New IBC Course Brings in MYP Roshei Yeshiva, Including Rav Schachter

This semester, a new course, "Selected Topics in Halakha," is being offered to the students in the Isaac Breuer College. The course is taught by four of the roshei yeshiva of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and the Mazer Yeshiva Program. The course meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, with the Wednesday meetings taught by Rabbi Hershel Schachter and the Monday meeting taught by a rotation of Rabbi Baruch Simon, Rabbi Mordechai Willig, and Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky. While this class seems like an innovation to current YU students, veterans of YU will recognize this as the reestablishment of a class which Rabbi Schachter first taught in 1988-1989. In his introduction to the class, Rabbi Simon referred to the rejuvenation of the course as a "machzir hatorah liyoshna," [returning of the Torah to its previous state]. In fact, Rabbi Simon was the Teacher's Assistant when the class was first taught in 1988.

Rabbi Daniel Rapp, Assistant Dean of Judaic Studies for the Stone Beit Midrash Program and Isaac Breuer College, had the idea to offer the course again. At a wedding which both he and Rabbi Schachter attended, Rabbi Rapp asked Rabbi Schachter if he would be willing to teach the class again, and Rabbi Schachter quickly obliged. Rabbi Schachter told his MYP shiur that he was surprised to see signs for the class posted around YU the day after that wedding.

The class offers many benefits to the students. Rabbi Yosef Kalinsky, the TA for the class, remarked that the class gives students an opportunity to gain exposure to the roshei yeshiva as well as to important halakhic issues. This sentiment was echoed by Arye Fohrman, an IBC student in the class. "It's a great asset to my education to have the exposure to the roshei yeshiva that I might otherwise not receive in a formal setting. Also, I'm happy to be able to learn practical halakha that applies to every day life." In reference to one of Rabbi Schachter's classes, Aryeh commented, "I learned things that I didn't know about hilkhot kri'at hatorah [laws of reading the Torah]."

In terms of the course's subject matter, Rabbi Simon explained that he picked the topics he is discussing, Niddah and Mezuzah, because they are both foundational to the building of a Jewish home. Rabbi Sobolofsky is teaching classes devoted to Jewish holidays, including Passover, Sefirat HaOmer, and Israeli Independence Day. Rabbi Willig is teaching classes on the laws of Sabbath, and Rabbi Schachter is teaching a host of topics that range from reading the Torah to ritual purification of vessels. Students outside IBC have also realized the benefits of the class. More than ten Mazer Yeshiva Program students, mostly from Rabbi Schachter's shiur, also attend on an informal basis. According to Rabbi Simon, the same thing happened in 1998-9, and Rabbi Daniel Rapp, who was then an MYP student, attended as well. Some of the MYP students felt that the class' focus on halakhic topics provides a level of clarity not often found in Talmud shiurim. Rabbi Kalinsky pointed out that students who would like to listen to the classes are able to find them online at yutorah.org.

Perhaps the most important benefit of the class, however, comes not to the specific students who take advantage of the class, but to the yeshiva as a whole. While the various morning programs at YU have often been viewed as four separate entities, steps have recently been taken to begin uniting them. According to Rabbi Kalinsky, having four roshei yeshiva teach a class in IBC is part of this initiative.

Of course, the most important move in this direction was appointing Rabbi Yona Reiss to head all four morning programs at the start of the academic year. In the past, the programs had been run independently of each other, but Rabbi Reiss has more plans to further this unity. One idea, which has already been implemented, is the monthly yeshiva-wide morning prayer services, and plans are in the works to increase the amount of joint prayer services.

Another aspect of this ambitious program is the creation of Shabbatonim [weekend retreats] which feature BMP and IBC faculty members, such as the IBC Shabbaton on February 7-8 featuring Rabbis Mark Dratch, Daniel Rapp, Zvi Romm and Nisson Shulman. Rabbi Reiss said, "We want to expose the greater yeshiva to the talents and the resources that exist in those areas when those rabbis address them on Shabbos." He pointed out that non-MYP students already receive exposure to MYP roshei yeshiva, as MYP roshei yeshiva often stay at YU for Shabbos.

Open house events, which used to be separated by morning program, have already been combined into one Jewish Studies open house. An attempt is being made to hold a joint awards ceremony at the end of the year for all Jewish Studies programs, as opposed to the separate awards programs that have been held in the past. Rabbi Reiss explained the impetus for this type of programming. "It's important that we all share our Torah together, learn together, and grow together," he said. "We must foster the sense that we are in fact one united Yeshiva."