Instead of departing this week for his first year at Yeshivat Shaarei Mevaseret Tzion in Israel, Miami Beach native Yehuda Deutsch will be moving into his dorm room in Yeshiva College. Despite admitting that she is "a little nervous," Miriam Shapiro, who hails from Woodmere, leaves for Michlala next week. Rachel Galbut, also of Miami Beach, who last week had decided to enroll in Stern instead of attending Scharfman's in Jerusalem, changed her mind and plans on traveling to Israel on Sunday.

Due to the precarious political situation in the Middle East, these students, along with nearly 600 of their fellows, are painfully reconsidering their year of study in the S. Daniel Abraham Joint Israel Program, a trip that has achieved nearly universal popularity among yeshiva high school graduates in recent years. Whatever the conclusions reached by this year's Israel contingent, their decisions have raised vexing questions for Yeshiva's undergraduate colleges.

"We're calling this year's participants in the Joint Israel Program 'matzav students,'" remarked Director of Enrollment Management John Fisher, referring to the Hebrew word for 'situation.' "Following the bombing in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem last week," continued Fisher, "we started receiving a flood of phone calls from concerned parents and students exploring their options of coming to Yeshiva instead of going to Israel. What it boiled down to, in the end, was about 30 students, 10 on the Main Campus and 20 on the Midtown campus, who decided to forgo their Israel year. The vast majority are going ahead."

While one of Yeshiva's chief concerns during this period regarded whether its facilities, already strained due to record enrollment growth, could handle the possibly massive influx of interrupted Israel students, another aspect of the debate centered on Yeshiva's responsibility towards its students who actually chose to embark on their Israel experience.

Nearly all Yeshiva administrators associated with students adopted a similar stance towards the Joint Israel Program. "Our position has been that families and students must decide for themselves," explained Dr. Morton Lowengrub, the university's Vice President for Academic Affairs. "The university was clear and up-front about what it can and can not do. We obviously cannot follow each student around, all the time. But," he continued, "we have a moral responsibility to do all we can to protect our students, and were doing all we can on this issue."

Lowengrub's attitude reflected the sentiments of a letter written this week by Yeshiva President Norman Lamm to Joint Israel students and their families. "Permit me to reflect with you on how important your learning is to our people and nation," Lamm wrote, praising the students' commitment. In another letter, addressed to parents, Lamm pledged that the university was "striving to make this a year of safe and enriching experiences" for its students.

The specific safety measures adopted by Yeshiva remain unclear, however, as students remain primarily under the care of their yeshivas and seminaries in Israel. "I spoke frequently with Mark Lehrman, the head of the Israel office, this summer," said Fisher. "We are adopting a series of measures to help out in any way we can. We organized a session with a psychologist specializing in trauma management for the educators in Israel, on how to deal with emotionally difficult situations. We are doing everything we can to minimize student traveling for Yeshiva business. Whenever possible, our people in Israel will go to the schools rather than have the students travel to the YU Israel office. We understand that students will be limiting their traveling around somewhat," he continued, "and so we're doing whatever we can to limit any possible 'cabin fever' if students are forced to stay in their schools."

Fisher also revealed that Lehrman's cell phone number had been distributed to all Israel students, along with that of Navah Hyman, the women's Israel coordinator, in case of an urgent need to contact Yeshiva personnel in Israel. Fisher conceded, however, that although some students had already arrived in Israel, Lehrman and Hyman were in America until sometime the next week, due to family obligations. He stressed, however, that Yosef Fridman, who directs the Gruss facility, which houses the Israel office, was manning the fort in the interim.

The Commentator's repeated calls to Israel, however, only received a week-old answering machine message providing information for the funeral of Shoshana Goldstein, the Azrieli Graduate School student studying in Israel who was tragically killed in the Sbarro bombing. No other contact information for Israel Office staff was provided.

Nevertheless, Lehrman defended Yeshiva's policy. "Most of the kids either just arrived, or will be leaving next week," he noted. "We don't visit the schools right at the start, so as not to disturb the process of getting used to Israel. We are another place for students to turn, but we aren't their primary line of supervision. We do go to talk with the students; not a month goes by that the schools aren't visited. Nevertheless, students tend to turn to the yeshivas first. They are going to Israel via Yeshiva, but are still enrolled in their own yeshivas."

Lehrman's point regarding the direct supervision of the Joint Israel participants also presents Yeshiva with a legal morass. No Yeshiva administrator could definitively say whether liability and responsibility for Israel students lies on the University. "The issue we consider is safety, not liability," claimed Fisher. Yeshiva's legal counsel remained unavailable for comment on the matter, however.

