Of all the colleges and universities he attended during a long and prolific academic career, Dr. Theodore Steinberg BJEd'31, HD'96, prizes his years at Hebrew College as the most life-transforming. In his own words (below), excerpted from his newly self-published autobiography, An Immigrant's Journey: From Rovno to Fresno, Steinberg credits the College with giving him "the context within which I have lived my life since."
Enrolling in Hebrew College as a recently arrived, 14-year-old Ukrainian immigrant, Steinberg found a community, learned to study and gained the necessary forward momentum to realize his dreams. He went on to earn degrees from Boston University, MIT, Tufts Medical School and Humphreys College, to serve a tour of duty in the U.S. Army and to establish a career as an internationally respected ophthalmologist. Settling in Fresno, Calif., active in the medical and Jewish communities, he made a home for his wife, Alice, z'l, and their children, Joel and Marci. In penning his life's narrative, Steinberg, a dedicated Hebrew College supporter and member of the Morasha Society, has recorded a legacy for his immediate and Hebrew College families.
My reaction to the Hebrew College was like that of a fish suddenly being thrown into a tank of water. My association with the other students, of whom there weren't many, was not only encouraging, but also enlightening. There were a few classmates with whom I established close contacts. One of them was Abraham Spack, who afterwards became the principal of a Hebrew school in Roxbury. We had similar backgrounds; his family, like mine, came from a small town in Eastern Europe. He was an excellent student and passionately devoted to the advancement of Jewish education. His son, Norman P. Spack, [former chair of the Board of Directors] is a professor of endocrinology at Harvard Medical School and is serving [on the President's Council] of the current Hebrew College.
In many ways, the general education that I received at the Hebrew College was more thorough and more life-influencing than what I received at the other institutions of learning that I attended. In studying problems of general education, I studied how Jewish people educated their children in the
chader and the Yeshiva. When studying the history of the Jews in the many countries of the Diaspora, I studied the histories of those countries and their problems. I wasn't limited to the study of the writings of just Jewish philosophers, but I was exposed to their supporters as well as their adversaries. I was even exposed to a course in Aramaic. Aramaic grammar is as difficult as Hebrew grammar and I could still read Aramaic today if I had to. The teachers that I had at the Hebrew College were devoted to their students and gave me the context within which I have lived my life since. I earned my Bachelors in Jewish Education from the Hebrew College in June, 1931 as one of 12 graduates in what was just the fourth graduation following the grant of the charter to the school by the Massachusetts Legislature. . . .
Since the Hebrew College was founded for the initial purpose of training Hebrew teachers, it was first called the Hebrew Teachers College. Its purpose was to produce Hebrew teachers because almost none came from the old country. The Hebrew Teachers College offered studies in Hebrew, Jewish history, philosophy, education, and psychology, and those studies were on a very high academic level. I was taught, for example, the psychology course that William James presented at Harvard University, but I studied it in the Hebrew translation.
There were few books in Hebrew regarding technical subjects. The text used for a course on the history of education was
The History of Education by Paul Monroe of Columbia University. The lectures were presented in Hebrew by one of the teachers, Mr. Jacob Newman. The reading material was from Monroe's text in English. My knowledge of English was certainly not at the level of the text used at Columbia University. I was fortunate in having a cousin like Isidor Kornbliet, who spent many an evening trying to teach me English. He spent many hours at night helping me decipher the assigned English text. He was my pal for several years to come. Since he was not fluent in Hebrew and I was only somewhat knowledgeable in English, we worked closely together. I made a list of the English words and translated each word into Hebrew. Once I understood the general meaning, I would use the words I had translated to compose a sentence in Hebrew interpreting the idea of the text. I did this with the entire textbook.
At the end of the year, naturally, I had to take an examination on that subject. When the papers and the grades were distributed to the students, my examination paper and grade were held back. Mr. Newman, who was a brilliant teacher, called me to his office and told me he realized that the part of the examination based on the lectures he presented, my grade was an A, but the part of the test based on the outside reading, which was in English, was a puzzle to him. How was I able to answer the questions as well as I did? I told him that I would bring some papers containing my translations of the English text into Hebrew. When I did and he saw that first carton of papers, he turned to me and said, "Unfortunately, I can't give you a better grade than an A."
. . . I have been involved with the Hebrew College since I arrived in America up to and including the present. After I moved to California, I was rarely in Boston for more than a day, but every time I was in Boston, I visited the Hebrew College. I contributed to the library in honor of my brothers and the library established shelves bearing their names and I have always contributed to the alumni fund. Dr. David M. Gordis, the current president of Hebrew College, asked me to serve on the Board of [Overseers] which guides the college's program. He also visited me in Fresno a few years ago. In 1996, I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the Hebrew College. In 2001, I attended the dedication of the new campus of the Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. My greatest pleasure and the fulfillment of a lifelong hope was attending the dedication of the classrooms and library of that institution.
Photograph by David G. Kanter
back to top
