Offstage Dramatics: Take Two

To The Editor:

It was with "utter dismay" that I read Aaron Zerykier's letter Offstage Dramatics in the previous issue of The Commentator. Safely out of range of Dr. Beukas and his henchmen, I will speak my mind.

Mr. Zerykier, I recognize that I am not familiar with what goes on behind closed doors in your Imperial Society, but by your own admission, Mordechai Levovitz's article("This Policy Is a Drag") "led to the removal of the author" from your production, because of "the author's lack of regard for the cast, crew, and director." Nowhere in your letter is the problem with this article specified, other than the fact that it was not "properly" researched and that Dr. Beukas was not

consulted prior to its submission to The Commentator. It is unclear to me how writing a poorly researched article without the consent of Dr. Beukas constitutes a "lack of regard for the cast, crew, and director," one so grievous, in fact, as to warrant the expulsion of the perpetrator from YCDS. (I must have missed Dr. Beukas' appointment as Official Censor of The Commentator.)

You then state that while "any student has the academic freedom to express his views in The Commentator, ... he must recognize his responsibility to the organization of which he has voluntarily become a member." This seems to mean that while a student may express his opinion, your people may kick him out of your club for his trouble. Surely you are not serious! By joining YCDS, does a student sell you his soul? Does he need your permission to eat, sleep, breathe, or walk? Please say no . Why then is he not to write an article in The Commentator? It most certainly does NOT sound as if you and Dr. Beukas "understand that everyone is entitled to their [sic] own opinion." Perhaps a more suitable name for your operation is "The Communist Club" (or "The Stalinist Society.")

I, too, disagree with several key features of Levovitz's article, mainly in that I believe halakhic questions are best left to halakhic authorities. The difference between you and me is that I like to pretend to understand that there may exist views other than my own, and that the proponents of those views have the right to express them.

You accuse Mordechai Levovitz of not basing his views on proper research(proper research is a most interesting prerequisite for a dramatic society), yet you do not offer one example of a claim Levovitz made which was not based on proper research. You also do not seem to have much of a grasp of the English language, as you refer to the "suggested changes made by Mordechai Levovitz," implying that Levovitz, a mere student - one who cannot so much as open his mouth without getting himself booted out of your worthless organization - "made changes." (I think what you meant to talk about are "changes suggested by Levovitz," an entirely different matter.)

But I digress. What really boggles my mind is that you do not seem embarrassed to issue a public statement to the effect that you dismissed a student from your ranks because he wrote what he thought. Your course of action in this matter is despicable, and that self-righteous drivel purporting to be an excuse even more so.

Finally, I would like to call upon all of you out there who value freedom of expression, that American liberty so close to our hearts, to speak up and make it known that such medieval behavior as exhibited by YCDS simply cannot exist at our university. We must not close our eyes to this blatant disregard for so basic a human right as freedom of speech.

Pinhas Grossman
YC '00

To The Editors:

I am extremely dismayed by the recent events that have occurred with the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society. As a student of Jewish law and common sense, I would like to commend Aaron Zerykier and Dr. Beukas for keeping our dramatics society's standards at such a high level.

As a past student of Dr. Beukas, I learned from the doctor that the standards YCDS uses for their productions are the same standards the "Rav" assigned to them. I find it highly commendable that this organization still keeps these standards of halakha. Any student who has had Dr. Beukas as a teacher would know that he would love to put on a production including woman's roles and even women, but he has respect for the halakha, so he limits the productions to single sex productions.

I would also like to point out that the rabbeim in YU were not asked for their opinion. Since when is one student allowed to make the halakhic psak for a Yeshiva based on his own research? Does Mordechai Levovitz have the right to impose his views which seem to be against those of our Rabbis? If it were permissible to put on productions which involved women's roles, would Dr. Beukas limit himself to the single sex productions that YCDS currently puts on? If anyone has been to a YCDS production, he knows that there is a lot of time and effort put into it and that the organization's job is made more difficult because of halakha. I believe that instead of shunning Dr. Beukas, Aaron Zerykier, and YCDS, we should first ask the rabbis of Yeshiva to tell us what the halakha dictates.

