YU’s Annual Commencement Exercises to Feature Chief Rabbi of Britain (Vol. 62, Issue 12)
Yeshiva University will hold its 66th annual commencement exercises on Thursday, May 22, at 11 A.M. in the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, will address the graduating students and will be one of the seven individuals to receive honorary doctorate degrees.
Sacks was elected Chief Rabbi of Great Britain’s United Synagogues in 1991 at only 41 years of age. He is a renowned author of works on Jewish thought, philosophy and the Talmud. University President Rabbi Norman Lamm, who will be presenting the honorary degrees, stated that Sacks “worked tirelessly and often thanklessly to stress the qualities that unite rather than divide Jews, while, at the same time, adhering strictly to the laws that have guided our people for thousands of years.”
About one thousand diplomas will be presented at the May 22 exercises from: YC, SCW, Sy Syms School of Business, JSS, IBC, the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education, The Bernard Revel Graduate School, The Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, and the Wurzweiler School of Social Work. FGS and WSSW will hold their own additional ceremonies later in the day.
The other honorary doctorate recipients are: Charles H. Bendheim, a University Trustee and President of Philipp Brothers Chemicals; Dr. Gerald Blidstein, the chairman of the Department of Jewish Studies and Professor of Jewish Law at Ben-Gurion University; Erica Jesselson, chairperson of the YUMuseum Board of Governors; Kurt Rothschild, president of the Toronto-area Canadian Friends of YU and RIETS trustee; Rabbi Melech Schachter, a YU faculty member since 1951 who has taught at BRGS, SCSW, and WSSW; and Bernard Sharfstein, legal counsel and publisher at KTAV publishing house. The honorees have had a significant impact on the spread of Jewish education either through both their generous philanthropy and personal scholarship.
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine will have its 39th Annual Commencement on June 5 at the Jack and Pearl Resnick campus, along with the Sue Golding Graduate Division of Medical Sciences and the Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Studies. The Benjamin N.Cardozo School of Law will hold its 19th Annual Commencement on June 15th at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. The Marsha Stern Talmudic Academy YUHS for Boys will have its graduation exercises at the Main Campus on June 22. The Samuel H. Wang YUHS for Girls will honor its graduates on June 23rd, also at the Main Campus. WSSW will honor graduates of its Block Education Plan on July 31st at the Main Campus.
