Jun 13, 2014 By: admin
Revel celebrated its 48 MA Program graduates of 2013-2014 at the school鈥檚 annual Year-End Student-Faculty Reception on May 28. The event took place on the Wilf Campus, utilizing Revel鈥檚 new Graduate Lounge and Dean鈥檚 Suite on the third floor of Furst Hall. The event brought together students, faculty, and new graduates and their families.
In his address to attendees, Dean David Berger stressed the academic qualifications of Revel students and alumni that make the school so scholastically unique. 鈥淭here is no other graduate program with a substantial body of students who can almost all confront the classical sources of Judaism in their original languages with the knowledge and sophistication that you bring to your studies,鈥 he stated. 鈥淚t is a pleasure--even an honor--to teach you.鈥
The first part of the program featured a special presentation by Revel鈥檚 senior adjunct Visiting Professor of Jewish History and Literature to retiring YU Judaica librarian and collector , who has served as an indispensable resource for Revel and other YU faculty for over 35 years. Leiman presented Alpert with a framed print of Rabbi Akiva Eger鈥檚 portrait--noteworthy, according to Leiman, for its original having been painted from life rather than imagination.
Next, Revel Associate Professor of Jewish Philosophy Daniel Rynhold delivered a 鈥渕ini-lecture鈥 on the philosophical context of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik鈥檚 Halakhic Man. Rynhold noted that, compared to Maimonides鈥 Guide for the Perplexed--which begins by stating what Maimonides (and many others) believed to be indisputable facts--Soloveitchik鈥檚 work, which describes day-to-day life as a religious person, might not even seem like philosophy. Rynhold argued, however, that Soloveitchik鈥檚 approach was actually a response to the philosophical (Nietzschean) questions of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, which challenged the relevance of religion to everyday life.
The second part of the Reception focused on Revel鈥檚 graduating class. Associate Dean Mordechai Z. Cohen recognized each graduate in attendance by name, and the class representative, Bible MA Ahuva Gold Wiesenfeld, delivered a short address that tied together the weekly Torah portion of Ba-Midbar, Ancient Near-Eastern scholarship and Revel鈥檚 contribution to her and her classmates鈥 scholarly development.
The program concluded with a graduation video presentation and an invitation to graduates to join the new as alumni:
To read some of our 2014 Graduate profiles, click here.
Event Slideshow:
This article was written by Yaelle Frohlich (BRGS '12)
