Volume 67, Issue 7

Mission Statements:

RIETS:

The Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (“RIETS”) is a yeshiva in the classic mold, fostering in its students a life long commitment to the study of Torah for its own sake, in its widest sense (Torah Lishma), and nurturing their growth as Talmidei Hakhamim (Torah scholars) and as men of piety. It sees the natural progression of this commitment to be realized in the assumption of roles of rabbinic leadership by its graduates. Toward that end, RIETS provides its university-trained students with an education which adheres to the most exacting standards of traditional Rabbinic learning. It ensures that its graduates are provided with access to the professional tools allowing them to effectively discharge their leadership roles in the fields of the professional rabbinate, Jewish education, chaplaincy, and other forms of communal service. Recognizing the need for ongoing growth in Torah Study and professional expertise on the part of its graduates, it provides them with various appropriate frameworks toward these ends, both on campus and in the field. Special pride of place belongs to various kollelim (both pre-graduate and post-graduate) which foster the highest quality of scholarship, and provide the training ground for future Poskim (decisors of Jewish law) and Roshei Yeshiva (yeshiva leaders and faculty) who will embody all that RIETS represents.

RIETS plays a critical role in Yeshiva University. It presents a model of academic excellence and commitment to communal responsibility for the wider student body. Its students set a tone for dedication to learning for the students of all Yeshiva’s divisions from the secondary to the graduate levels, and ineluctably instill these attributes into outreach and hesed, activities of charity and compassion. It provides the crucial Torah elements in the unique fulcrum of Torah U’Madda (Torah and worldly learning).

Finally, through its graduates who do not enter Jewish life in a professional capacity, RIETS is a source of lay leadership, creativity and inspiration for the entire Jewish community. They naturally constitute the pool from which emerge the knowledgeable lay leaders who, in partnership with the RIETS trained rabbinate, form the warp and woof of Jewish communal life.

Source: RIETS Self Study, June 2002

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah:

Mission

Our mission is to inspire and professionally train men to enter the rabbinate, so as to lead the Jewish community and to shape its spiritual and intellectual character in consonance with modern and open Orthodox values and commitments.

Core Values

• Inspiring passionate commitment to the study of Torah in all its rich forms and the scrupulous observance of halakha.
• Cultivating spirituality – God consciousness, piety, and ethical sensitivity – and integrating it into all learning, religious practice, and worldly pursuits.
• Encouraging intellectual openness, questioning and critical thinking as essential components of one’s full avodat Hashem.  
• Affirming the shared covenantal bond between all Jews.  Promoting ahavat Yisrael and actively pursuing positive and respectful interaction of all Jewish movements.
• Recognizing the need to enhance and expand the role of women in talmud Torah, the halakhic process, religious life and communal leadership within the bounds of halakha.
• Recognizing Eretz Yisrael as our homeland and affirming the religious and historical significance of the State of Israel for all Jews in Israel and the Diaspora.
• Affirming the shared tzelem Elokim of all people, our responsibility to improve the world and our capacity to be enriched by it.
• Living our personal, family and public lives guided by the highest ethical and moral standards, reflective of yosher and kiddush shem Shamayim.

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