Spring 2022 Wilf Election Results Released

Student election results for Yeshiva Student Union (YSU), Student Organization of Yeshiva (SOY), Yeshiva College Student Council (YCSC) and Syms Student Council (SYMSSC) positions on Wilf Campus were released shortly after midnight on May 4, less than two hours after polls were closed. Additionally, all six amendments on the ballot were passed and will now be incorporated into the constitution.

751 out of 1103 eligible students voted, and all but two races had winners declared.

In executive YSU races, Baruch Lerman (YC ‘23) was elected president, Moshe Nasser (SSSB ‘24) vice president of clubs and Benny Klein (YC ‘24) vice president of class affairs.

In YSU class and school representative races, Zachary Notkin (YC ‘24) was elected junior representative after Joseph Greenberg (SSSB ‘24), who garnered the most votes, intentionally disqualified himself from the race; Moshe Cohen (Katz ‘22) as Katz representative and Akiva Sasson as Makor representative. The race for senior class representative was inconclusive as no write-in candidate secured at least twenty votes.

In YCSC races, Romi Harcsztark (YC ‘23) was elected president, Jacob Tollinsky (YC ‘24) vice president and Dov Schulman (YC ‘23) treasurer. 

In SYMSSC races, Yoel (Cody) Halbert (SSSB ‘23) was elected president, Ezra Emerson (SSSB ‘23) vice president and Moshe Benhamu (SSSB ‘23) treasurer.

In SOY executive races, Ephraim Klein (YC ‘23) was elected president, Asher Schreier (YC ‘23) vice president, and Yedidya Schechter (YC ‘24) as Wilf Campus’s first vice president of chesed.

In SOY school representative races, Jacob Sundel (YC ‘24) was elected Mazer Yeshiva Program (MYP) representative, Yaakov Baker (YC ‘24) as Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies (IBC) representative, and Oze Botach (YC ‘24) as James Striar School of General Jewish Studies (JSS) representative. The race for Irving I. Stone Beis Medrash Program (SBMP) was inconclusive as no write-in candidate secured at least twenty votes.

“I'm incredibly thankful to Hashem, and for my family, friends, and all the wonderful people who have helped me get here. To the Wilf Campus Student Body: Thank you for electing me —  I won't let you down,” Lerman, elected YSU president, told The Commentator.

“Baruch Hashem this year was amazing and I hope to continue Elazar's legacy by working tirelessly for the student body,” he continued.

Halbert, elected SYMSSC president, felt similarly. “I would like to thank my friends, family, and voters for their support throughout this election process, and I am excited for what my Syms team and the rest of the student council will accomplish,” he told The Commentator.

“If this election process has taught me anything,” Halbert continued, “it is that hard work, dedication, grit, and endurance are key to achieving one's goals. As your president, I will apply this valuable lesson to all the work I do for my constituents.”

Schechter, Wilf’s first vice president of chesed, which replaced SOY’s public relations secretary position, spoke about his role and future plans. “My mission is to bring the value of the importance and cruciality of chesed to the forefront of people's minds in YU and to guide our fellow students towards thinking and viewing our daily lives with a chesed oriented lens,” he told The Commentator.

“This will be by organizing events, think tanks, sichas mussars, and speakers with roshei yeshiva and respected teachers and leaders, in addition to organizing volunteering opportunities and trips to express this value of chesed.”

“As always, this was a busy election season, with all student council positions on the ballot,” Natan Ehrenreich (YC ‘23), chair of the canvassing committee, told The Commentator. “We had excellent turnout numbers, and I think that speaks to the quality of the candidates who ran.”

Daniel Melool contributed to this story

Candidates 

The following is a breakdown of the election results with vote totals and percentage of votes per candidate:

YSU President 

Baruch Lerman - 392 (60%)

Eitan Northman - 194 (30%)

YSU Vice President of Clubs

Moshe Nasser - 513 (84%)

YSU Vice-President of Class Affairs

Benny Klein - 291 (47%)

Jacob (Koby) Rosinsky - 188 (30%)

Isaac Silverman - 87 (14%)

YSU Senior Representative

Write-In - 111 (100%)

Breakdown of Write-ins

Netanel Kramer - 16

Seffi Jonas - 14

Race inconclusive as no candidate received twenty write-in votes

YSU Junior Representative

Joseph Greenberg - 108 (54%)

Zachary Notkin - 80 (40%)

Joseph Greenberg intentionally disqualified himself from the race and Zachary Notkin was elected with the second-highest tally of votes

YSU Katz Representative 

Moshe F. Cohen - 2 (33%)

Write-In - 4 (67%)

Breakdown of Write-ins

Moshe Muehlgay - 2

Given that 20 write-in votes are required to allow a write-in candidate to declare victory, Moshe Cohen won this race

YSU Makor Representative 

Akiva Sasson - 7 (100%)

YCSC President

Romi Harcsztark - 136 (48.23%)

David Lifschitz - 134 (47.52%)

YCSC Vice-President

Jacob Tollinsky - 162 (58%)

Sammy Intrator - 99 (36%)

YCSC Treasurer

Doc Schulman - 122 (50.00%)

Yitzhak Graff - 105 (43.03%)

SYMSSC President

Yoel (Cody) Halbert - 157 (42.43%)

Josh Hirt - 136 (36.76%)

Elie Burg - 66 (17.84%)

SYMSSC Vice President

Ezra Emerson - 134 (40.00%)

David Price - 133 (39.70%)

Andrew Warren - 53 (15.82%)

SYMSSC Treasurer 

Moshe Benhamu - 265 (83.07%)

SOY President 

Ephraim Klein - 427 (67.03%)

Ethan Schuman - 168 (26.37%)

SOY Vice President

Asher Schreier - 555 (90.98%)

SOY Vice President of Chesed

Yedidiya Schechter - 328 (52.90%)

Adam Goldfeder - 249 (40.16%)

SOY MYP Representative

Jacob Sundel - 257 (89.24%)

SOY SBMP Representative

Write In - 89 (100%)

Breakdown of Write-Ins

Jacob Katz - 14

Gavi Ciment - 8

Eddie Tawil - 8

Race inconclusive as no candidate received twenty write-in votes

SOY IBC Representative

Yakov Baker - 72 (86.75%)

SOY JSS Representative

Oze Botach - 15 (39.47%)

Eli Izhaky - 14 (36.84%)

Eli Anina - 8 (21.05%)

Amendments 

The following is a breakdown of the vote totals and percentages for the amendments to the Wilf Student Constitution: 

Amendment 1 (Edits for Consistency)

PASSED

Yea- 256 (81.27%)

Nay - 59 (18.73%)

Amendment 2 (Clarifying Intent-to-Run Process)

PASSED

Yea - 628 (77.46%)

Nay - 78 (22.54%)

Amendment 3 (Eliminate Fall Amendments Convention)

PASSED

Yea - 186 (61.39%)

Nay - 117 (38.61%)

Amendment 4 (Changing Budegtory Accounting Release Requirement to be Monthly) 

PASSED

Yea - 282 (78.12%)

Nay - 79 (21.88%)

Amendment 5 (Index Fund Freeze for Failure to Comply with Budgetory Accounting Release Requirement)

PASSED

Yea - 236 (69.62%)

Nay - 103 (30.38%)

Amendment 6 (No Discrimination from Canvassing Committee Between Requirements for a Position)

PASSED

Yea - 240 (74.07%)

Nay - 84 (25.93%)