The YU Paradigm as the Model for Torah Jewry

It makes me so sad that the prevailing view of Judaism being taught in the vast majority of yeshivos is the Lakewood ‘Torah Only’ school of Jewish thought. This view holds that L’chatchila - the primary choice of every Jewish male should be to choose a life of full-time Torah study. Jewish women, in turn, are expected to seek such men as their preference and be willing to support them in that holy task, thus sharing in the heavenly reward their husbands receive for learning full time.

That is the paradigm. And that view has increasingly been perpetuated ever since Rav Aharon Kotler established his yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha, in Lakewood. The idea of working for a living - even while establishing regular times for Torah study - is considered to be B’dieved, - pursued only as a last resort. Women raised in this paradigm generally refuse to date men who choose that path.

I have always believed that the truth of Judaism is more closely represented by the Yeshiva University (YU) model, which sees working for a living as much of a L’chatchila as learning full time.

It doesn’t really make much difference to me whether the underlying philosophy of that model is Torah U’Madda, Torah im Derech Eretz, or Torah U’Parnassah. While there are clear ideological differences, the result is largely the same. YU is a yeshiva that produces learned baalei batim and, in some cases, gedolim who devote their lives to Torah study. Much the same as Lakewood students. YU reflects the idea that the God never intended His people to live exclusively in the warm cocoon of a Torah-only lifestyle.

I can hear the howl of laughter from friends to my religious right, who will claim  that the proof they are correct lies in the fact that the Lakewood view is the majority view of observant Jewry. Evidenced by the overwhelming number of religious schools that teach ‘Torah Only’ L’chatchila.. That those schools are the majority and growing exponentially speaks volumes about the primacy of their ‘Torah Only’ paradigm. To the extent that schools with other philosophies exist in relatively small numbers - is seen by them as B’dieved.

That attitude was made clear by one of the most revered talmidei chachamim of the 20^th century, Rav Baruch Ber Leibovitz. He was asked by Rav Shimon Schwab whether his Hirschian philosophy of Torah im Derech Eretz was a L’chatchila. His answer was clear: No, it was not. He claimed that Samson Raphael Hirsch intended it only as a B’dieved for his community and his time. That is still how the Lakewood world tends to see it now, even though it is clear from Rav Hirsch’s writings that he meant it as a L’chatchila.

For me, it is a simple matter... 

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