| At Yeshiva University, a Marketplace of Ideas |
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| Written by Alan Goldsmith | |||||
| Tuesday, 22 March 2005 | |||||
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The Seforim Sale Yeshiva University, the leading academic institution in American Orthodox Judaism, does not have raucous fraternities or championship sports teams. Its extracurricular life is generally feeble, and eighty percent or more of its male students exit the Washington Heights campus every Thursday night, leaving halfhearted Shabbatonim for the antisocial in its wake. This might make it appropriate that the leading annual social event is not a party but a book sale–but what a book sale it is. The Seforim Sale, run by the Student Organization of Yeshiva (SOY) that comprises rabbinical students and many advanced-level Judaic Studies undergraduates, is a mammoth undertaking. Over one hundred volunteers run the sale, which generates over a million dollars in revenue. This year, it offered academically-recognized internships in accounting, information systems, and marketing, among other areas. The sale runs for almost a month, ending this year on March 2, and features over 10,000 Judaic titles, often at prices far lower than at most American bookstores. Thousands of people flock from across the Northeast and even further away to stock home libraries and to find presents for future joyous occasions. But the sale is more than simply a successful display of Jewish business acumen, and more valuable than just a chance to purchase cheap books. In a small way, it fills growing social and intellectual needs within the Orthodox community. First, at a time when symposia are frequently called on Orthodox singles’ dating and marriage difficulties, the sale offers an excellent venue where young men and women can socialize in an environment free of the awkwardness of “singles” events. And that’s not all: for one month, the sale creates a place of refuge from an Orthodox world beset by internal struggles and increasing polarization, where antipathy between various groups does not lead to vigorous dialogue but rather mutual apathy. Walking through the Seforim Sale, one sees students from Brandeis and Columbia in proximity to young Brooklynites bedecked with black hats, side-curled Chassidim and jeans-clad soccer moms. I offer no pretensions that they sit in a circle and discuss Judaism over coffee, but they are forced to recognize that others exist and that they share some reading material. When freedom of thought is often threatened by the pressures of conformity and the dictates of religious “authorities,” it is refreshing to enter the Seforim sale and see works of Biblical criticism lying a few feet from Artscroll offerings. Even a few books from the Jewish Theological Seminary Press managed to slip onto the stacks, and one of the sale’s featured lectures was given by an academic who wrote a book entitled The Limits of Orthodox Theology. And while YU’s much-propounded belief in the value of pursuing both Torah and secular wisdom is often neglected in its classrooms, its students can purchase books that explore that very concept. Open minds will always face challenges in institutional settings, and particularly at YU, the unparalleled Orthodox academic institution in America. But the Seforim Sale offers those minds, and the communities in which they reside, a microcosm of opportunity for increased freedom and fraternity.
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