Response to a 'Hostile Columbia Student'

In Mr.Yair Hakok's letter regarding life at Columbia, he brings up several concepts in that seem to me quite troubling. Yair, you mention immersion in secular culture, attending a "real college," and theological argument with those of under-developed proboscis. You seem to believe that all of these are great things, to be sought-after, and that, upon attaining/achieving these things, one has become a better person, a person more worthy of praise.

You uphold a communion between Jews and non-Jews as something greater than maintaining a cadre only of Jewish friends. Why, I wonder, is your relationship with your non-Jewish floormate more valuable than mine with my Jewish floormate? Is it that he will buy a pretzel on the street? That he will go to church on Sunday? That he will return to his room and engage in certain activities that Judaism does not accept? I don't argue that there is some value to knowing him - there almost definitely is. I strongly question, though, the idea that a relationship with him is more valuable than one with a Jew. The fact that you place greater value upon inter-religious relationships is very scary.

You praise your University as a place where one can attend a "real college." What makes your college real and mine false? Is it your fornicating floormates? Your hedonistic parties? Your studio art classes with nude models? Is it my many minyanim? Is it my Batei Midrash, which consume so much of the space available at my college? Is it my classes that often contain tangential discussions in which we discuss how the material at hand can help us achieve something of a better understanding of ourselves as Jews? Some kids here will, at times, speak of "real colleges," as in the quote that you mentioned, with some praise. It has been my experience that these comments generally come when a student has a frustration with an aspect of the system but these moments are exceptions to the rule, and we often look back at those moments and think, "well, I'd still rather be here."

You claim that we need, for some reason, to exercise our brains by defending Judaism to a "hostile audience." Yair, you're not the Rambam, and you're not facing expulsion. What is there to gain? Are you leading the world's people to some great religious epiphany? Are you converting the seventy nations of the world? Yair, no great self-improvement is achieved through convincing a non-Jew that your religious thoughts are rational; that time could be spent in a far more productive fashion.

You believe there is some greater sense of the essence of Judaism that is obtained by arguing theology with non-Jews. My friend, when you want to obtain a greater understanding of a piece of literature, do you seek advice from someone who has not yet learned to read? Arguing the basics of monotheism, or of Jewish philosophy, with someone who has little, if any, sense of the rest of the more basic concepts of Judaism can hardly be considered the best way to come to higher levels of understanding of these concepts. I argue theology and concepts with someone from down the hall, as do you. However, when I do so, it is with someone who wears a Yarmulka on his head and tzitzis on his body; it is with someone who has battled with these concepts all his life and has not given up. And then the points of contention in our argument are also different: we don't argue about the validity of Judaism, we argue about a proper way to approach kiruv, about a specific commentary on the chumash or gemara, about hashkafa. Yair, you are probably roundabouts 20-years-old, perhaps even older; if you haven't yet accepted revelation at Sinai as truth, if you don't believe in the concepts presented in the Ani Maamin's, you must realize that it's about time to come to a decision. You stand the chance of spending the rest of your life maintaining a wavering devotion to a religion that you won't understand. It's time to drop the youthful questioning and pick up a sefer. To be short, it is time for you to grow up.

I don't claim that YU doesn't have its problems. In fact, I've gotten to see most of them in a very personal fashion. And I don't claim that Columbia doesn't have its upside. I'll even venture to say that there is the possibility that Columbia is a better place than YU to gain one's higher education; I don't believe that statement, but I'll leave the possibility open. What I do challenge are your defenses of your decision, which I happen to hear quite often. It makes me concerned to know that there are Jews out there who think as you do.

YC/JSS Junior