The new building was a great improvement over the facilities the yeshiva had been using on the Lower East Side. In fact, students apparently considered the old quarters detrimental to their spiritual development. In an article entitled “Let Us Dedicate Ourselves” one reads
Though some of us are more dollar-bent than others, we all attach higher significance to spiritual values. Those acquainted with the Yeshiva student know how deeply he is interested in social problems, and that he can truly proclaim nihil humanum mihi alienum est. It is the function of the Yeshiva, then, to develop these faculties, to broaden our understanding of Judaism, to create within us a balanced spiritual background that will give us sufficient courage and assurance to wage our battle for Judaism successfully.
Numerous unwholesome forces have been at work in the Yeshiva that have hindered the realization of this purpose. Undoubtedly our physical environment has been greatly at fault. Our old building with its broken benches, shattered windows, heat in June and freezing in December, and its complete lack of athletic equipment, offered little to inspire the Yeshiva student with a zeal for study; and he was not compensated by the factors in surrounding life, that spurred the European Yeshiva bochur despite his [bread and salt] meals. The East Side, even with its beneficial effects in bringing the Yeshiva student closer to Jewish life, nevertheless had an uncanny influence upon many a student. The cosmopolitan composition of the student body, while tending to enrich each student’s background, has hindered unity in our ranks. The heavy tax upon the student’s time, especially if he is forced to support himself, leaves little room in his schedule for analysis and observation of Jewish life.
The reader may be surprised at the inclusion of the Latin phrase nihil humanum mihi alienum est (nothing human is foreign to me) by this writer. The fact of the matter is that at least two years of Latin were part of the standard high school curriculum for many years, at least up until the late Fifties.
Attitudes Toward Torah Study at RIETS in 1928 What were the attitudes of the RIETS students toward Torah study? The selection below from the front page of this issue of Hedenu gives us some insight.
HASMADAH IN THE YESHIVA
Several years ago, upon the suggestion of Dr. Revel, a group of boys remained in the Shul daily to study Talmud after the official Yeshiva hours. That handful of volunteer students has now grown into a class of about forty or fifty who remain daily at their Talmud until five and six in the afternoon. And a late visitor at the Shtibel near the Yeshiva will find our boys there nightly until eleven and twelve.
The hasmadah among our students has increased tenfold under the guidance of Dr. Revel. And for this we are thankful – that we have learned to realize the significance of study.
I presume that most of the boys learned until 2 or 3 in the afternoon and then went to college or worked. One of the reasons that Dr. Revel gave for founding Yeshiva College was so that the students at RIETS who wanted to attend college could remain in a Jewish environment while pursuing a college degree.
Rabbi Shimon Shkop
Harav R. Shimon Yehudah Hakohen Shkop (1860-1939) traveled to America in 1928 to raise funds to alleviate the difficult financial situation of his yeshiva in Grodno, Yeshiva Sharei Torah. Rav Shkop became a rosh yeshiva at REITS after the sudden passing in 1928 of Rabbi Shlomo Polachek (1877-1928), known as the Meitscheter Illui. Rav Shkop taught for one year at RIETS. The extremely high regard in which he was held by the students at Yeshiva is evident in the following article from the Editorials page.