Remembering the YU of Yore

A review of My Yeshiva Collge: 75 Years of Memories in The Forward (link):

With all the hoopla surrounding last year’s commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Yeshiva College, the most interesting retrospective came about through the efforts of two recent graduates of Yeshiva University, the central institution of Modern Orthodoxy. Menachem Butler and Zev Nagel pulled together a tour de force of 64 short essays (originally published in the student newspaper The Commentator) in which former students, teachers and administrators share their reminiscences. The result is a highly idiosyncratic, often moving, frequently provocative collection illuminating an institution that has been both hyped and hissed over the years.

“My Yeshiva College: 75 Years of Memories,” with its many adulatory tributes, at first blush appears to be a hagiography of Y.U. Readers, however, ought not be gulled. Probe not too deeply, and you will find a rich cholent of penetrating and incisive observations. The adulatory is interspersed with the acrimonious, and the editors cleverly oblige the reader to work a bit to pull out the succulent pieces of meat from a somewhat schmaltzy stew...

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