2005-05-16 - The Commentator - A Shtikle Faygele, Uber Nisht a Zionishe Kayfer

A Shtikle Faygele, Uber Nisht a Zionishe Kayfer

by Josh Harrison

May 16, 2005

When the Hassid in Boro Park saw me reading Daniel Boyarin's Border Lines he asked if I had "sefeikos in emunah." I told him that he might sympathize with Boyarin, seeing as how both of them are anti-Zionists. Sadly he was a "modern" Hassid and he told me that he didn't "judge people just on Zionism one way or the other." [sic]

Boyarin challenges our assumptions in many ways. His first challenge comes merely through being Boyarin. Elusive and brilliant, this Talmudist doesn't have the classical rabbinic mien. Despite his short gig teaching at YU, Boyarin admits that he falls "seriously out of step" with his "self-identification as an Orthodox Jew."

I am seriously out of step with my community at this moment, in a position of marginality...The present is a time in which Jewish Orthodoxy has been redefined as including the unquestioning support for a political entity, the State of Israel, and all of its martial adventures...On the stairs of my synagogue, in Berkeley, on Rosh Hashana...I was told that I should be praying in a mosque.

Beyond his anti-Zionism, Boyarin admits to a love for Christianity. He has "always been in love with some manifestations of Christianity...For an oddly gendered teenager, Saint Francis, the sissy proved an increadibly tantalizing figure of a man." This from an intellectual whose output includes a book on the mysterious chug HaIyun group of Spanish Jewish exegetes, not to mention a book on Midrash!

The challenge of dealing with a figure as different as Boyarin might faze some Centrist Orthodox students. It certainly flummozed my "modern" Hassidische friend. Boyarin is weird, and he admits it in the front of his book. He has gender identity issues, and he likes Christians and Palestinians, not to mention the Talmud. In the beginning of his Dying for God, he actually thanks his therapist for counseling him through the writing of his previous books. Yet, it would be a shame if these idiosyncrasies led us to abandon the actual theories in Border Lines. After all, if there is a challenge beyond that of Boyarin himself, it might be Boyarin's cutting-edge theories.

Border Lines rests on two central claims. First, Boyarin gives his account of the development of heresy and Orthodoxy (in his specific context, the rise of "Christians" and "Jews" from a Judeo-Christian whole). According to Boyarin, heresy begets Orthodoxy as Orthodoxy begets heresy. Thus, the rabbinic elite made certain elements taboo, and those elements became Christian. The opposite of the newly proscribed rituals or theologies would be the newly minted Orthodoxy. In this vein, Boyarin reads "Justin martyr with an ear out for echoes of the role that the contruction of Judaism was playing in his efforts to produce Christian identity." Afer this, Boyarin reads claims of epistemic succession (we call it mesorah) in Judaism and in Christianity.

Of course, Boyarin's theory flounders if he cannot prove that there was a Judeo-Christianity in antiquity. If there was no hybrid group that was stamped out by heresiological border guards, then there was no imposition of a border on an ambiguous group. According to Boyarin "hybridity was threatening to a 'pure' rabbinic Judaism as it was to an Orthodox Christianity." (14) One of the central tasks that Boyarin sets for himself is proving this hybridity.

In order to prove that there was a hyphenated and hybridized Judeo-Christianity, Boyarin sets out to read logos theology into the rabbinic discourse. The belief that "between God and the world there is a second divine entity, God's word (logos), or God's wisdom," used to be seen as the "trip wire" between the Jews and the Christians. Boyarin argues that this situation came to be "via the technologies of heresiology," and that it has nothing to do with the reality of a hybridized Judeo-Christianity. People saw a trip wire where there was none, assuming that the static borders presented to them were always just so.

Assuming from the get go that rabbinic Judaism wasn't the predominant form of Judaism in antiquity (think of the demainproducing am haaretz of Talmudic fame) Boyarin digs up a popular logos theology that is native to Judaism and not to Christianity. Statements about the memra of God in Targum, for instance, are taken as instances of logos theology (even if, post-Maimonides, we read them allegorizations of physical depictions of God in scripture). For Boyarin, "the memra performs...all of the functions of the Logos of Christian Logos theology." Quoting Elliot Wolfson's Through a Speculum that Shines, (Wolfson is currently visiting at Revel) Boyarin digs up Metatron from Sanhedrin 38b, and sees that archangel as an intermediary between God and man. Finally, Boyarin finds an extensive "passage in Philo that could just as easily fit into Justin [Martyr]'s Apologetics." There, Philo basically says that the voice of God is "seen as light is seen...the radiating splendor of virtue indistinguishable from a fountain of reason."

If logos theology was native to Judaism, it got taken by Judeo-Christians. This led to a rabbinic excommunication of the logos and a Christian crucifixion of the memra. Boyarin describes the excommunication of the logos in vivid detail. Detailing a rabbinic conspiracy centering on the Talmudic passages of Hagiga 14b, Boyarin finds evidence of a systematic attempt to push the logos out of the Jewish canon. This attempt started in the epicenter of the rabbinic universe, with one of the greatest expositors of rabbinic Judaism, Rabbi Akiva.

...the second century Rabbi Akiva is portrayed as interpreting these verses [Daniel 7:9] in a way that certainly would seem consistent with Two Powers in Heaven. The crux is his indentification of David, the Messiah, as the "Son of Man" who sits at God's right hand, thus suggesting not only a divine figure, but one who is incarnate as a human being as well. "I am [Messiah] and you shall see 'the Son of Man' sitting on the right hand of power and coming in on the cloud of heaven." (Mark 14:62)...His contemporary Rabbi Yose the Galilean (perhaps a more assiduous reader of the Gospels) strenuously objects to Rabbi Akiva's "dangerous" interpretation...Of course, the Talmud itself must record that Rabbi Akiva changed his mind on order for him to remain "orthodox." Two Powers in Heaven is thus not foreign even at the very heart of the rabbinic enterprise.

Boyarin goes farther than positing a comprehensive rabbinic conspiracy to excommunicate the logos from the inner sanctum of rabbinic Judaism. Boyarin marks the death of logos theology as the factor that allowed the rise of the Talmudic hermeneutic. Contrasting the Talmud with the Council of Nicea and other early Church debates, Boyarin points to the famous story of Menahot 29b as the prime example of "the development of rabbinic discourse." "The rabbinic literary tradition itself seems to 'remember' the historical processes that generated its own contruction of dissensus as constitutive of its power and authority." When Moses saw Rabbi Akiva interpreting the crowns of the letters, he "was being told to be quiet and recognize that there is much that human beings cannot know," for the knowledge of Rabbi Akiva was thoroughly "opaque." (166) In contrast to the legend of the Council of Nicea, Boyarin brings the story of the oven of Akhnai [Bava Metzia 59a] as illustrative of the rabbinic hermeneutic. Victory at the council of Nicea is proven "via the miracles performed by great and holy confessors," where in "the rabbinic legend of the same moment, debate is made the crux of religious life...God himself...cannot interfere with this holy dialectic." While there are stories that seem to militate against this reading, like Tosefta Hagiga 2:9, Boyarin historicizes rabbinic religion, and attributes the polyphonic sentiments to the later Stammim, the later redactors of the Talmud, identifying statements that didn't value the opne dialectic of the Stammim as an earlier strata. The redactors, of course, read their hermeneutic back into the "Yavneh" of the early Talmud, creating a "Yavneh legend."

