To YU’s Rabbi Ari Berman: The inauguration is not your stage
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Yeshiva University faces a pivotal moment that will define its legacy. |
President Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman is scheduled to deliver a benediction at the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. This choice, while perhaps politically expedient, raises troubling questions about the values that guide Yeshiva University today.
This is the same university that once conferred honorary degrees upon Albert Einstein, Nobel laureates, US presidents, and Israeli prime ministers — leaders who embodied the intersection of intellectual and moral excellence. Yet this president’s inaugural stage is not theirs, nor is it ours. It belongs to a man whose history of divisive rhetoric and actions — against women, minorities, the press, and even Jews — stands in stark contrast to the ethical and spiritual ideals YU was founded to uphold.
Perhaps the calculus is simple: Israel’s security and the fight against antisemitism demand pragmatic alliances. Throughout history, Jews and Jewish leaders have presented menorahs and blessings to various leaders under the guise of diplomacy. In darker times, rabbis acted as pawns for power, their prestige used to confer legitimacy upon troubling regimes. Is this another chapter in that story?
Maybe I don’t fully see the picture. Perhaps the moment requires alliances with imperfection. President-elect Trump’s past statements, dining companions, and veiled threats to Jews might pale in comparison to the perceived benefits: standing with Israel against its existential threats, confronting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, or addressing the surge of antisemitism in America. If those desirable deeds materialize, would YU consider honoring him, as it did other presidents? The irony would lie in honoring a man whose record also includes divisiveness, criminal conviction, and accusations of sexual misconduct. And that contrast is both painful and profound.
Elie Wiesel once implored Ronald Reagan in 1985 not to visit the Nazi cemetery at Bitburg, saying, “This is not your place.” I echo that sentiment. This stage, this moment, is not one for a rabbi, particularly one whose institution still wrestles with its own moral failures.
YU’s president leads a university embroiled in one of the largest alleged abuse scandals in New York State history — a scandal marked by decades of silence, alleged coverups, and continued apparent resistance to accountability. Survivors of abuse have watched their alma mater seemingly prioritize image over integrity, burying truths and deflecting justice.
The juxtaposition is striking: a university that once championed Jewish moral and intellectual leadership now standing on a stage that symbolizes anything but. That a Jewish university’s rabbi-president, who has presided over the alleged continued coverup of alleged abuse crimes would appear on this stage is as ironic as it is troubling.
And yet, on second thought, perhaps it’s a perfect match. This moment encapsulates what Yeshiva University has become: an institution willing to sacrifice its chartered values on the altar of expedience. It is a tragic reflection of how far the storied university has strayed from its mission to uphold Jewish moral and ethical principles.
The Yeshiva University charter, once a beacon of intellectual and spiritual integrity, now feels like a junk bond. The only question that remains is whether YU will recognize this moment as a call to reflection and redirection — or double down on its path toward moral bankruptcy.
Survivors, alumni, and history itself are watching.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/yus-rabbi-ari-berman-a-stage-that-isnt-yours/
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