Yeshiva University

History

Yeshivat Etz Chaim, a cheder-style elementary school, was founded on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1886. It was the first yeshiva in America, and had little secular studies in its curriculum.

Related Topics:
Cheder - Lower East Side - Manhattan - 1886

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In 1896, to provide a school for Etz Chaim graduates, Yeshivat Rabbenu Yitzchak Elchanan (chartered in 1897 as the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary) was founded. The two schools were always close, and they merged in 1915, first as the Rabbinical College of America, but then reverting to the RIETS name; the elementary division was phased out over the course of the 1920's as other schools opened. The first president of the newly-merged school was Rabbi Bernard (Dov) Revel. In 1916, he founded the first dual curriculum high school- the Talmudical Academy (now known as the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (MSTA), blazing a path to what has become the norm in Orthodox Jewish circles.

Related Topics:
Bernard (Dov) Revel - Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy

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Yeshiva College was founded in 1928 as an expansion to stem the tide of TA graduates to secular colleges such as New York University (NYU) and City College of New York (CUNY). Later that year, Yeshiva moved to its current location in Washington Heights. (The alternative location was in Morningside Heights, near the current location of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University.) Yeshiva attained university status in 1946, under its second president, Rabbi Dr. Samuel Belkin. Over the following decades, new divisions were opened, including a women's college, medical school, and others. In 1970, Yeshiva revised its charter to become a secular university, changing the status of RIETS (the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary) and its high schools to "affiliates", despite vigorous student and faculty protest. In 2002, Yeshiva again broke with tradition by appointing a layman (someone who is not an ordained rabbi), Richard M. Joel, as its fourth president, again over student and faculty protest, which quickly subsided upon his investiture. Yeshiva currently has over a dozen affiliated schools. Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, who served as the university's third president, now serves in the dual position of Chancellor of the University and Rosh HaYeshiva ("head of the yeshiva") of RIETS.

Related Topics:
1928 - New York University - City College of New York - Washington Heights - Morningside Heights - Jewish Theological Seminary - Columbia University - 1946 - Samuel Belkin - 1970 - 2002 - Richard M. Joel - Norman Lamm - Rosh HaYeshiva - Yeshiva

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