Yeshiva University President Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman issued a statement Tuesday evening addressing the recent outrage surrounding the university’s policies, following the announcement of the Hareni same-gender club as an officially recognized undergraduate student group.
“I deeply apologize to the members of our community—our students and parents, alumni and friends, faculty and Rabbis—for the way the news was rolled out,” Berman wrote. “Instead of clarity, it sowed confusion.”
He went on to criticize “misleading ‘news’ articles” that suggested Yeshiva had reversed its position on toeiva, calling such reports “absolutely untrue.”
Berman insisted on YU’s commitment to its religious values, saying that the university is designed to be “an intensely religious one” during students’ formative years.
“Its foundational purpose is to faithfully transmit our multi-millennial biblical and halachic tradition to enable our students to integrate their faith and practice in lives of contribution, impact, and personal meaning,” he explained.
Students who choose Yeshiva University, he stressed, are selecting a “religiously driven environment and curriculum”, one in which the Torah remains central to all aspects of life.
“The Yeshiva has always conveyed that what a Pride club represents is antithetical to the undergraduate program in which the traditional view of marriage and genders being determined at birth are transmitted. The Yeshiva never could and never would sanction such an undergraduate club and it is due to this that we entered litigation,” Berman wrote.
He then introduced the Hareni club, which he says was created to support students who “are striving to live authentic, uncompromising halakhic lives.” The club, he said, was “agreed to by all of the parties to be in accordance with halacha, consistent with the rabbinic guidelines of the senior Roshei Yeshiva.”
As a result of this agreement, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against YU accepted the creation of Hareni and moved to drop the case, leading to its dismissal.
On Monday, Rav Hershel Schachter, the Rosh Yeshiva of YU, released a statement, saying:
Two and a half years ago, when I was last consulted, I gave my blessing to a Yeshiva University initiative to help students struggling with problems of same sex attraction and gender identity. My position, then as now, emphatically rejects the ideology, lifestyle and behaviors which, the LGBTQ term represents.
My position, then as now, is that all relevant prohibitions (homosexual behavior, same-sex marriage, castration, etc.) obviously must be uncompromisingly upheld. Simultaneously, all halachically legitimate means of support should be provided to struggling students to foster and sustain their uncompromising commitment to all of the above.
I gave my blessing to providing guidance and support in maintaining full, uncompromising shmeras ha-mitzvos – to this sacred goal and nothing more.
Experience has attested that allowing this initiative to take the form of a club has and continues to create confusion. I very much regret that I did not previously recognize this factor.
Establishing any additional club in any orthodox institution will only add to that confusion and must be avoided.
Despite Yeshiva University’s attempt to clarify its stance, lingering questions remain due to apparent contradictions in its policies and past actions. Just a few examples: YU currently employs a Bible professor who has openly advocated to disregard Judaism’s stance on toeiva marriages. From 2008 to 2021, the university employed an openly transgender professor. In 2022, the university’s social work graduate school hosted a pro-abortion event and featured a lecture by a female Reform “rabbi”.
Perhaps another statement from Yeshiva University’s faculty could clarify how those examples conformed with Orthodox Judaism.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
11 Responses
YU was kissing up to the homos back in the 1980s already, as the video from Rav Gifter makes clear.
In the 1990s YU approved of its first toeiva club. And again in the early 2000s.
What is with YWN’s agenda to slander YU at every opportunity? Can there be no consideration for the logistics and factors that go into running a large institution with multiple schools while needing to conform to certain laws to retain government funding? No respect for the serious Talmidei chachamim who are the helm of this institution? This lashon hara and disgusting reporting of fellow Jews is abhorrent. YWN owes YU and its Rabbanim a public apology.
This is not consistent with previous letters signed by Rabbi Schachter in the recent past. He has previously endorsed a club whose purpose was to fully encourage embracing LGBTQ “identity”, while yet upholding a commitment to abstinence in practice.
The tone of this letter is different. But it’s a significant change from his previously stated position, in many ways.
Here are some quotes from a previous email by YU signed by Rabbi Schachter :
“….We love all of our students including those who identify as LGBTQ. Through our deep personal relationships and conversations with them, we have felt their struggles to fit into an Orthodox world that could appear to them as not having a place for them…..”
