Welcome

The mission of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought is to help develop Jewish thinkers and wisdom-seeking Jews by deepening their education in the best of the Jewish tradition, by exposing them to the richness of human knowledge and insight from across the ages, and by confronting them with the great moral, philosophical and theological questions of our age. In pursuing this mission, Yeshiva University stands in a special place: its students arrive with a deep commitment to Jewish life and to the study of Torah and Talmud, yet are also eager to learn from the best of Western thought.

The center is dedicated to bridging an immersion in Torah study with a formative academic experience, thereby furthering Yeshiva's mission of Torah Umadda and securing Yeshiva University's critical role in the future of the American Jewish community. Working in concert with the faculty, and guided by an academic advisory committee, the center will construct courses that bridge a variety of disciplines and expose students to both halakhic and Western schools of thought. The Straus Center will also host, throughout the academic year, public forums at the University's campuses on great human questions that have engaged Jewish and non-Jewish thinkers. Visiting faculty invited by the Straus Center will participate in both the teaching of these courses and Straus Center events. Through these efforts, the center will provide a vibrant community at Yeshiva that will enhance the academic lives of all its students.

At the same time, the Straus Center will seek to cultivate the Orthodox intellectual and civic leaders of the future. The center will sponsor special programs for select undergraduates from Yeshiva College and Stern College for Women, and for select Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Thelological Seminary (RIETS) students—including advanced tutorials and independent study courses, mentoring, summer seminars and travel abroad that will expose them to leading thinkers and teachers from both the United States and Israel. These students will also be guided in learning the art of expressing ideas to the wider society, allowing them to serve mankind by bringing genuinely Jewish ideas to the world—an essential aspect of Yeshiva University's mission and of Judaism itself.

While its primary focus will be to serve the students of Yeshiva University, the Straus Center will also aim to establish Yeshiva University as an intellectual catalyst and beacon for all Jews. The center will stage events, such as a series of full-day learning experiences in Jewish communities throughout the United States, Europe and Israel. These symposia and lectures will be major events, focusing on some of the most critical and controversial questions affecting World Jewry, and promoting ideas-focused conversations about Jewish life and the Jewish future across the generations. Yeshiva University, through the Straus Center, will thereby involve members of the larger community in the continuing adventure of Jewish intellectual engagement.

To contact the Straus Center, please email strauscenter@yu.edu or call 646 592 4022.