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Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (YCT) is an Open Orthodox
yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy a ...
, founded in 1999 by
Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...
Avi Weiss Avraham Haim Yosef (Avi) haCohen Weiss ( he, אברהם חיים יוסף הכהן ווייס; born June 24, 1944) is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in Th ...
. Currently located in the Riverdale neighborhood of
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
, New York, its mission is to educate and place rabbis who are "open, non-judgmental, knowledgeable, empathetic, and eager to transform Orthodoxy into a movement that meaningfully and respectfully interacts with all Jews, regardless of affiliation, commitment, or background." Its core values include a passionate commitment to the study of Torah and the tangential observance of
halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
(Jewish law); intellectual openness and critical thinking in one's religious life; expanding the role of women; commitment to the broader Jewish community; and a responsibility to improve the world and to care for every human being in it regardless of faith. YCT's rabbinic education program combines a classical curriculum in
Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
, and the codes of
Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...
with a program in
pastoral counseling Pastoral counseling is a branch of counseling in which psychologically trained ministers, rabbis, priests, imams, and other persons provide therapy services. Pastoral counselors often integrate modern psychological thought and method with traditio ...
, leadership retreats, education in fund-raising, and other realities of contemporary religious leadership.Opening Up Orthodox Judaism
The Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish W ...
, December 12, 2007
YCT
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
its first graduating class of rabbis in June 2004 and has continued to do so every June since. As of June 2019, the school had ordained 134 rabbis and has a placement rate of nearly 100%. Its current President and
Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...
(head of school) is Rabbi
Dov Linzer Dov Linzer (Hebrew: דב נתן לינזר; born September 16, 1966) is the President and Rabbinic Head ( Rosh HaYeshiva) of the Modern Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, New York. He is a teacher, lecturer, podcast ...
. In addition to its rabbinical studies program, the yeshiva offers a public Jewish educational program in association with the
Hebrew Institute of Riverdale The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale is an Open Orthodox synagogue in the residential Riverdale neighborhood of New York City. The congregation was founded in 1971 and has been led by Rabbi Avi Weiss since 1973, although he announced in October 2014 ...
at its Bronx location. YCT also runs a variety of events open to the entire Jewish community, including its annual ''yemei iyun'' ("study days") on Bible and Jewish Thought and a public lecture series.


History

The origins of Yeshiva Chovevei Torah go back to 1996, when Rabbis Avi Weiss and Saul Berman founded a program known as ''MeORoT'' which provided supplemental lectures on issues in liberal Orthodoxy to rabbinical students then enrolled in Yeshiva University. The fellowship at that time was co-sponsored by Yeshiva University,
Edah :''Edah, should not be confused with the Haredi communal body in Israel known as the Edah HaChareidis.'' Edah was a Modern Orthodox Jewish organization, generally associated with the liberal wing of Orthodox Judaism in the United States and with ...
and Weiss's synagogue, the
Hebrew Institute of Riverdale The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale is an Open Orthodox synagogue in the residential Riverdale neighborhood of New York City. The congregation was founded in 1971 and has been led by Rabbi Avi Weiss since 1973, although he announced in October 2014 ...
. In the following year, 1997, Weiss added the Torat Miriam Fellowship to the MeORoT program, inviting women involved in Jewish Studies on the graduate level to participate in these lectures. In September 1999, Weiss and Rabbi Dov Linzer launched Yeshivat Chovevei Torah as an undergraduate learning program primarily for students in
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
. The YCT University Program had Rabbi Linzer serving as its Rosh HaYeshiva and was housed at Congregation
Ramath Orah Congregation Ramath Orah is an Orthodox synagogue located in Manhattan's Upper West Side, close to Columbia University. It occupies a neo-Georgian building on West 110th Street, originally built in 1921 as the first stage of a large West Side U ...
, a Modern Orthodox congregation on 110th Street in Manhattan. The faculty consisted of three recent graduates of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) affiliated with Yeshiva University: Rabbi Dov Weiss, who also directed the program, Rabbi
Barry Wimpfheimer Barry Scott Wimpfheimer is an American scholar of the Talmud and Rabbinic literature. He is an associate professor at Northwestern University and chair of its department of religious studies. Biography Wimpfheimer grew up in an Orthodox househ ...
, and Rabbi Ari Perl. In January 2000, the leadership of the YCT university program, which consisted of Rabbis Avi Weiss, Saul Berman, Dov Linzer and Dov Weiss decided to create a rabbinical school which would officially open in September 2000. In September 2000, the rabbinical school welcomed its first class of 7 students. In January 2004, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah moved from its location in Ramath Orah to the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School on 60th Street and West End Avenue and then to the Kraft Center/Columbia Barnard Hillel on 115th Street in July 2005. After spending five full years at the Columbia Hillel, the school then left Manhattan in the summer of 2010, moving to the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, where it is at present. Controversies over YCT came to a head when in 2006 YCT applied for membership in the Rabbinical Council of America, the rabbinical body affiliated with the Orthodox Union, the largest North American
Modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...
and Centrist Orthodox body. YCT subsequently withdrew their application when it became apparent that the application would be denied. Having ordained 27 rabbis as of June 2006, the count nearly doubled by June 2009 to 54, who, not being eligible for RCA membership, can join the International Rabbinic Fellowship, an organization co-founded in 2008 by Rabbis Avi Weiss and Marc Angel.