The implication of Boyarin's book is troubling. On the one hand, he begs us (in his preface) not to commit the almost violent act of labeling "Others," of spinning off heresies and Orthodoxies. On the other hand, Boyarin identifies the entire Talmudic dialectic in its glorious indeterminancy in the break from logos theology. Further complicating the picture is the opposite example of a harmonious Christian discourse, one more concerned with Halakha le'Maaseh than pilpul. Boyarin, points to at least one model of compromise when he asks for Jews to "maintain our existence, our cultural, religious memory...without fetishizing borders and boundaries in the encactment of an ethnic cleansing that...negates the very meaning of Jewish survival until now."

As students in Yeshiva College, I feel like we fundamentally agree with Boyarin. Struggling to maintain boundaries without fetishizing them, we even erupt into internecine battles about where the boundaries should be and what precisely constitutes "fetishization." With all of Boyarin's discourse on his own troubled sexuality, it shouldn't surprise us that his definition of a fetish is probably a little different than ours, but the point remains just the same. If we don't have boundaries, the we have not Talmud, no glorious hermeneutic of indeterminacy. If our boundaries are overwrought, then we commit violence to others unfairly. It is important to be "modern," and like my Hassidic friend not to "judge people just on Zionism [or any other issue] one way or the other."

(All rights belong to the Commentator)

Marxism and Mountain Music - Bibliography

Bibliography for Marxism and Mountain Music

1935-04-08. “The Peace Strike” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4931 [although YC can’t participate in the demonstration, it agrees with the ideology of the demonstrators]

1935-11-07. “Student Mobilization for Peace Scheduled At Yeshiva on Monday; Dr. Revel and Faculty to Speak” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4935 [Student leaders organize a local demonstration at YC against Fascism a day before the national demonstration.]

1935-11-21. Gershon J. Feigon, “Students Hail United Front Opposing War” The Commentator https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4936

S. Koop Rehd, “Hapoel Hamizrachi Greets Freshmen with Billows of Smoke, Cake, Speakers, Dances, and a Veteran”

1936-03-05. Editorial, “Sinai versus Capitalism” The Commentator https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4941

1936-05-06. “ASU Group Formed by Yeshiva Students” The Commentator https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4945

“Plan For United Front Proposed by Ludwig Lore.” [argues for the need for a global opposition to fascism, citing Italy’s offenses against the labor movements in the country]

1936 Masmid. American Student Union https://archive.org/details/masmid1936/page/59/mode/1up?view=theater

1936-10-28. Eleazar Goldman, “Maybe I’m Wrong.” The Commentator https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4949

                Editorial, “Issues 1936 Style.”

1936-11-04. Editorial, “Democracy Vindicated” The Commentator https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4950 [celebrates the decision of the American people to uphold liberal democracy.]

1937-02-10. “Jewish Students in Poland Mistreated” The Commentator https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4961

                Eleazer Goldman, “Maybe I’m Wrong: To Comrade Stalin”

1937-03-17. “Anti-War Rally Set for April; Yeshiva to Join” The Commentator https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4965

1937-04-28. “Diverging views heard at peace day meeting” The Commentator https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4970 (editorial about the anti-nazi rally)

1937-12-15. “Walden Talks On Hapoel Hamizrachi,” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/123456789/4985

1938-01-05. “Letter to the Editor” [petitioning the student body to join the ASU. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/123456789/4986

1938-01-12. I Dlugacz, “Letter to the Editor” The Commentator. [argues against joining the American Student Union since they supported Stalin and not the ideology of Trotsky] https://repository.yu.edu/handle/123456789/4987

1938-03-02. “Letter to the Editor” [anonymous student complains about working conditions for office workers at YC] https://repository.yu.edu/handle/123456789/4990

1938-04-06. I Dlugacz, “Letter to the Editor” The Commentator. [critique of the socialism of Hapoel Hamizrachi, defends Trotsky’s interpretation of Marx.] https://repository.yu.edu/handle/123456789/4992

1938-05-04. Editorial, “A United Appeal for Peace.” [Addresses the rising conflicts gloabally, and is signed by the editors of many student newspapers in the NYC] https://repository.yu.edu/handle/123456789/4993

1938-10-18. “Jewish Students Launch Campaign Against Polish ‘Ghetto Benches,’” Jewish Telegraphic Agency https://www.jta.org/archive/jewish-students-launch-campaign-against-polish-ghetto-benches

1938-11-30. “German Persecution Denounced by Mass Protest in Auditorium.” https://repository.yu.edu/handle/123456789/4998 (editorials in response to Kristallnacht)

1939-01-04. Editorial, “Youth versus Fascism” https://repository.yu.edu/handle/123456789/5000 (supportive of the efforts of the ASU)

1939-03-01. Purim Edition, “Assimilators Expelled as Novel Non-Aryan Policy Takes Effect” https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5004

1939-10-11. Jacob E. Goldman, “Maybe I’m Wrong” The Commentator. [Comments on how Stalin’s alliance with Hitler betrays the fascist nature of his government despite its outwardly Marxist rhetoric. Considers the Russian part of the divided Poland to be worse for Orthodox Jewry since they were militantly atheist.] https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5011

1940-02-14. Jacob Goldman, “Maybe I’m Wrong’ [regarding communist control of the American Youth Congress.] https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5016

1940-02-28. Editorial, “Justice Begins at Home” The Commentator [demands that the admin provide better working conditions and pay to the office workers] https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5017

1940-03-27. Editorial, “Justice Begins At Home” The Commentator [students upset that the admin has retaliated against their complaint by preventing student waiters from collecting tips at a formal dinner] https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5019

2008-01-28. Zev Eleff, “On Commentaries and Observations: The Origins of Newsprint Media at Yeshiva University,” The Commentator. https://web.archive.org/web/20091006100248/http://www.yucommentator.com/2.2828/on-commentaries-and-observations-1.297545

Zev Eleff, “Freedom And Responsibility: Censorship at Yeshiva College in the Early History of the Commentator,” Undergraduate Honors Thesis, (Yeshiva University, 2009). https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4256

2011-04-13. Elie Friedman and Adam Zimilover, “The Holocaust in America: Yeshiva College During World War II,” The Commentator. https://web.archive.org/web/20110419134028/http://www.yucommentator.com/polopoly_fs/1.1820185!/75.8.pdf

 

2011-12-21 - The Commentator - Letter to the Editor [Responding to Zvi Weiss]

Letter to the Editor [Responding to Zvi Weiss]

December 21, 2011

To the Editor:

I agree with Rabbi Weiss that these are important issues and in no way do I feel that they should be ignored or trivialized. I will address his three critiques in the order in which they were raised.

