Minister of Education Livnat to Keynote Commencement

By Dovid Rosen

Yeshiva has chosen a number of noteworthy Israelis and American supporters of Israel to receive honorary degrees at the University’s seventy-first commencement.  Israeli Education Minister Limor Livnat will deliver the exercise’s keynote address.

The choice of Livnat, once called “Likud’s Iron Lady” by an American magazine, according to one university official, “seems appropriate” in a year when both American media and life on campus have been so greatly affected by events in Israel.  Livnat’s long career as a member of the Israeli Knesset and as a minister in successive governments has made her a figure of international stature.

Livnat will be joined on Yeshiva’s stage by Dr. Bernadine Healy, a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and former President and CEO of the American Red Cross, who was a strong public advocate for the inclusion of Israel’s Magen David Adom in the International Federation of Red Cross.  Healy is known for her dynamic progressive innovation in emergency healthcare response.  At the time of he departure from the Red Cross, Healy was pushing for the creation of a frozen blood bank whose reserves would ensure that the blood supply remains intact during a time of disaster.

Malcom Hoenlein, a household name after successfully organizing last month’s solidarity rally in Washington, D.C., and current Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, will be conferred a degree of Humane Letters by Yeshiva.  Hoenlein will be honored for his work in support of Israel and American Jewry.

Perhaps the most internationally famed honoree is famed movie producer Arthur Cohn, winner of a record six Academy Awards.  His films include full-length features, foreign-language films and documentaries.

Also among this Year’s honorees will be Yeshiva’s Michael Jesselson, Chairman of the University’s Presidential Search Committee, a member of Yeshiva’s Board of Trustees and an international benefactor know to almost every Jewish organization and philanthropic cause.

This year’s commencement will take place at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Thursday Morning, May 23, 2002.  The ceremony is a by-invitation-only event that will honor Yeshiva’s undergraduate senior class and will have representatives from all of Yeshiva’s graduating classes.