Terminology

In the first 15 years of its history, YCT described itself as an Open Orthodox institution, and its mission statement made heavy use of the term that its founder Rabbi Avi Weiss had coined. However, the term provoked harsh criticism. At a May 2014 gala, one member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, Rabbi
Yaakov Perlow Yaakov Perlow ( yi, יעקבֿ פּערלאָוו he, יעקב פרלוב‎; November 16, 1930 – April 7, 2020) was an American Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva, and Rebbe of the Novominsk Hasidic dynasty. From 1998 until his death in 2020, h ...
, called Open Orthodoxy heretical. In the fall of 2015, the Agudath Israel of America, an Ultra Orthodox rabbinical group, called Yeshivat Chovevei Torah,
Yeshivat Maharat Yeshivat Maharat is a Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which was the first Open Orthodox yeshiva in North America to ordain women. The word ''Maharat'' () is a Hebrew acronym for phrase ''manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit' ...
,
Open Orthodoxy Open Orthodoxy is a Jewish religious movement with increased emphasis on intellectual openness and a more expansive role for women. The term was coined in 1997 by Avi Weiss, who views ''halakha'' (Jewish law) as permitting more flexibility than t ...
, and other affiliated entities to be similar to other dissident movements throughout Jewish history in having rejected basic tenets of Judaism. And in 2016, An op-ed in the Jewish Press strongly condemned the school, calling the philosophy "unorthodox" and suggesting its adherents "heretics". Sylvia Barack Fishman, a professor of Judaic studies at Brandeis University, stated that some critics use the term Open Orthodox derogatorily rather than descriptively to delegitimize Modern Orthodox who support women's leadership in Judaism. Since then, YCT has distanced itself from the term. The school has removed all references to Open Orthodoxy on its website, replacing "open" with "modern." In an interview with ''
The Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish W ...
'' in August 2017, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, the school's then-president said: "When they say, 'Open Orthodox,' I say, 'We are Modern Orthodox. We are a full part of Modern Orthodoxy.'". The affiliated women's rabbinical seminary,
Yeshivat Maharat Yeshivat Maharat is a Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which was the first Open Orthodox yeshiva in North America to ordain women. The word ''Maharat'' () is a Hebrew acronym for phrase ''manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit' ...
also uses Modern Orthodox.