In spite of such lingering questions, Yeshiva brass effusively praised its scholars abroad. "I have always held the position that American universities have been too timid with their study abroad programs," revealed Fisher. "I arrived in Yeshiva 3 years ago, and as soon as I got to know the Israel program, I thought it was the most wonderful study abroad program I had ever seen. I'm delighted that the vast majority of our students have chosen on their own to continue it." University Dean of Students David Himber echoed this sentiment. "It's very admirable of the students and parents who have chosen to go," he enthused.

Students chose to shake off the praise directed at them, however, attributing their choice to desire for their "Israel experience." "I'm going because I know that it is something I really have wanted to do, and something my parents wanted," said Shapiro. "Ultimately, I knew I was going all along. I don't think it's really due to a responsibility to Israel."

Galbut pointed to a similar logic behind her final decision to travel. "I'm still nervous that I made the wrong decision," she said, "but I figured that once I started college, I wouldn't get the chance to go again, and I didn't want to miss the experience. We'll still be going on trips and tours," she added, "we won't be that restricted." Fears of safety restrictions figured into the decisions of those choosing to stay in America, as well. "I wasn't really scared, but I didn't like that fact that I wouldn't be able to go out and travel," explained Deutsch, who conceded that one of his parents had strongly opposed his going. "I didn't think that the year would be good the way it is there now. I realize that my intended Israel experience will not be realized," he concluded, "but God willing, there should be peace, and hopefully, I'll get to go there soon."

Though the feared massive influx of Israel students never materialized, Yeshiva has nevertheless struggled to house all of its students this semester. "We only have 11 matzav students coming to Main Campus, and 20 coming to Midtown," stated Fisher. "This is something we were struggling with all summer, and the additional 30 students didn't make it much worse. Thankfully, our projection for this semester was 1244 students uptown, and we should have about 1257, so we didn't exceed expectations by too much."

As the housing crisis developed, different plans were developed to adequately support the burgeoning on-campus population. Yeshiva's Admissions office revealed that it had seriously considered asking some late-applying students who lived within commuting distance to live at home.

Late on Tuesday night, however, Himber, in conference with Yeshiva's housing office, decided to place incoming students on the 2nd Floor of the Strenger Residence Hall, which houses dorming Marsha Stern Talmudic Academy students. Previously, college and semicha students had been housed on Strenger's third floor, reserving the lower two stories for high school students exclusively.

"The issue in question was whether it was right to mix college and high school students," Himber explained. "No high school students will be displaced by this decision; all the space we are using is empty rooms. In fact," he continued, "we are leaving one room empty for MTA, just in case they have a last-minute enrollment." Himber elaborated that the new policy would bring the total of Strenger beds used by college students to 26. "The total number of roomless students may exceed this number," he cautioned, "and some students may still be forced to commute. Nevertheless, I think we have been able to place all of our out-of-town students on the uptown campus, which was not a certainty until now."

Though the Strenger option had not been discussed with the high school administration, MTA Principal Rabbi Michael Hecht did not express concern. "I have no reservations if the college students are the proper role models for our boys," he said. "This actually provides a wonderful opportunity for those college students interested in chinuch to work with and influence youngsters. There are obviously risks involved," he conceded, "but I'll see to it that my students are in the proper surroundings, since they are my top priority. I do not anticipate any problems," he concluded.

While the housing shortage on Main Campus required a novel solution, Himber did remark that adequate housing for out-of-town midtown students had never been in doubt, because of two floors opening in Yeshiva's new Roberts House midtown residence hall. "Even if some women are forced to commute," Himber qualified, "a third floor of Roberts House will be opened around October time, which will fully alleviate the shortage."

Though the housing shortage provided the most difficult challenge to the Yeshiva infrastructure, administrators such as Fisher and Himber warned that classroom space could prove problematic as well. Nevertheless, the academic deans hastened to assure The Commentator that the current matzav students returning would pose no real difficulty for the undergraduate schools.

"We could support three to four times the number of students returning," Yeshiva College Norman Adler boasted. New Sy Syms Dean Charles Snow exhibited Adler's insouciance as well, noting that, "we at Syms can handle the additional students. We have eight introductory courses on both campuses, and we are expecting not to overcrowd any of them." Stern College Dean Karen Bacon optimistically predicted zero class space issues in her school as well.

The Deans' optimism was tempered somewhat by the possibility of a larger, sudden influx of Israel returnees in the event of a further deteriorating situation in Israel. "That would be a catastrophe, and obviously, we can't plan for catastrophes," noted Yeshiva College Assistant Dean Joyce Jesionowski."

Himber professed a similar attitude towards the slowly resolving housing crisis. "If, God forbid, there is such a huge return," he predicted, "we'd have to turn to desperate measures, such as asking students to triple up in dorm rooms."

The administrators dismissed such an event as unlikely, however. "I think you'd need an extremely bad situation to see returns in huge numbers," argued Fisher. "I met a student in Gush when I was last in Israel, who had made a deal with his parents to come home in case of a war. He told me, however, that he had been debating with them on how exactly to define war."