Yes, homosexuality is clearly a religiously charged issue. Yet, that does not mean that simply being a religious figure—or even a leading rosh yeshiva—entitles one to broadcast his or her views publicly as an authority on homosexuality. It should be patently obvious that the said figure needs to be acutely familiar with the issue at hand to comment, and it is immensely frustrating when rabbis speak out as authorities on issues in which they lack the necessary background to do so. (In my opinion, this occurs most frequently when rabbis decide to play the character of the political pundit, but that is a topic for another discussion.)

Weiss asks why I did not seek out the position of rabbis – well, it turns out my rosh yeshiva at the time was in attendance of the gay panel, which itself was moderated by the mashgiach of Yeshiva. I have little doubt that both of these figures had immeasurably more experience in dealing with homosexuals than the roshei yeshiva who decided it was their role to defend the purity of our institution by engaging in polemical denunciations of the event. But to be perfectly frank, though I sincerely do appreciate and value their guidance, even if they were not to support the gay panel, it would not have changed my mind. In that sense, I do not feel nearly as confined to blindly follow the dictates of my rabbis based on a radical notion of Da’as Torah as does Rabbi Weiss. He concludes his thought by accusing me of having an “agenda” and of not being interested in “the Torah viewpoint.” Perhaps nothing in Rabbi Weiss’s letters reflects his myopia than the supercilious presumption that there is such a thing as “the” Torah viewpoint on any given matter.

In regard to the question about support of the Israeli government, though Rabbi Weiss puts the word in quotes, I never suggested that we “automatically” support the policies of every Israeli government. As anyone who knows me (or has seen my Facebook wall) is well aware, such a claim is laughable – to say the least, I have absolutely no problem with criticizing policies of the Israeli government. If he feels that not following the Orthodox interpretation of halakha is a justification for such criticism, it is certainly his prerogative to do so. I was upset not because Weiss questioned the decisions of a particular government, but that he questioned his support for the enterprise of a Jewish state, suggesting that it certain circumstances it behooved us to “reconsider exactly how we relate to a Jewish state” as a whole. Moreover, of course there is a time for criticism, and the second government of Yitzhak Rabin may well have been one of those times. There is a clear difference, however, between disagreeing with the wisdom of the Oslo Accords and with demonizing the character of Yitzhak Rabin. Let us also leave no doubt about something else: the Shin Bet was not responsible for the murder of Yitzhak Rabin. Rabbi Weiss is only embarrassing himself by writing that “the conduct of the Shin Bet appears extremely disturbing when one reviews the evidence.” This is nothing more than the Israel version of “the CIA was behind the JFK assassination” and it is not a claim to be taken with any amount of seriousness.

Weiss concludes his letter by vying to win the contest over who is more intolerant toward whom, but it is not a competition in which I will play along. I will say one line about anti-Haredi sentiment, though. Perhaps if more than 40% of Haredi high schools taught math and English; perhaps if more than 400 of the 14,000 18-year-old Haredi males enlisted in the IDF; perhaps if more than 35% of Haredi men were employed; then, maybe, anti-Haredi feelings would drop significantly. I suppose we would have see serious internal reforms in Haredi society for us to know for sure.

Yitzhak Bronstein

YC ’12

 

(All rights belong to the Commentator)

This article can be found on the Wayback Machine

2011-12-21 - The Commentator - Letter to the Editor [Responding to Yitzhak Bronstein]

Letter to the Editor [Responding to Yitzhak Bronstein]

December 21, 2011

To the Editor:

While I see no reason to respond to the personal insults of Yitzhak Bronstein, there are some important issues that he raises that (I feel) do require a response.

A. Da’as Torah

Homosexuality is described in the Torah as a to’evah (abomination). It is also one of the sins for which the Torah requires yehareg v’al ya’avor (one should allow oneself to be killed rather than violate this sin). It would seem quite logical that any discussion about such a religiously “charged” matter should certainly have the input of roshei yeshiva in terms of both halakha and hashkafa.

For Orthodox Jews – for whom Torah is central – I do not understand how there could be a thought of excluding such input. Mr. Bronstein cites an example of the rosh yeshiva who had “never been approached by a homosexual student” yet was most vocally opposed to the gay panel. First of all, there may be perfectly valid halakhic/hashkafic reasons for such opposition, anyway. I strongly doubt that Mr. Bronstein is halachically or hashkafically qualified to make such a determination (I know that I am not). However, giving Mr. Bronstein the benefit of the doubt, I noted in my original letter that there are “erudite, articulate, and knowledgeable rabbis in RIETS” who could certainly address this issue. Did Mr. Bronstein try to approach anyone else?

Further, if he really felt that the Rabbis were “ignorant,” there are fine experts (such as Dr. David Pelcovitz) who could certainly work with the rabbis in helping to develop an appropriate Torah response to the issue of having a “gay panel.” Mr. Bronstein’s reasoning appears to indicate a lack of interest in the Torah viewpoint and more interest in his own agenda.

B. Support of the Israeli Government

Rabbi H. Schachter shlita wrote in the name of Rav Soloveitchik zatzal (in “Nefesh HaRav“) that our support for the Israeli Government is only within the framework of Torah and mitzvot. The entire importance of the “State” is only in terms of its being a part of the rest of the Torah and mitzvot. If there is any contradiction between support for the [Israeli] Government and what Hashem demands, there is no question that we do NOT support the government. The Rav himself stated (as quoted in “Divrei HaRav“) that “the tie of the Jewish People with the State of Israel is ONLY based upon the eternal world of Torah…” And, in “Thinking Aloud”, the Rav complained that “Zionism – religious Zionism – has replaced Torah.” As Orthodox Jews, then, it behooves us not to “automatically” support the Israeli government. Rather, we must always evaluate the actions of the specific government and take respond appropriately. The incidents that I originally cited are not mere speculation and deserve critical analysis – not dismissal. In particular, the conduct of the Shin Bet appears extremely disturbing when one reviews the evidence.

C. “The Left”

I used the term “so-called left” to refer to the various secular leftist parties (such as Meretz) who have truly demonized the religious citizens in Israel. I specifically used that term because I recognize that there are some leftists who do not demonize the religious citizens. However, one has only to look at the history of the State (going back to before its founding) to see how parties such as MAPAI did their best to undermine and marginalize the religious. It is unfortunate, but this still continues in Israel. And, it is far more virulent than the “intolerance of the religious.” As an aside, Mishpacha Magazine had an excellent editorial pointing out that even though the “Chareidi” are actually getting, more involved in Israeli society, they are now being attacked for that. In other words, no matter what Haredi Jews choose to do, the “so-called left” will bash them, anyway. In that light (as well as in light of the historical commemorations of the Rabin Murder which often became events at which the “religious” were condemned), it is certainly accurate to say that “the left continues to be more intolerant than we (i.e., Religious Jews) are.”

