Moses, Fishman Named Editors-in-Chief

For the fifth time in six years, two people will share the helm of this newspaper. Late Monday night, the governing board of The Commentator elected Adam Moses and Mordechai Fishman, the current News Editors, Co-Editors-in-Chief for Volume 63. Akiva Herzfeld, the current Features Editor will assume the responsibilities of the Executive Editor.

Adam Moses is a YC junior with a double major in political science and English. He is an aspiring politician who is interested in alternative music and theological innovation. Moses hails from Silver Spring, Maryland, a town regarded by some as quaint. He attended Yeshiva High School of Greater Washington, a pseudo-haredi educational establishment that failed miserably in its effort to indoctrinate Moses with its brand of deviant fanaticism. Moses attended Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim following what he characterizes as his "liberation from the shackles of Eastern European oppression." There, despite his best efforts, he became shtark. After making a fateful decision to decline Johns Hopkins for another first tier school, Moses arrived at YU. Indeed, he arrived. Did he ever arrive.

Moses is a Yeshiva College Student Court Justice as well as co-founder and former president of the Yeshiva University Debate Society. Moses joined The Commentator staff during the fall of 1996, his first semester on campus. During an initial tour of duty with the features department, Moses distinguished himself with a series of memorable pieces examining aspects of Yeshiva University campus culture. One of these stories garnered the prestigious Commentator Best Features Story Award, an award to which not a single Pulitzer Prize recipient can lay claim. Until now.

Later that semester, Moses shifted his talents to the news department. He quickly ascended to an assistant editorship by that semester's conclusion. As Associate News Editor, Moses continued to produce myriad quality stories of consequence as he assumed a full range of editorial responsibilities. Moses was anointed News Editor with the close of the 1996-1997 academic year. In this post, he succeeded in cultivating a new group of Commentator leaders dubbed "The Goat Guard." Under Moses's tutelage, these "goat men" made truly original contributions to The Commentator's growth. Moses also scripted a number of keenly insightful opinion columns during the course of the previous two academic years. His widely read Deconstructing Haredi inspired constructive discourse on a matter of import to the whole of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Moses intends to "shepherd The Commentator to its rightful position among the premier English language news publications. We wish to be the dominant force on the scene of contemporary American journalism. We wish our presence to be ubiquitous. Toward that end, we will embark upon an unprecedented initiative to enhance the quality and scope of this venerable publication. Catalyzing student participation is an indispensable component of this undertaking. Let not the unmitigated ambitiousness of our aim impede its execution. I am fully confident that our goals are attainable."

Moses continued, "I welcome the opportunity to work with and guide the remarkably talented staff of this paper. I also wish to take this opportunity to express my unequivocal conviction that The Commentator must be a publication devoted to the interests of students. We, as Commentator staff members, do not, nor do we wish to, dwell in an ivory tower hermetically sealed off from the student populace. If we so act, we fail our charge and corrupt an honorable institution. It is my intention to restore this paper to the students of the University in the broadest possible sense."

Mordechai Fishman is a political philosophy major with a side interest in Hassidic/Kabbalistic literature, and the only YU student with a pet boa constrictor. A native of sunny Southern California, he began his YU academic career in Fall '94 after spending two years learning in Israel. After intensely experiencing YU life for the duration of a solitary semester he fled back to Israel and promptly enlisted in the IDF, serving in the Givati infantry brigade. Six days after leaving the war zone of the Gaza Strip he found himself in the academic minefield of Belfer Hall ready to do battle with the Spring '96 semester.

He lost. Leaving YU once more, he took a leave of absence to "escape Washington Heights and clear the bodega music from my head." Upon returning to his studies he heeded the advice of Roth Scholar and preeminent Persian Hazan on campus Hezi Jacobi, and joined the venerable student publication, The Commentator. Quickly developing a taste for the arcane intricacies and ancient blood feuds of the YU administration, Fishman dove into various academic and administrative issues and was promoted to Associate News Editor.

Upon assuming the duties of News Editor the following year he continued in his efforts to foster good relations between all levels of the administration, faculty and students. A highlight of his journalistic career was writing an obituary-style article concerning the resignation of David Rosen, Director of Yeshiva University Public Relations. Fishman's efforts became especially poignant when Rosen returned to his position three weeks later.

"I have been blessed to work with an exceptional group of individuals who have taught me the value of patience, fortitude, and a couple of really cool things about life," said Fishman. "YU is a uniquely endowed university with resources and advantages unavailable anywhere else in the world. It also possesses some of the most infuriating and frustrating deficiencies found on the planet, which only serve to make this place more interesting. I hope to be able to guide The Commentator through the latter while making it a student publication in the fullest sense possible. I look forward to working with Adam and the rest of our dedicated staff in publishing a quality paper, improving student life on campus, and having a truly boot-stomping good time."

Noah Striet, one of the current co-editors explained that both he, "and my co-editor, Ari Kahn are confident that the Commentator will be in capable hands for the next year. Fishman, Moses, and Herzfeld are fully dedicated to both the newspaper and the student body. They understand how the paper is run and appreciate the time and effort necessary to maintain its success and credibility. Ari and I are certain that all three will dedicate themselves fully to the demanding responsibility."