60 I JEWISH ACTION Summer 5770/2010

ifty years ago, when I wasin high school and Dr.Bernard Lander was the

dean of Yeshiva University’s BernardRevel Graduate School, we wouldoften ride together to the YU campus.During the drive, Dr. Lander wouldoften speak about building his owncollege. Even as a teenager I thought,“He is a dreamer.” A proud father, hewould talk about his children andshare divrei Torah from his very preco-cious son, Doniel.

A former US senator was thefirst person to call me with the newsthat Dr. Lander had passed away. Hetold me he had never met a person ofsuch character.

What defined Dr. Lander? A rare individual, Dr. Lander was

willing to take on every challenge. InWashington Heights, bordering the YUcampus is the Palisades, which manyYU students used to try to climb. Theprecipice is so steep that, tragically, onestudent died trying to climb it. As a col-lege student, Dr. Lander would run upthe cliff—the steeper the mountain, thegreater the challenge. Dr. Lander wasalways there to carry on the challenge.

Dr. Lander was perpetually youth-ful. As Rabbi Abraham Besdin once re-marked, Dr. Lander was the founderand president of a university, and yethe played marbles with his children.He was like Merlin. Merlin neveraged—he only became more youthful.

Dr. Lander was so brilliant, and yetso unpretentious. A Yeshiva College

graduate, Dr. Lander received semichahfrom the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theo-logical Seminary in 1938. Soon after,Rav Moshe Soloveichik asked theyoung Dr. Lander to come to Boston tobe the rav of a shul in the kehillah thatRav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik oversaw. Atthe time, Dr. Lander had been acceptedto Harvard Law School. In the end hedecided that he couldn’t afford the tu-ition at Harvard; he also felt that hisYiddish wasn’t good enough to serve asrav of a shul where the Rav would oc-casionally daven.

He went on to become a significantscholar, earning his PhD in sociologyfrom Columbia University. Yet, he was-n’t a pie-in-the-sky academic in anivory tower; he was an academic whobuilt an ivory tower. He was, as he oncesaid of himself and as was quoted in hisNew York Times obituary, “a visionarywith his feet on the ground.”

He loved Torah. He was a prizedtalmid of Rav Moshe Soloveichik. Hetook pride in the fact that Rav YosefDov Soloveitchik would say that whenhe came to these shores, Dr. Lander wasone of his first friends. The Rav and Dr.Lander had a lifelong friendship.

Dr. Lander had an extraordinaryprophetic quality. He was always situ-ated in the future. He was at the crucialmeeting with Dr. Pinchas Churginwhen Bar-Ilan University was firstconceived of. He was instrumental instarting many of YU’s graduate schools.He founded Yeshiva Rabbi Dov Revelin Queens and was one of the foundersof the Queens Jewish Center.

Dr. Lander created Touro Collegefour decades ago, an institution thateducates more than 17,000 students intwenty-nine locations around theworld. But he was grossly underpaid.As a board member of Touro College, Iknow how absurdly low his salary was,but he refused to accept a significantraise. He lived simply, and money wasunimportant to him.

OU Senior Vice President Rabbi Dr.Simcha Katz, from Teaneck, tells howhe was once with Dr. Lander on acruise to Alaska. At one point, the ship

By Menachem GenackTribute

F

A Builder Par Excellence:

Dr. Bernard Lander, a”h1915-2010

Rabbi Menachem Genack is rabbinicadministrator and CEO, OU Kosher.

Courtesy of Touro College Archives

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first met Dr. Bernard Lander at the OrthodoxUnion’s 1964 Biennial Convention in Washington,DC. He was already a legend in OU circles, havingserved as a director or officer since 1938 (at hisdeath he had served on the Union’s Board for sev-

enty-two of the organization’s onehundred and twelve years). I knewthat he had played a pivotal role in thecreation of NCSY in 1954. I had heardthat he had used his extensive con-tacts in the Civil Rights movement(he had been New York’s City’s firsthuman rights commissioner) to helpensure that Martin Luther King’s his-toric 1963 March on Washingtonwould be held on a Wednesday in-stead of on Shabbat. I would laterlearn that he had been a prime forcein crafting the MacIver Report of1951 that helped create the currentstructure of local and national Jew-ish community councils. However, Ihad no way of suspecting in 1964,that within a few years, I would bejoining Dr. Lander in his audaciousdream of creating Touro College,an adventure which continues toprovide me with both employmentand intense personal satisfaction.

