Our Deep and Dreamless Slumber

Late at night, I was walking around campus dejected and sour after the usual day of dreary classes, dreary weather and dreary people. The drab neighborhood and the morose architecture surrounding me added to my somber spirits, and at that moment my only thoughts were to get to my apartment and finish some dreadfully monotonous homework that I had left for the last moment. But suddenly from afar I heard the lively beat of the tarbuka drums and voices singing songs that registered deep within my Jewish soul. There, on the fourth floor of Muss Hall boys had gathered to celebrate the engagement of one of their friends, and without thinking too much I headed straight for the joyous occasion. I had seen the face of the chatan around campus but I admit I did not recognize his name at first ( I have a notorious weakness for name retention). Nevertheless I joined the circle dance with a feeling of complete belonging. And when it ended I shook the future groom's hand and wished him luck, leaving the scene rejuvenated and happy.

For me those are the beautiful moments of this University. The moments where our classical values come together with simcha and spontaneity. The moments where people around here smile effortlessly and throw off the yoke of rigidness that has crept up on their beings. Yet these days, as I am sure many of you have noticed, those wonderful moments are occurring at rarer and rarer intervals. There is an uptightness in the air that is suffocating our very lives. What's wrong here?

Could this uptightness and rigidity be a result of our generation's anxiety regarding "making it" in the real world? We are constantly trying to figure out our next step and calculate every move as to have the right resume, the right grad school and the right job. We are almost never alive in the present, rather, we live in a constant state of anticipation and preparation for the future. To attain our dream it seems as though we must follow a well trotted, prescribed path veering neither this way or that, lest there be no pot of gold waiting at the end of our rainbow. To reach success these days means being able to master the proper bureaucracy, be it LSAT's or MCAT's, applications or forms. Personal creativity has gone the way of the eight-track, and with it personality has lost all value. Like prostitutes vying to seem seductive, we are a product on the market hoping to be bought.

As a humanities major myself, I am scared to death of the future. I see the business people doing very well with their expense accounts and late night limo's, and I see the computer people getting hired here and in Israel right out of college. But the humanities folk are left with very few choices, pigeonholed into either academia or law school. Academia is saturated with qualified individuals, but at the same time no Jewish mother (or wife) wants her son to teach sociology in Iowa. Today's lawyers have all gone corporate essentially becoming humanity's accountants and it is no wonder that lawyers seem to be universally hated. Law schools in their money oriented outlook neglect to go through the trouble of interviewing perspective candidates. They don't care who the heck you are or what the heck you are going to do with your degree as long as you have the grades, LSAT's, and of course the money to pay them. Do you really think they expect someone owing sixty thousand dollars in tuition fees to do pro-bono work? Do you think law schools are concerned about your life or even the state of society that surrounds them? They never even look you in the eyes! Is this what I want for myself? In short, I too am concerned about the future.

Alas, it seems to me that our generation has lost perspective of what "making it" is really about. I am dismayed when the college students, fabled intellectuals, radicals, and innovators, in actuality look like zombies. Here at YU we have retired from our youth early in exchange for bourgeois aspirations and bourgeois lives. The worst part of this problem is that once young minds become accustomed to lethargy and once young eyes become accustomed to dimness, it becomes harder to breathe life into their dim lethargic souls. Stagnation leads to entropy, entropy leads to death, and death sucks.

But do you think I'm worried? HA!!! Not at all, because I know that we Jews are creative, dynamic, and exciting. And although at times our school looks like the charred desolate remains of a merciless nuclear holocaust, with our students at times resembling those unlucky few survivors left behind to walk the wasteland in horror; fear not for the phoenix of YU shall rise once again. However, in order to bring about the much needed salvation of our school, our society , and our souls, some fundamental changes must occur. If we are to reinvent ourselves we must wake up from our deep and dreamless slumber.

The first thing we must do is break out of the self-centered and myopic view of history which places us solely in the era in which money rules while morality wanes. A broader view of our history will serve to remind us of the great task which we have been given and the downright neglect which we have shown it. We have shirked our 'light unto the nations' responsibility! Maybe, if the amnesia cloud that has settled upon us will dissipate, we might recall the importance we once placed upon social action, outreach, and care. The Jew, with his historical heritage, and his G-dly ordained mission, must rise to do good during his own life to affect the lives of others. Now that's what "making it," used to mean, or have we forgotten?

A second integral step which we must take in order to further comprehend our place in history is to develop an active awareness of the great miracles which G-d has made for us. This will once again serve as a reminder to the greater purpose of which every Jew is part of. Every time you see a Russian student walking around campus remember the great miracles and emancipation which G-d made for us way back in Egypt and in our own times in front of our very eyes in the Soviet Union. My parents escaped from there. Nor should we neglect the modern day in-your-face miracles of our country Israel. Do you get it? The Jews, after TWO THOUSAND YEARS, have returned to Zion and to Jerusalem, where G-d wins miraculous wars for us when he likes us, just like the good ole' days! Let us also not take for granted the miraculous success that we have had in this tolerant and benevolent country, and let us not think to ourselves (for that is a real sin) that it is our hands and our smarts that have given us this success. Lastly let's not forget the wonderful book G-d has given us, a personally autographed copy of his "Guide To Everything."

All of us here at YU are very confused by the clash between our modern lives and our classical values. Yet no matter where you end up on the varied spectrum of Judaism, remember that realizing G-d is the first step towards self-realization and that G-dliness that exists within all of us. This first step is also a giant leap towards the realization that we Jews are part of a greater goal on this Earth and that we have a responsibility to it. So even if you are not the most religious guy on this campus or even in the tri-state area, try not to forsake, take for granted, or (worst of all) routinize G-d and spirituality in your life. Have at least one moment a day when you pinch yourself and say G-d created this world for me, and G-d wrote this Torah for me. At the same time take at least one moment to ask yourself: How can I make this world a better place for my brother and for my neighbor?

Once we have attained these realizations we will rid ourselves of fear and of pointless anxiety for the future, for we will clearly see that a hand guides us along our personal and collective paths. We will regain the confidence to be creative and alive and we will be happy for life as life's very essence is joy. How appropriate that such a renaissance will begin here at Yeshiva, where modernity and religion meet and where the combined wisdom of man and God are imparted to the young.