1
When I pray, I speak to G-d when I study, G-d
speaks to me.

• Variously attributed to
• Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, late Chancellor of the
  Jewish Theological Seminary of America
• St. Aldhelm of Malmesbury
• Mother Teresa (Niagara University diplomate
  honoris causa)
• et al.

Some roots of Niagara University values in sacred
texts
2
Learning and Peace

• Proverbs 313, 15, 17-18 Happy is the one who
  finds wisdom, and the one who obtains
  understanding. She wisdom Torah is more
  precious than rubies, and all the things you can
  desire are not to be compared to her. Her ways
  are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are
  peace. She is a tree of life to those who hold
  fast to her.
• Hillel the Elder taught
• A boor cannot be reverent an ignoramus cannot
  be
• pious. (Pirkei Avot II6 see Siddur Sim
  Shalom
• for Shabbat and Festivals, The Rabbinical
• Assembly, New York, 1998, p. 261)
• St. Vincent DePauls teaching - that it is better
  to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish -
  echoes the Talmudic teaching of Rabbi Judah ben
  Ilai that a man who fails to teach his son to
  earn a living, teaches him to be a thief.

3
Justice and Peace

• Deut. 1620 ???? ??? ??? - Justice, justice you
  shall pursue.
• Psalm 3415 ?????? ???? ??? Seek peace and
  pursue it.
• Justice and peace are linked by zeal and
  moderation the zeal implicit in the commands to
  pursue them, and the moderation implicit in the
  idea of peace and in the repetition of justice
  justice must be pursued justly ends do not
  justify a means.
• The Torah does not obligate us to pursue most
  of the commandments, but only to fulfill them at
  the proper time, at the appropriate season.
  Peace, however, must be sought at all times at
  home and abroad, we are to seek peace and pursue
  it. Numbers Rabbah 1927 (see The Midrash,
  Soncino Press, London, 1961)

4
Concern for the Poor

• Isaiah 58 is read on the fast of Yom Kippur

6 Is this not the fast I have chosen? To unlock
fetters of wickedness and untie the cords of the
yoke to let the oppressed go free to break off
every yoke.
??? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???
?????? ???????? ????? ?????? ???? ?????
7 To share your bread with the hungry and to
take the wretched poor into your home when you
see the naked, clothe him and not to ignore your
own kin.
?????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ????
?????? ????? ?? ?????? ??????
5
????? ?????? - Our Father in Heaven

• Grant that this ???? ??? - house of learning
  its students, faculty, administrators, staff,
  alumni, and friends - will continue always to
  promote Your ideals of learning, peace, justice,
  and concern for the poor.

Amos 524 Let justice flow down like the waters,
and righteousness like a mighty stream.
????? ,???? ???? ???? ???? ????