Modern Orthodox 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 ...

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; 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 are studied in parallel. The stu ...

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 of t ...

Avi Weiss Avraham Haim Yosef haCohen Weiss (; born June 24, 1944) is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York until 2015. He is the founder of Yeshi ...

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

role of women A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

, and the codes of

Jewish law ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

with a program in

pastoral counseling Pastoral counseling is a branch of counseling in which psychologically trained ministers, rabbis, priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans ...

, leadership retreats, education in

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

, and other realities of contemporary religious leadership. YCT

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

its first graduating class of rabbis in June 2004 and has continued to do so every June since. Its current president and

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; 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, primarily the Talmud and th ...

(head of school) is Rabbi

Dov Linzer Rabbi 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, lecture ...

. 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, commonly called The Shalom bayit, Bayit, is a Modern Orthodoxy, Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue at 3700 Henry Hudson Parkway in the Riverdale, Bronx, Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New ...

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 Jewish thought (, ''Machshevet Yisrael''), also known as Judaic thought or Hebraic thought, is a field of Jewish studies that deals with the products of Jewish thought and culture throughout the ages, and their historical development. The field a ...

and a public lecture series. Many establishment institutions in the Orthodox community in America, including the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America and

Agudath Israel of America Agudath Israel of America (; also called the Agudah) is an American organization that represents Haredi Judaism, Haredi Orthodox Jews. It is loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel. Agudah seeks to meet the needs of the Har ...

have opposed YCT, framing it as an entity which has strayed from traditional Orthodox norms.

History

The origins of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah go back to 1996 when rabbis Avi Weiss and

Saul Berman Saul J. Berman (born April 30, 1939) is an American scholar and Modern Orthodox rabbi. Berman was ordained at Yeshiva University, from which he also received his B.A. and his M.H.L. He completed a degree in law, a J.D., at New York University ...

founded a program known as ''MeORoT'' that provided supplemental lectures on issues in liberal Orthodoxy to rabbinical students enrolled in

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

. At the time, the fellowship was co-sponsored by Yeshiva University, Edah, and Weiss's synagogue, the

Hebrew Institute of Riverdale The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, commonly called The Shalom bayit, Bayit, is a Modern Orthodoxy, Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue at 3700 Henry Hudson Parkway in the Riverdale, Bronx, Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New ...

. In September 1999, Weiss and Linzer launched Yeshivat Chovevei Torah as an undergraduate learning program primarily for students at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

. The YCT University Program had Linzer as its Rosh HaYeshiva and was housed at Congregation Ramath Orah, a Modern Orthodox congregation on 110th Street in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. In January 2000, the leadership of the YCT university program, which consisted of Weiss, Berman, Linzer, and Dov Weiss, decided to create a rabbinical school that would officially open in September 2000. In September 2000, the rabbinical school welcomed its first class of seven students. YCT

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

its first rabbi in 2003, its first graduating class of rabbis in June 2004, and 27 rabbis by June 2006. Controversies over YCT came to a head when, in 2006, YCT applied for membership in the

Rabbinical Council of America The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union (OU). ...

, the rabbinical body affiliated with the

Orthodox Union The Orthodox Union (abbreviated OU) is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues, youth programs, Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs f ...

, the largest North American Modern and Centrist Orthodox body. YCT subsequently withdrew its application when it became apparent that the application would be denied. After spending five years housed at Columbia's Hillel, the school left Manhattan in the summer of 2010 and moved to the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. As of June 2019, the school had ordained 134 rabbis and had a stated placement rate of nearly 100%. YCT graduates, who are not eligible for

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

membership, can join the International Rabbinic Fellowship, an organization co-founded in 2008 by Avi Weiss and

Marc Angel Marc Angel (born 1963) is a Luxembourgish politician of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) who has been serving as vice-president of the European Parliament since 18 January 2023, and a Member of the European Parliament since 10 De ...

.

Terminology

For its first 15 years YCT described itself as an "

Open Orthodoxy Open Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish religious movement committed to following ''halakha'' (Jewish law), emphasizing intellectual openness in Jewish scholarship and practice, and expanding the role of women in Jewish life. The term was coined in 1 ...