Thus, I (and any student who believes in the truth) support YCDS's course of action and thank YCDS for keeping something sacred for all of us.

Marc (Moish) Schmerler
SSSB/MYP '00

To The Editor:

Unfortunately, there are times when people truly go to far in their abuse of power. One such striking example is Drama and Speech Professor Dr. Anthony Beukas. For years this man has displayed abusive behavior towards his students as director of the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society. The time has come that he be confronted for his egregious misdeeds.

Mordechai Levovitz published an article entitled, This Policy is a Drag, in The Commentator. The article was clearly the opinion of a lone student, not an officially sanctioned opinion representing YCDS or the student body. I can't stress this last sentence enough, because the current fiasco is supposedly centered around the perception that Mordechai's article was representative of YCDS and not only himself. Additionally, the article never attacked YCDS. The article was a halakhic question directed to the YU administration as to why there is a lack of equality between the policies of the dramatic societies on the men's and women's undergraduate campuses.

When this article was published, Beukas immediately demanded that Levovitz not only retract his statement, but also state in a published letter that his opinion was baseless. Beukas warned Levovitz that if he were not to follow through on his demands then he would immediately be fired from the play.

To demand a clarification is understandable, but to demand a letter stating that a person's time and effort spent on a well researched topic is baseless, is a true infringement of the First Amendment. No one has the right to make the latter demand, and because Levovitz would not acquiesce, Beukas took the liberty of firing him from the play.

(It is also important to note that while there have been countless attacks on Levovitz's article, no one has attacked the halakhic foundations of his article.)

I wish I could understand this chain of events. Boy writes article. Beukas makes illegitimate demands. Boy will not acquiesce. Boy is fired. As far as I understand, YCDS members are considered to be enrolled in a class. I don't know about you, but I have never heard of a student being unilaterally "fired" from a class.

But the litany of abusive behavior that Beukas has visited upon his students during his reign as director extends far beyond his abominable treatment of Mordechai. The number of cases are far too many to list, but I will try to sum them up. These accusations are taken from my own experience, several semesters ago, as a member of YCDS, and from the experience of other YCDS members:

• verbal abuse against students, where Beukas has made derisive remarks against students
• derisive comments against other university professors and administrators
• forcing students to sign contracts
• registering a student in the registrar's office, without that student's prior knowledge or consent

The question remains as to why people continue to participate in YCDS production and I believe there are several answers. First and foremost, there is no other form of dramatic expression on campus, thus students have acted and will continue to act in plays directed by Beukas, until there is another option. Second, the drama society attracts a sort of misfit element on campus. Often the students who participate are ones who do not fit into the grain of YU. There is obviously no problem with that, in fact I think there is a dearth of those type of individuals on campus. Nonetheless, these types of students are attracted to the drama society because it provides an outlet for their creative abilities and an opportunity to meet people like themselves. Unfortunately these people remain in the society albeit the numerous abuses heaped upon them by Beukas and sometimes even by his lackeys, because these students often see no other alternative for their creative pursuits on campus.

I too remained for one semester, even though I saw my colleagues constantly abused. Why? Shamefully I answer, because I wanted to act and that was my only option. I and several other one-time actors have decided not to participate in any further YCDS productions because we will not stand to be in another production directed by Beukas.

In conclusion, while I realize that Beukas is a tenured professor and firing him is not really a viable option, I demand that Beukas offer a public apology for his maltreatment of Levovitz and I strongly urge administrators and professors to make it clear that he must immediately cease his unacceptable and atrocious behavior or else suffer severe consequences.

Noah Streit
Editor Emeritus '97-'98

Never have I been so happy that I do not attend YU.

The entire "Drag" debate is poshit Lashon Hara. In addition, it's a Chilul Hashem.

Whatever occurred between the two parties is private, and should not be the subject of a public debate. If the teacher misrepresented facts, the student should go to the teacher or the school and complain. He should not print a long letter, taking up the majority of the letters page, complaining about it. That would be as much an abuse of privilege as the teacher's alleged acts. The YU paper is supposed to be a newspaper, not the platform from which to hurl invectives. Personal attacks of any kind have no place in a paper, let alone one funded and allegedly speaking for a Jewish College.

