{"id":2357,"date":"2012-09-09T09:57:24","date_gmt":"2012-09-09T15:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=2357"},"modified":"2012-09-09T21:59:35","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T03:59:35","slug":"can-avi-weiss-successor-secure-ycts-place-in-orthodox-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/can-avi-weiss-successor-secure-ycts-place-in-orthodox-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Avi Weiss&#8217; successor secure YCT&#8217;s place in Orthodox world?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By URIEL HEILMAN<\/p>\n<p>NEW YORK (JTA) \u2013 When Rabbi Asher Lopatin takes over the helm of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah next summer, he may try to pull off something of a football move at the Modern Orthodox rabbinical school: Look left while going right.\u00a0In the 12 years since Rabbi Avi Weiss founded the school as a more liberal, pulpit-focused alternative to Yeshiva University\u2019s scholarship-focused ordination program, Chovevei has produced more than 80 rabbis serving in a variety of capacities across North\u00a0America. Their influence, Weiss argues, goes far beyond the Orthodox community: Chovevei\u2019s rabbis are trained to reach out to non-Orthodox Jews while remaining firmly rooted in Orthodox practice. Weiss calls it \u201copen Orthodoxy.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2364\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Asher-Lopatin.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2364\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2364 lazyload\" title=\"Asher Lopatin\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Asher-Lopatin-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Asher-Lopatin-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Asher-Lopatin-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2364\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2364\" title=\"Asher Lopatin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Asher-Lopatin-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Asher-Lopatin-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Asher-Lopatin-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2364\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rabbi Asher Lopatin, right, the incoming president of the Modern Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, confers with Rabbi Yehoshua Eichenstein, the Zidichiver rebbe, at Chicago&#39;s Siyum HaShas celebration on Aug. 1, 2012. Lopatin says he wants to expose Chovevei&#39;s rabbinical students to a broader array of Orthodox viewpoints. (Fred Eckhouse Photography)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe think we have found a formula to train rabbis who are unapologetically Orthodox but also unapologetically open and nonjudgmental and inclusive on every level,\u201d Weiss told JTA.<\/p>\n<p>But within the Orthodox world, Chovevei &#8212; which is also known by the acronym YCT &#8212; is still struggling for widespread acceptance.<\/p>\n<p>The school is not accredited by the main Modern Orthodox rabbinical association, the Rabbinical Council of America. Not a single one of its 81 ordained rabbis serves in a synagogue affiliated with Young Israel, one of the nation\u2019s largest Orthodox synagogue franchises, which has thwarted synagogue affiliates from hiring Chovevei rabbis. Weiss claims a warm relationship with the Orthodox Union, but an OU official was careful to note in an interview with JTA that the organization has no formal relationship with Weiss\u2019 school.<\/p>\n<p>Lopatin, who for the past 18 years has been the pulpit rabbi at Chicago\u2019s Anshe Sholom B\u2019nai Israel synagogue, says he wants to maintain the school\u2019s outreach-oriented approach, but one of his first priorities will be gaining broader acceptance within the Orthodox camp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to make sure Chovevei Torah is an integral part of the Orthodox world,\u201d Lopatin told JTA. \u201cI do think there\u2019s a perception that Chovevei is left, for liberal Orthodoxy,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to start with getting the word out that we\u2019re open to right and left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A large swath of the Orthodox community is either ambivalent about Weiss\u2019 yeshiva or outright hostile to it. A 2007 article in Yated Ne\u2019eman, a haredi Orthodox paper, that was reprinted on the Yeshiva World News website and headlined \u201cYeshivat Chovevei Torah: Is it Orthodox?\u201d, called the rabbinical school a \u201cthreat to halachic Judaism\u201d \u2013 rhetoric usually reserved for the non-Orthodox world.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2366\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2366\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2366 lazyload\" title=\"learning 2\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-2-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-2-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/199;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2366\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2366\" title=\"learning 2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-2-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-2-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2366\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, located at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in New York, has ordained 81 rabbis since its establishment by Rabbi Avi Weiss in 2000. (Courtesy Yeshivat Chovevei Torah)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Much of the antagonism toward Chovevei has to do with Weiss. The president of Chovevei since its founding in 2000, Weiss set off a firestorm in Orthodox circles two years ago by ordaining a woman rabbi, Sara Hurwitz, upon whom he conferred the title \u201crabba\u201d (a female version of \u201crabbi\u201d). Long before then, Weiss had been known for pushing the Orthodox envelope on women\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n<p>Although Hurwitz technically was ordained outside of Chovevei, which admits only male students, the rabbinical school remains inextricably connected with Weiss&#8217; decision. Chovevei\u2019s relocation several years ago to the same building that houses Weiss\u2019 pulpit synagogue, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, where Hurwitz works as an assistant clergywoman, only reinforced that notion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYCT presents itself as being an institution on the cutting edge of the liberal end of the Orthodox community,\u201d said Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, president of the RCA and pulpit rabbi at Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood, N.J. \u201cIf YCT were to admit women, that would be a red line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chovevei\u2019s transition moment away from Weiss &#8212; who will hand over the presidency to Lopatin next summer but stay on as a teacher at the school &#8212; provides an opportunity to change the institution\u2019s reputation in the Orthodox world, Chovevei\u2019s backers say.