There's a Jewish kid sitting at home waiting for a phone call. He's really not a happy camper at this particular moment, because in his hand he holds a thin manila envelope that has shattered his dream. Inside the envelope is a single sheet of Yeshiva University letterhead, beginning with the words "We regret to inform you...." He crumples the rejection letter in his hand as the ache begins to set in. Who is going to call him and explain why?

Let us call him Jakob, but his name is really irrelevant. It could be Shlomo, or Zahava, or Evan, or any other moniker bestowed by Jewish parents upon their children. His geographical location doesn't really make a difference either, because Jakob could be sitting in any city in America. For that matter, none of his particulars are particularly important; this is the same tragic story that is repeated time and time again, only the details change.

You see, YU doesn't want Jakob for one simple reason - he is learning disabled. Born with audiovisual impairments and severe dyslexia, Jakob has had to strive to overcome the extra obstacles God has placed in his path, and overcome them he has. The Jewish day school in his community does not have the wherewithal to accommodate his needs, so Jakob attends private school, and in the afternoon studies torah with a tutor. Bright and outgoing, Jakob participates in Bnei Akiva and NCSY, is the gabbai of the teen minyan in his synagogue, assists the local soup kitchen in distributing meals for shabbat, and like many a Jewish teen, has spent summers in Israel. His aspirations are like those of any Jewish high school senior. He wants to be able to practice his religion unencumbered by the problems he would face in a secular university; he does not wish to be hindered by the myriad scheduling and kashrut difficulties an observant Jew must grapple with in an irreligious environment; he desires to be in a Jewish social setting; he wants to meet Jewish girls. But most of all, he wants to attend college where his father and older brother did - Yeshiva University.

Hey Jakob, guess what? Your not Jewish enough for YU! They don't want your kind here! You just don't fit into the grand scheme of YU, with all of its talk about national rankings, honors courses and the like. You will excuse them if they ignore you while they trumpet their latest public relations coup.

The administration's logic was explained to me by Moish Kranzler, Director of Admissions. (Lest anyone think that I am attempting to blame Mr. Kranzler for the University's hardhearted stance, rest assured, I am not. He does not make the policy, he merely executes it, and rather well, I might add.) Kranzler explained that learning disabled students are not accepted to Harvard, that is not their place. Instead, they go to state schools, which are mandated by law to accept them and have the financial resources to best accommodate their needs. So too, YU insists that learning disabled students are best served by attending state schools.

On the face of it, a seemingly logical argument. Yet in contains one fatal flaw - YU is not Harvard, nor should it aspire to be. Yeshiva University is unique among all the colleges in the world, insomuch as it supposedly has a higher purpose and a nobler goal than simply clambering up the ladder of academic excellence. In essence, YU is the state school of Am Yisrael, of the Jewish nation. And as such, it is a crying shame that we relegate an entire segment of our society and our youth to second-class status as students and Jews.

We are not talking about mentally retarded adults who require constant care and supervision, ala HASC. Learning disabilities come in all shapes and sizes, from mild to severe, and can be successfully surmounted with the proper assistance and effort. For YU to shirk its responsibility to the broader Jewish community by refusing to provide a healthy Jewish atmosphere in which such students can thrive, is the height of cold callousness, and calls into question the much-ballyhooed slogans of tolerance and Achdut that the University loves to bandy about.

So who is going to be man enough to call Jakob on the phone and explain to him why he cannot attend YU? Who is going to sit down and explain to Jakob that, yes, YU has ample financial resources and can buy all the Manhattan real estate it can get its hands on, but is unwilling to expend the extra dollars to create a program that would enable him, and others like him, to succeed in a Jewish environment? Who is going to have the spine to look Jakob in the eye and tell him the harsh truth - that as far as Yeshiva University is concerned, he has no worth as a Jew and a human being? And ultimately, who is going to stand before the Creator on Judgement Day and answer for all of the Jakobs abandoned by YU?