Torah V’Yiras Shamayim: A Modest Suggestion

After just a few minutes, my wife and I quietly exited the Schottenstein theater. The acting and writing was, overall, superb. It was thus particularly unfortunate that it was spoiled by a few particularly crass jokes.

While undoubtedly not all readers of this article will share my sensitivity — most of the audience did, after all, stay — I deeply believe that as an Orthodox institution, YU programs should be run in accordance with Torah sensitivities. When they fail to do so, even in a relatively minor way, it invalidates the moral legitimacy of the entire event. This is the essence of what Torah Umadda is about. My father (Rabbi Yona Reiss) has argued that Rav Solovetchik believed that the Torah Umadda enterprise is fundamentally about infusing yiras Shamayim, fear of Heaven, into all of our endeavors and our general worldview. We do not believe our religiosity is confined to our shul and beit midrash — it informs and uplifts every aspect of our lives. President Berman, recognizing this, has expanded the focus of Torah Umadda from primarily academic endeavors to broader and more practical aspects of our lives. But sometimes I wonder how successful we are.

I am among the first to recognize that YU caters to a religiously diverse community and it is important to embrace nuance and sensitivity in determining what programs and activities are offered. However, even such an expansive perspective must be deeply informed by a sense of yiras Shamayim. I don’t think the play’s quality of entertainment would have been significantly compromised by removing those few jokes, but its quality of yiras Shamayim certainly was.

This isn’t just about YCDS. YU has a Broadway club which offers tickets to musicals featuring kol ishah, despite the clear halachic issues involved in men attending them. Other clubs show or offer tickets to movies which are not appropriate for other reasons. As much as YU must cater to a broad community, these are examples of halachic red lines which apply universally and are a yardstick of YU’s commitment to Torah v’Yiras Shamayim.

While YU is a complex and decentralized institution and not all of its problems can easily be fixed, I would like to make a modest suggestion: institute rabbinic supervision of the Office of Student Life. All student-led events on campus must get approved by OSL; if an appropriate YU rav, sensitive to the complexities of YU’s diverse student body while simultaneously rooted in yiras Shamayim, was able to oversee all these activities, he could gear students toward appropriate solutions and ensure all programs reflect our core values. While Rabbi Yaakov Neuberger is often consulted about questionable events, he is only able to have input on issues brought to him; OSL is not equipped to always be aware of what may be an issue. Only through proactive rabbinic screening can YU ensure that all events are run properly.

Our student leadership is also equipped to help promote this shift. YSU or the student government as a whole can consult a rabbinic advisor or advisory board over all events. While some may instinctively flinch at such a proposal — probably the same people who objected to my father’s plan to put filters on the YU Wi-Fi on the grounds that “this is a university, not a yeshiva” — well, I probably won’t convince them otherwise. But I believe that if YU wants to truly embody the spirit of Torah v’Yiras Shamayim, Torah Umadda, the Five Torot or any other expression of sincere religious commitment, then it’s not enough to talk about “values in the workplace” — we also have to bring values to YU.

I want to end off by emphasizing that I have great appreciation for the great strides YU has made in recent years in actualizing “Torah v’Yiras Shamayim”, including their many initiatives towards “values in the workplace,” their extensive rabbinic training programs, concerted efforts against cheating and the spirit behind it, bringing in various speakers from Israel who share a deep and all-encompassing sense of emunah harder to find in America, inclusivity programming and extensive programming surrounding Torah and mental health issues, to name a few. Students also take initiative to run events and shiurim addressing contemporary and life issues from a Torah perspective. Establishing oversight for all student events will be a major step forward in fully actualizing this lofty ideal.

Photo Caption: Rabbi Willig reading President Berman’s letter about the new “Hareni” club.

Photo Credit: Yeshiva University