The above are important issues and I do not claim to state how they should be addressed. However, they should not be ignored nor trivialized as Mr. Bronstein appears to do.

Zvi Weiss

YC ’71, RIETS ’74

(All rights belong to the Commentator)

This article can be found on the Wayback Machine 

2010-08-26 - The Commentator - A Statement of Principles for the Orthodox Community

A Statement of Principles for the Orthodox Community

by Simeon Botwinick

August 26, 2010

Dialogue about the role of homosexuals in the Orthodox community took a significant step this summer with the rapid circulation of a public statement of principles on the subject. Signed by over 150 Orthodox rabbis, educators, and mental health professionals, the statement affirms the responsibility of Orthodox communities to treat homosexuals with the same basic dignity and respect extended to all human beings, while presenting practical proposals on how inevitable situations should be handled.

Posted online on July 22 of this year, the first draft of the statement was initially prepared by Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot approximately four months earlier. It was then circulated, commented upon by dozens of respondents, and revised, with especially significant contributions made by Rabbi Aryeh Klapper and Rabbi Yitzchak Blau.

According to Rabbi Helfgot, the statement "clarifies and puts on the table many ideas that have already been discussed," putting in clear language some "hopefully helpful thoughts."

Although this issue has of course long existed in the Orthodox community – many have been thinking about it for years, pointed out Rabbi Helfgot, and community rabbis confront it regularly – never before had there been a perceived sense ofneed to articulate or at least suggest some clear guidelines.

"The immediate catalyst for this was the panel hosted at YU last year," said Rabbi Helfgot (referring to the "Being Gay in the Orthodox World" panel hosted on December 22, 2009 by the YU Tolerance Club and the Wurzweiler School of Social Work), "but that panel ended up causing much controversy." Many of the immediate reactions were visceral ones. Rabbi Helfgot and others wanted a statement on the subject that they could take the time to step back and think rationally about, to "fashion a consensus document that would have integrity and sensitivity, while at the same time being faithful to halakha."

After Rabbi Helfgot had prepared a draft of the statement, he sent it out to many rabbis, educators, and mental health professionals through email, postal mail, telephone, and personal meetings. The document spread by word of mouth until some 300-400 people had seen it. Many of these people responded with comments and suggestions, creating a feedback loop that allowed changes to be incorporated into later drafts.

"Although hundreds of hours of revisions went into the document," noted Rabbi Helfgot, "it was mostly just specific wording that was changed. There was always a question of how much emphasis to place on each issue, but there were no major battles over matters of principle."

In April, Rabbi Helfgot asked Rabbis Blau and Klapper to help rewrite the entire document, taking into account many of the suggestions that had been sent in. When the three had a final piece they felt confident about, they began sending it out for support. "We received many replies," said Rabbi Helfgot, "Many agreed wholeheartedly and agreed to sign on. Others responded that they appreciated the document, but didn't agree with some of the content. Still others, including a few YU rebbeim, said that they agreed in principle, but didn't want to sign a public document for various reasons."

The document was eventually posted, along with the initial hundred-plus signees, on an independent blog (http://statementofprinciplesnya.blogspot.com). "I didn't want the statement to be identified with any specific institution or organization or personalities," explained Rabbi Helfgot. "The point is that it is an independent initiative with no funding and no one person behind it. It's just an independent group of people who felt it was important."

Although right now the document was intended simply to clarify and an issue that has yet to be publicly dealt with, Rabbi Helfgot admitted that he had hopes the document would become something of a standard in the Orthodox community. "In the future it might be positive if educational and religious institutions would adopt these or similar principles," he said. "But of course, that's in the future, and is up to those organizations and their members."

If early support for the statement is any indication, the document may soon become far more than just an independent statement ofprinciples. Among the initial signees were many heads of Orthodox high schools, including Rabbi Tully Harcsztark (SAR), Rabbi Mark Gottlieb (MTA). Mrs. C.B. Neugroschl (Central), Rabbi Joshua Levisohn (MJBHA). Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein (Ramaz), Rabbi Scot Berman (Ulpana), Rabbi Jeff Kobrin (North Shore), and Rabbi Yosef Adler (TABC).

(All rights belong to the Commentator) 

Bibliography of LGBTQ Discourse at Yeshiva University

This bibliography, mostly made up of articles published in Yeshiva University student newspapers and magazines, attempts to capture the development of the LGBTQ discourse at Yeshiva University prior to the formation of the Yeshiva University Pride Alliance. Many of the articles linked here were only recently made available online through the YU library's project to digitize student publications on its new online repository, YAIR. More recent articles that were published after around 2012 can still be found on the student newspaper's websites, and are linked at the appropriate entries. Generally, articles that were published between 2000 and 2011 are only preserved in the YU Library's archive as paper copies with a few captured by the Wayback Machine. I transcribed the articles that are no longer online and republished them here.

The Bibliography is divided into two sections. The first and largest contains a mix of news and opinion articles that in some way address the broader topic of LGBTQ identity. Some of the articles directly engage with the topic, while others include mere references that imply a particular perspective. The second section is much smaller and contains all the relevant satirical articles published in the Purim editions of the student newspapers as well as the two relatively short lived satirical newspapers.

For more information about the 2009 Panel titled "Being Gay in the Orthodox World," look here: https://www.syaross.org/misc/gaypanel/ 

Section 1:    

1963-11-20. Steven Prystowsky, “Survey Sees Many Jewish College Students Breaking Religious Ties.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5425 [Survey finds that many of these Jewish students have no religious objection to homosexuality. Author of the piece finds this problematic.]

1966-09-22. Rabbi Marvin Antelman, “Historical Sources for Mechitzah Evaluated.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5459 [Uses the term ‘homosexual’ to describe the male prostitute prohibited in Duet. 23:18.]

1968-02. Rabbi Norman Lamm, "The New Dispensation On Homosexuality: A Jewish Reaction To A Developing Christian Attitude," Jewish Life (New York, NY), Jan.-Feb. 1968. (responses to the article)

1968-02-21. “Rabbi Lamm Decries New Church Approach to Homosexuality Issue.” Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6308

1971. "An Interview With Harvey Bernstein" Masmid 1971. https://archive.org/details/masmid1971/page/25

1974-04-24. David Gleicher, “Jewish Gays Form A Unique Type of Shul.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5581 [Gleicher reports in homophobic terms. Anonymous ‘leader’ of synagogue attended Torah V’Daas and defended the mission of the synagogue saying it was bringing people closer to Judaism.]

1975-10-30. “Equal Rights Amendment: Con.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6053 [Suggests Homosexual marriage and adoption being legal as a Con for the proposed amendment to the NYS constitution.]

