Flexing its political muscles in 2006, the New Haven school founded the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism, the first university-based center in North America dedicated to the study of Anti-Semitism. “Urim v’Tumim” is a Biblical phrase that has been translated to have several meanings, but in this case reads, “Truth and light.” Still a thriving aspect of campus life today, a 2010 Yale Daily News article discussed the growth of religious tolerance and expression at the Ivy League university, citing the existence of eighteen registered undergraduate religious organizations. Yale’s famous blue and white crest proudly totes the Latin motto “Lux et Veritas,” meaning “truth and light.” However, unmistakably included on the crest of the stereotypically “WASP-y” university, is the unique addition of Hebrew lettering. The university was founded as a religious training school that required students to attend daily chapel services until 1926. Yale’s history is strongly tied to religion. Speakers have included former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Muslim activists Tarek Fatah and Mona Eltahawy, talk-show host Jerry Springer, and Moment columnist Eric Alterman. Additionally, an article in The Jewish Week from 2006 quotes the society President Joshua Ezra Burns as saying that the motto of the group was “uniquely Jewish, uniquely Yale.” Gradually garnering publicity and recognition, world leaders have been known to “clear their schedules to attend Shabbat dinner” with the members of Eliezer. Oren also refers the society in his book, Joining the Club: A History of Jews and Yale. In a New York Times article from 2000, the Jewish intellectual cabal is referred to as the Chai Society, an intellectual salon for “blacks and Jews at Yale.” Dan A. Originally named “Chai,” meaning “life,” the society officially changed its name in 2006 to “Eliezer,” meaning “May God help.” Aside from the religious connotation, the name is wittily reflective of Elihu Yale, the namesake of the university. Not only does it include women (something it took Bones many years to do), but the club has never discriminated against race, ethnic background, or orientation. Contrastingly, Eliezer was founded by four men who, sixty years ago, “would have been shunned by Bones.” As opposed to the membership restrictions of centuries-old societies, Eliezer prides itself on its diversity. Dominated by Christian males for decades, Skull and Bones alumni include President Taft and George Bush Sr. Yale University, founded in 1701, has produced its fair share of infamous secret societies, most notably, Skull and Bones, whose creation dates back to 1832. Approximately ten students are nominated and tapped annually by members and founders. Far from actually being “secret,” the society is known for its invitation only membership and self-selecting channels of private networking. Truly a baby in terms of Yale’s history, Eliezer’s 1996 conception was the brainchild of three Jews and a Baptist-Rabbi Shmully Hecht, Ben Karp, Michael Alexander, and Corey Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey-who formed an underground community that encouraged Jewish leadership and intelligent religious discussion. On March 28, TIME published an article “outing” Yale’s Eliezer Society, entitled, Yale’s Secret Society That’s Hiding in Plain Sight.
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