Halakhah and Minhag - Kol Hamevaser

BY: Chana Cooper
In a recent interview with Kol Hamevaser, ii
Rabbi Yaakov Neuberger expressed his opposition
to the institution of yo’atsot Halakhah
(halakhic advisors on issues of Family
Purity), asserting that allowing women into positions
of halakhic authority would drive a
wedge between female congregants and their
communal rabbi. He stated further that rabbis
“are and want to be very involved in the full
needs of the community, including women’s issues,”
and that it is necessary to “create venues
and formats” in which women can feel comfortable
discussing any issue with their rav. iii
I do not wish to address the issue of yo’atsot
Halakhah and female rabbinic leadership
in this article, but rather would like to focus on
the women-rabbi relationship that Rabbi Neuberger
discusses. In Stern College, the womenrabbi
rift is not a theoretical one. The venues
that he discusses offering opportunities for interaction
between students and the rabbinic
leaders of our community are currently very
limited at Stern College, and the sense that the
YU’s Rashei Yeshivah are and want to be involved
in the needs of the next generation of
women is not strongly felt. While this sentiment
may not be accurate, there is little dialogue
between the rabbinic figures and Stern
students to assure them otherwise. The lack of
access to the great rabbinic leaders of Yeshiva
for those on the Beren Campus is a tremendous
loss for students who yearn to learn more
Torah and wish for the opportunity to ask them
halakhic and hashkafic questions. Additionally,
the distance between the Rashei Yeshivah and
Stern women is potentially damaging for our
community, which depends upon a bridge of
understanding between its leaders and its constituents.
More than at any other time in history,
Jewish women today have incredible opportunities
for involvement in Torah learning. This
is particularly true in Stern College, where students
are exposed to a remarkable quantity and
quality of Torah learning. There is a tremendous
desire for growth in learning, as reflected
Halakhah and Minhag
Aseh Lekha Rav: i
Opening Channels of Communication to Stern Students
by various recent changes at Stern, including
the creation of the daily Beit Midrash track for
Judaic courses and the introduction of a Night
Seder program. Nonetheless, the Torah learning
opportunities available at Stern are still
lacking. While YU’s undergraduate men are
blessed with Rashei Yeshivah who are talmidei
hakhamim of the highest order, Stern students
have minimal opportunities to learn from them,
which is both unfortunate and, in my view, unfair.
As an institution, Yeshiva University is
dedicated to the intellectual and religious development
of students in of all of its undergraduate
programs, both the men’s and
women’s colleges. To allow one college max-
“While YU’s undergraduate men are blessed with
Rashei Yeshivah who are talmidei hakhamim of the
highest order, Stern students have minimal opportunities
to learn from them, which is both unfortunate
and, in my view, unfair.”
imal access to the greatest Torah resources of
YU and the other minimal access is not in accordance
with the principles of our institution.
Providing Stern students little access to
the rabbinic leaders of our community not only
deprives those seeking to learn more Torah, but
also precludes the opportunity for them to seek
advice and ask questions from these leaders.
Stern does have mashgihim ruhaniyyim (spiritual
counselors) who are available for students
to turn to for guidance. They are very active in
the Stern community and their presence is a
tremendous contribution to the Beren Campus.
However, although their leadership is greatly
appreciated, the desire to speak with the halakhic
and hashkafic leaders of the YU community
is still strongly felt. In accordance with
Rabbi Neuberger’s words, the Rashei Yeshivah
should be available to all members of the community,
including women at Stern.
Fortunately, there are a number of occasions
on which Stern women can learn from
the Rashei Yeshivah. Currently, Rav Goldwicht
Opinions
gives a weekly shi’ur on the Beren Campus,
but he is the only Rosh Yeshivah to do so. Additionally,
the Torah Scholarship Series brings
Rashei Yeshivah to Beren for one-time
shi’urim, enabling students to have the privilege
of hearing from these rabbanim at Stern.
These shi’urim are very popular among Stern
students and are well attended. Batya Matla
Herzberg, the creator of the Torah Scholarship
Series, developed the program with two goals
in mind: “Firstly, to allow Stern girls the opportunity
to learn Torah from some of the
greatest Torah scholars Yeshiva University has
to offer, and secondly, to increase the dialogue
with the Rashei Yeshivah to give students the
sense that our leaders are in touch with all parts
of the community, including Stern.” iv After one
such shi’ur given by Rabbi Herschel Reichman,
Herzberg recalled, students lined up to
ask questions pertaining to many different
areas of Jewish interest, extending well beyond
the topic of the shi’ur. “There is a genuine
thirst for more Torah at Stern and the Torah
Scholarship Series is a great way to partially
satisfy that,” said Herzberg. However, these
occasional shi’urim by definition cannot be
very in-depth, and thus the amount of Torah
Stern students can learn on these occasions is
limited. The infrequency also means that students
who want to ask religious questions
rarely get the opportunity to do so.
The desire to have access to the rabbinic
leaders of the Yeshiva University community
is not merely driven by the eagerness to learn
from the best Torah resources in YU and have
the opportunity to ask them questions on numerous
areas of Jewish life. It is also essential
that rabbinic leaders have a thorough and true
understanding of the perspectives and needs of
all of a community’s constituents in order to
render the best possible decisions for that community.
Without much dialogue between the
women of the community and the rabbis making
the decisions, their halakhic rulings will
more likely be ineffective or misplaced. Not
only is it important for our rabbis to relate to
“In order to feel comfortable in the religious world
and willingly submit themselves to its rabbinic authority,
women must have the sense that the rabbis
truly understand their position, especially when the
issue at hand is specifically a women’s issue.”
all parts of the religious community, but it is
also necessary for individuals to feel that their
needs are understood. In order to feel comfort-
Volume III, Issue 7 www.kolhamevaser.com
able in the religious world and willingly submit
themselves to its rabbinic authority, women
must have the sense that the rabbis truly understand
their position, especially when the issue
at hand is specifically a women’s issue. Without
this level of trust, their dedication to religious
practice and respect of religious
authority is most likely severely weakened.
There is much to be done in order to increase
the presence of Rashei Yeshivah on the
Beren Campus, affording Stern students more
opportunities for learning Torah, seeking advice
from our leaders, and developing a sense
of mutual understanding between YU’s women
and its Rashei Yeshivah. Weekly classes given
by the Rashei Yeshivah similar to Rav Goldwicht’s
would be a very welcome development.
An expansion of the Torah Scholarship
Series would also be well received, so that instead
of giving one-time shi’urim, rabbis could
deliver a whole series of shi’urim in installments
throughout the semester, allowing these
lectures to take place both more often and be
more in-depth. Additionally, Stern has many
wonderful shabbatonim which would greatly
benefit from the presence of the Rashei
Yeshivah (currently, a few selected Rashei
Yeshivah come down to Stern only a couple
times a year for shabbatonim). The ideas listed
here are just a few of the ways to increase the
number of interactions of the Rashei Yeshivah
with the women of Stern College, but there are
certainly many more. Hopefully, these changes
will expand the dialogue between the two parties
and allow them to work together in minimizing
the women-rabbi rift.
Chana Cooper is a junior at SCW majoring
in Physical Sciences.
i Avot 1:6.
ii Staff, “An Interview with Rabbi Yaakov Neuberger,”
Kol Hamevaser 3,2 (November 2009):
11-13, at p. 12.
iii Ibid., p. 12.
iv Based on a personal conversation with her.
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