“We will always be students of LCM”

“Your success is predicated on se’yata de-shamaya,” he said to the gathered graduating students of the class of 2017 who sat with friends and family for a graduation brunch on May 28. Success in Torah and in the secular world is not achieved through “osmosis,” he said.

“Success is achieved through perseverance and se’yata de-shamaya,” Rabbi Sacks explained.

The program, held at the LCM campus, included speeches from Chanoch Schrier, the recipient of the Beis Medrash L’Talmud Gemara Award and salutatorian Simon Dadoun. An acknowledgement of each graduate was made by Dean Moshe Sokol during his remarks.

Rabbi Barry Nathan, director of admissions for LCM, explained that mentioning each student was simply a part of the close-knit relationships developed at LCM.

“LCM is a family,” said Rabbi Nathan. “I don’t know any other institution where professors spend this amount of time with their students.”

Rabbi Yehuda Shmulewitz, menahel of the yeshiva, exhorted the graduates to continue their learning, spiritual growth and positive traits while in the professional world.

“Every day is a call to Hashem,” he explained. “There is a call to learn; to go to minyan; to be a Ben Torah at home and in the workplace.”  

Special guest and Touro Board Chairman Dr. Mark Hasten, who flew in early from Indiana for the ceremony, spoke about Touro College founder Rabbi Dr. Bernard Lander zt’l and the example we follow.

Other awards and awardees included:

• Dr. Bernard Lander Memorial Award: Jacob Lyss
• Research Award: Jacob Weinger
• Service Award: Mendy Eisenberg and Simon Feder

Dovid Gold, of Lawrence, who will spend the summer learning at a kollel while preparing for the CPA exams, said that the time he spent at LCM was “amazing.”

“Not one thing,” he clarified when asked for specifics. “All of it: the guys, the rebbeim, the professors. I became a better person through my time in LCM.”

Salutatorian Simon Dadoun, of Deal, NJ, said that he would miss LCM when he traveled next year to the University of Miami to pursue a joint MD/MBA degree.

“Our time at LCM molded us,” he said. “We will always be students of LCM.”  

Dean Sokol, in his closing remarks, advised his students to acquire the wisdom to seek what is truly important in life, to be grateful for its acquisition, and to rise above frustration at failing to achieve what is really less important.

“We need to reframe what is important in our lives,” said Dean Sokol. “What is Tov [good] far outweighs what we ask for.”