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May 19, 1995

Interoffice Communication about LGBTQ Graduate Student Club (1995)

Yeshiva University Marriage & Sexuality
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Statement by Dr. Norman Lamm

In an article which I was commissioned to write for the Encyclopedia Judaica Year Book – 1974 on “Judaism and the Modern Attitude to Homosexuality,” I wrote: Under no circumstances can Judaism suffer homosexuality to become respectable... In remaining true to the sources of Jewish tradition, Jews are commanded to avoid the madness that seizes society at various times and in many forms – while yet retaining a moral composure and psychological equilibrium sufficient to exercise that combination of discipline and charity that is the hallmark of Judaism.Now, more than two decades later, after much tumultuous change in the temper and tone of society, I subscribe to these sentiments no less surely than when they were first enunciated.Nonetheless, I will do nothing to compromise Yeshiva University's integrity as a non-sectarian university as that is defined by legal statute, nor will I do anything that imperils the existence of the University, which is Jewry's most original and grandest educational contribution to American culture and society. By the same token, I cannot be unmindful of its authentic Jewish origins and the moral vision that brought it into being. I will never condone but will always deplore what, for me, is an indelible blemish upon that vision nor will I grant it any more than the law requires.
Yeshiva University Marriage & Sexuality

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Statement by the President of Yeshiva University (1995)

For the past year, I had hoped that the imbroglio caused by the tasteless personal remarks of a student speaker at the 1994 law school commencement exercises, concerning his homosexual relationship with some other person, would die down and so avoid a "desecration of the Name" by being aired publicly. After all, the number of students involved in homosexual groups in some of our graduate and professional schools is ludicrously minuscule —some 20-30 students out of a population of some 6,200—and it is the student government, not the university, that pays for and decides which groups may use which rooms for their meetings. These individuals gather for purposes of discussion. In this they are no different from other extracurricular student organizations in these schools devoted to singing or music or art or whatever, matters not necessarily related to their academic work. Moreover, there are no substantive halakhic issues per se involved here that should have impelled us to take action. But the issue has not disappeared, and, indeed, it has been exacerbated by misleading articles in the press; among them was one comparing Yeshiva to Notre Dame, which failed to emphasize that Indiana has no law constraining such groups, whereas Yeshiva is in New York and is bound by different laws. I have therefore reluctantly concluded that while silence was mandated heretofore, we must now, by the same token, declare ourselves forthrightly. Yeshiva University is, for an American Jewish institution, rather venerable: it is 109 years old. For the majority of its life, it has been an academy that combines Jewish studies and worldly disciplines— Torah Umadda or, as its name clearly suggests, both a yeshiva and a university. Because of this combination, it is a historic, even unique, entity. It is a complex thing, with interwoven and interacting parts, and balanced with extreme delicacy, and therefore cannot be understood without adequate reflection as to its essential nature and mission.…
Yeshiva University Marriage & Sexuality

Correspondence

Letter from R. Zwiebel about Lesbian Housing Lawsuit (2001)

Dear Rabbi Lamm: I hope this letter finds you well. This week’s Forward carries a story about the recent New York Court of Appeals ruling in the lesbian housing lawsuit case. Their reporter spoke to me at length before writing the story, but mangled my comments. I have accordingly written a letter to the editor clarifying what I said, and I take the liberty of sharing an advance copy with you. I hope you understand that my comments are intended in a constructive vein. I really think this is an opportune moment for Yeshiva University to make a serious cheshbon hanefesh. All good wishes. Respectfully, David Zwiebel Executive Vice President for Government and Public Affairs DZ/sk EnclosureEditor: Your report on the New York Court of Appeals’ reinstatement of the lawsuit by two lesbian students challenging Yeshiva University’s student housing policy (“Gay Housing Suit Poses Dilemma for Yeshiva U.”, July 13) confuses the context of my comment that recent court decisions would appear to permit government funding of religious schools, even those that are “pervasively sectarian,” so long as the government funds are used for secular purposes. Please permit me to clarify. Under New York law, the state’s anti-discrimination provisions do not preclude a religious organization from “taking such action as is calculated by such organization to promote the religious principles for which it is established or maintained.” However, over 30 years ago, Yeshiva University decided to structure itself as a non-sectarian secular institution, despite its Orthodox Jewish roots and affiliation – in part, as your story notes, in order to be eligible for various streams of government funding not available to religious entities. Given that structure, it is not clear to me – and obviously was not clear to Yeshiva’s attorneys – that the university could have availed itself of a religious freedom defense of its housing policy. The better legal strategy in responding to the lesbians’ lawsuit was to …
Yeshiva University Jewish Law & Secular Law Marriage & Sexuality