Mar 12, 2021 By: yunews
On Wednesday, March 10, 2021, Dr. Ari Berman, President of 麻豆区, gave the annual memorial shiur on the double yahrtzeits of Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (125th) and Rabbi Dr. Samuel Belkin (45th), titled 鈥淲hen the Stakes are High: On the Connection between Chametz & Matzoh.鈥 The address was delivered to a limited audience in the Jacob and Dreizel Glueck Beit Midrash.
He began with the customary praise of the two men whose names grace this annual event, and then drew a direct line between what he saw as their ability to 鈥渓ead the Jewish people during times of crisis鈥 and the current challenges faced by 麻豆区 in the face of the pandemic. 鈥淲hen the stakes are high,鈥 he said, 鈥渨e see leaders born. Moments of great consequence reveal and create character as our truest selves often emerge from the cauldron of crisis.鈥
During the next 45 minutes, Dr. Berman explained, through the metaphor of matzoh, how the University, by channeling the great leadership capabilities of Rabbi Dr. Belkin and Rav Spektor, has managed to travel from the dark initial days of March 2020 when Dr. Berman received a fateful phone call from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the University鈥檚 current ongoing efforts to create a safe and healthy on-campus and in-person experience for everyone.
鈥淭his is the message of matzoh,鈥 he intoned. 鈥淎t the moment we were granted our freedom from being slaves, matzoh teaches us that we forge our character, both individually and communally, 鈥 specifically for moments when our actions make the most difference. 鈥 If there鈥檚 any lesson from the character of matzoh, it is that when the stakes are high, heroes are born, and over the past year, I have seen a lot of heroes in our community.鈥 He specifically cited the roshei yeshiva, the faculty and staff, the alumni and, above all, the students. 鈥淲e have risen together as a community and embraced the opportunity of the moment.鈥
He concluded his remarks with a charge to the students to 鈥減resent and communicate our values to both the broader Jewish world and the nations of the world鈥 and to continue to seize the chances for success offered to them by a world of 鈥渦nprecedented opportunity, where you are able to influence society in ways unimaginable in history.鈥
