2008 Woodie Awards
Farewell
Danny Groner
Issue date: 4/18/05 Section: Science & Technology
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Recently, while visiting another university, I attended an informal panel discussion titled "The Modern Orthodox Jew on a Secular College Campus." During my tenure at Yeshiva, I have managed to maintain close friendships with friends elsewhere and remain perhaps fanatically interested in what's happening over there. I tried to blend into the audience as a silent observer. I anticipated that the issues to be discussed that day would likely feel immediately distant from me but would, at the same time, generate important dialogue for my own understanding of the treacherous obstacles that others experience day-to-day on college campuses. Incorporating both educational seriousness and religious commitment into one's life is an idealistic goal in concept and towering burden in practice; moreover, it can be especially difficult in an environment that does not shape its vision and approach to its patrons in the protective manner that Yeshiva does with its fundamental Torah U'Madda philosophy.
I was saddened however, to discover how my neighbors viewed Yeshiva and what they perceived its attractiveness and purpose to be. The conversation quickly took a surprising turn, sprouting into a debate over whether a young, impressionable student would be better off at Yeshiva, a haven for Torah learning but devoid of serious education, as the room described it, or at another college where he or she could obtain necessary background in liberal arts and sciences and utilize his or her free time to focus on Torah. Even the members of the panel, respected Rabbis and their accomplished wives, bought into the false notion that Yeshiva is a setting where its students opt to dismiss academic and intellectual interests in favor of spiritual growth and development. The discussion, thus, evolved into an argument over extremes, one argued entirely by a group who either attended or worked at secular colleges and whose opinions were consistent and steadfast.
And who's to blame them? If you were to draw the lines as they had, I would also vote in opposition to Yeshiva, portrayed as a second-rate yeshiva with a seventh-rate education to boot.
I was saddened however, to discover how my neighbors viewed Yeshiva and what they perceived its attractiveness and purpose to be. The conversation quickly took a surprising turn, sprouting into a debate over whether a young, impressionable student would be better off at Yeshiva, a haven for Torah learning but devoid of serious education, as the room described it, or at another college where he or she could obtain necessary background in liberal arts and sciences and utilize his or her free time to focus on Torah. Even the members of the panel, respected Rabbis and their accomplished wives, bought into the false notion that Yeshiva is a setting where its students opt to dismiss academic and intellectual interests in favor of spiritual growth and development. The discussion, thus, evolved into an argument over extremes, one argued entirely by a group who either attended or worked at secular colleges and whose opinions were consistent and steadfast.
And who's to blame them? If you were to draw the lines as they had, I would also vote in opposition to Yeshiva, portrayed as a second-rate yeshiva with a seventh-rate education to boot.