College Has Faith in Its Blend of Jewish, Western Teachings

Six years ago the University of Judaism opened a new undergraduate college, based on the concept that a Great Books approach to Western culture could mesh so well with Jewish studies that young people would flock to the campus perched high above Bel-Air.

The idea was to produce students familiar with the Aeneid and the Book of Exodus alike, who could blend the lessons of Greek philosophers with the teachings of Talmudic rabbis.

They would go out into the world secure in their Jewish heritage and ready to compete with graduates of the best universities.

But so far, enrollment has not met expectations. The university’s Lee College has grown from five students three years ago to 48 undergraduates this spring, just a fourth of the number of students whom the founders expected by now.

Last fall’s crop of freshmen was especially disturbing for university officials. Forty high school seniors applied for admission, 30 were accepted, but only 13 came, barely half the number admitted the year before.

But hopes were raised by a recent report that listed the university as one of the country’s 16 best bargains in undergraduate education. The school has hired an extra recruiter, set aside more money for scholarships and hired a public relations firm.

Already, the numbers are more encouraging, spokeswoman Mimi Sells said. No one knows how many students will show up, but 80 applications came in for the 1988-89 school year. Eighteen have already been accepted, and 23 more are likely to be approved.

“Unless you have some b’tochn (Yiddish for confidence), you can’t be in this business,” said David Lieber, president since 1962.

From the picture window in his office, Lieber looks out on a panorama of the San Fernando Valley that is worlds away from the corner of 6th Street and Ardmore Avenue, where the university started in what is now Koreatown.

Original Plan

“This is not what I had in mind at the beginning,” he said. “I had in mind at the beginning a school that would be exclusively devoted to advanced Jewish studies.”

Demand was less than overwhelming, however, despite lectures by theologian Martin Buber and other distinguished visitors. The university evolved instead into an institution that operates on several levels for “the advancement of Jewish life in America,” Lieber said.

“What we need is an educated Jewish laity,” he said. “Given the demographics, unless we develop that kind of Jewish laity, we’re going to be in very deep trouble.”

The numbers are troubling indeed to community leaders. A report from the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles said 74% of Jews are not affiliated with a congregation, 73% do not belong to any Jewish organization, 67% of Jewish children get no Jewish education, almost 40% of the population marries outside the faith, and 75% does not contribute to the United Jewish Fund.

‘Jew by Choice’

“Even in the most Orthodox part of the Jewish community, a Jew today is a Jew by choice,” Lieber said. “Those options didn’t exist a generation ago, and inertia is not going to keep this community alive. Commitment based on superstition and ignorance isn’t enough.”

Undergraduate students at the hilltop campus, many of them from cities where there are few other Jews, express themselves in less apocalyptic terms.

“I would have gotten lost in a bigger school, and I really like the personal attention,” said Ephi Betan, a first-year student from Connecticut.

“I came looking for more of the atmosphere of a Jewish school,” said Sarah Safran, a junior psychology major from Berkeley.

“The education here is on the Ivy League level but the competition isn’t as back-stabbing as it is in the Ivy League,” said Jay Strear, a freshman from Denver.

The academic load can be heavy, with reading assignments of more than 100 pages a night.

“You can’t get away with not being prepared for small classes,” said Brian Greene, a graduate student in education who graduated from Lee College in 1986. The school is named after refrigerator manufacturer Norman Lee, who gave a $3-million endowment.

There are a handful of other Jewish colleges and universities around the country, including Yeshiva University and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, both of which have campuses in Los Angeles. But Lee College is unique for requiring a joint curriculum of Jewish studies and Western civilization.

Those who attend show an unusual maturity for teen-agers, said Joel Rembaum, a former dean of undergraduate studies and now rabbi of Temple Beth Am, a Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles.

$5,250 Tuition

“These are people who could function well anywhere, but they’re making choices because of their religious and educational needs,” he said.

The undergraduate college charges $5,250 for tuition and requires that applicants have a 3.2 grade average and 1,100 points on the Scholastic Achievement Test. These are not the toughest admission standards in the country, but they are comparable with local private colleges, falling between those of USC and Occidental College.

Although Jewish students may find it satisfying to be in the majority for once, “The college is going to make it or break it not on Jewish studies but on its abilities to be competitive in a few majors that give students an edge,” said Hanan Alexander, director of Lee College.

Undergraduate students can major in economics and business, literature, Jewish studies, psychology and political science.

The university also offers degrees for 100 graduate students in education, business management and Jewish studies. Students who want to be rabbis in the Conservative wing of Judaism can do their first two years of training there before going on to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

About 1,700 students a semester attend adult classes on topics such as archeology, Talmudic thought, folk dancing and making marriage work.

Founded in 1947 as the West Coast branch of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the university moved in 1958 to the old Hollywood Athletic Club on Sunset Boulevard, where students from public high schools and colleges struggled to stay awake during evening classes on Bible and Hebrew grammar. There were also Israeli immigrants training to be Hebrew teachers in synagogue schools.

The building was getting crowded, but wealthy donors scored a coup: They joined with the Stephen S. Weiss Temple and bought 56 acres of hillside in the Sepulveda Pass. The westward move of the Jewish population on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley has made this the geographical midpoint of the Los Angeles Jewish community of more than 500,000.

‘We Had a Hole’

“When we began we had a hole (ravine) and Stephen S. Weiss had a mountain,” recalls Isadore Familian, a plumbing-supplies magnate whose name adorns the main building. “So we took down the mountain and filled in the hole.”

Total costs for the land and development in 1969: $2 million. “If we didn’t build in spite of not having any money it would never have been done,” Familian said. “Land prices are too high today and nobody could afford to do it again.”

The result is a $20-million glass-and-concrete campus with 200 dorm rooms, most of them rented to students at UCLA and Cal State Northridge.

Neighbors insisted that the dorms be designed to resemble the posh Casiano Estates condo project across the street. Students call them the Mulholland Country Club.

Neighbors’ Concerns

The neighbors were also concerned about noise if the new university started a football team, but they were reassured that this was not likely. However, plans are under way to build a recreation hall.

“It’s a great deal,” said Bob Koester, who pays $400 for his room and commutes to UCLA by bicycle, 15 breezy minutes downhill but 45 minutes of sweat on the way back.

Koester said his not being Jewish was not a problem. “After you get used to having your meals kosher, it’s OK,” he said, “except for Passover,” when observant Jews do not eat bread products. “That’s when you get a little tired of eating eggs.”

The small student body makes for close ties, but some say there are drawbacks.

‘Fishbowl’ Atmosphere

“Sometimes there’s the feeling of being in a fishbowl, with everybody watching every move,” Safran said. “But everybody’s friends, so it’s not a bad feeling.”

Michelle Eller, a sophomore from Spokane, Wash., said: “We’re like a bunch of brothers and sisters.

“It’s sort of silly, but that’s the way it is.”

Betan said she made that point to students who decided not to come to UJ this year.

Phoning them at the request of the university administration, she learned that some were worried about too much or too little Jewish content, others wanted a college with an established reputation or one closer to home, and some were concerned about meeting people.

“It’s going slowly, but we like to believe we’re going to be successful,” said attorney Jack M. Ostrow, chairman of the board of trustees. “I’d think we’d alter our plans if all that we ended up with was under 100 students. But we still have a few more years, and we’d like to believe that that is not going to be the trend of the future.”

He said there was no deadline for reaching the goal of 200 undergraduates. After all, “it took Harvard some 300 years to get where they are.”