30 Facts About Bernard Revel

Bernard Revel served as the first President of Yeshiva College from 1915 until his death in 1940.

Bernard Revel was a son of the community's Rabbi Nachum Shraga Revel.

Bernard Revel's father was his first teacher, and when Nachum Revel died in 1896 he was buried next to his close friend Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor - indicative of his knowledge and stature.

Bernard Revel briefly studied in Telz Yeshiva, attending the lectures of its Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch.

Bernard Revel was taught by the renowned Rabbi Yitzchok Blazer and learned in the Kovno kollel.

Bernard Revel received semicha at the age of 16, but it is not known from whom.

Bernard Revel became involved in the Russian revolutionary movement, and following the unsuccessful revolution of 1905, was arrested and imprisoned.

Immediately after his arrival, Bernard Revel enrolled in New York's RIETS yeshiva.

Bernard Revel received a Master of Arts degree from New York University in 1909.

Bernard Revel accepted the post and began to familiarise himself with the alien milieu of American Jewry.

In November 1908, Bernard Revel was introduced to his future wife, Sarah Travis of Marietta, Ohio, whom he married in 1909.

The members of the Travis family were wealthy Oklahoma oil-men, and Rabbi Bernard Revel moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to join the family business after finishing his doctorate.

In 1915, Harry Fischel, on the board of directors of the newly merged RIETS and Etz Chaim Yeshiva, asked Bernard Revel to come back East and head the institution.

Rabbi Bernard Revel took up the position and was appointed the first president and Rosh yeshiva of the newly reorganized institution.

However, Bernard Revel never abandoned the role of scholar to become solely an administrator, though he was known by his students as one.

Besides for his research, Bernard Revel channeled his intellect towards strengthening the foundation of Jewish Orthodoxy in America.

Bernard Revel was most concerned with problems of maintaining traditional observance in the modern setting.

Bernard Revel sought to build up an educational system for American Jewry where they would not feel alienated.

Bernard Revel consistently maintained that secular knowledge in Judaism was never separate from the study of Torah.

Bernard Revel emphasized the importance of unifying Judaism and secular studies.

Bernard Revel did not allow Reform Jews to serve on Yeshiva College's national board of directors.

Bernard Revel was staunchly opposed to mixed seating in synagogues.

Bernard Revel added Bible, Hebrew, and Jewish History to the curriculum in Yeshiva College.

Bernard Revel did this for several reasons, although one of them was to outdo Jewish Theological Seminary, a non-orthodox institution, which did not have Bible studies at the time.

Bernard Revel was interested in the origin of Karaism, its causes and early development.

Bernard Revel maintained that the question of the origin of Karaism is bound up with the problem of the origin of the Karaite halakha, which is of vital importance for understanding the history of Tradition.

Bernard Revel essentially traced the individual Karaite laws to their respective sources.

Bernard Revel was a presidium member of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis from 1924, later being appointed its honorary president, and authored many articles on Jewish subjects in various Hebrew periodicals such as the Jewish Quarterly Review, Yagdil Torah, Ha-Pardes, and various Yeshiva student publications.

Bernard Revel started writing a commentary to the Jerusalem Talmud in Philadelphia, but this was never published.

Bernard Revel was an associate editor of Otzar Yisrael, the Hebrew Encyclopedia.