Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

I cannot respond to the entire tape of Ben Shapiro’s presentation and I generally avoid signing collective declarations written by others. Yet it would be shameful and mortifying to me and to what I believe in if the absence of my name from the faculty letter of protest were interpreted as condoning the substance of his remarks.

“There is death and life in the power of the tongue” (Mishle 18:21). To make cheap irresponsible insult comedy out of serious, painful questions is as degrading to those who propagate and encourage it as it is to the targets. That such language is tolerated and even applauded unthinkingly underlines the pervasive impact of the most vulgar tendencies of our secular entertainment culture. The Ribbonno shel Olam deserves better from us and so do our fellow human beings.

Thank God students of Torah at Yeshiva University have the opportunity to study Torah, to encounter wholesome religious personalities and thus to elevate our speech and thought as is appropriate to benei Torah.

Shalom Carmy