“….This club will be infused with the value of chessed in which our students share their experiences, support each other, and benefit from the full resources of Yeshiva University. Like all clubs on campus, this club will find nourishment within our rich heritage and not advocate against the Torah’s teachings. Its name and symbols emerge organically from our tradition…..”
These above statements are not consistent with what he wrote in this letter.
Based on the report above, it seems that Rav Schachter is taking a harder line than R. Dr. Berman. Is it correct to say then that Rav Schachter is opposed to the Hareini club?
One of the leaders of the current toeivah push at YU now is Schneur Friedman. He is a Lubavitcher who has written articles promoting acceptance of toeivah based on Chasidus, citing Tanya, Likutei Sichos (the articles can be seen at the website of the YU Commentator, a student publication there, by doing a search with his name). It is outrageous that a Lubavitcher comes to YU and becomes a leader of the forces of impurity there, while citing Chasidus. Where is Chabad Lubavitch? They should excommunicate him. YU should send him back to Crown Heights. YU has a Chabad club, members of which just went to Crown Heights for Shabbos recently, and this is what they get from Lubavitch?
Feh
Can someone please explain to me why we haven’t heard a word of condemnation to date from the Moetzes of Agudath Israel against YU’s abominable decision to officially recognize an LGBTQ+ student organization?
Outraged is the truth ! Halachically I learned later in life that until less than 100 years ago a minyan cannot have congregants that have non Jewish wives, homosexuals, bastards, etc. ! Unfortunately the battles for “jewish money” as well as rights that go beyond peace and derech eretz have unfolded in places that are supposed to be protected from such genetic problems ! The free love theme and perversions of the sixties has led to tel aviv catering to gay tourism 15 years ago ! I believe the Jewish money should draw a line and say no to compromising its principals and family values ! As a YU alum of JSS and YC I know being a student in NYC isn’t easy and that there are all sorts of evil influences, the world of difference between genius and righteous needs to be defined by true yeshivos, a good yeshiva sends the smart-ass on his way and has places for the righteous !! Put the homos out ! The all male worlds have to be able to say no or rights won’t be strong enough for long futures ! However the world went to pot quite awhile ago, so when I say amen to a blessing it’s with clauses ! Homosexuals are lazier than any other species and should come closer to extinct, I think 🤔
Rationaljew22
I’m sure we would all remove our objections if they removed the work “yeshiva” from their title. (Same objection as open “orthodox” ) You can’t call yourself a yeshiva and allow certain things.
Completely separate the two and I’m good. Until then they are usurpers of a title that they have no right to.
35 years ago I left modern orthodoxy the day of my YU interview when I walked into one of the dorms and saw the kinds of pictures allowed on the walls (“pin ups”) and I understood the contradictIon as an 18 year old. I went to a real yeshiva that only allowed gedolim on the dorm walls.
@Abraham I never heard of sucha thing that a Mazer can’t be part of aminyan?
Chazal Say that Mazer Talmid Chacham is before a Kohen Gadol Am Haaretz!
You must have a source to say they can’t be part of a minyan otherwise it is not true!
The only thing I heard is that Mamzer cannot marry a regular Jew and has to marry a mamzeres.
Placing a Mazer in the same sentence as the other people you mentioned is not logical since a Mazer has no choice involved in his being a mamzer whereas who one marries is a choice.
In Summary:
One cannot say that a bastard cannot be part of minyan without a Torah source!
@Abraham Edit: I never heard of such a thing that a Mamzer/Bastard can’t be part of a minyan?
Chazal Say that Mazer Talmid Chacham is before a Kohen Gadol Am Haaretz! You must have a source to say they can’t be part of a minyan otherwise it is not true!
The only thing I heard is that Mamzer/Bastard cannot marry a regular Jew and has to marry a mamzeres.
Placing a Mazer in the same sentence as the other people you mentioned is not logical since a Mamzer has no choice involved in his being a mamzer whereas who one marries is a choice.
In Summary:
One cannot say that a bastard cannot be part of minyan without a Torah source!