In addition, I would like to ask a brief question: Is the student who wrote the article a posek? Did he ask a sheilah before he wrote what he did, or did he simply cite sources and make his own conclusions? If it is the latter, then the article had no place in the paper. YU has many capable poskim at its disposal, and it is they who are asked when setting policies along halakhic guidelines such as beged ishah. There is obviously a halakhic source for the Stern students being permitted to wear beged ish if it is done. If it is the former, then I apologize for my comment. It just seems from the way the student referred to writing a "halakhic" argument that he was paskining sheilah by himself. That would be just a bit arrogant.

Anyway, that's my humble opinion. Thanks for reading this.

Mordechai Luchins
Touro '99

A Letter to Students Who Care

To the Editor:

A terrible thing has happened here in YU.

The incident in which one of us, a student, was punished in response to an article he wrote in the student newspaper, proves once more that the right to express thoughts (or maybe even the right to think itself) is not yet legitimately recognized here. I, as a student who cares, protest the actions taken against Mordechai Levovitz by the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society, and find them not only inappropriate, but also a shame and disgrace to the people standing behind and supporting them.

This is a dark day for freedom of speech and artistic expression in Yeshiva University. In no other democratic society is it acceptable that a student is punished just for expressing his opinion in public. These are the actions of dark regimes and a reminder of medieval days of yore, not of a society that intends to be modern and democratic.

I admire Mr. Levovitz's courage to stand behind his beliefs and his refusal to act against them. I also appreciate his goodwill in his willingness to compromise with what was offered to him and clear the perceived misunderstandings about his article. Unfortunately (or maybe very fortunately) this gesture wasn't accepted by the YCDS president, and we now see his and his colleagues' real faces. These people should not be in any position of power which they can abuse to endanger our freedom.

Mr. Levovitz, let no one break your spirit, let no one force you away from expressing yourself in any way. Be strong and keep it up for all of us students who stand right behind you and support you. In response to repression we will react in pride, and in response to silence we will shout out loud. We will not forget what those people did, we will not let it happen again, and we will not be silent any more.

My fellow students who care: I call on you all to take a stand. Together we will act so such incidents will not happen again. Today it happened to Mr. Levovitz and tomorrow it could happen to any one of us.

Zohar Azoulay

To The Editor:

I do not recall my first semester on campus with great fondness. One of the few highlights that semester was taking part in the YCDS production of "Sherlock Holmes' Last Case." Props Master was an extremely enlightening position, because my rehearsal nights consisted of listening to Dr. Anthony Beukas spew insults that I only dream to match in both wit and content in my articles on a daily basis.

This semester a most unfortunate matter has come to my attention. Mordechai Levovitz, a good friend of mine, was thrown out of the dramatics society for expressing his views concerning improvements that YCDS could endeavor to achieve. Let's think about this for a minute. What does the First Amendment offer to the American citizen? Firstly, it offers religious freedom. Second, it guarantees freedom of speech. In this university, there should be nothing more sacred. Both of these rights have given the Jewish people its safest home in known history. By allowing Dr. Beukas to punish Mr. Levovitz for expressing his opinions we are denying our student body the right to intellectual discourse.

Though my own column is entitled FACT, NOT OPINION, remember that ART is inherently subjective. If it wasn't, we would all like the same music I do. That would leave me without my own column and very little to get upset about. However, we are not here to argue the nature of art. That should be left to those professors who teach it as a subject.

Dr. Beukas' actions are a perversion of justice and should be corrected immediately. The last thing this University needs is a bully who chooses to punish his students for expressing their own opinions. If others feel as I do, they should insist on a public apology by the good doctor. If they do not, then Dr. Beukas' opinions must surely be this University's, in which case I am immensely disappointed in having chosen to attend this authoritarian institution.

David Rappaport
YC '99

Related Stories:

• Offstage Dramatics
• Commentator Staffer's Opinion Gets Him Fired From YCDS
• The policy is a DRAG!