Dr. Lander was the last survivorof an intrepid band of American-born Jewish children of the De-pression who would boldly assume the mantle of layleadership of American Orthodoxy in the post-war era.Tested by privation, tempered by the twilight struggle againstfascism and communism, they would succeed in building avibrant Torah community in the very North American envi-ronment in which so many “experts” had declared it couldnever survive, much less flourish.

Harold H. Boxer, Samuel Lawrence Brennglass, Moses I.Feuerstein, Nathan K. Gross, Harold Jacobs, Dr. BernardLander. They all became involved in the OU in the years justbefore or just after the Second World War, and they are nowall gone. But what a legacy they leave! How they defied allodds and helped create and shape the contemporary Ortho-dox Union: OU Kosher; NCSY; a vigorous Orthodox voice inpublic policy; an Orthodox presence on college campuses;the Seymour J. Abrams OU Jerusalem World Center. And

none of these giants were involved for as many years as Dr.Lander, whose last OU convention in 2006 in Jerusalem wassixty-six years after his first one in Atlantic City in 1940.

Of all of Dr. Lander’s many achievements at the OU, theone he was proudest of was his role in creating and nurturing

NCSY. He often spoke of the 1954 OU Conventionwhere he helped Harold Boxer convincea skeptical plenary session to endorse theconcept of a nationwide Orthodox syna-gogue youth movement. He served forover twenty years on the Joint YouthCommission, fighting to ensure thatNCSY received the support it needed tosurvive, including the historic decision tohire Rabbi Pinchas Stolper in 1959 andbacking his insistence on uniform halachicstandards at all NCSY programs (howstrange it is to remember when mixeddancing and mixed swimming were burn-ing issues in NCSY).

As soon as Touro College opened in1970, Dr. Lander insisted on providing“NCSY Leadership Scholarships” to enableNCSY officers to attend the new college.Over 200 NCSY graduates have receivedthese scholarships during the past fortyyears. And he ensured that Touro cospon-sored and helped fund numerous NCSYprograms, including Machon Ma’ayan Sem-inary in Israel, the annual weeklong YarcheiKallah learning program in December, YomNCSY in Jerusalem for summer program

participants and specific projects in almost every NCSY re-gion from coast to coast.

One evening in the spring of 1997, I received a phone callfrom Dr. Lander urging me to call my rebbi, Rav AhronSoloveichik to wish him a happy eightieth birthday. I was de-lighted to do so and promptly called Rav Ahron who askedme how I was aware of this occasion, which he assured mehe had never publicized. When I told him that Dr. Landerwas the source of my “inside information,” he began to laughand declared “historians in future generations will haveheated arguments over how many people named BernardLander were active during the last half the twentieth century.No one will even consider that it was just one man–ratherthey will postulate that there was a Rabbi Bernard Landerwho allocated yeshivot and Jewish colleges, a Dr. BernardLander who founded law schools and medical schools and alay leader named Bernard Lander who was deeply involvedin communal affairs.”

“But,” said Rav Ahron, “I must add a fourth person forthem to ponder–Dov Beresh Lander, who remembers hisclassmates’ birthdays sixty years after they sat together in myfather’s shuir.”

IDr. Lander’s Legacy By David Luchins

Dr. David Luchins, a senior vice president of the OU, is professorand chair of the Political Science Department at Touro College inNew York, and was a senior advisor to former US Senator DanielPatrick Moynihan.

From left: OU Honorary Vice President Dr.Bernard Lander; OU Senior Vice President Dr.