Curriculum and pastoral counseling program

Like classical Orthodox Rabbinic ordination programs, YCT's curriculum has a strong focus on Talmud and Halakha with particular emphasis on the areas of
Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as ...
observance, dietary laws, laws of family life, and mourning. YCT's curriculum is also supplemented by a strong focus in Bible and Jewish thought. YCT states that the classical approaches to subject matters are complemented with academic and innovative methodologies. Their stated goal is to create knowledgeable, broadminded and critical-thinking Torah scholars, halakhic decision-makers and spiritual leaders. One of the more innovative areas of YCT's curriculum is an unprecedented emphasis on pastoral care and professional development. Whereas it is common in other rabbinical schools to offer a semester or a year of pastoral counseling courses, YCT's program spans the entire four-year curriculum. The pastoral counseling program is taught by leading psychiatric professionals, and includes formal classroom instruction, role-playing, clinical experience and mentored field work. The program places particular emphasis on topics that rabbis regularly encounter: religious doubt and personal change; rites of passage; adolescence; substance abuse; marital and family problems; sexual function and dysfunction; homosexuality; domestic violence; loss, tragedy and bereavement; and response to catastrophe. The first-year courses are organized around basic principles of counseling. The second-year courses follow the life cycle, giving an overview of normal development as well as addressing potential difficulties. In their third and fourth years, students take seminars in chaplaincy, marital and family therapy, and psychology and religion. Fieldwork with direct
clinical supervision Supervision is used in counselling, psychotherapy, and other mental health disciplines as well as many other professions engaged in working with people. Supervision may be applied as well to practitioners in somatic disciplines for their preparatory ...
is an essential part of the curriculum. In their third and fourth years, students rotate through an intensive chaplaincy program and meet regularly with senior clinicians to discuss pastoral issues that arise during their internships. One of the other hallmarks of the YCT pastoral counseling program is the introduction of the process group. A common feature of graduate psychology programs, a process group consists of the students from a given class year who meet weekly with a mental health professional throughout the full four years of the program. In this completely confidential setting, students are free to explore issues of faith, authority, training, personal situation, etc.


Faculty and administration

Rabbi
Dov Linzer Dov Linzer (Hebrew: דב נתן לינזר; born September 16, 1966) is the President and Rabbinic Head ( Rosh HaYeshiva) of the Modern Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, New York. He is a teacher, lecturer, podcast ...
has served as YCT's president from January 2018 – present, having succeeded Rabbi Asher Lopatin whose tenure lasted from July 2013 – July 2018 and who was the school's second president, following Rabbi Avi Weiss. YCT's faculty is headed by Rabbi Dov Linzer, the Rosh HaYeshiva. Other faculty members include Rabbi Ysoscher Katz, Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, Rabbi Chaim Marder, Miriam Schacter and Dr. Michelle Friedman. On 21 October 2007, Linzer was installed as the dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, taking over from Weiss. Rabbi Jon Kelsen is the current dean, while Linzer serves as President and
Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...
.


Student body and alumni

When the rabbinical school was founded, its first class had only 7 members. However, after what Yeshiva University's student newspaper, ''The Commentator'', called in 2002 an "aggressive marketing campaign", many young men who previously would have considered YU's rabbinical school are now attending YCT. A 2007 YU Commentator article reported YCT's enrollment to be 43 full-time students. The first rabbi was ordained in 2003. According to a 2006 news article, YCT graduates about 10 students a year, and in a 2009 story it was reported that there were 54 total YCT graduates. As of 2019, YCT has ordained over 130 rabbis serving throughout the US and around the world, who serve in synagogues, on college campus, as teachers and administrators, chaplains, religious entrepreneurs; leaders of Jewish institutions, and more.


Absorption of EDAH functions

In July 2006, YCT officials announced that they would absorb some of the personnel and functions of the liberal Orthodox advocacy organization
EDAH :''Edah, should not be confused with the Haredi communal body in Israel known as the Edah HaChareidis.'' Edah was a Modern Orthodox Jewish organization, generally associated with the liberal wing of Orthodox Judaism in the United States and with ...
, which had announced its closure and became defunct. YCT assumed EDAH's journal, website, and audio-visual library. The school also took on EDAH's founding director, Rabbi Saul Berman, for a position as Director of Continuing Rabbinic Education.


