By Yiskah Lundell
On Mondays and Wednesdays, when Rabbi Yosef Blau is in the Beren campus beit midrash, students watch him walk around, greeting everyone in the Torah-filled room with a “Good morning” or “Good afternoon.” Mashgiach Ruchani (a religious guide) at Yeshiva University for nearly 48 years, Rabbi Blau will be making aliyah tomorrow, together with his wife.
“The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was a transformative event in Jewish history. Israel is the Jewish future,” Rabbi Blau told the YU Observer. “I want to go when I still think I have something to contribute in Israel.”
While Rabbi Blau will be living in Jerusalem, he emphasized that he will be back in America four months out of the year, and will return to both the Wilf and Beren batei midrash during that time, to continue to play his critical role on campus.
“The last 48 years I have been mashgiach in YU, which is innately to impact, more or less, thousands of students,” he said.
During Rabbi Blau’s time in YU, he has had a significant influence on the institution, both in the beit midrash and beyond. Rabbi Blau has served as Mashgiach Ruchani on the uptown campus since 1977, and he began coming to the Beren campus a little over ten years ago. When he first arrived at Beren, he gave a halacha shiur every Wednesday and spent time in the beit midrash, which was then located on the second floor of Brookdale, every evening.
Now, Rabbi Blau gives a chaburah on Beren every Wednesday on seforim by Rav Soloveitchik, which he said he began giving at the request of the students. He added that this chaburah allows him to have “a more direct relationship” with those he teaches.
“When you are dealing with a teacher, your relationship revolves around what you are studying with the teacher,” Rabbi Blau said. “A relationship with a mashgiach is not limited, and we can talk about anything in life, and people have,” he added of his job at YU.
Rabbi Blau sits in the beit midrash on the days he is on the Beren campus, making himself available and accessible to students. He said that part of what makes this aspect of being mashgiach ruchani important to him is simply having a presence in the room.
Rabbi Blau has had individual chavrutot with students and speaks every Friday night in the Wilf beit midrash. He said that he still keeps in contact with students from many years ago.
Being able to learn alongside the women of YU has had a unique impact on Rabbi Blau, different from his time spent uptown. “You don’t realize the potential women have to play in intellectual leadership roles,” he said. “The Torah learning of women in Stern and GPATS (Graduate Program for Advanced Talmudic Studies) is critical for maintaining and enhancing the Modern Orthodox world.”
“Being in Stern and watching the women in the beis midrash and GPATS increased my sense of appreciation,” he added. “I have been coming to Stern to express support and to encourage the women in the Stern beis midrash.”
Personally Touched: Rabbi Blau’s Impact on Students
Rabbi Blau has had an unparalleled impact on the students of YU. Many reiterated that having a figure of Rabbi Blau’s stature take personal interest in their own lives was extremely meaningful and impactful for them.
“I look up to him tremendously,” Gaby Rahmanfar (SCW ‘24), former President of the Torah Activities Committee, told the YU Observer. “The fact that our relationship was possible, because he took it upon himself to be a presence in the beit midrash on his own, without being paid or having transportation, is a testament to who he is.”
“I am very grateful to have a relationship with him and to call him a rebbe,” she added.
Breindy Berger (SCW ‘26) told the YU Observer that Rabbi Blau’s presence will be missed at YU.
“I was touched personally by the fact that Rabbi Blau comes around every day and says good morning to everybody,” Berger told the YU Observer. “He leaves shoes that will be very difficult to fill, but the fact that we got to see and experience so much of his Torah firsthand gives us so much to take with us as we move forward.”
Berger also said that having a connection to a figure who was a student of Rav Soloveitchik gives those around him a connection to the continued mesorah (tradition) of our university.
“People in our generation and even previous ones made a myth out of the Rav,” Berger said. “Rabbi Blau talks about the Rav like he was a real person. It makes his ideas so much more powerful.”
Bruriah Schwartz (SCW ‘26) also told the YU Observer, “Him sitting and literally just learning in our beit midrash, we get to have a relationship with somebody who is a direct talmid (student) of the Rav, and really be a part of this Modern Orthodox mesorah (tradition).”
She continued, “Even more than that, a senior member of the YU rabbinic staff values women’s learning enough that at 86 years old, will come down from the Heights twice a week to sit in our beit midrash, I am crying now thinking about it.”
“It really means something to women just to have that rabbinical seal of approval, and from such a great rabbi,” she added.
Charly Wartelsky (SCW ‘26) told the YU Observer that the fact that Rabbi Blau takes public transportation to get to the Beren campus from the Heights highlights how he is a “very down-to-earth“ rabbi and extremely dedicated to his students.
“He takes the subway to get here every day,” Wartelsky said. “This really shows that he is humble and sees himself as a part of Klal Yisrael.”
Photo Caption: Rabbi Blau speaking to students at a farewell event on the Beren campus
Photo Credit: Rabbi Azriel Fine