David Luchins and Hubert Humphrey, the38th Vice President of the United States, whoserved under President Lyndon B. Johnson, at

the 1973 OU National Dinner. Courtesy of Dr. David Luchins

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62 I JEWISH ACTION Summer 5770/2010

abbi Elazar benShamua was asked byhis disciples to explainhis exceptional

longevity. He told them, “In all my daysI never took a shortcut through a syna-gogue; I never stepped over the students[who sat on the floor to listen to his dis-cussions], and I never raised my hands[for Birkat Kohanim] without first recit-ing a berachah” (Megillah 27b).

This Talmudic passage came tomind when I was asked to contributemy thoughts about Rabbi Dr. BernardLander. Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua wasa historic figure–one of the five youngstudents whom Rabbi Akiva ordainedafter the defeat of Bar Kochba and thedeaths of his 24,000 beloved talmidim.Rabbi Elazar lived a long and produc-tive life transmitting the mesorah, theoral tradition of Rabbi Akiva, to thegenerations that would finally commitit to writing under the leadership ofRabbi Yehudah HaNassi.

Dr. Bernard Lander played a simi-lar role. He lived a long and extraordi-narily productive life, providing an

essential link between the strugglingOrthodoxy of pre-war America and theflourishing Torah community, forwhich he did much to nurture and sus-tain. Over the decades, he was the liv-ing link between a world that had beenand the magnificent new world he washelping forge.

I first met Dr. Lander over thirtyyears ago when I became active inNCSY, the OU’s international youthorganization, which he helped createin 1954. I came to know him well dur-ing my years as associate national di-rector of NCSY and then as nationalexecutive director of the OU. For thepast three years I was privileged towork closely with him at Touro Col-lege as his senior vice president of col-lege affairs.

I never took a shortcut through a synagogueDr. Lander came of age in a world seton making “shortcuts” through ourtradition. Many, if not most, of hisgeneration came to the conclusionthat only compromises and conces-sions would enable Orthodoxy to sur-vive, albeit in a watered-downversion. Dr. Lander rejected this atti-

tude. Inspired by his father’s mesirutnefesh to keep Shabbat during thedarkest hours of the Depression, re-sponding to the message of his rebbe,Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik, he neverdeviated from uncompromising com-mitment to Torah values. To Dr. Lan-der, submission to halachah andmesorah was not a catch phrase. It wasat the core of his being, work ethicand vision for Klal Yisrael.

In Touro College’s early days, at atime of financial crisis, a wealthyboard member demanded that Dr.Lander merge the Men’s andWomen’s Divisions of the College. “Iwill meet your entire deficit,” hesaid. “But if you don’t do so, I am re-signing.” Dr. Lander, to whom sepa-rate gender classes was a matter ofprinciple, calmly told him that hisresignation was accepted.

I never stepped over the studentsDr. Lander’s kevod habriyot, his re-spect for every human being createdb’Tzelem Elokim, was legendary. Fromhis days serving on Mayor LaGuardia’sfirst Human Rights Commission to hiswork on behalf of the Civil Rightsmovement to his creation of creative

RRemembering Dr. Lander

By Moshe D. Krupka

Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka is senior vice pres-ident for college affairs at Touro College.

1929 class photo, Rabbi JacobJoseph School.

Dr. Lander is in the second row from thetop, the fourth person from the right.

Courtesy of Touro College Archives

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Summer 5770/2010 JEWISH ACTION I 63

educational programs to reach un-derserviced segments of the Jewishand general communities, he wasgoverned by a compelling desire totreat every person with dignityand respect.

While visiting with Dr. Lander, anon-Jewish visitor from a Euro-pean country complained of se-vere headaches. Dr. Landerimmediately called a leadingManhattan physician, a memberof his vast circle of contacts.Within minutes the visitor was onthe way to the physician’s officein Dr. Lander’s car and from thereto Mount Sinai Hospital, where alife-saving procedure was carriedout. The visitor’s health insurancedid not cover costs overseas. Dr.Lander instructed that all med-ical bills be sent to his attention.

