Deans's Coffee Hour Enriches College Experience

Last Thursday, during club hour, approximately twenty five students; Deans Adler, Hecht, and Jesionowsky; and a few YC teachers-- Rabbi Shalom Carmy, Dr. M.J. Bernstein, Dr. Jacob Lindenthal, and Dr. Manfred Weidhorn-- met to discuss The Hedgehog and the Fox, the best-know masterpiece of the famous essayist, Isaiah Berlin. The meeting was the first official "Dean’s Coffee Hour," which is expected to meet every second and fourth Thursday each month during club hour.

An opportunity for informal discussion of the various topics of interest, the program aims to enhance the liberal arts ambiance at Yeshiva. Instituted by Dean Adler and a few interested students-- the set of meetings will be devoted to whatever issues most interest students with a special focus on topics that would otherwise fall between the cracks in the typical, college education. Another goal of the project, according to Dean Adler, is to stimulate "madda lishma," -- general studies for its own sake.

The Dean’s Coffee Hour joins other student and teacher run programs like the Galileo Project, the Arts Festival, the Philosophy and Poetry clubs, in furthering this goal. YC owes special thanks to students like Yonatan Kaganoff and teachers like Rabbi Carmy who are involved in many of these projects

Copies of the essay were distributed in advance of the meeting, and the discussion that took place in the Office of the Deans-- over coffee, soda, and cookies-- was lively and interesting. Dean Adler chose the topic to commemorate the recent death of the great scholar, Sir Isaiah Berlin. A Russian born Jew who studied in cheder during his childhood, Berlin went on to be the foremost exponent of the pluralistic ideology in his generation-- one of openness to the legitimacy and contributions of different, often opposing ideas coming from various cultures.

Berlin's essay, The Hedgehog and the Fox, introduced two new terms into the intellectual’s vocabulary, distinguishing between the scholar who seeks to unify all of his ideas under one larger rubric, seeks to uncover one, great idea, to which all of his other ideas are subordinated. The fox, on the other hand, looks for truth wherever truth pops its head, and makes small, often disparate contributions to the world of ideas. The hedgehog's vision is more grandiose and attractive, but the fox-- as does Berlin-- often appeals to the fallacy of thinking one can roll a whole subject or the whole of humanity into a little ball.

The response of the student body to the idea has been encouraging. In upcoming sessions, students will also have the opportunity to learn how to prepare for various fellowship programs in which the University is attempting to increase participation.