Q: American Jewish Educational Institutions - INTRO

A: 

• American Jewry late 19th/ Early 20th Century

• Described as wasteland

• Wave in 1840’s German

• 1880’s wave - Eastern European

• Later major Russian immigration

• Remnant of older elite Sephardic Jewry

Q: Hebrew Union College – Origins

A: 

• Origins of Hebrew Union College

• Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise moves to Cincinnati

• Zion College 1855

• Maimonides College / Isaac Leeser

• Wise forms Union of American Hebrew Congregations 1873

• Non-Kosher Graduation Banquet 1883

Q: Was Hebrew Union College modeled after Geiger Berlin?

A:

• HUC was not modeled after Geiger Seminary Berlin

• Over years there was an alignment

• Similar alignment between JTS NY & JTS Breslau

• Also between Hildesheimer Berlin & REIITS NY

• Wise cobbled things together – no precedent

Q: Who were the original HUC Faculty?

A: 

• Challenge to attract top faculty

• Max Lilienthal joined after escaping Russia

• Also Talmudist Moses Mileziner

• Louis Ginzberg was hired but it was rescinded

• Dispute over Documentary Hypothesis

Q: What are the origins of the Jewish Theological Seminary JTS?

A:

• Reaction to perceived failures of HUC

• More traditional alternative on East Coast

• Dispute between Alexander Kahut and Kaufmann Kohler

• Founded 1886 in Spanish Portuguese Synagogue

• Goal to train young men for American rabbinate

Q: What were early years of JTS?

A:

• By turn of century original founders gone

• Revitalized by wealthy German Jews

• Jacob Schiff, Worburgs, Louis Marshall, Sulzberger, Strauss

• 3 main reasons:

• Attract new Russian Immigrants

• Need to have East Coast NY Institution

• Desire for Scientific Studies

Q: What was Solomon Schechter’s role at JTS?

A: 

• Solomon Schechter came to JTS in early 1990s

• Reorganization by Cyrus Adler

• JTS was known as Schechter’s Seminary

• Successful in bringing top notch faculty

• Alexander Marks built JTS library

Q: JTS and Conservative Movement- Relationship?

A:

• JTS starts of officially as non-denominational

• Trained those who even served as Orthodox Rabbis

• Joseph Hertz, Herbert Goldstein

• Schechter & Adler form United Synagogue of America I 1913

• Becomes United Conservative Synagogues of America

• Rabbinical Assembly as alumni group formed in 1918

Q:  What are the origins of Yeshiva University?

A:

• Eitz Chaim founded in 1886

• RIETS Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary 1896

• Named after Rav Elchanan Spektor

• Higher Talmudic Yeshiva Studies

• Students wanted secular studies

• Bernard Revel joins in 1915

• Yeshiva College 1928

Q: How did Yeshiva College commence?

A:

• Yeshiva College set up in 1928

• Funds raised – roaring 20’s

• Campus purchased for $5Million

• Amsterdam Avenue 185th, 186th

• Very Wealthy Business People

• Lampert, Gottesman, Fischel

Q: Why was Yeshiva College created?

A:

• Ideological reason – Torah & Secular

• Practical  Reason - convenience

• Students studying at City College, NYU, Columbia

• All Christians groups had colleges

• Intense merger talks with JTS

• Revel against

• Issue of Mordecai Kaplan

• Institutional loyalty

Q:  HUC, JTS, YU – Post WW2

A:

• HUC faced competition

• Rabbi Steven Wise forms Jewish Institute of Religion

• HUC and JIR merge

• JTS booms 1940s, 1950s

• Outstanding faculty, Lieberman, Heschel

• Yeshiva struggles during depression years

• 1946 earns university status

• Rabbi Belkin 1943 – 1975

• Medical & Law Schools opened

Q: What is the future of Jewish Institutions of Higher Learning?

A:

• Jewish Studies in Universities

• Versus Jewish Educational Institutions

• Harry Wolfson – Harvard

• Salo Baron – Columbia

• HUC Cincinnati closing

• JTS new renovation but not a strong

• Orthodox flourishing

• Plethora of Yeshivas