Role of women in Judaism

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, (
Yeshivat Maharat Yeshivat Maharat is a Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which was the first Open Orthodox yeshiva in North America to ordain women. The word ''Maharat'' () is a Hebrew acronym for phrase ''manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit' ...
notwithstanding), accepts only male candidates for ordination. However, YCT, unlike a number of rabbis and institutions within Orthodox Judaism, has promoted expanded roles for women in ritual life and religious leadership. Founder
Avi Weiss Avraham Haim Yosef (Avi) haCohen Weiss ( he, אברהם חיים יוסף הכהן ווייס; born June 24, 1944) is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in Th ...
explained:
"Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, as an Orthodox institution, requires that its students daven only in synagogues with mechitzot artitions for the separation of men and women The phenomenon of women receiving aliyot in a mechitza
minyan In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Ju ...
is currently being debated on both a halachic and communal level within the Modern Orthodox community. YCT Rabbinical School does not currently take a position on this issue."
In June 2009, Weiss created the title MaHaRaT for Sara Hurwitz. He expressed his desire to have called her a rabbi, stating "She can do 95 percent of what other rabbis do". She was later titled "Rabba", a feminine version of the word "rabbi", despite female rabbis in other movements being called "rabbi". This led to complaints from the RCA, which led to Weiss stating he would not name future graduates as "rabba". Weiss subsequently resigned from the RCA. However,
Yeshivat Maharat Yeshivat Maharat is a Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which was the first Open Orthodox yeshiva in North America to ordain women. The word ''Maharat'' () is a Hebrew acronym for phrase ''manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit' ...
, which Weiss founded, allows its ordainees to choose their own titles, and in 2015 ordained Yaffa Epstein took the title Rabba. Also in 2015, Lila Kagedan was ordained by that same organization, and chose for herself the title Rabbi, making her their first graduate to take that title.


Criticism

Mainstream Orthodox groups have criticized YCT for theological positions they believe are inconsistent with traditional values and halaka. The Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America does not accept the school's ordination as valid for membership. In the fall of 2015, the Agudath Israel of America denounced moves to ordain women, and went even further, declaring Yeshivat Chovevei Torah,
Yeshivat Maharat Yeshivat Maharat is a Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which was the first Open Orthodox yeshiva in North America to ordain women. The word ''Maharat'' () is a Hebrew acronym for phrase ''manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit' ...
,
Open Orthodoxy Open Orthodoxy is a Jewish religious movement with increased emphasis on intellectual openness and a more expansive role for women. The term was coined in 1997 by Avi Weiss, who views ''halakha'' (Jewish law) as permitting more flexibility than t ...
, and other affiliated entities to be similar to other dissident movements throughout Jewish history in having rejected basic tenets of Judaism.


Books and journals

* ''Halakhic Realities: Collected Essays on Brain Death'', ed. Zev Farber, Maggid Books, 2015. * ''Halakhic Realities: Collected Essays on Organ Donation'', ed. Zev Farber, Maggid Books, 2016. * Helfgot, Nathaniel, ed., ''The Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Tanakh Companion to the Book of Samuel'', Ben Yehuda Press, October 2006 * ''Milin Havivin/Beloved Words – The Torah Journal of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School''


See also

* Migdal Ohr *
Modern Orthodox Judaism Modern Orthodox Judaism (also Modern Orthodox or Modern Orthodoxy) is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law with the secular, modern world. Modern Orthodoxy draws on sever ...
*
Moshe Kletenik Moshe Kletenik is an American rabbi. Biography He was born in Chicago in 1954. His parents are Rabbi Shya and Rochelle Kletenik. After studying in the Hebrew Theological College and Yeshivas Brisk of Chicago, he received "Yoreh Yoreh" ''semic ...


References


External links


Yeshivat Chovevei Torah official site
{{coord, 40, 53, 15.99, N, 73, 54, 37.41, W, region:US-NY, display=title Educational institutions established in 1999 Modern Orthodox Judaism in the United States Chovevei Torah Education in Manhattan 1999 establishments in New York City Open Orthodox Judaism Jewish seminaries Yeshivas in New York (state) Jews and Judaism in the Bronx