Richard Joel: The Wrong Man for the Job
by Ben Shapiro
December 31, 2002
Richard Joel should not be the next president of YU.
Let me begin with a caveat. I have nothing against Richard Joel. I met Mr. Joel at a meeting regarding UCLA Hillel, and I found him to be a warm, likeable fellow -- a people person. He has done a wonderful job of transforming Hillel from a dying Conservative-Reform college movement to a thriving organization on campus, even making Hillel more Orthodox-friendly. But he simply doesn't qualify for the YU presidency. And a look at his record reveals why.
The goal of the YU president has always been to create an atmosphere strongly in-line with halacha. The president has been designated the task of creating a university that would be a light unto the Modern Orthodox movement, a place dedicated to forwarding the philosophy of Torah U’Madda (Torah and Western Learning). Dr. Norman Lamm has admirably led YU and embodied the YU ideal.
Now, with the future of YU on the line, it is no time to betray the YU philosophy. While I am sure that Mr. Joel is an extremely able fundraiser, and a person able to fulfill a good portion of the U’Madda half of Torah U’Madda, his leadership at Hillel with regard to Torah has been less than exemplary.
The Torah teaches us that each Jew must love his fellow. But this does not mean that Torah Jews must love "alternate forms of Judaism" that the less observant claim as legitimate. While I love my grandmother, who is a Reconstructionist Jew, I am not obligated to cater to the non-halakhic rituals she practices. I am not supposed to sit three-day shiva just because I love her. She is a Jew and I love her for that -- I do not love the incorrect, watered-down form of Judaism she practices.
In practice, this means that she has the freedom to do what she wants, but that I will not condone or encourage it by setting up special programs just for her. When she comes to our house, she goes to an Orthodox shul, and does an Orthodox davening. There is a mechitza. There is no microphone. There is no guitar. And that is the way it should be. Accept the Jew, but don't accept the mistaken form of Judaism.
Mr. Joel seems to have lost this distinction. He has designed specific programs within Hillel to appeal to the non-religious, legitimating Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative Judaism. His ideal is a "community of communities" -- i.e. acceptance of different forms of Judaism. This is not at all in line with the philosophy of Torah U’Madda, which requires Jews to practice halakha and, by showing the beauty of that practice, to draw in the non-religious.
Check the Hillel website. The stated purpose of Hillel is to "maximize the number of Jews doing Jewish with other Jews." But what Hillel means by "doing Jewish" isn't halakhic Judaism, it's cultural, touchy-feely, break halakha if you want to Judaism. "Hillel is committed to a pluralistic vision of Judaism that embraces all movements," the website says. Note the langauge: "embraces all movements." Not "embraces all Jews." Any form of Judaism is legitimate. Is that Torah U’Madda?
I go to UCLA, so I am most familiar with the situation there. The rabbi at UCLA Hillel is Chaim Seidler-Feller, a rabidly leftist Jew who openly sympathizes with the Palestinians. In the past, he has compared Jewish treatment of Palestinians to Nazi treatment of Jews. Another employee of UCLA Hillel is Mychal Rosenbaum. She is a lesbian rabbi. You heard that correctly. She interacts on a daily basis with the gay newspapers on campus and with the homosexual groups. She denigrates Orthodox Judaism. Plus she wears a knitted rainbow kippah around campus.
When Mr. Joel visited Los Angeles, he held a meeting with the religious students at UCLA. I confronted him on these issues.
"Mr. Joel," I said, "Chaim Seidler-Feller offers virtually no support to the pro-Israel wing on campus. The job of Hillel should be to back Israel in her struggle for existence, yet Seidler-Feller consistently sides with the Arabs on campus."
"Rabbi Seidler-Feller is a knowledgeable man, and a good friend of mine," Joel replied. "I am proud to sign his paychecks. If he is doing these things, I will speak to him about it. By the way, everyone in this room should learn with him."
I then pressed him on the issue of the lesbian rabbi. It was this exchange that, in my mind, shows he has the wrong personal philosophy to lead YU.
"Mr. Joel, Rabbi Mychal is the lesbian rabbi on campus. She is the Hillel liason to the gay community here, and I have to tell you, it is embarrassing for me to walk around with a kippah on my head when there is an open lesbian rabbi hired by Hillel walking around on campus doing the same," I said. "She speaks at gay events. She promotes homosexuality as acceptable. It is absolutely wrong for Hillel to be condoning homosexuality by hiring a lesbian rabbi to reach out to the gay community."
"Blame me. I sign her checks," he replied. "You can't foist your form of Judaism on others."
"It's not a form of Judaism. That's halakha," I returned. "Vayikra 18:22. It states clearly and unequivocally that homosexuality is an abomination."
"That's your interpretation," he stated. It was clear that Mr. Joel was attempting to write off the Judaic ban on homosexuality as an "interpretation" in order to justify his personal policy toward ignoring the halacha in favor of building a "community of communities."
"No, it's right in the text," I retorted.
"Well, what about lesbianism?"
"It's forbidden as well."
"Where?"
"The Torah states that Jews are forbidden from imitating the ways of the Egyptians. Lesbianism is included in that ban."
Eventually Mr. Joel realized that I had a point, but told me I should watch how I speak lest I come off as "intolerant." As of today, no changes in UCLA Hillel leadership have been made. The lesbian rabbi has given several printed interviews with the homosexual magazines on campus in which she implied that Jonathan and David were gay lovers. To quote her: "The language is pretty explicit, that they were very close friends, that they had some kind of very intimate friendship . . . . then there's another piece that's in Hebrew, and the way the verb is constructed, it makes it sound like he hugged him until he became big." Yet Mr. Joel is glad to sign her paycheck.
Mr. Joel is a terrific leader. He's a great community builder. But will he continue to make YU a model of Torah U’Madda? Or is this a man who will lead YU toward perversion of halakha in order to "reach out" to those who shun halakha?
The author is a junior at UCLA and a nationally syndicated columnist for Creators Syndicate.
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