When They Burn Books
When I first came to YU during the spring 2024 semester, I knew nobody. Wandering around after classes, I noticed several students unloading boxes in Belfer’s large auditorium and began to help. After convincing the CEO to send me the application form, I had my first encounter with ‘The Seforim Sale.’ Although I was quite busy and the application had officially closed the previous semester, I noticed an opportunity to make friends. The Seforim Sale helped me break out of my shell, and is where I met some of my best friends. Many of the head staff are close friends of mine and The Seforim Sale as an institution remains close to my heart. Yet, there is one area of the sale which I see as problematic.
During the past few years a perennial debate has emerged about what books The Seforim Sale carries. Most notably, Elliot Resnick, a now pardoned Jan. 6 protester, plastered signs around campus and recorded a podcast urging the sale to carry books penned by racist radical Rabbi Meir Kahane. Much to Resnick’s chagrin, the sale still does not carry Kahane’s books. While I abhor Kahane’s books, the protest that Resnick and another blogger conducted nonetheless raises the general question of book banning.
This semester, the sale released a form for students to request books they were interested in purchasing. After speaking with some of the heads of the sale, I was informed that the sale would not be able to carry several books I requested due to them being “too controversial.” These books included academic biblical works written by Louis Jacobs, a frum author that the sale had previously carried, and a book containing halachic arguments for Jewish feminism. However, the sale agreed to carry books about academic Talmud due to its more benign nature. I filled out the request form and pestered members of the head staff several times to ensure that they would order the titles. Much to my dismay, the books never arrived. Whether the books were forgotten in the ordering process, lost in shipment or something more deliberate I cannot be sure.
As section manager of scholarly works I am certain that there is interest in these books about modern academic Jewish scholarship. Indeed, several customers have come over and requested some of these genres, including books by Abraham Joshua Heschel and James Kugel. This year, even books by Natan Slifkin were consciously left out of the order. One title was removed from the sale floor due to its ‘sordid’ title. I was even urged by one manager to hide some titles of Marc Shapiro, whom The Seforim Sale is hosting this year, due to the controversial topics he broaches.
The Seforim Sale is a rendezvous for all types of Jews and has brought in as many as 15,000 customers in past years. Walking down the aisles offering assistance, I have met a Chabad shaliach, a pair of yeshivish bochurim from Boro Park and a few Conservative Jews. One of my friends took her non-Orthodox parents to the sale, and another is purchasing a book for her Reform cousin. The trouble is that while the sale carries 13,000 unique titles — including books that range from the Rebbe’s seforim to books of the Rav to Rav Shimon Schwab’s essays — books that may be appealing to audiences to the left of “YU machmir” are missing. No longer do we carry Rabbi Wolpe or scholarly works by Princeton or Yale University presses.
Some may claim that the sale is just ‘upholding YU’s values’ and therefore it has no duty to sell books that stray from that narrow lens. However, walking around the sale one can see books such as “Toras Avigdor” and “Kovetz Ma’amarim” proudly adorning the shelves – no hiding necessary. In “Kovetz Ma’amarim,” Rav Elchanan Wasserman argued that while “Antisemites want to kill the body, Zionists want to kill the soul. Better to die than to consort with the Zionists.” And Rav Avigdor Miller called Zionism a “tragedy” in his sefer. It is evident that these works are not consistent with YU’s values.
The reason that certain titles are sold and others aren’t is simple: controversy. While I’m sure several head staff would have no qualms selling certain titles, for them the headache they would receive from the more right-wing crowd is not worth it. On the other hand, the head staff know that Modern Orthodox individuals are unlikely to complain about books that demean them and trample on their most cherished ideals.
This sheepishness, as I previously highlighted, is endemic to Modern Orthodoxy. The Modern Orthodox community stands docile as the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah refuses to allow YU Roshei Yeshiva to speak at the Siyum Hashas. Barely a whimper of protest can be heard in Modern Orthodox circles against Rav Chaim Kanievsky, who ordered that yeshivos stay open during COVID, likely contributing to the Haredi community’s high COVID-19 infection rate. Nor is there a sign of dismay at Rav Aharon Kotler’s comparison of Modern Orthodoxy to Reform Judaism.
Moreover, YU Roshei Yeshiva and faculty have often called for books to be banned and even have torn down signs of a speaker. This is not the first time that YU has removed books and articles or banned and condemned events that stray from the machmir mainstream. Readers of The Commentator may remember the “mysterious” disappearance of several issues of The Commentator in 1999, for which YU only reimbursed them a day before a NYT article featuring the disappearances was published. Given that YU allows the sale to use its campus as the venue for the sale free of charge, it is unsurprising that they would acquiesce to YU’s censorious demands.
The Modern Orthodox community needs to stop applying a double standard to books and thinkers that deviate from our beliefs. The Seforim Sale should either be a place for all Seforim and carry controversial Jewish books on both the left and the right, or no place for either of them.
Despite my misgivings, The Seforim Sale continues to remain a cherished part of my YU experience, and I encourage everyone to come check it out. I will continue to volunteer there, encouraging all titles to be displayed. It is due to this love that I pen my critique, and advocate for change. See you on the sale floor.
The Seforim Sale Remains Open Until Feb. 23
Photo Caption: Scholarly Works Section at The Seforim Sale
Photo Credit: Yeshiva University