1977-03-23. Steve Cohen, “’Directions’ for Whom?” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5678 [Defends YCDS’ theoretical right to produce ‘Boys in the Band’ a play about gay musicians.]

Michael Goldberg, “Same Direction.” [Maintains his belief that such a play should have no place in YU.]

1978-11-08. Benjamin Hornstein, “Religious Observances Hindered In American Penal Institutions.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5694 [Orthodox Jewish prisoner advocate Simcha Miller understands unsafe prison conditions to lead to homosexuality.]

1980-03-26. “Commie After Dark.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5708 [Author recommends seeing the play ‘Bent’ which is about homosexual lovers suffering under Nazi oppression.]

1981-10-05. Dov Fisch, “Who is a Jew and What is a Smokescreen” Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6372

1983-02-16. Michael Broyde, “Missionary Activities.” Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6378

1984-02-29. Amy Rubin, “Experience The World.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6186 [Article about internships, Diane Feldman wrote an article about Gay rights for The Villager (Greenwich Village).]

1984-03-01. “RIETS Restructures Semikha Program: Fourth Year is Added.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5740 [New curriculum includes instruction on the halachic perspective of modern issues including homosexuality.]

1984-11-00. Deena Schram, “Readings on Judaism and Psychology.” Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6387

1986-02-00. Gershon Kaplan, “Behind Closed Doors.” Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6394 [Summarizes the perspectives of the YU Rabbanim on the issue of Homosexuality and the need to be compassionate for the AIDS crisis. Metadata incorrectly identifies the paper as a ‘Purim edition.’]

1986-12-31. Tzvi Dresdner, “Science and Health: Donating Blood — More Than a Phlebotomy.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5769 [Discusses the need to donate more blood as a result of blood shortage due to AIDS crisis.]

1987-04-08. Zev Kleiner, “Hakarat HaTov.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6216 [Cardozo student is thankful for the Observer sending copies of the paper to Cardozo, since he feels the school is rather isolated from the greater Jewish YU community. One clear sign of that in his mind was the Gay and Lesbian club.]

1987-10-29. Josh Fruchter, “Lamm Meets With Students.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5775 [Mentions a letter that circulated the dorms decrying YU for not shutting down a homosexual society at Einstein, Lamm defended the University’s policy.]

1988-11-08. Arnon Kemelman, “Eidelberg Slandered.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5791 [Kemelman defends Eidelberg’s assessment of YU noting that Eidelberg righly found it problematic that there were professors at YU who supported Gay rights activism.]

1988-12-20. Behnam Dayanim, “Over 800 Attend Chanukah Dinner; YU Raises $84M.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5794 [Surgeon General C. Everett Koop spoke about the issue of prejudice towards the homosexual population who are most affected by AIDS.]

1989-10-05. “Preview: Dinkins.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5813 [Explanation of David Dinkin’s mayoral campaign platform includes his support of Gay rights.]

1990-10-31. Avi Lopin, “We Can’t Put Out the Fire.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5845 [Lists Gay rights in America as one of many reasons to make Aliyah.]

1991-12-11. Michael Poppers, “Retort to a Republican.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5860 [Critiques another article’s perspective that the republican party is the party of Orthodox Judaism, nevertheless, Poppers implies that he believes that homosexuality should be illegal.]

1993-02-17. Chava Boylan, “Losing Sight Of The Objective.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6286 [Discusses Bill Clinton’s first months in office, seems to ridicule his focus on the issue of Gay soldiers in the military.]

1993-02-24. Jamin Koslowe, “Tendler Speaks Out on AIDS; ‘Console, but don’t condone homosexual AIDS victims.’” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5878

1993-03-31. Yoni Kadden, “Take Your Heads Out of the Sand.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5880 [Praises the YUSPAC for their lecture raising awareness for AIDS.]

1993-04-28. Eric Creizman. “Lamm Addresses Controversial Issues at Dorm Talks.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5881 [Lamm defends Beit Shimchat Torah’s ability to attend the Salute to Israel Parade, but limits them from using it as a platform to protest for gay rights.]

1993-05-11. Gene Alperovich, “YU Marches On — But Only After a Fight.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5882 [YU refuses to march in Israel Parade if Beit Simchat Torah gets its own float. Organizers agree to force the synagogue to march under the general Reform movement banner.]

1993-11-23. Rayzel Kinderleher, “Jews Don’t Have AIDS.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6496 [Addresses misconceptions about AIDS within the orthodox community and urges more education about the disease.]

1993-12-08. Ryan S. Karben, “Sorounded By Controversy, YCDS Gears Up For ‘Lips Together, Teeth Apart,’”The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5888 [Controversy arises over play that contains direct discussion of AIDS and homophobia, rabbinic faculty discourage students from attending the play.]

Steven Miodownik, “Rav Tendler Delivers Lecture on AIDS Awareness Day.” [Tendler maintains his stance of disapproval for the Gay lifestyle but encourages people to be compassionate to those infected with AIDS and be pragmatic about slowing the spread of the disease.]
Yisroel Holczer, “Homosexual Group Meets On JJC,” [Small group of Lesbian and Gay Wurzweiler students meet on campus, YU admin states that they must accomodate the students under NYC law but they disaprove of the activity.]

1993-12-22. Oren Keiser, “On Homosexuals at YU.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5889 [Student defends WSSW pride alliance arguing that most members are not Jewish and not beholden to Jewish law.]

1994-03-10. Dov Simons, “Tough Issues Examined at Dorm Talks.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5892 [Rabbi Lamm urges students to be respectful of Gay people, but to refrain from completely accepted the aspects of their lifestyle that are against Halacha.]

1994-05-01. David Schertz, “The Year in Review.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5896 [Contains mention of the controversy around the Wurzweiler public discussions on Gay and Lesbian issues.]

1994-11-01. Owen Cyrulnik, “Debate Rages Over Gay Clubs at Cardozo.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5899 [Outline of public outrage surrounding the existence of pride clubs at Cardozo, Einstein, WSSW.]

1994-11-15. Michael Fragin, “A Toava Cannot be Tolerated Within the Walls of YU.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5900 [Fragin Wants YU to enforce Torah behavior on all its campuses and shut down the Cardozo Gay club.]

Zach Hepner, “Official Newspaper of YC.” [Wonders why Commentator is reporting on the Gay Club at Cardozo as it is not part of YC, the Comm’s jurisdiction.]

1994-12-12. Michele Berman, “AIDS Program Halted at YC and SCW.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6513 [Includes some commentary on YU admins attitudes toward homosexuality in the orthodox community.]

1994-12-14. Nachum Lamm, “Stand Up for Kiddush Hashem.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5903 [Lamm argues that YU shouldn’t feel bound by its need to receive govt. funding but rather standing up for religious values would be a kiddush hashem.]

