A School Divided: How Beren is Systemically Marginalised

YU’s two undergraduate campuses, Beren and Wilf, are ostensibly equal. Yet, they are not treated as such by its faculty or student body.

The YU Sephardic Club hosted its biannual coed shabbaton last month on the Beren Campus. When a similar shabbaton occurred several years ago on Wilf Campus, several roshei yeshiva criticized the event to their students.. 

Last month, the silence was deafening. There were no speeches decrying the shabbaton, and no widespread criticism. The reason for this discrepancy is clear, as one rosh yeshiva said about the earlier event, “coed events have their place, but not on the yeshiva campus.” One need not be a lamdan [scholar] to understand which campus he was excluding from his remarks. The implication is that the Wilf Campus is the yeshiva, and the Beren Campus is a mere afterthought. Coed events on a disconnected college campus evidently do not damage the sanctity of the yeshiva.

Although YU has 27 Roshei Yeshiva, not a single one permanently teaches on the Beren Campus. Many of them seldom visit the campus. Furthermore, there are no female YU Roshei Beit Midrash. While there are several exemplary Torah leaders on Beren such as Rabbi Azi Fine and Shoshana Shechter, none have been afforded the title of Rosh Yeshiva or Rosh Midrasha. Doing so would both provide administrative power to the religious faculty at Beren and signal endorsement to women’s active role within Judaism. How can YU service the religious needs of its female students if the levers of power are held uptown? It is no wonder the Roshei yeshiva exclude Beren from the yeshiva title. YU does the same.

After the passing of Rabbi Moshe Kahn, who was dubbed SCW’s “Rosh Yeshiva,” YU decided to discontinue some beginner and intermediate Talmud classes at Beren. Only after widespread condemnation from the student body were the classes reinstated. And let us not forget the infamous Klein@9 debacle, in which a Beren student gave a drasha after services, which led to YU officially barring such a practice. These are not isolated incidents. Beren students have underscored the discrepancy between learning on Beren Campus and Wilf Campus for some time.

The primary Beren Judaic building, 245 Lexington, is riddled with pictures of mostly male Roshei Yeshiva with inspiring quotes about YU. Ironically, many of these same rabbis cannot be seen on the campus. Where are the female role models, who are actually on campus, that can be highlighted?

Each of these individual decisions have consequences. When YU does not offer a weekday women’s prayer space, women are not encouraged to show up to minyan or to pray in general. When YU does not encourage female yoatzot or women’s Megillah, few show up or trust the competent female authorities. When women are not seen as possible leaders, few become leaders.

I recognize that as a YC student, some might not think it my place to critique the dynamics of the Beren campus. However, it is that type of gendered thinking that has led us to this point, where women feel unfairly treated compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, I have a vested interest in the matter; many of my friends are Beren students, and I am horrified by the unequal treatment they receive. What’s more, I chose and continue to choose to attend YU for the religious and secular values it commits to, including equality and integrity. How can I seek to emulate the value of Torat Adam as a YU student when YU itself marginalizes half of its students’ religious potential?

The “yeshiva” aspect is not the only difference. Much has been said of the asymmetrical facilities on both campuses: lack of a pool, smaller cafe portions, random reduced club funding, inundation of Katz students and the like. These issues have already been thoroughly discussed by those who live there and are affected by these policies. I prefer to focus on the more general issue regarding the systemic lack of female representation at YU. 

We are living at a turning point in Jewish history. YU has had a tremendously positive impact on the Jewish world in its over 100 years of existence. The decisions that it makes regarding women’s place within Judaism will undoubtedly shape our world for generations to come. Will women have a place of leadership in the beit midrash and beit knesset? Or will they be confined to the home and the workplace? 

I will conclude with the words of Former President Rabbi Norman Lamm in his 1963 Rosh Hashanah Sermon:

“Each of us possesses wonderful native abilities and marvelous inner resources. Either we can opt for Jeremiah’s harat olam, remaining forever with our greatest human treasures locked up within our hearts, he said, “or we can joyously proclaim “hayom harat olam”, that today we shall express those capacities into reality, for today we shall fulfill ourselves by giving birth to a new and fascinating world.”

Author’s Note: In writing this article I consulted with several Beren students’ about their experiences, and they provided many of the examples highlighted. These students wish to remain anonymous.

Photo Caption: Beren Campus 

Photo Credit: Yeshiva University