THE FOUNDING AND FINANCING OF RIETS 4 9 ~; and condoned, derided and condemned, uplifted and improved as CHAPTER 4· THE FOUNDING AND they became established on the East Side.1 It was time for them to FINANCING OF RIETS r assert their individuality by creating the institutions which were indigenous to the area and representative of their interests. The formation of RIETS marked a bold beginning in this direction, as well as a determined attack at the lines of benevolence and depend­ :;: The beginnings of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theo­ '> ,;fa-i~,J..::_--~t ence that stretched from the "Uptown Jews" to the lower East Side. logical Seminary have been long forgotten, buried with :.:: ~~ ~1 It was the new immigrants' declaration of independence from the r:.,_. ir. ! ~~~tm "' the founders of the school. The recollection of their German and the early Polish Jewish settlers in America. -~- descendants has been distorted by the passage of time and :: obscured by events more important in their own lives. There are no ,. ::. records extant of the Seminary ·from its inception in 1897 to its Formation of RIETS }:. merger with Yeshivat Etz Chaim in 1915. Only the Certificate of Incorporation, scattered newspaper accounts, one or two contem­ RIETS was incorporated in r897. A lone newspaper article an­ porary citations and passing references in the memoir literature of nouncing the formation of the school is the earliest published docu­ the time remain as silent witnesses to the great vision and deter­ ment about the event. It reads, in part: mination of a few men, who in poverty, without a founding board, Congregation Anshei Emes of Mariampol at 44 East Broadway, congregational union, or experienced leadership, created the first .J, announces that just as the Yeshiva Etz Chaim and the Machzikei f~' Orthodox rabbinical seminary in America. Talmud Torah were organized in this Synagogue years ago so, too, the Yeshiva of the great "Gaon," Rabbi Isaac Elchanan, may l"· The articulation of the need for an Orthodox rabbinical school on r:~ r.~ American soil in the tradition of the Jews of Russia and Poland his memory be a blessing, is being organized now. The purpose of :-; i the Yeshiva is [to enroll] children who can study a page of Talmud 1:. marked the coming of age for the Orthodox East European immi­ l: with Tosafot. A daily "shiur" will be taught by a Rosh Yeshiva ,., grant community. To the East European immigrant this was signifi­ [teacher of advanced Talmudic subjects] and a teacher will give ::: cant because at this time two other distinct Orthodox communities ·•:.· instructions in the language of the land. The founder of theYeshiva existed in the United States: the German Orthodox Jews, who showed '~1.,.. Rabbi Y ehuda David Bernstein, the founder of Y eshivat Etz . ;;:, is ... 2 little warmth and friendship to their East European brethren, and a Chaim. -.1 ·< native American Orthodox group led by ministers like Dr. Henry ( 'l~l The name of Mr. David Abramowitz, bearing the title Secretary, is Pereira Mendes and Rabbi Bernard Drathman. These two Ortho­ signed to the announcement. A decade later, a short historical article dox groups constituted, in part, what the East Siders called the revealing the names of two other founders, points out: "RIETS was .j~' "Uptown Jews," and were among the supporters of the Jewish founded by three lovers of Torah-Rabbi Moses Mayer Matlin, .-. Theological Seminary of America. Both exhibited a paternal phil­ 8 Rabbi Y ehuda David Bernstein, and Mr. David Abramowitz." ~-:; anthropic and condescending interest in the East European immi­ ~ These three "founders," and eight other men who signed the ~.-: grants and were active with other •• Jews in sponsoring an Ameri­ JBY Certificate of Incorporation of RIETS (Samuel Schatzkin, Jehuda ... ~ canization program for them. Solomon, Asher L. Germansky, Max Lewis, Mendel Zuckerman, The East European Jewish immigrants represented the third ~~; :;1 Julius Braunstein, Samuel Silberstein and Moses H. Bernstein), rep­ Orthodox segment in America. They were, by turns, patronized resented the founding board of the college. l' 48 ~:_..," THE BIG STRIKE IN RIETS 9 5 9 4 THE STORY OF YESHIVA UNIVERSITY public opinion, RIETS underwent the beginnings of a reorganiza­ The Tageblatt devoted a great deal of space to this "crisis in the 2 tion, which in another decade took form in the pattern Dr. synagogue" pointing out that "the richer Jews who built the of Bernard Revel's long-sought synthesis of religious and secular educa­ synagogues have moved from the East Side" and as for those who tion. No one really knows how the strike began or what caused it. remained, their "religious spirit is high but the finances are low."3 Its eruption, however, had been foreordained in the bitter struggle Among the unfortunate congregations affected was the Mariampol over secular education that had been raging within the institution Synagogue, which had been the spiritual source of the Machzikei from the turn of the century. There was no letup in this Kulturkampf Talmud Torah, the Yeshivat Etz Chaim, and RIETS. In December, and, from time to time, there were minor altercations involving the 1908, succumbing to the paralyzing effects of a migrating member­ ship and dwindling finances, its building was offered for sale in students and directors. In January, 1906, the smoldering unrest had come to one of the order to avoid foreclosure. 