1995-02-14. Owen Cyrulnik. “YU in Midst of Turmoil Over Gay Club at Cardozo; Media Attention Puts Issue in the Spotlight.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5908

1995-02-28. Owen Cyrulnik, “YU Attorneys Meet With Student Press Over Cardozo Gay Issue.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5909 [YU attorneys explain why it can’t prevent gay clubs from forming on campus, citing YU’s status as a non-religious corporation since late 60s.]

1995-04. Elli Schorr, “Abomination OR Just Plain Misunderstood; The Cardozo Controversy.” Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6464 [Schorr lays out his Halachic perspective of the controversy.]

1995-05-09. Meir S. Zeitchik. “Gay Club Publicity Threatens YU’s Image.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5913

1995-07-20. “Focus on Issues: Yeshiva College Students Seek to Establish Gay Club.” Jewish Telegraphic Agency. https://www.jta.org/archive/focus-on-issues-yeshiva-college-students-seek-to-establish-gay-club [Original article missing from pdf, transcribed version contains typos]

1995-09-13. Nick Muzin, “Rabbi Tendler Declares ‘Unqualified Support’ For President Lamm on Gay Issue.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5915 [Rabbi Tendler supports Rabbi Lamm’s handling of the issue of pride clubs at YU graduate schools.]

1995-10-31. Abraham Unger, “Letter to the Editor: Speak Out.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5917 [Unger wants YU admin to speak out against the clubs more adamantly.]

1996-03-27. Shmuel Bodenheimer, “CBS Correspondent Lectures on American-Israeli Relations.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5924 [Dan Raviv defends Clinton’s stance on Jonathan Pollard by noting that he had to act tough after being ‘soft’ on Gay soldiers in the military.]

1996-04-24. Ari D. Hirt. “The 1990’s.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5926 [Contains summary of the controversy surrounding gay clubs at Cardozo and Wurzweiler in the previous year.]

1996-04-29. Arnon Storfer, “Faculty Votes to Allow Two Credits for YCDS.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5925 [Mentions controversy over play that contained homosexual and homophobic themes.]

1996-05-07. Owen Cyrulnik, “From the Editor Emeritus.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5927 [considers gay clubs to be a threat to YU’s existence as a proponent of Torah U’Madda.]

1996-09-05. Dina Bogner, “’Rent’ Rocks the Theater World.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6536 [Bogner praises play that includes protagonists who are Gay and have AIDS and are struggling to make rent.]

1996-12-20. Benjamin Balint, “Traditional Jewish Liberalism.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5932 [Balint critiques Jews who claim tradition as a basis for their leftwing values (including Gay liberation) as detached and ignorant from the tradition. He finds conservative values to be a better representation of the Jewish tradition.]

1997-10-06. Benjamin Balint, “It’s the Morality, Stupid: Jews for Gingrich.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5941 [Balint continues his attack on Jewish Liberalism.]

1998-02-23. Michelle Muller, “McBride, Kincaid Speak for Authors-in-Residence Series.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6549 [Includes description of Kincaid’s book ‘My Brother’ about her brother who was Gay and died of AIDS.]

1998-08-23. Chanan Hoschander, “Housing Denied To Homosexual Couples.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5950 [Gay couples at AECOM denied housing.]

1998-09-08. Mordechai Levovitz, “This Policy is a DRAG!” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5951

1998-09-10. Sarah Cate, “Einstein Sued.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6554 [Gay and Lesbian partners of AECOM students denied university housing.]

1998-10-29. Yehudit Robinson, “A Call For Tolerance.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6556 [Notes the murder of Matthew Shepard and calls for people to be more accepting of gay people without disregarding Halacha.]

1998-11-17. Jason Cyrulnik. “On-Campus Military Recruiting Draws Ire of Cardozo Gay Community.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5953

1998-12-22. Etan Mintz, “Homosexuality, Torah U’Madda, and the Messiah; Lamm Confronts the Issues that Move YU Students at Fall Dorm Talks.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5954

1999-03-09. Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dovid Tendler. “Edah and the ‘Luchos Ho’edus.’” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5957 [Tendler accuses ‘Edah’ a more liberal orthodox organization of condoning reform and respecting Gay rabbis.]

1999-03-22. Dassi Zeidel, “Israeli Culture Comes to New York.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6562 [Gay character in an Israeli movie at Israeli film festival in NY.]

Dina Gielchinsky, “They Should Have Called it ‘Very Ordinary People.’” [Review of the play ‘Public Places, Private Lives’, which contains a gay character.]

1999-05-18. Aaron Klein. “RIETS Musmach Announces His Homosexuality; YU Rabbeim Are Appalled.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5960

1999-09-06. Mordechai Levovitz, “Defending the Schmutz.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5961 [Levovitz defends modern secular sexually liberated culture as within the bounds of Judaism’s respect for logical moral laws, since it revolves around a common understanding of consent.]

2000-02-21. Adam Cohen, “Baseball’s Bigot.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5966 [discusses the potential issues with MLB suspending player for being racist and homophobic. Ultimately concludes that MLB’s decision to penalize the player is good for minorities in general.]

2000-04-11. Marina Stolerman, "Boy Dead in Wisconsin," The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6570 [Poem about Gay college student who was murdered.]

2000-05-22. Jonathan Rubin, “Gay Musmach Speaks at Yeshiva Student's Apartment.” The Commentator. link

“Yeshiva Denies Housing for Same-Sex Couples; Appeals court Upholds Decision and Practice; Future Policy Unclear.”link

2000-09-28. David Rosen, “Spitzer to Support Gay Students in Einstein Housing Battle.” The Commentator. link

Editorial, “#45 -- Religious Affiliation: None.” link

2001-08-28. Adina Levine, “Likely Victory for Lesbian Lawsuit; Court of Appeals Decision Changes Course of the Case.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6936

2001-12-11. Steven I. Weiss, “Movie Review: Trembling Before G-d.” The Commentator. link

“Trembling Before G-D: An Interview With the Director.” link

2001-12-18. Jessica Russak, “The Facts of Life.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6943 [Defends the inclusion of explicit literature in the curriculum includes example of play about Gay soldiers.]

2002-01-08. Steven I. Weiss, “Trembling Before G-D: An Interview with the Director, Part II.” The Commentator. link

2002-08-25. Zack Streit, “From the Editor's Desk.” The Commentator. link

2002-08-26. Miriam Colton, “New Policy Permits Same-Sex Couples in Einstein Housing.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6950

2002-09-11. Zack Streit, “From the Editor's Desk.” The Commentator. link

2002-10-18. Michael Matto, “Torah or Homophobia?” The Commentator. link

2002-12-31. Ben Shapiro, “Richard Joel: The Wrong Man for the Job.” The Commentator. link

2003-03-28. Shayndi Raice, “Moving On Up.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/7094

2003-May/June. Yechiel Weiner, “Regarding the Main Transgression in Forbidden Sexual Activity: The Act of Sex or the Pleasure, Specifically with Homosexuality, Bestiality, Sex With a Non-Jew, and a Menstruating Woman.” [Hebrew] Beit Yitzchak 35 (2003). https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=59824&st=&pgnum=645&hilite=

2003-08-27. Jason Koslowe, “Res Publica; A Case For Gay Marriage.” The Commentator. link

2004-02-19. Amitai Bin-Nun, “Confrontation with Same-Sex Marriage.” The Commentator. link

2004-09. Rebecca Rosenberg, “Ali G: From the Kibbutz to Hollywood.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/7999

2005-04. Ilana Levin, “Jewish Community Mourns Pope John Paul II.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8319

2005-05-16. Josh Harrison, “A Shtikle Faygele, Uber Nisht a Zionishe Kayfer.” The Commentator. link

2005-11. Suri Greenwald, “A Light Goes Out: Remembering Rabbi Herman Naftali Neuberger.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8348

Laya Pelzner, “A Look at the Advertising Industry: Advertising Week 2005.”