" institution and its mission statement made heavy use of the term coined by Avi Weiss. The term and concept provoked harsh criticism and were rejected by other Orthodox institutions. Sylvia Barack Fishman, a professor of Judaic studies at

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

stated that some critics used the term Open Orthodox derogatorily rather than descriptively to delegitimize Modern Orthodox Jews who support women's leadership in Judaism. Since then, YCT has distanced itself from the term. In an interview with ''

The Jewish Week ''New York Jewish Week'' (formerly ''The Jewish Week'') is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. History In March 2016, ''The Jewish Week'' announced its partners ...

'' 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, also uses "Modern Orthodox" to describe itself.

Curriculum and pastoral counseling program

YCT's curriculum is supplemented by a strong focus on the Bible and Jewish thought. YCT states that the classical approaches to subject matters are complemented by academic and innovative methodologies. 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 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 fieldwork. The program places particular emphasis on topics that rabbis regularly encounter; topics such as religious doubt and personal change; rites of passage; adolescence; substance abuse; marital and family problems; sexual function and dysfunction;

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

; 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. 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 is a process group consisting of 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

The yeshiva is led by Rabbi

Dov Linzer Rabbi 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, lecture ...

, who has served as President and

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; 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, primarily the Talmud and th ...

since 2018. He succeeded Asher Lopatin, who was the second president of the school from July 2013 to July 2018, following Avi Weiss. Linzer had previously served as the dean of YCT from 2007 to 2014, succeeding Weiss. Since 2022, the dean of YCT has been Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff. Other faculty members include rabbis Ysoscher Katz, Nathaniel Helfgot, Chaim Marder, Miriam Schacter, and Michelle Friedman.

Student body and alumni

When the rabbinical school was founded, its first class had only 7 members. After what Yeshiva University's student newspaper, ''The Commentator'', called in 2002 an "aggressive marketing campaign", some young men who previously would have considered Yeshiva University's rabbinical school began attending YCT. A 2007 YU ''Commentator'' article reported YCT's enrollment to be 43 full-time students. As of 2019, YCT had ordained over 130 rabbis serving throughout the U.S. and around the world in synagogues, on college campuses, 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, 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 Saul J. Berman (born April 30, 1939) is an American scholar and Modern Orthodox rabbi. Berman was ordained at Yeshiva University, from which he also received his B.A. and his M.H.L. He completed a degree in law, a J.D., at New York University ...

, for a position as Director of Continuing Rabbinic Education.

Role of women in Judaism

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, ( Yeshivat Maharat 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 haCohen Weiss (; born June 24, 1944) is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York until 2015. He is the founder of Yeshi ...

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'' ( ''mīnyān'' , Literal translation, lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain Mitzvah, religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Judaism ...
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, 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.

Controversy

The Orthodox

Rabbinical Council of America The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union (OU). ...

does not accept the YCT's ordination as valid for membership. At a May 2014 gala, one member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, Rabbi

Yaakov Perlow Yaakov Perlow ( ‎; November 16, 1930 – April 7, 2020) was an American Hasidic Judaism, Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva, and Rebbe of the Novominsk List of Hasidic dynasties, Hasidic dynasty. From 1998 until his death in 2020, he was presiden ...

, called Open Orthodoxy

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

. In the fall of 2015, the

Agudath Israel of America Agudath Israel of America (; also called the Agudah) is an American organization that represents Haredi Judaism, Haredi Orthodox Jews. It is loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel. Agudah seeks to meet the needs of the Har ...

denounced moves to ordain women and declared Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Yeshivat Maharat,

Open Orthodoxy Open Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish religious movement committed to following ''halakha'' (Jewish law), emphasizing intellectual openness in Jewish scholarship and practice, and expanding the role of women in Jewish life. The term was coined in 1 ...

, and other affiliated entities as not a form of Torah Judaism, 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''

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 Modern Orthodox Judaism in New York (state) Jewish seminaries Yeshivas in New York (state) Jews and Judaism in the Bronx