Dear YU: Be Proud of What You Stand For
Dear YU,
There is a sense of embarrassment that permeates the walls of your institution. A sense that you are not really doing everything right. A sense that the Modern Orthodox project that you represent is not lechatchilah but rather bidieved.
I feel this most acutely from the strange respect I engender from you when I mention that I went to Ner Israel for high school — an epicenter of American Haredi Torah. This respect is only compounded when I add that I spent a year and a half in a Haredi Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, and skipped a grade during my time there.
This phenomenon is altogether shocking to me. What could you be jealous of me for? To the contrary, I am envious of you. I am envious that you had the opportunity as a child to explore both the worlds of Torah and Madda. That you did not have to hide from your school that you were secretly studying for the SAT. That you did not have to feel shame for wanting to pursue a career.
Yet, many from your community seem to have a perverse fixation — a fetish, if you will — of the Haredi world. Many of your rabbis seek to emulate their Polish aristocratic mode of dress. Many go so far as to read their literature and attend their synagogues and religious events. Some even adopt their beliefs.
Why is it that so many rebbeim at your institutions espouse Haredi ideals or are Haredi themselves? Why do you view your ideal student as someone who ‘flips out’ in Israel and goes to Shar Yashiv or Ner Israel? Why is there such a dearth of leaders that espouse a positive, forward-looking philosophy of your cherished values?
These, in my view, are all manifestations of an embarrassment that is now endemic to Modern Orthodoxy. Seldom are the teachers and spiritual leaders of old, such as Professor Greenberg or Professor Leibman. Even more rare are the more well-known Rav Soloveitchik and Rav Lichtenstein who attained PhDs from the University of Berlin and Harvard University, respectively: leaders who could articulate in their speech and action what an ideal model for Torah U’Madda can be. An ideal student of Modern Orthodoxy should be someone who takes both Torah and Madda equally seriously, one who finely weaves the mundane and the holy into a coherent lifestyle. Not someone who, although admirable, just sits down and learns Talmud all day at the community’s expense.
In general, I argue that Haredi and Modern Orthodox Judaism should be recategorized as separate denominations – a belief that is backed by the data of a recent Pew Research Survey. In my view, there are five main distinctions between your outlook and Haredi Judaism that make the two sects mutually unintelligible to each other. The distinctions: your relationship to secular knowledge, women’s role within society and Judaism, view of gentiles and Jewish supremacy, interplay with secular culture, and opinions of Zionism.
Despite this, a young President Berman, in 1999, penned an article in Jewish Action in which he argued that “it is crucial for both of our [Modern Orthodox and Haredi] communities to recognize that fundamentally we share the same core priorities and commitments.” He further urged that the Haredi and Modern Orthodox community set aside their differences and “become one united community.” When he brought up the benign suggestion to a Haredi leader for a joint learning session between YU and another yeshiva he was dismayed at the response he received. “This is very difficult, this is very difficult,” he was told.
For me, this Haredi rabbi’s response was not at all surprising. While deliberating whether to attend YU I was told on more than one occasion regarding even the more ‘right-wing’ portion of YU, that “just because they wear kippahs doesn’t mean they are frum.” Haredi Judaism already recognizes their differences — it’s about time your community does the same.
This is not to suggest that Modern Orthodoxy should never engage with the Haredi world. On the contrary, I believe that pluralistic engagement is quite beneficial. However, these interactions should not be viewed as any different than those you may have with any other denomination. YU and Modern Orthodoxy should be proud of their distinctions. They should be proud of their interplay with the secular world all the while holding a firm grip on Jewish tradition.
The symptom of this embarrassment of a model that you once held dear, is a deterioration of your cherished values. I would not be the first to underscore YU’s shift from a Torah U’Madda model of their humanities and liberal arts departments to a Torah U’Parnassah model of Sy Syms which recently surpassed YC in the number of undergraduate men enrolled. In 2006 for the 75th commemoration of Yeshiva College, a book titled “My Yeshiva College 75 Years Of Memories,” featured past writers of The Commentator writing about their experiences. In this book, Lawrence Grossman already outlined the “drastic change” that YC had endured with “the loosening of the liberal arts,” and “a ‘yeshivishe’ mindset that took root among students.” Indeed, President Berman – in an interview with the Jerusalem Post – triumphantly announced, “we are in the Haredi world now.”
In his book “The Final Exam,” President Berman shockingly suggests swapping the term Torah U’Madda. While he admits that the “title Torah U’Madda remains core to our definition,” he suggests that since “we are religious Zionists,” the term “Torani Tzioni” may be “a more apt phrase, as it communicates our commitment to Torah, Israel, and redemption.” What this phrase conspicuously misses, is any reference to a coexistence with modernity. In essence, Rabbi Berman ignores four of the five primary distinctions between Modern Orthodox and Haredi Judaism. He only keeps the fifth.
The remedy to this ailment is a renewed and rejuvenated outlook on the Modern Orthodox project. I love YU. I love the values you once espoused, which are still echoed in some corners of your institution. After finishing Grossman’s essay and several others nostalgically remembering the former glory of YU, I am saddened. Like King Josiah when encountering the Torah scroll that had been lost to him and his people for so long, I feel that my peers and I have been cheated out of this wisdom. But, like King Josiah after mourning this loss I wish to get up and announce this discovery. I wish to celebrate the past and commemorate this proud YU vision of Torah U’Madda for the future.
Your Student,
Nissim Farhy
Photo Caption: My Yeshiva College — The Forgotten Past Of YU And A Blueprint For The Future
Photo Credit: Nissim Farhy