2006-03. Rachel Ali Elbaz, “Tit for Tat: Livingstone’s Comments and Consequences Reconsidered.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8395

Sara Chamama, “The Downtown Connection.”

2006-04-03. Eitan Kastner, “University Dismisses Gay Einstein Student’s Discrimination Claim.” The Commentator. link

2006-12. Chana Wiznitzer, “Modesty, Violence and Priorities.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8411

2007-03. Gila Kletenik, “In God We Trust But Separation is a Must.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8443 [Decries America’s obsession with identity politics from a left wing perspective, seems to fear a religious ban of Abortion and Gay marriage.]

2007-09. Olivia Wiznitzer, “The Importance of Human Dignity: Am I in place of God?” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8494

2007-10-23. Paul Adam, “How We Lost the Right to Censure Ann Coulter.” The Commentator. link

2007-11. Shlomit Cohen, “The General Assembly: Reflections on Jewish Identity and Social Justice.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8504

2008-09-25. Noach Lerman, Mordechai Siev, and Daniel Kahn, “Yeshiva Values in The University; Transgender Professor Generates Discussion: What are YU's Values?” The Commentator. link

2008-10-03. Olivia Wiznitzer, “To Understand is not to Condone” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8676

Olivia Wiznitzer, “Transitioning: The Halachic Ramifications.”
Olivia Wiznitzer, “Dr. Ladin’s Transformative Journey.”
Olivia Wiznitzer, “Transsexual Professor at Stern College: Student Perspectives.”
“Interview With a Transsexual Within the Orthodox Jewish Community.”
Aviva Bellman, “Gender Identity Disorder: What Is It?”
Olivia Wiznitzer, “Transsexuals in the Frum Community Speak Out.”

2009-01-01. Raffi Holzer, “Should YU Tolerate Tolerance?” The Commentator. link

Pearl Herzog, “Letter to the Editor”. link

2009-02-10. Michael Schopf, “Is Tolerance Always Appropriate,” The Commentator. link

Lawrence I. Bonchek, “Tolerant Enough?”
Avi Kelvin, “Halakhic Mask.”

2009-February. Anonymous, “A Burning Fire and a River of Tears: One Day in My Shoes.” Kol Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4862 [Anonymous gay student confides in his struggle to belong in orthodox spaces.]

2009-04-02. Ezra Alter and Noach Lerman, “Kol Hamevaser Pulls Issue on Relationships & Sexuality.” The Commentator. link  

2009-10-29. Anonymous, “The Homosexual Question: Time for Modern Orthodoxy to Remove the Blindfold.” The Commentator. link 

2009-11-19. Julian Horowitz, “Framing the Issue: Responses and Reactions to ‘The Homosexual Question.’” The Commentator. link

Sivan Kerem and Jo Jo Freundel, “Responses to ‘The Homosexual Question.’” link
Sammy Steiner, “Relating to Homosexuality: An Interview with Dr. David Pelcovitz.” link

2009-12-21. “News Briefs: New Events Promote Discussions of Homosexuality on Campus.” The Commentator. link

2009-12-21. Tovah Silbermann, “Tolerating the Tolerance Club.” The Observer. link

Yaelle Frohlich, “President Richard Joel and Menahel Rabbi Yona Reiss Issue Statement Addressing Religious Proscription of Homosexual Activity.” link
Simi Lampert, “‘Trembling Before G-d’ at TAC Event.” link

2009-12-23. Michael Cinnamon, “Out of the Closet; Homosexual Student and Alumni Speak to Standing-Room-Only Crowd on Wilf Campus.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2009/12/out-of-the-closet-homosexual-student-and-alumni-speak-to-standing-room-only-crowd-on-wilf-campus/ See Comments on the Wayback Machine

2010-02-01. Editorial, “Sensitivity in the Face of Controversy: Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 19:17.” Kol Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/4868

Raphy Rosen, “Where do We Go From Here?”

2010-02-09. Michael Cinnamon, “From the Desk of the Editor-in-Chief: A Brief, and (Hopefully) Final Analysis of the Gay Panel and Its Implications.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2010/02/from-the-desk-of-the-editor-in-chief-a-brief-and-hopefully-final-analysis-of-the-gay-panel-and-its-implications/ See Comments on the Wayback Machine

2010-02-11. “Timeline of YU Homosexuality Discussion.” The Observer. link

2010-03-23. “Closetators Stolen.” The Commentator. link

2010-08-26. Simeon Botwinick, “A Statement of Principles for the Orthodox Community.” The Commentator. link

2011-11-10. Yitzhak Bronstein, “Learning from the Murder of Rabin,” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2011/11/learning-from-the-murder-of-rabin/

2011-12-09. Zvi Weiss, “Letter to the Editor: A Response to ‘Learning from the Murder of Rabin,’” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2011/12/letters-responses/

Yitzhak Bronstein, “Letter to the Editor [Responding to Zvi Weiss].”

2011-12-21. Joshua Freundel, “Sex, Scandal, and the Response of Our Orthodox Institutions,” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2011/12/sex-scandal-and-the-response-of-our-orthodox-institutions/

Benjamin Abramowitz, “Rendezvous with Reality: A Response to the Beacon Controversy.” https://yucommentator.org/2011/12/rendezvous-with-reality-a-response-to-the-beacon-controversy-2/
Zvi Weiss, “Letter to the Editor [Responding to Yitzhak Bronstein].” link
Yitzhak Bronstein, “Letter to the Editor [Responding to Zvi Weiss].” link

2012-03-21. Daniel Atwood, “Should We be Mourning Joe Paterno? Homosexual Acceptance and the Prevention of Rape.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2012/03/should-we-be-mourning-joe-paterno-homosexual-acceptance-and-the-prevention-of-rape/

2012-05-15. Amy Stone, “On the Dangerous Dykes Book Tour.” Lilith. https://lilith.org/2012/05/on-the-dangerous-dykes-book-tour/2/

2012-11-15. Arel Kirshstein, “A Letter to the Student Body From a Non-Anonymous Homosexual Student.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2012/11/a-letter-to-the-student-body-from-a-non-anonymous-homosexual-student/

