Per-mission in Trademark” as partof an intellectual propertypanel. The paper will be pub-lished in the Michigan LawReview.

Professor Crane presented“The Paradox of PredatoryPricing” as part of an antitrustsession and plans to publish itin the Cornell Law Review.

Professor Gilles presented“Opting out of Liability: TheForthcoming Near-Total Demise

of the Modern Class Actions”as part of a civil litigation anddispute resolution panel. Herpaper will appear in theMichigan Law Review. n

Three Cardozo Professors Make Their Markat Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum

LA Team Clinches Annual SarachekBasketball Tournament

JUNE 1Albert Einstein College ofMedicine Commencement6 pm, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center

JUNE 7Benjamin N. Cardozo Schoolof Law Commencement 2 pm, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center

JUNE 8YUWO Ballet and Luncheon11 am, Metropolitan OperaHouse at Lincoln Center

JUNE 28Wurzweiler School of Social Work Dinner6:30 pm, The Pierre, Fifth Avenue at 61st Street

SEPTEMBER 21Yeshiva College 75thAnniversary Dinner 6 pm, Pier 86, USS Intrepid,West 46th Street and 12th Ave

SEPTEMBER 29International BioethicsConferenceLocation and time TBDSponsored by the RabbiArthur Schneier Centerfor International Affairs

Barton Beebe Myriam Gilles

Daniel Crane

Calendar of Events

For a more comprehensive listing, go to www.yu.edu/event.asp

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PA IDYESHIVA UNIVERSITY

500 WEST 185TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10033 JUNE 2005

YUTodayA PUBLICATION OF YESHIVA UNIVERSITY

An historic three-dayconference on theNuremberg war crimestrials, at Benjamin N.

Cardozo School of Law in lateMarch, reminded participantsthat “never again” has be-come “over again” as humanrights violations continue.

“We hope to reaffirm thelessons of Nuremberg,” saidSheri Rosenberg, Cardozodeputy director of the Programin Holocaust and HumanRights Studies, who alongwith Prof. Richard Weisberg,the program’s director, organ-ized the conference.

A broad spectrum of partic-ipants—including former Nu-remberg prosecutors, govern-ment officials, academics, andparticipants at tribunals inRwanda, the former Yugo-slavia, and Sierra Leone—gathered to analyze the impactof the Nuremberg principleson the 60th anniversary of thetrials.

As part of a “recollections”panel, first-hand witnesses tothe injustice shared theirexperiences. Richard Sonnen-feldt, who at the age of 22 wasthe chief interpreter for theAmerican prosecution team,told the standing-room onlycrowd he had the opportunityto speak with everyone duringthe trial and read the indict-

ments. “I was a witness to thathistory,” he said.

Henry King, former Nurem-berg prosecutor and professorat Case Western Reserve Schoolof Law, invoked the memoryof the late US Supreme CourtJustice Robert Jackson, chiefprosecutor for the UnitedStates at Nuremberg. “We oweJudge Jackson thanks for giv-ing us a blueprint for thefuture and a vision for a betterworld,” Professor King said.

Hassan Bucabar Jallow,chief prosecutor at the Inter-national Criminal Tribunal

for Rwanda, brought a sober-ing reminder to the proceed-ings: While Nuremberg andRwanda are far apart in timeand geography, they are thesame problem. “It continuesto happen,” Mr. Jallow said.

Although crimes againsthumanity are ongoing, pan-elists reminded the audiencethat the work at Nurembergwas not in vain. In a keynotespeech, Justice TheodoreMeron, president of the Inter-national Criminal Tribunal forthe Former Yugoslavia, said thatalthough the Nuremberg trials

had flaws, without them theInternational Criminal Court(ICC) at The Hague would nothave been established.

The discussion touched onwhether the lessons learned atNuremberg are being appliedto the war in Iraq. “It’s not toolate to correct the mistakesthat have been made for theIraqi tribunal,” said GeoffreyRobertson, chief judge at thespecial court for Sierra Leone.

Panelists on the crisis inDarfur, Sudan, discussed thecivil war that is raging andproducing new victims every

day. Stephanie Frease, directorof programs at the Coalitionfor International Justice, ex-pressed concern over the con-clusion of the United Nation’sCommission of Inquiry onDarfur that what is happeningin Sudan is not genocide.

“We need to respond tocrimes against humanitywhether they are genocide ornot,” said John Prendergast,special adviser at the Inter-national Crisis Group, who hasmade three trips to rebel-heldDarfur in the last six months.The failure to act forcefullyshows that little has changedsince the crisis in Rwanda, Mr.Prendergast said, and the gov-ernment needs to imposesanctions on Khartoum. “It’snot too late to act in thesecases,” Mr. Prendergast said.

Former Nuremberg prose-cutor Ben Ferencz, who at age27 tried his first case atNuremberg, shared his disap-pointment that the UnitedStates does not support theICC. “There’s only one threatto our service personnel—warmaking,” Mr. Ferencz said,likening fighting against aninternational court to fightingagainst Nuremberg.

“It’s not enough to catchthe perpetrators,” Mr. Ferenczsaid. “You have to stop thekilling first.” n

Nuremberg Trials Teach Broader Lessons at Conference

Richard Dicker (left), director of The International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch,and Geoffrey Robertson, chief judge at the special court for Sierra Leone.