• • •When Yachad/The National Jew-ish Council for Disabilities, theOU’s program dedi-cated to addressing theneeds of all individu-als with disabilities,needed a home for itsvocational trainingprogram for specialneeds young adults,Dr. Lander was ap-proached to house theprogram at the Lan-der College of Artsand Sciences inBrooklyn. He gra-ciously housed theprogram for years,free of charge. His oneproviso: “Make this an excellentprogram; give these developmen-tally challenged members of ourcommunity every opportunity tointegrate and succeed within theJewish and general communi-ties.” For Dr. Lander, enabling“the individual” was his life’smission.

I never raised my hands [forBirkat Kohanim] without firstreciting a berachah [levarech etAmo Yisrael b’ahavah] Dr. Lander’s love for other Jews wasreflected in his extraordinary capac-

ity to find creative ways to allowothers to assist themselves.Whether it was Touro College’s pio-neering programs in the ChassidicCommunity or the Machon LanderSchool servicing the Chareidi ke-hillot in Eretz Yisrael, this messageof self-empowerment of the disen-franchised has transformed thou-sands of families throughout theworld. Most recently, when girlsfrom the former Soviet Unionneeded a place to study in the NewYork City area, Dr. Lander arrangedfor a fully-subsidized academic pro-gram geared to their special needs.

A decade ago, Chechnya terroristsattacked a theater in Moscow. Thedaughter of an employee atTouro’s Moscow campus waskilled in this tragedy, and her bodywas flown to the United States forburial. Dr. Lander quietly under-wrote the funeral arrangements,sent a minyan of college employ-

ees to the ceremony,and, a participant re-ports, eulogized theyoung woman, whomhe had never met, “asthough she were hisown daughter.”

The Sefat Emetexplains that RabbiElazar ben Shamuanever performedBirkat Kohanim byrote. Even though heconferred his blessingon Knesset Yisraeleach day it never be-came mundane,

rather, his concentration and intentwere squarely fixed on the task be-fore him–to bestow the Almighty’sblessing upon his people. This wasprobably the greatest talent that Dr.Lander possessed. His entire focuswas to use each and every day to itsfullest potential. No task was mun-dane, no issue trivial, no detail in-significant. He was consistentlyfully focused on the task at hand,and in particular, to enhance allthat he did on behalf of the Jewishpeople and humanity, like RabbiElazar ben Shamua, with the bless-ing of “b’ahavah.”

passed Sitka, an Alaskan city accessibleonly by air or sea.

Dr. Katz turned to Dr. Lander.“I don’t see a Touro College here,”

he said. “Not yet,” Dr. Lander replied. There was nothing denominational or

small about Dr. Lander. He was spreadover many communities. He didn’t recog-nize divisions. He was close with RabbiYaakov Kamenetsky, who encouraged himto start Touro, and with the BoboverRebbe. At the same time, he was friendswith Nobel Prize-winning scientists.

A few years ago Touro College investedmillions of dollars to create a new protonmachine to cure cancer. The project cost aquarter of a billion dollars. I asked him:How are we going to do this? How are wegoing to get the resources? But nothingstopped him. He thought big, and hewanted to make a significant contributionfor mankind. There were a lot of hurdlesand, ultimately, the project was aban-doned. Nevertheless, about two years ago,Dr. Lander and I attended a parlor meet-ing for Senator Blanche Lincoln fromArkansas. Dr. Lander sat down next to thesenator and started discussing the cancermachine, and ways to procure funding. Henever gave up. Like Churchill said: Nevergive in—never, never, never, never.

Dr. Lander was also a man of greatcourage. A few years ago, Touro was em-broiled in a controversial issue that at-tracted national attention. The college wasnot at fault. But I was very concernedabout the negative publicity and how itwould affect us. Dr. Lander didn’t flinch. Itwas as if he had ice water in his veins. Wewere simply going to move forward.

Chazal say that Hadrian, the Romanemperor who destroyed the Beit Hamik-dash and attempted to destroy Jewish reli-gious life, was once passing through EretzYisrael on his way to war (Tanchuma,Parashat Kedoshim). He saw an old manplanting a fig tree and called out, “Oldman, why are you planting a tree? You willnever live to see its fruit.” The old man, adevoted Jew, replied that if he merits it, hewill live to see the figs; if not, his childrenwill enjoy them. Three years later,Hadrian returned from war. The old manfilled a basket with figs from the tree andbrought it to the emperor. Hadrian, im-pressed, instructed that his basket be filledwith gold coins.