2012-12-31. Sarah King, “Something Rich and Strange.” The Observer. https://yuobserver.org/2012/12/something-rich-and-strange/

2013-02-15. Arel Kirshstein, “Coming Out Narratives Beyond the LGBT Experience.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2013/02/coming-out-narratives-beyond-the-lgbt-experience/

2013-10-20. Gavriel Brown. “United States of Judaism: the Pew and the Future of Modern Orthodoxy.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2013/10/united-states-of-judaism-the-pew-and-the-future-of-modern-orthodoxy/ (Mentions majority of Modox support LGBT)

2014-04-04. Dasha Sominski, “A Call for Safe Space.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2014/04/201404a-call-for-safe-space/

2015-01-02. Sarala Pool, “Merchav Batuach: Creating Safe Spaces on Campus.” The Observer. https://yuobserver.org/2015/01/merchav-batuach-creating-safe-spaces-on-campus/

2015-02-09. Daniel Atwood, “Creating a Community of Support.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2015/02/creating-a-community-of-support/

2015-02-22. Eli Balsam, “Discrimination or Not? You Decide.” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2015/02/discrimination-or-not-you-decide/

2015-03-17. Daniela Alexandra Porat, “Out, Proud, and Kinda Loud at Yeshiva University.” Tablet Magazine. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/out-proud-yeshiva

2015-05-12. Blanche Haddad, “Seeing a Professor Anew: An Insight into the Trans and Jewish Narrative of Dr. Joy Ladin.” The Observer. https://yuobserver.org/2015/05/seeing-a-professor-anew-an-insight-into-the-trans-and-jewish-narrative-of-dr-joy-ladin/

2015-05-12. Meira Nagel, “An Insight Into RFRA: Religious Freedom v. Civil Discrimination.” The Observer. https://yuobserver.org/2015/05/an-insight-into-rfra-religious-freedom-v-civil-discrimination/

2015-08-25. Makena Owens, “Stop, Drop and Don’t Just Roll With It.” The Observer. https://yuobserver.org/2015/08/stop-drop-and-dont-just-roll-with-it/

2015-08-25. Miriam Pearl Klahr, “My Lonely Reaction to Obergefell v. Hodges.” The Observer. https://yuobserver.org/2015/08/my-lonely-reaction-to-obergefell-v-hodges/

2015-10-19. Yadin Teitz, “Give and Let Live?” The Commentator. https://yucommentator.org/2015/10/give-and-let-live/

2015-11-16. Miriam Renz, “‘There’s Something I have to Tell You’: Creating an Emersonian Community.” The Observer. https://yuobserver.org/2015/11/theres-something-i-have-to-tell-you-creating-an-emersonian-community/

Section 2 [Satire]:

1966-Purim. “Fagel Flees, Lizzie Leaves; Pick a Queen, Pick a Dean.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5059 

1972-Purim. “Badboy: ‘Man Of The Year.’” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5547 

1975-Purim. “Litter To The Editor.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5592 

1975-02-26-Purim. “SOY Calls for Wine Women and Song.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6050

1995-Purim. “Thanks A Bundle.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5970

“Nulman Forces Gay Club to Remain Open at Cardozo.
“Fifth Jewish Studies Program Unveiled.”
“The Yeshiva University Purim Story.”

1996-Purim. “YU Christian Club Finally Pushes Lamm too Far.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5969 

1996-Purim. “Shir La-Shalom: The Making of a President, 5756.” Hamevaser. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6468 

1998-Purim. “It Is Peram, Share in My Simka.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/5971 

1999-Purim. Suri Negiah, “SCW and YC to Hold Coed Dance.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6560 

2001-03-08-Purim. “Under the Mechitzah.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/6922 

2002-02-Purim. Dean Canadian Bacon, “Get Back in the Closet.” The Commentator.

2003-03-Purim. [Table] “Perhaps Our Campus Isn’t As Polarized As Thought.” The Commentator. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/8689

“YSU President and Desecrator News Editor Make Out Up.”

2003-11-07. Jayson Blair Jr., “Closet Only Simchas Viewer Also Closet Homosexual.” The Leper.

2004-Purim. Haysoos Christianson, “Jesus: God to Some, Religious Icon to Others and Now International Celebrity.” The Observer. https://repository.yu.edu/handle/20.500.12202/7886

2010-02-28. [PURIM - The Closetator] “Prominent Rosh Yeshiva Emerges From Closet,” The Commentator.

“New Boxers: Yeshiva Hosts Panel of Intolerant Bigots.”
“‘Recent Events’ Catching On.”
“Student Pulse: Gay, Cheating, Coffee, and Such.”
“אזהרה חמורה.”

2010-02-28. [Purim - The Unobservant] Goatee McMurray, “Being Four Sons in the Orthodox World.” The Observer.

Shalva Shalom, “In Light of Recent Events.”
Rav Hamechaber, “Last Week's News Briefs.”
Anonymous, “The Heterosexual Question.”

2011-02-22. Arel Kirshstein, “OHP Creates Conversion Therapies for Straight Men.” The Quipster. [The full article is missing from the Wayback Machine. title on archived website. Twitter, Facebook]

2011-03-Purim. “Burns Security Guard Unsure Whether to Let Transgendered Professor into Glueck,”The Commentator.

“Jewish Homosexual Demands More Condemnation.”

2010-03-23 - The Commentator - Closetators Stolen

Closetators Stolen

by Commentator Staff

March 23, 2010

Only a few hours after distributing the Purim edition of The Commentator, the newspaper’s staff found that hundreds of copies were stolen and thrown out. Ostensibly, this was in reaction to what the perpetrators perceived as an embarrassment of Roshei Yeshiva in the satirical issue. Thus far, three different students have been identified as culprits, two of whom were caught via security tapes.

The administration took disciplinary action against the students in question, with Dean David Himber carrying out judicial hearings for each of them. After the hearings, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Hershel Schachter went to Dean Himber’s office to express his support for the involved students, even calling their actions mitzvot. He later informed The Commentator that he had done this without actually having seen a copy of The Closetator. Rabbi Schachter was later informed of the precise content of the paper, and was rumored to have retracted his support of the students involved.

These three were not the only ones offended by The Closetator. A group of students attempted to start a protest where the students who study in the Glueck Beit Midrash would abandon the new Center. The idea was that the exodus of students would grab administrators’ attention and cause them to rethink their treatment of the students who were caught.

Many Wilf Campus students have complained vociferously about their colleagues’ actions. “It’s my college’s newspaper. Who’s some random undergraduate to take it away from me?” complained one YC student. “Everyone looks forward to the Purim issue from the start of the year; I’m infuriated that I never got to read it.”

83% of students who responded to this issue’s Student Pulse were in favor of or neutral toward The Closetator.

(All rights belong to the Commentator)

This article can be found on the Wayback Machine