From the Editor’s Desk: A Commentator Primer (Vol. 38, Issue 2)

On behalf of the Yeshiva College student body and the governing board of The Commentator, I welcome you outside collegiates to the first city-wide edition of this newspaper. We do not claim to represent the voice of all young orthodox Jews, only that of the editors of the paper as expressed in columns and articles. 

Yeshiva University, (and I quote our favorite line) is “America’s oldest and largest university under Jewish auspices… [attempting] to achieve ‘synthesis’ … to combine both religious and secular studies into a unified academic program.” The men’s undergraduate division of the University is comprised of four schools: Yeshiva Program, Erna Michael College, and James Striar School the three Jewish studies divisions, and Yeshiva College. The average full-time student spends between 30 and 40 hours in class each week, dividing his time almost equally between one of the three Jewish studies programs and the college. Our sister college, Stern College for Women, carries a similar dual curriculum. 

This newspaper has served the student body and alumni of the school for more than 35 years. Now, as editor, I must justify to them why, with budget cutting and streamlining of student activities, we should contact the collegiate Jewish youth of the city, at our expense. 

First, like many publications, such as Dawn and The Jewish Free Press, we want to reach other Jewish youth and ask for their comments on issues outside the life of the YU campus. We would especially welcome comment from the non-religious element, as we rarely have contact from this group. They too might benefit from the opinions of yeshiva students who, quite properly, have Jewish attitudes on their minds. 

Second, unlike Dawn, JFP, Ha-Or, and other such oriented newspapers, we are the college publication and carry the normal campus news. This allows us to explore many avenues of interest not open to these papers. 

I wish to point out to the student body here, that the interaction that might be created because of city-wide publications will be worth the nominal expense. 

The Commentator editorials differ from other newspapers’ as we carry a policy of unanimity for each editorial by the governing board. Columns and analysis articles should be treated as the writer’s own opinion and not the board’s. We feel that particularly for this issue, discussion over the political candidates for the presidency and a poll of our student body would be of interest to the outside reader. 

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I now wish to state my endorsement of Senator George McGovern. Most of my sentiments are echoed by the pro-McGovern column on page 4. 

My only misgiving is that neither candidate is solid in his past policies towards Israel. Mr. Nixon’s attitudes on Vietnamization, court nominies, economic controls, and ending racial strife are the factors which persuade me to vote for the Senator. I can only add that with the election of Senator McGovern a far more responsive government towards the people will be in office.