Yeshiva University history

Founded in 1896 as a rabbinical school, it was named for Rabbi Isaac Elchanan, the famous rabbi of Kovno, Lithuania.

The rabbinical seminary was chartered in 1897.

In 1915 Doctor Bernard Revel became the president of RIETS. He was also a rabbi.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1927, Doctor Lamm received his elementary and high school education at Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Vodaath.

In 1928 Yeshiva first granted the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science and then moved its campus from lower Manhattan to the area around the George Washington Bridge in upper Manhattan.

In 1933, the institution was authorized to grant honorary degrees of Doctor of Humane Letters and Doctor of Laws, and several years later, incorporated a graduate program, now the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.

Graduate study was first offered in 1935.

Doctor Revel served as president until his death in 1940.

Doctor Samuel Belkin, elected president of Yeshiva University in 1943 and inaugurated a year later, developed the University's philosophy of synthesis with a broad academic and physical expansion program.

University status was achieved in 1945.

The college of medicine has also grown over the years. It now includes the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, founded in 1953.

In 1959, Doctor Belkin announced his "Blueprint for the Sixties," a program of intense development.

During the 17 years preceding his election as president, Doctor Lamm served on the Yeshiva University faculty, culminating in his appointment as the Erna and Jakob Michael Professor of Jewish Philosophy in 1966.

In 1975, at the request of the Board of Trustees, Doctor Belkin assumed the position of chancellor.

Doctor Norman Lamm—distinguished rabbi, philosopher, teacher and author—was elected president of Yeshiva University in August 1976, succeeding Doctor Samuel Belkin and Doctor Bernard Revel.

In 1987 the Sy Syms School of Business was established through a generous gift by Mr.

He authored over 15 books, including The Religious Thought of Hasidism: Text and Commentary, which won the coveted 1999 Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought.

In 2005, the school hosted its second Noble Prize winner, Doctor Robert Aumann of Hebrew University, the first Torah Observant Jew to win a Nobel Prize in Economics.

The first graduate program was started in fall 2009, an MS in Accounting, to fulfill the New York State 150-credit requirement for Certified Public Accountants.

The first class graduated in May 2010.

On June 1, 2011, the University announced a new leadership team as part of a broad, University-wide, re-imagining process, signally the beginning of our next phase of growth and development.

In the summer of 2012, our unique Sabbath observant MBA (MBA) enrolled its first cohort of students.

In January 2016, the university disclosed plans to cede almost half of its $1 billion endowment to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, as the medical college enters a separate joint venture with Montefiore Health System.