As a prospective student, my decision to attend Yeshiva University was deeply impacted by the religious environment offered here. I wanted to be in a place that would provide me with the resources I needed as an Orthodox Jew. When I visited Stern College as a senior in high school, it was only after I walked into the Beit Midrash that I decided to make Yeshiva University my first choice. When I saw all the young women learning, I remember feeling inspired by their commitment to Judaism and by their desire to become more learned. As a current student at Stern College, I feel that my religious observance is valued and taken seriously.
I spent this past summer on YU’s uptown campus, taking a summer course for both semesters. Since Stern does not usually offer minyanim on campus, I decided to take advantage of my location and daven with one of the many minyanim offered at Yeshiva College. To my surprise, I discovered that there was no mechitza (partition) set up for women. The same was true for the other minyanim that I visited. When I tried to talk to other people about it, they did not understand why it was important to make sure that a mechitza was set up for women. When I explained that it was essential for women to pray to God as well, nobody really knew how to respond to me. I realized that it was generally accepted that religious women in the Heights daven either in their own apartments or in random classrooms. During the summer, I would pass by the Glueck Beit Midrash, see people davening together, and then go to a classroom and end up davening by myself.
Like many of my friends, I learned with a chavruta this past summer. Every day I had to find a place where it would be okay for us to learn, since we were not allowed in the Batei Midrash. One day all the classrooms in the Glueck building were locked, and we had to spend some time looking for a good spot. As we walked around, it struck me how strange it was that I was having trouble finding a spot to learn, while there was a beautiful Beit Midrash downstairs, with plenty of available room. I very much would have enjoyed the support of the Beit Midrash atmosphere to help me with my learning. Sometimes, it was a little stressful for me to balance studying for my summer course with my Torah learning. That struggle was made more difficult by feeling discouraged by those around me in my efforts to be an active Orthodox Jew. I never thought that I would feel that way on a Yeshiva University campus.
I had hoped that I would become more acquainted and comfortable on the uptown campus this summer. While I now know my way around, I feel uncomfortable on the main campus with the knowledge that I am religiously ignored. I don’t feel welcome knowing that my religious needs are not considered important. On the midtown campus, Yeshiva University does much to encourage its young women to be active religious Jews. On the main campus, where many female Yeshiva University students are found on a daily basis, there is no space for us to express ourselves religiously. It is within the University’s interests to make women feel comfortable and included on the uptown campus.
At Stern anyone, regardless of gender, is welcome in the Beit Midrash. Why is it not like that at the uptown campus as well? If there are objections because people do not want co-ed Torah learning, then it is the responsibility of Yeshiva University to ensure that women have a separate place to daven and learn Torah on the main campus. Yeshiva University is the leading Modern Orthodox institution in the United States. The message it sends out by not having a religious outlet for women on its main campus does not match up with its official mission statement, which includes the idea of bringing Torah learning to all Jews. If Yeshiva University truly wants to embody this concept, it needs to start making women part of the religious atmosphere on the main campus.