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Bernard (Dov) Revel (; September 17, 1885 – December 2, 1940) was an Orthodox Judaism rabbi and scholar. He served as the first President of Yeshiva College from 1915 until his death in 1940. The Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, as well as the former Yeshiva Dov Revel of Forest Hills, are named after him.
He briefly studied in Telz Yeshiva, attending the lectures of its Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch. He was also taught by the renowned Rabbi Mussar movement and learned in the Kovno kollel. Revel received semicha at the age of 16, but it is not known from whom. Thereafter, the young scholar earned a Russian high school diploma, apparently through independent study. He also became involved in the Russian revolutionary movement, and following the unsuccessful revolution of 1905, was arrested and imprisoned. Upon his release the following year, he emigrated to the United States.
In November 1908, Revel was introduced to his future wife, Sarah Travis of Marietta, Ohio, whom he married in 1909. The members of the Travis family were wealthy Oklahoma oil-men, and Rabbi Revel moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to join the family business after finishing his doctorate. However, even while serving as an assistant to his brother-in-law Solomon in the petroleum business, and amassing his own fortune, Rabbi Revel's primary occupation continued to be his Torah study.
Besides for his research, Revel channeled his intellect towards strengthening the foundation of Jewish Orthodoxy in America. He was most concerned with problems of maintaining traditional observance in the modern setting. He sought to build up an educational system for American Jewry where they would not feel alienated. In his speeches, Revel rarely, if ever, used difficult Torah language. Instead, he used very simple terms that were readily understandable. At a speech for the Rabbinic Council of America (RCA) Revel praised “the light of human reason”, and declared “the ascending spirit of mankind will triumph.”
Revel consistently maintained that secular knowledge in Judaism was never separate from the study of Torah. He emphasized the importance of unifying Judaism and secular studies. Often speaking of the, “harmonious union of culture and spirituality,” he believed that knowledge of the liberal arts would broaden one's understanding of Torah. However, Revel's dedication to Orthodox Jewry was undisputed. For instance, he forbade the use of a female vocalist in the 1926 Music Festival, as a female singer is a violation of Orthodox Jewish law. He did not allow Reform Jews to serve on Yeshiva College's national board of directors. He was also staunchly opposed to mixed seating in synagogues.
He wrote: "Yeshiva aims at unity, at the creation of a synthesis between the Jewish conception of life, our spiritual and moral teaching and ideals, and the present-day humanities, the scientific conscience and spirit to help develop the complete harmonious Jewish personality, once again to enrich and bless our lives, to revitalize the true spirit and genius of historic Judaism."
One of Revel's main reasons for founding RIETS and Yeshiva College was, “so that these men may not be lost to us through.” Revel wanted Yeshiva to become a place where American Jews could feel comfortable, take pride in their religion, and not be restricted by anti-Semitic sentiments. Revel also added Bible, Hebrew, and Jewish History to the curriculum in Yeshiva College. He did this for several reasons, although one of them was to outdo Jewish Theological Seminary, a non-orthodox institution, which did not have Bible studies at the time. Although Revel viewed the liberal arts as a way to educate and integrate Jews with Torah values, he perceived the sciences as too “mechanistic” and “soulless” to be useful in integrating Judaism with secular culture.
Revel was interested in the origin of Karaism, its causes and early development. He maintained that the question of the origin of Karaism is bound up with the problem of the origin of the Karaite halakha, which is of vital importance for understanding the history of Tradition. Revel essentially traced the individual Karaite laws to their respective sources.
In 1986, he appeared on a $1 U.S. Postage stamp, as part of the Great Americans Series.Scott catalog # 2194. U.S. engraver Kenneth Kipperman, who designed the stamp, was suspended for including a tiny Star of David, invisible to the naked eye, in Revel's beard.
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