There is a lengthy interview in the Yated with Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive director of the National Council of Young Israel (NCYI). It was sent to me as a ‘cut and paste’ by a subscriber to their e-mail version. It should not be surprising that modern orthodox leaders are sometimes asked to write columns or are interviewed in this very right wing Charedi newspaper. If it serves their agenda, they will do it.
I can almost guarantee that the Yated has little in common with the Centrist Hashkafos of Rabbi Dr. David Berger. Yet his views about Lubavitch Meshichism coincide with their own views. So they invited him to write about it and then published it.
I think the same thing can be said about the Young Israel movement. This organization represents synagogues that have a modern Orthodox orientation. That is something which is anathema to the philosophy of the Yated editorial policy. But since it suited its right wing agenda, the Yated interviewed the head of that organization.
The issue is the recent policy decisions of NCYI to implement new rules all of which indicate a strong trend to the right. The Yeshiva University student newspaper, The YU Commnetator, wrote a lengthy article about that. Obvioulsy this move by NCYI is something that is quite welcome by the Yated. Hence, the interview.
It is curious that Rabbi Lerner chose the Yated as the medium in which to respond. Should he not have responded directly to the Commentator? I’m sure they would have given him that opportunity had he asked. Does he now identify more with the philosophy of the Yated than he does with the philosophy of YU?
Perhaps his use of the catch phrase ‘Torah true’ to describe the YI philosophy as pointed out in their constitution... is a clue. That is decidedly a Charedi term which is used to describe their approach to Judasim to the exclusion of all others. Is that the actual language of their constitution?
In fairness, Rabbi Lerner makes some valid points about those decisions, among them refuting the perception that NCYI leadership had made decisions without consulting their member base. They apparently did.
But what is troubling is the response to an apparent contradiction to Rabbi Lerner’s criticism. Here is the pertinent quote by Rabbi Lerner from the Yated:
It is very interesting and puzzling that an article written in the official YU newspaper contains no comments from members of the YU staff, who also serve as rabbonim in Young Israel branches. The article did not contain any comments from Rabbis Zevulun Charlap, Mordechai Willig (a member of the NCYI Vaad Halacha), Kenneth Auman, Reuvein Fink, Shmuel Hain, Shlomo Hochberg, Ari Jacobson, Yaakov Lerner, Aaron Levine, Marc Penner, or Eliyahu Boruch Shulman, who serve as Young Israel rabbis and are employed by Yeshiva Univeristy.
While it is true that these rabbis are listed as Young Israel rabbis as well, the more valid part of the question is that they are YU Roshei Yeshiva. To make editorial comments from an official publication of the Yeshiva, one would expect to hear from its Roshei Yeshiva. That’s true. . But just a few paragraphs later he is asked the following question:
Yated: The article in the Commentator quotes Rabbi Yosef Blau: …“The spirit and ideology of the Young Israel movement has strayed far from its original roots, which were focused on involving a broader segment of young Jews and preserving the tenets of Judaism, rather than elevating minority opinions on women’s megillah readings into standardized law. The Young Israel movement of today is not the Young Israel that I grew up with.”
How do you respond to these words of a member of the rabbinic facility of RIETS?
Rabbi Pesach Lerner: Well, first of all, I would say that it is completely unprofessional for a member of one organization to involve himself in the organizational policies of another organization. I would have thought that a mashgiach ruchani would know better than that! I would suggest that Rabbi Blau focus on issues going on in YU rather than in other organizations with which he has no affiliation.
First he criticizes that no Roshei Yeshiva were consulted by the Commentator. When he is asked about the fact that one indeed was consulted and whose response was negative, he basically responds that Rabbi Blau ought to mind his own business.
Now it’s true that Rabbi Blau is not the rabbi of a Young Israel Shul. But he isn’t exactly ignorant of the movement having grown up in it. To disparage a major Talmid Chacham who is the Mashgiach Ruchani of a major Yeshiva by telling him in print in a widely circulated Charedi publication to ‘mind his own business’ is unacceptable. In my view it cries out for an apology.
