Yeshiva University is a private university with four campuses in New York City, United States. The university's undergraduate schools—Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, and Sy Syms School of Business—offer a dual curriculum inspired by Modern–Centrist–Orthodox Judaism's hashkafa (philosophy) of Torah Umadda ("Torah and secular knowledge"), which synthesizes a secular academic education with the study of the Torah.
The majority of undergraduate students at the university identify as Modern Orthodox Jews. Hillel International estimates that nearly all of the university's undergraduate students are Jewish, while most of the graduate students are not, with the exception of those enrolled at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. This is especially the case at the Cardozo School of Law, the Sy Syms School of Business, the Katz School of Science and Health and the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology.
Yeshiva University is an independent institution chartered by New York State. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
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History
Yeshiva University has its roots in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva founded in 1886 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a cheder-style elementary school founded by Eastern European immigrants that offered study of Talmud along with some secular education, including instruction in English. The rabbinical seminary was chartered in 1897.
When Lamm took office in 1976, Yeshiva was facing a serious financial crisis. As a result, some of the schools and programs had to be consolidated or closed. The renowned Belfer Graduate School of Science was closed in 1978. Once this was stabilized, additional divisions were added: For example, the Sy Syms School of Business, with divisions for both the undergraduate men and women was opened in 1988. At this time, many of the undergraduate students began to spend their first year (or more) studying in yeshivot and other schools in Israel, which has become an almost universal practice, and a Joint Israel Program regulating these studies was established to allow them to receive credit for this year at Yeshiva. RIETS also maintains a campus in Jerusalem, and many of the rabbinic students spend a year studying there as well. Over the course of Lamm's tenure, enrollment grew considerably to over 2000 undergraduate students. In addition to its undergraduate schools and affiliates, Yeshiva maintains graduate schools in Jewish studies, Jewish education and administration, social work, psychology, law, and medicine. There are over fifteen schools in total. In addition, numerous joint undergraduate-graduate programs with other schools in the New York area and beyond are maintained. The Yeshiva University Museum, an affiliate of the school, is now one of the components of the Center for Jewish History, located in downtown Manhattan.
Under Joel's leadership, Yeshiva University's endowment was invested in high-risk investments, including the funds of Bernard Madoff. Losses of at least $110 million resulted. In early 2014, Moody's lowered the school's bond rating by five steps to B1, junk bond level. To raise funds and cut costs, Yeshiva University has sold off real estate, and transferred control of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine to Montefiore Medical Center.
Joel created the Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future, folding other programs, both from within and from outside YU, into it.
In December 2012, Joel apologized over allegations that two rabbis at the college's high school campus abused boys there in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Investigations into these allegations by The Jewish Daily Forward and a law firm hired by the university found "multiple instances in which the university either failed to appropriately act to protect the safety of its students or did not respond to the allegations at all." These allegations led to a 380 million dollar lawsuit by former students. The case has since been dismissed.
Presidents
Bernard Revel 1915–1940
Samuel Belkin, 1943–1975
Norman Lamm, 1976–2003
Richard M. Joel, 2003–2017
Ari Berman, 2017–present
Academics
Schools
The university's academic programs are organized into the following schools:
Yeshiva College for Men
Stern College for Women
Sy Syms School of Business
Graduate and professional schools
Katz School of Science and Health
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Wurzweiler School of Social Work
Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration
Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies
Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology
Sy Syms School of Business
Affiliates
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy – Yeshiva University High School for Boys
Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music
Rankings
The U.S. News & World Report's 2025 "America's Best Colleges" ranked Yeshiva University 98th (tie) in National University.
In 2023, Forbes ranked Yeshiva University as: No. 226 in "Top colleges 2023", No. 118 in Private Colleges, No. 143 in Research Universities, and No. 82 in the Northeast. Nationally, Yeshiva was ranked 138th by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and internationally it is ranked in the 900s by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities and 369th in the world by the QS World University Rankings.
Ranked #2, Best Online Master's in Cybersecurity in the U.S. by Fortune Magazine.
Campuses
The university's main campus, Wilf Campus, is located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan. Yeshiva University's main office is located within the Wilf Campus, at 500 West 185th St. A 1928 plan to build a spacious Moorish Revival campus around several gardens and courtyards was canceled by the Great Depression of 1929 after only one building had been erected. Building continued after the Depression in modern style and by the acquisition of existing neighborhood buildings.
Since it was founded in 1886, Yeshiva University has expanded to comprise some twenty colleges, schools, affiliates, centers, and institutions, with several affiliated hospitals and healthcare institutions. It has campuses and facilities in Manhattan (Washington Heights, Murray Hill, Greenwich Village), the Bronx, Queens, and Israel.
The Yeshiva University Museum is a teaching museum and the cultural arm of Yeshiva University. Founded in 1973, Yeshiva University Museum is AAMG accredited and aims to provide a window into Jewish culture around the world and throughout history through multi-disciplinary exhibitions and publications.
The university's building in Jerusalem, in the Bayit VeGan neighborhood, contains a branch of the rabbinical seminary and an office coordinating the S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program. Under the latter, first year students studying in selected Israeli Yeshivot are considered YU undergraduates.
Student life
Student publications
The undergraduate university newspaper is The Commentator, and the newspaper for Stern College is The Observer. Law students at Cardozo also edit and publish five law journals. There are numerous other publications on a wide range of topics, both secular and religious, produced by the various councils and academic student organizations, along with many official university publications and the university press. The call letters of the student radio station are WYUR, and it is currently an Internet-only station.