4 The Tageblatt announced a similar rancorous climaxes that characterized the period. At that time the crisis in the Machzikei Talmud Torah. In an editorial the paper directors circularized a document calling upon the advanced students reported that "the first Talmud Torah in New York may have to 5 to forswear all secular education and to promise devotion to their close some of its classes." Talmudic studies exclusively. The penalty for violation of this pledge RIETS, like other immigrant institutions, did not escape the would be forfeiture of all stipends and support. The students were shattering impact of the depression. The purchase of its own building naturally incensed by this highhanded threat, but they were even had made RIETS even more vulnerable to fluctuations in the financial more shocked by what they termed the fanaticism of the directors conditions of its supporters. Ownership of the building added over­ and their blindness to the needs of the students. The matter came to night the heavy burden of a mortgage commitment as well as an ugly head when stipends for the entire upper division were maintenance responsibility. Neither of these items had appeared in suspended because a number of students either had not signed the earlier budgets of RIETS, and they did not produce any direct required pledge or had been apprehended violating its conditions. compensating income in return for their expenditure. The students, who found no receptive ear among the directors, felt Signs of RIETS's faltering began to manifest themselves as soon they had no alternative other than to place their case before the as the Henry Street building was occupied. In November, 1904, public. Consequently, the following statement was issued to both the RIETS openly called for "help."6 A year later, a new cause for Jiidisches Tageblatt and the Judische Gazetten, which were undoubt­ worry developed as the mortgage payment fell due/ and by 1907 edly most happy to publish it.10 The uninhibited statement, despite the debt owed on the building was $7,000; there was an imminent its bitter tone, gives a very vivid picture of the students' position: threat that the building would be sold at auction and the doors of the Yeshiva closed forever. 8 We the students of RIETS have for a long time hidden our wounds in order that no desecration should take place. But since it has come to this final step we must publicize the following statement. The Explosion It is known that there is a yeshiva in New York known as Y eshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan .... The Yeshiva was founded in Against this painful background of economic worries and a Board order to produce great rabbinic scholars who would be acceptable of Directors "already tired of carrying the heavy load on their weak to the people and know the language of the land. Unfortunately, backs,"9 a great student strike exploded that rocked RIETS to its however, the Yeshiva does not fulfill its purpose. It is true that we have scholars who are brilliant Torah students who are suit- very depths. Under the pressure of a heated student body and aroused THE BIG STRIKE IN RIETS 97 9 6 THE STORY OF YESHIVA UNIVERSITY its purpose? The editorial writers formulated their support for the able to lead Orthodox synagogues, but we possess no secular edu­ student body in the following analysis: cation. When a young man comes to the Yeshiva, he is assured that he will be given the best teachers, but after the young man is Three types of rabbis are being prepared in America. The students there for several months he realizes that he lacks the opportunity at Cincinnati are one type. The second type are the students at to improve himself, and he begins to seek ways to leave the Yeshiva. the New York [Jewish Theological] Seminary and the third type The Yeshiva has already had the best of young men who were are the students of RIETS. suitable to fill pulpits, but they were lost. They drifted with the What was the contribution of RIETS? We needed a Yeshiva stream because the Yeshiva did not give them the opportunity to where our good students, our excellent young men, those who study the English language.