Yeshiva University - History

History

Yeshiva University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States that combines Jewish scholarship with studies in the liberal arts, sciences, medicine, law, business, social work, Jewish studies and education, and psychology.

Yeshiva University has its roots in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva founded in 1886 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a cheder-style elementary school founded by Eastern European immigrants that offered study of Talmud along with some secular education, including instruction in English.

As of August 2012, Yeshiva University enrolls approximately 6,400 undergraduate students, 3,500 graduate students, and 1,000 students at its affiliated high schools and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. It conferred 1,822 degrees in 2007 and offers community service projects serving New York, Jewish communities, the United States and Canada.

Richard M. Joel is Yeshiva University's president, while Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm serves as chancellor. President Joel's nomination as president was unprecedented and considered by some to be controversial, because he is the first president of YU who is not a rabbi. The university's past leaders include Dr. Bernard Revel, Dr. Samuel Belkin, and "The Rav," Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

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