<\/p>\n<p>Lopatin can \u201cexpand the influence Rabbi Weiss had maybe without the political controversy,\u201d said Steven Lieberman, chairman of Chovevei\u2019s board and an attorney in Washington with the firm Rothwell, Figg.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are people on the rightward side of Orthodox Judaism who, whenever the name Rabbi Avi Weiss comes up, they don\u2019t think about the enormous scholarship he\u2019s done, the community building, the Soviet Jewry activism. Their immediate reaction is: This is the man who gave Sara Hurwitz the title of rabba,\u201d Lieberman said. \u201cFor that reason, I think there are some people who don\u2019t look any further at YCT. Having Rav Asher Lopatin, maybe those individuals will now be able to join us in building the bridges that we\u2019ve been trying for years to build.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Comparatively speaking, Chovevei is not a large school. It ordained just eight rabbis this year, compared with 37 at the main Modern Orthodox seminary, YU\u2019s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, or RIETS. The Conservative movement\u2019s Jewish Theological Seminary ordained 26 rabbis this year, and the Reform movement\u2019s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion ordained 35.<\/p>\n<p>But while a YU spokesman estimated that 80 percent of RIETS\u2019 recent graduates work in the rabbinic field, Chovevei says its figure is 95 percent. That includes not just pulpit rabbis but school administrators, campus rabbis, hospital chaplains and even camp rabbis. This year\u2019s incoming class at Chovevei numbers 13. Weiss&#8217; original impetus for creating the school was to produce more rabbis committed to filling synagogue pulpits, but over time, he says, he came to realize that other clergy positions were just as legitimate. More than 30 of Chovevei&#8217;s graduates work in Orthodox synagogues.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2367\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2367\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2367 lazyload\" title=\"learning 4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-4-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-4-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-4-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/199;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2367\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2367\" title=\"learning 4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-4-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-4-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/learning-4-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2367\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Learning at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in Riverdale, New York. (Courtesy Yeshivat Chovevei Torah)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Chovevei administrators &#8212; including Weiss and Rabbi Dov Linzer, the school\u2019s dean and rosh yeshiva &#8212; cite Chovevei\u2019s emphasis on pastoral matters as one of its main distinguishing factors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChovevei has a unique approach to rabbinic education in that we\u2019re not only training scholars in Torah, but there\u2019s also a great emphasis on practical rabbinics,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cCertainly, rabbis have to be knowledgeable, but if you ask me what the rabbinate is about, I tell the chevre the rabbinate is about simply being there for people,\u201d he said, using the Hebrew word for \u201cguys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That means everything from courses in pastoral psychology to courses on Jewish leadership.<\/p>\n<p>Without abandoning that approach, Lopatin says he wants to ground the students more firmly in Orthodoxy by exposing them to the \u201cfull Orthodox spectrum.\u201d That includes, he said, exposure to and instruction from haredi Orthodox yeshiva leaders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to things like Gemarah and halachah and hashkafah and Tanach,\u201d Lopatin said, using the Hebrew terms for Talmud, Jewish law, philosophy and Bible, \u201cthose are things that need to be taught fully, classically Orthodox. Those are the main meat and potatoes of smicha\u201d \u2013 rabbinic ordination.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike at some other Orthodox institutions, however, Lopatin said he is open to non-Orthodox instructors giving the rabbinical students pastoral training, such as how to give sermons. He also wants Chovevei to be &#8220;open from the sense that any question can be discussed and people can think openly and independently.&#8221; The pluralism comes in on the question of who the rabbis-to-be focus on reaching: all Jews, regardless of denomination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs much as I am a parochial Orthodox rabbi of an Orthodox synagogue, I\u2019m very pluralistic in the sense that I want the Torah message and the Jewish message to get out beyond the walls of the Orthodox synagogue and beyond those who call themselves Orthodox,\u201d Lopatin said.<\/p>\n<p>All those involved in Lopatin\u2019s hire &#8212; a process that has taken six to eight months &#8212; credited a $3 million grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation for paving the way; the grant was predicated in part on Chovevei\u2019s implementing a transition plan within five years. The grant, which consists of a $500,000 grant and an additional $2.5 million in matching funds, is now in its second year.<\/p>\n<p>Weiss says he\u2019s had his eye for a long time on Lopatin &#8212; a former Rhodes Scholar, Truman Scholar and Wexner Fellow who was ordained both by RIETS and by the late Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik of Chicago\u2019s Brisk yeshiva.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe test of an institution is when inevitably there has to be a succession plan,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cWith Asher coming in, thank God we\u2019ve done magnificently well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>(To read more about Lopatin&#8217;s plans for Chovevei and Weiss&#8217; reflections about the school, visit JTA&#8217;s Telegraph blog at\u00a0<\/em><em><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.jta.org\/telegraph\/article\/2012\/09\/07\/3106311\/asher-lopatin-avi-weiss-talk-about-future-of-yeshivat-chovevei-torah\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/blogs.jta.org\/telegraph\/article\/2012\/09\/07\/3106311\/asher-lopatin-avi-weiss-talk-about-future-of-yeshivat-chovevei-torah<\/a><\/em><em>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Can%20Avi%20Weiss%27%20successor%20secure%20YCT%27s%20place%20in%20Orthodox%20world%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2411,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions\/2411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}