Bernard Lander at age 13.Courtesy of Touro College

Archives

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When reprimanding the old man,Hadrian was implicitly saying thatJewish history is at an end and has nofuture. But the old man believed in a

Jewish destiny;that’s why he keptplanting.

That old manwas Dr. Lander’s an-tecedent. It is, inpart, because of Dr.Lander that Jewishlife in America isflourishing. He wasthe kind of personwho could climbcliffs, meet chal-lenges and buildTorah.

Even after half acentury, he was thesame Bernie Lander.He still spoke glow-ingly about his sonand daughters—but,in his later years, he

would also boast about his grandchil-dren. Well into his nineties, he was thesame adoring father and grandfather,

the same dreamer, the same builder. He kept building and building and

building. Though macular degenera-tion had robbed him of his sight, it didnot diminish his vision. He would saythat in America, the secular collegecampuses are the crematoria of Jewishreligious life. It took courage, guts anda sense of mission to start Touro Col-lege at the age of fifty-five. It was be-cause of that sense of mission that hebuilt Touro, against all odds. Of course,he accomplished all that he did withthe support of his devoted wife, SarahRebecca.

Out of his sheer genius, he builtTorah and built to preserve Jewish life.When he started, others prophesiedthat the effort would be stillborn. Buthe created Touro, not with Merlin’smagic, but with courage, stamina andfaith.

He was a man of historical propor-tions. He will be sorely missed. g

have attended almost thirty OU biennial conven-tions over the past sixty-five years but none, inretrospect, was as significant as the Thanksgivingweekend of 1954 when two hundred delegatesgathered in Atlantic City.

It was not an easy time to speak of an Ortho-dox Jewish future in North America. Changing

demographics, the rush to suburbia and the devastating im-pact of the college campus were all taking their tolls.Teenagers and young adults were leaving Orthodox syna-gogues in droves–despite the desperate efforts of well-meaning individuals who tried to water down TorahJudaism in an effort to adapt and survive. It was against thisbackground that a new generation of leadership took chargeof the OU that weekend. My college friend Moses I. Feuer-stein of Brookline, Massachusetts, was elected president;Samuel Lawrence Brennglass of Massena, New York, and Iwere elected as vice presidents; Harold H. Boxer, an attor-ney from Queens, New York, was elected national secretary.All four of us knew things had to change if the OU was to re-main relevant.

It was Harold Boxer who had first raised the issue of anational youth movement. He, and his wife, Enid, had trav-

eled around the coun-try and knew thatthere were function-ing youth groups af-filiated withOrthodox synagoguesin the South and inthe Midwest, inChicago, in EasternPennsylvania and inUpstate New York.Could we not create a national youth movement usingthese existing groups as our charter members? At the con-vention, the New York City delegates were skeptical [aboutthe resolution to create such a movement], but the dele-gates from out of town were outspoken and enthusiastic.One by one they rose to tell of how badly they needed suchan effort, of how Orthodox Judaism would not survive intheir communities if it did not happen.

The OU’s new President Moses Feuerstein weighed in, aswe knew he would, with his strong support, reminding thecynics that his father Samuel had faced similar criticismwhen he started Torah U’Mesorah a decade earlier. The reso-lution passed by a significant majority, and Harold Boxer wasappointed the first chair of the NCSY Youth Commission. Therest, as they say, is history . . .

Dr. Bernard Lander speaking at the2008 OU National Dinner.

IIn His Own Words . . .

By Bernard Lander

64 I JEWISH ACTION Summer 5770/2010

This essay is reprinted from the journal published for NCSY’s BenZakkai Honor Society Dinner, January 2010.

Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, Rabbi Dovid Lipshitz, RabbiYerucham Gorelick, and Dr. Bernard Lander at Rabbi MenachemGenack’s wedding, March 1976. Courtesy of Rabbi Menachem Genack

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Summer 5770/2010 JEWISH ACTION I 65

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