September 23, 2003

OU and RCA Leaders Say Richard Joel’s Presidency of Yeshiva University, Through his View of Community Development, Will Benefit the Wider Jewish Community

Following the installation Sunday of Richard Joel as the fourth President of Yeshiva University, the Presidents of the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America declared that Mr. Joel’s leadership will not only bring about extraordinary results for the university, but will have substantial benefits for the Jewish community as a whole.

Harvey Blitz, President of the OU, and Rabbi Kenneth Auman, President of the RCA, commented after Sunday’s impressive ceremony at YU’s Washington Heights Main Campus, in which Mr. Joel officially assumed the presidency of the distinguished academic institution which combines Torah and U’Mada – a combination of Jewish and secular learning. The OU, as the synagogue umbrella organization which represents an Orthodoxy which lives in the modern world, and the RCA, as the rabbinical arm of the movement, work closely with YU and its leadership. Yeshiva University trains many of the rabbis who occupy the pulpits of OU synagogues and who form the membership of the RCA.

Mr. Blitz and Rabbi Auman, however, saw the appointment of Mr. Joel as going beyond the Orthodox world and benefiting the wider Jewish community. They cited Mr. Joel’s inclusive approach to Jewish life, demonstrated most vividly by his 14 years as President of Hillel: the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, in which he breathed new life into the organization and brought college students of all degrees of commitment to Judaism closer to their religion and their people.

“We commend Richard Joel on his view of community development, specifically his message of ‘enabling and ennobling ’ the younger generation, as he put it in his inaugural address, to take their place of leadership within the Jewish community,” said Mr. Blitz. “It has been his life’s mission to bring people closer to their Jewish roots and to allow that closeness to express itself through articulate and meaningful service to the Jewish people. Those of us who represent the organized Jewish community and its institutions eagerly look forward to the realization of Richard Joel’s vision and to the enormous potential for good that such an achievement will have for the Jewish people.”

Rabbi Auman, himself an alumnus of YU, where he received his ordination, declared, “Richard Joel is a distinguished educator, a great leader, a man of wit and wisdom, a charismatic and enthralling individual. Under his leadership, Yeshiva University will serve as a model for higher education in 21st century America, by sending out the clear message that colleges can emphasize moral values and deep religious feeling, even in an era in which these sentiments are often rejected on campus. By leading this kind of university – which at the same time is in the first rank of American academic institutions – Mr. Joel will have a substantial impact not only at YU, but throughout the world of Jewish education.”

The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 275,000 products manufactured in 68 countries around the globe.

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The Rabbinical Council of America is a dynamic professional organization serving over 1,100 Orthodox Rabbis in the United States of America, Canada and Israel. Membership is comprised of duly ordained Orthodox Rabbis who serve in positions of the congregational Rabbinate, Jewish education, chaplaincies, and other allied fields of Jewish communal work. While many of its members received their smicha from Yeshivat Rabbenu Yitzchak Elchanan (affiliated with Yeshiva University, New York) and Bet Midrash Letorah (Hebrew Theological College, Skokie, Illinois), a large number were ordained from other major yeshivot in the United States, Israel and Europe and by recognized Rabbinic Torah authorities.

www.rabbis.org

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