Yeshivat Chovevei Torah

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Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (also known as YCT) is a Modern Orthodox yeshiva founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss in 1999, and located in New York, New York. YCT's current Rosh HaYeshiva - Head of School- Rabbi Dov Linzer, a Talmudist and student of Jewish law. Chovevei ordained its first graduating class of rabbis in 2004 and its third on June 11, 2006. The institution promotes Weiss' Open Orthodoxy ^[1] philosophy combining commitment to and observance of Orthodox Halakha (Jewish law) with outreach to modern culture, the Jewish community as a whole, and sensitive approaches to addressing contemporary issues. In addition to its rabbinical studies program, the yeshiva offers a public Jewish educational program, in association with the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, at its Riverdale campus in the Bronx, New York.

The Rabbinical Council of America, the major American association of Modern Orthodox rabbis, is currently considering whether to admit YCT graduates to RCA membership. ^[2]

1 Role of women in Judaism
2 Criticism
3 Absorption of EDAH functions
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Role of women in Judaism

Main article: Role of women in Judaism

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, like all Orthodox rabbinical schools, accepts only male candidates for ordination. However, YCT, unlike a number of rabbis and institutions within Orthodox Judaism, has expressed an openness to the possibility of expanded roles for women in public worship via formats such as the Partnership minyan. As founder Avi Weiss explained:

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, as an Orthodox institution, requires that its students daven only in synagogues with mechitzot," wrote Weiss in an e-mail to the Forward. "The phenomenon of women receiving aliyot in a mechitza minyan is currently being debated on both a halachic and communal level within the Modern Orthodox community. YCT Rabbinical School does not currently take a position on this issue. ^[3]

As a result of this lack of prohibition, some YCT student and graduates have been involved in these types of services. ^[4].

[edit] Criticism

[edit] Haredi criticism

Haredi sources such as the Yated Neeman have criticized what they YCT's theological positions for being "liberal" ^{[citation needed]}. The policies that these sources have identified as "overly liberal" include a willingness to question the literal validity of certain Biblical stories^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Criticism of recruiting practices by the Yeshiva campus paper

Yeshiva University's student newspaper, The Commentator, reported that many young men who previously would have considered YU's rabbinical school are now attending YCT. The Commentator reported that this was a result of an "aggressive marketing campaign"^[5]

[edit] Interfaith Dialogue

The school has also been criticized by the on-line journal Cross-Currents for their involvement in interfaith theological dialogue.

Based on Rabbis Weiss' guidance, faculty and students at YCT have engaged in theological dialogue with non-Orthodox and non-Jewish movements. As reported in their Spring 2006 newsletter and in a Harvard University research report (May 31, 2005):^[6], students have been engaging in dialogues with students from other theology schools:

Rabbi Weiss feels that the current Modern Orthodox community lacks enough of an appreciation for intellectual curiosity or a relationship with ideas and institutions outside its sphere, and seeks to remedy this in their curriculum. One aspect of openness, Rabbi Weiss writes, is that "many of our students regularly participate in interdenominational and interfaith events. Our students learn that religious growth comes not through dogmatism but through questioning and struggle."

The administration does not directly organize interfaith dialogue, and unlike other participant institutions, a YCT staff member does not attend the interseminary dialogues in which students currently engage.

In addition, in April 2006 YCT invited a group of Catholic cardinals to the school. The online Orthodox blog Cross-Currents argued that YCT had crossed an important line recently re-emphasized by Modern Orthodox giant Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik when, during the events, it hosted a Talmud study session with the Cardinals, which included a convert from Judaism to Catholicism:

Everything about Chovevei Torah’s hosting of a group of cardinals to its beit midrash was appalling, wrong, and dangerous. Everything other than receiving them with warmth and dignity, and recognizing some of the important changes that many Christian groups have made in their dealings with Jews...Rabbi Weiss “seemed eager to say that he was not violating the taboo against holding theological discussions with non-Jews.”...Just what part of Rav Soloveitchik zt”l’s “Confrontation” does Rabbi Weiss think no longer applies? ^[7]

[edit] Absorption of EDAH functions

In July 2006, YCT officials announced that they would absorb some of the personnel and functions of the Modern Orthodox advocacy organization EDAH, which had announced its closure. ^[8] YCT also announced its assumption of EDAH's journal, website, and audio-visual library. YCT will absorb EDAH's current director, Rabbi Saul Berman, its journal, website, and audio-visual library. ^[9] Rabbi Berman joined YCT in the Fall of 2006 as head of a new Rabbinic Enhancement Initiative and is listed in this role on YCT's web site