[ram1018]

We were visiting New Haven today and noticed that Yale has Hebrew text within its logo. I understand the Latin, but not sure what the historical background is for Hebrew (or is it Aramaic? I wouldn't know the difference).

[ScottGem]

The logo was devised in the 1800s by then University President Ezra Stiles. The representation is of a bible. Stiles felt that study of the bible was important and that it should be studied in the original Hebrew.

[BenAssa]

It's ancient Hebrew it's "Urim ve tumim" not sure what's the exact literal translation(think something like lights and miracles) , but it refers to an ancient device that according to Jewish Lore God used to communicate with the high priests in the great temple. Yale was formed by the donation of a rich Jew named Elijah Yale who donated to the New Haven college, and they changed the name to Yale.
(don't have any personal knowledge about the logo itself/ why is the term there)

[Wondergirl]

Wikipedia says --

Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regarded Hebrew as a classical language, along with Greek and Latin, and essential for study of the Old Testament in the original words. The Reverend Ezra Stiles, president of the College from 1778 to 1795, brought with him his interest in the Hebrew language as a vehicle for studying ancient Biblical texts in their original language (as was common in other schools), requiring all freshmen to study Hebrew (in contrast to Harvard, where only upperclassmen were required to study the language) and is responsible for the Hebrew words "Urim" [lights] and "Thummim" [innocence] on the Yale seal.

[ram1018]

So what about's Ben theory that it was because of Elijah Yale that the Hebrew was used? Sounds like both might be try. BTW - I did see the Latin "Lux et Veritas" which I guess translates to "Light and Truth" which are roughly equivalent to Lights and Innocence.

Thanks for all the answers. VERY cool to get this history lesson so quick. Wish I had asked earlier!

[Wondergirl]

More from Wikipedia --

Incorporated as the Collegiate School, the institution traces its roots to 17th-century clergymen who sought to establish a college to train clergy and political leaders for the colony. In 1718, the College was renamed Yale College to honor a gift from Elihu Yale, a governor of the British East India Company.

[text edited out]

Originally called the Collegiate School, the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson, in Killingworth (now Clinton). The school moved to Saybrook, and then Wethersfield. In 1718, the college moved to New Haven, Connecticut.

Meanwhile, a rift was forming at Harvard between its sixth president Increase Mather and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly liberal, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad in Church polity. The feud caused the Mathers to champion the success of the Collegiate School in the hope that it would maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way that Harvard had not.

In 1718, at the behest of either Rector Samuel Andrew or the colony's Governor Gurdon Saltonstall, Cotton Mather contacted a successful businessman in Wales named Elihu Yale to ask him for financial help in constructing a new building for the college. Yale, who had made a fortune through trade while living in India as a representative of the East India Company, donated nine bales of goods, which were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum at the time. Yale also donated 417 books and a portrait of King George I. Cotton Mather suggested that the school change its name to Yale College in gratitude to its benefactor, and to increase the chances that he would give the college another large donation or bequest. Elihu Yale was away in India when the news of the school's name change reached his home in Wrexham, Wales, a trip from which he never returned. While he did ultimately leave his fortunes to the "Collegiate School within His Majesties Colony of Connecticot", the institution was never able to successfully lay claim to it.

Yale University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ScottGem]

So what about's Ben theory that it was because of Elijah Yale that the Hebrew was used?

Well the main thing wrong with it it that it appears that Yale wasn't Jewish.

From this site: Elihu Yale
"His father had come to America to escape persecution against Puritans..."

Biblical first names were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, so a name like Elijah or Elihu doesn't necessarily mean the person is Jewish.

[rpray2007]

Good point. I looked up the link you provided and it states that Yale was an Anglican/Protestant so Ben's theory is not founded.

[ebaines]

Yale did not admit any Jews to study there until almost 100 years after its founding. Through the early 1900's almost all its students came from private schools who themselves did not admit Jews. And through the 1950's Yale (like many private colleges) lmited the percentage of incoming freshmen who were Jewish to 10% or less of the class.

So no - Elihu Yale was certainly not Jewish.

[Wondergirl]

Since it trained men for the clergy, Greek and Hebrew were required languages.