Some of us “old timers” remember the Yeshiva University PR machine working overtime when YU was ranked in US News’ top tier of US colleges.

Side note: Of the Top 50 schools, YU was the only one to publicize its ranking (normally in the 40’s) on its website. This provided us with endless amusement as we were able to navigate the internet kiosks in Furst and Belfer through US News’ site to get to the other colleges. Few things looked as funny as YU’s internet kiosks displaying the home pages for Harvard or even Holy Cross University. YUPR has removed this front page link, probably because US News has restricted its rankings to paying customers.

Anyway, MSNBC has an article about Princeton Review’s own ranking system which is far more detailed than US News’.

YU isn’t mentioned under any category.

Understandably, YU isn’t a Jock, Party, “Reefer”, or Hippie school.

But one would probably expect YU to be in the top 5 Stone Cold Sober schools, or even Future Rotarians and Daughters of The American Revolution.

Is there something going on at YU that we don’t know about? Maybe they just visited us on Purim? If so how are we so low on either list?

It seems that the new president will have to choose the direction of YU in more ways than one.

Update: I just noticed Princeton Review’s entry for YU. Of particular note is the part at the bottom: “Students Who Apply to Yeshiva Also Apply To Brandeis University, Touro College, City University of New York.” (The link to Cuny doesn’t work). Interestingly, no one reciprocates.

Danny Hirshtal sends in an insightful piece from National Post regarding the Hijab – the headgear of Muslim women.

It’s a fascinating read, although I’m not sure how accurate it is. For example, the author claims, “It is not sanctioned anywhere in the Koran, the fundamental text of Islam, or the hadith (traditions) attributed to the Prophet.”

However, as cited in the above link, Qur’an 33:59 states, “O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not annoyed…”

While the Hijab might not have been mentioned by name, and could have been instituted in the 70’s, it’s not such a stretch to make this “midrash halakha.” Also, I’m sure there are excellent comparisons to the laws and customs of Jewish headcoverings for both men and women. I find it interested that from one perspective the Hijab is a sign of “aparthied” but from another it represents a positive religious experience.

No doubt there is some social conditioning on both sides. Perhaps I can revisit this issue when I get to Chicago.

Interesting mahloket in the Islamic world. In 2000 an Alexandrian court ruled that Islam doesn’t accept electronic communications for divorce. Malaysia, however, authorized the use of SMS as a legitimate medium. This seems to be an official pesak and would carry more weight than the acts of individuals.

Acc to Islamic law, a husband divorces his wife by telling her “I divorce thee” three times. So, are electronic communications ok for this?

Topics for discussion:

• What are the nafka minot between SMS and e-mail?
• Would this work for AOL’s Instant Messenger?
• Can the husband do this over the phone, since the technology converts his voice into electronic pulses? Is it a din in the voice or a din in the da’as haba’al?
• If it’s an electonic communication, does the husband have to type the whole message three times, or can he type it once and just send the same message three times? Is it talui on the shlichus or kabbalah?
• What does this mean for the Da’as Torah of the Moetzet Gedolei Ha-Quran?

My bekiut in Islam is admitedly weak, so any comments would be appreciated.