YU News

From June 2nd to June 6th, 2024, the Straus Scholars of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought participated in a summer seminar in England. The program featured leading diplomats, writers, academics, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. The first session was a lecture by the…

This summer, the Straus Center Impact Office will be supporting several Straus Scholars and other top YU students as they pursue exciting professional advancement opportunities in the fields of politics, policy, journalism, academia, and Jewish advocacy.

Adina Feldman (SCW '26) is a Straus Scholar majoring in Psychology. Over the course of the 2023-2024 school year, Feldman was active on and off campus, pursuing a variety of unique extracurriculars and professional enrichment opportunities.

Daniel Ganopolsky (YC ’24) is a Straus Scholar majoring in political science. In the spring of 2024, he interned at the New York City Family Court, and was supported by a grant from the Straus Center’s Impact Office.

Tziporah Pinczower (SCW ’26) is a Straus Scholar majoring in political science. In the spring of 2024, she interned at Agudath Israel of America, and was supported by a grant from the Straus Center’s Impact Office.

On May 7th, the Straus Center hosted its annual Rabbi Allan Mirvis Lecture, which took place at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan.

Straus Scholars Yaakov Willner (YC ‘25) and Gavriel Buchwald (YC ‘26), respectively president and vice president of YU’s Alexander Hamilton Society chapter, organized an event featuring national security expert Dr. Michael Doran.

On Sunday March 31, the Jewish Center held a book launch for The Promise of Liberty, a newly released Haggadah by Straus Center Deputy Director Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern and Jacob Kupietzky.

In the academic year 2023-2024, the Straus Center has launched “Two Texts, Three Questions,” a new program led by rabbinic intern Yehuda Goldberg designed to encourage Straus Scholars to pursue their own intellectual interests and explore new connections between Torah and Western thought.

A new book by Timothy P. Carney, "Family Unfriendly," relied on research assistance by Straus Scholar Jacob (Yakov) Sundel (YC ‘24), who spent the summer of 2022 at the American Enterprise Institute working as a research intern.