LGBTQ+ club controversy and lawsuit
Yeshiva University has been involved in legal proceedings since April 2021 after it blocked official recognition of a Pride Alliance club for undergraduate LGBTQ+ students and their allies.
Controversy over LGBTQ-supportive undergraduate groups has been ongoing since at least 2009, when students created a "Tolerance Club." Its purpose was to promote acceptance of diversity of people within the Yeshiva University community. A founding member said that the group had "determined that the school’s lack of diversity has fostered significant insensitivity to those outside of the mainstream Y.U. culture" and aimed to address that issue. The group's members included undergraduates at both the men's and women's campuses. Although not organized to address LGBTQ issues specifically, the group's promotion of tolerance for sexual and gender diversity generated controversy on the Yeshiva University campus; the student newspaper reported that the administration quashed a panel discussion because they objected to one of the speakers, a gay Orthodox rabbi. This controversy came to a head when the Tolerance student organization sponsored a panel discussion entitled "Being Gay in the Orthodox World" in December, 2009. Several hundred people attended this panel discussion. Numerous Jewish news sources covered the panel and the conflict that enveloped the Yeshiva campus in its wake, and the Tolerance Club disbanded in May 2010.
A decade later, in 2021, undergraduate students sued the university for refusing to recognize a new LGBTQ+ student group, YU Pride Alliance. The university has retained the pro-religious practice law firm Becket Law as its counsel. A New York court ruled in June 2022 that the university must recognize the undergraduate Pride Alliance. The university appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in August 2022, and a temporary stay was issued by Justice Sotomayor. In a 5–4 decision the full court vacated the stay without prejudice, ruling the NY appeals process was incomplete and thus SCOTUS relief premature. In response, the university put all student organizations on hold in September 2022, pending resolution of their ongoing legal challenges. This lasted for a matter of weeks until an agreement was reached between the plaintiff and defense allowing other student organization to continue operating.
YU-affiliated Cardozo School of Law and the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology have publicly supported their own students and voiced their disapproval of the university's position and legal response. At Cardozo School of Law, there has long been an officially recognized LGBTQ+ student group, and the Graduate School of Psychology also publicly supports the LGBTQ members of their communities.
Undergraduate student organizations and activities
Student groups include the Yeshiva University Dramatics Society (YCDS), which puts on a performance each semester. A student-run group known as the Heights Initiative sponsors several outreach programs that work with the schools and organizations of the Washington Heights community. Student Government is run through YSU, YCSA, SOY-JSC, and SYMS. Additionally, these groups run community events like the annual Hanukkah Concert and a carnival celebrating Israeli Independence Day.
The Yeshiva University Medical Ethics Society (MES) is an undergraduate student-run organization of Yeshiva University which was founded by students in the fall of 2005 with the help of the Center for the Jewish Future toward the goal of promoting education and awareness of Jewish medical ethics in the university itself and the community at large. In the first several years, the group hosted a program of on-campus lectures in the field of medical ethics and Halakha (Jewish law). They also host genetic testing events to help combat the high incidence of various genetic diseases in the Jewish community.
Athletics
Yeshiva University includes a number of NCAA Division III-level sports teams. The teams, nicknamed "The Maccabees", include: men's baseball, basketball, golf, volleyball, wrestling, women's basketball, cross country, fencing, soccer, tennis, and volleyball.
Because of Yeshiva's dual curriculum, most of the sports teams practice at night, sometimes even as late as 11:00 pm. A few of the sports teams practice or work out before classes begin at 9:00 am; for example, the men's basketball team routinely practices at 6:00 am.
Teams have participated in weekend tournaments outside of New York City, with athletes staying with local families in the area. This took place in Boston with the basketball and fencing teams, and in Hollywood, Florida with the baseball team in 2008. Some international students have participated in NCAA sports, with as many as nine different nationalities representing the school on the sports field.
An Associated Press feature on the 2019-20 team described the Maccabees as integrating Orthodox Jewish practice into their athletic schedule: the team did not play on the Sabbath, Jewish holidays, or fast days, and players gathered before tipoff for a Torah-based pregame talk.
Two members of the Yeshiva Maccabees Baseball team were drafted out of college by professional teams of the Israeli Baseball League. Pitcher Aryeh Rosenbaum celebrated a championship with his team in the IBL's first year. From 2023 to 2025, the Maccabees went on a 100 game losing streak spanning three years. On April 8, 2025, Yeshiva broke their streak with a 9–5 victory over Lehman College in the second game of a split doubleheader.
Yeshiva's Men's Basketball team is an annual playoff contender. The most successful eras for Yeshiva basketball in recent history have been at the start and end of the 1990s, as well as the dawn of the 2020s. Banners hang in the Max Stern Athletic Center commemorating seasons from both eras. The 2007–08 season had particular note as Yeshiva was home to the Skyline Conference's Rookie of the Year. In 2018, the team won the Skyline Conference title in a game against SUNY Purchase, earning its first-ever NCAA berth and considerable media coverage. The current head coach of the team is Elliot Steinmetz, who has been with the team since 2014. Steinmetz succeeded Jonathan Halpert, the longest ever tenured NCAA men's basketball coach in New York City at 42 years. Steinmetz, a practicing lawyer, has been especially successful at attracting high caliber athletes, recognizing that Yeshiva's status in the Orthodox Jewish world means its athletics programs have unique access to a global talent pool from which to recruit players.