Davka today, just hours before Shabbat Shelach, the Torah Portion when we read of the "Sin of the Spies, in which the most distinguished and honored of the Jewish Nation reported back to Moshe and the People that it would be too difficult and dangerous to live the Land G-d was sending them to, I got the YU Bulletin.
Now, Yeshiva University is a very impressive university with massive campuses, world renown undergraduate and graduate schools offering the most impressive academic opportunities. This isn't the first time we've received this publication, but today I was trying to think of a way to bring Parshat Shelach to modern life and blog.
If only...
If only all of that great energy, investment, enthusiasm and vision had been in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. Just think of the magnificent opportunities, the attraction for potential olim (immigrants.) The world would have been a different world. Israel would have been a different country. World Jewry, Torah and academic, would be centered here in the Holy Land.
Phil Chernofsky expresses it well in Torah Tidbits:
This issue of TT is the 17th one for Sh'lach and the number of times we've tried to make the point that living in Israel is essential to G-d's Plan for His Nation is far greater than 17. And each time, we try to say it in a different way. Maybe one way will hit home with the person who needs the message.Over forty years ago, when I announced to my parents that I planned on making aliyah, moving to Israel, I told them that to me living in the Land of Israel was a mitzvah, G-d given Commandment, no different than kosher food and Shabbat.
Try this: When a generally observant Jew reads/listens the Torah, he reacts positively to ZACHOR ET YOM HASHABBAT L'KAD'SHO, remember the Shabbat, etc. And he reacts negatively to this week's episode of the "wood gatherer". He neither admires nor emulates the M'koshesh Eitzim (Tz'lofchad, according to Tradition).
How does (should) this same basically observant Jew react to the passages in the Torah that speak of G-d's "desire" that we follow His Torah and be faithful to Him in Eretz Yisrael? How does he react to the episode of the M'raglim (also from this week's sedra, of course)? Is he as appalled at the behavior of the 10 M'raglim as he is about the Shabbat desecrater or the one who "blessed" G-d's name? Does he admire Kalev who risked his life to passionately plead with the people to listen to G-d? And who does he emulate: Nachbi b. Vofsi or Kalev b. Yefuneh?
Israel is the way it is because of the results of our decisions and actions. When I was much younger I studied dance. My dance movement expert, (Alan Wayne), taught us that every movement, even the very slightest change in position will have very different results. If the hard-working visionaries who built Yeshiva University had decided that it must be in the Land of Israel, today's State of Israel would be totally different. And while I'm at it, I must say:
If the Chareidi rabbis had seen serving in the Israeli Army as a crucially important mitzvah, today's IDF would be a strong Torah Defense Force!
Judaism never accepts that things can't be fixed or changed. That's what tshuva, repentance, is all about. We must constantly strive for a higher level of Jewish Life and to correct our, yes, our, mistakes.
Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorach
May You Have A Complete and Blessed Sabbath
11 comments:
Shalom, Batya and all!
This is for Shaul, who commented on the INN Blog.
Shaul, Batya didn't claim that there is no counterpoint to YU in Israel. (For the record, the religious standards of YU and Bar Ilan are both lousy.) Her point is that Israel would be a better place if instead of founding a religious university (if only it really was religious...) in America, it had been founded in Israel, thereby encouraging American Jews to move to Israel. Just think of all the Jews who instead of finishing university in New York, finished in Israel, knowing Hebrew on the native-language level and having spent a least four years learning the ropes in Israel, without the burden of earning a living.
As it stands today, American Jews can easily - and unfortunately - say, "Why should I go to Israel? I can earn a degree in a religious environment without the hassles of Hebrew, Israeli mentality etc."
They're forgetting a very important mitzva.
Hadassa
Hadassa, thanks
I just commented to a7. The important difference is the timing. YU is older. Also, the hs and undergraduate departments are gender-separate and much more religious than Bar Ilan.
Shaul just likes to attack me.
And the graduate department of YU has mixed gender classes and accepts anyone, including homosexual priests. I heard that first hand from a YU grad student. Not that I've met so many, but I haven't been impressed with the students that I've met from YU.
Yirmi is also a real prize. He also totally misses the point. If the hareidim had been in the IDF from the beginning it would never have gotten to this state. I forget who and where he posted the talkback, but some time ago someone reminded us that Ben-Gurion exempted the yeshiva students because he didn't want them interfering with the army, not because of their clout and not out of the goodness of his heart. Also if YU wasn't around more young Jews would have gone to a real yeshiva, hopefully in Israel and not kidded themselves that YU was the place to get a religious education.
Hadassa
Globes had a large (surprisingly unvicious) article about Bar Ilan and it's supposed religiousness. Apparently, the head of the university has used a major influx of foreign donations and impressive building to take the university up the ladder of academia attracting top-rate teaching and research staff. The gist of the article was that there is still some sort of Jewish influence on the staff while there is no official selection. Staff know to 'respect' Bar Ilan by not expressing anti-religious attitude. Student body is very heterogeneous, yet increasingly secular (as the university expands greatly). Bar Ilan trying to get past that post-Rabin image.
When I studied there, I found it nice that all teaching men wore kipas and I didn't really think about how religious each might be though I realize now why some of their kipas had major [back pocket] creases. The women staff seemed to know to cover up, thank God.
If anyone gets a chance, it's a very beautiful campus, virtually redone in the last decade.
Hadassa, Josh,
YU's graduate schools have kosher cafeterias and calendars, and the Jewish factor ends there. Also, according to something I just recently heard, it's now easier for Stern alumni (and maybe YU, too) to be accepted in Einstein Med school, due to the conditions of a donation.
Bar Ilan has become less and less religious, even though there are excellent religious studies programs for those who want.
Batya, I don't know why anyone would go to Bar Ilan when there are so many top-notch yeshivot/women's institutions in Israel. For secular studies there are numerous single sex colleges, including a few that offer MA programs, of very high quality. Why bother with a university that can't live up to its name?
Hadassa
Hadassa, in principle I don't believe in fleeing from situations. And that includes Bar Ilan and Sderot, too.
What good does attending Bar Ilan do? A huge group of students boycotting it because of lack of religious standards might cause some change. A majority of professors making demands might cause some change. What can the average student hope to accomplish? It's not like a group of students going to a totally non-religious institution in order to set up a sort of "garine Torani". I know you're flying tomorrow so I won't expect an answer any time soon.
Hadassa
As someone who's incurably and innately non-conformist, I think that Bar Ilan can be good or bad, depending on what the person is looking for.
I became religious while studying in a regular NY public high school.
Each person and career choice must be weighed individually.
Those of us who were not born religious, become religious both in spite and because of how we were raised and what our surroundings were. I don't include you in this group, but there are people who confuse the two concepts and aren't always as careful as they should be with the ideas to which they expose themselves and their children.
Hadassa
complicated
shabbat shalom
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