User:DPeterson/YCTorah

General principles
YCTorah, I've looked over your request and my initial thought is that you and the others may be able to reach some common ground, and that your compromise may even improve the articles.

Here are my thoughts on the policies that apply. DPeterson talk 12:42, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Civility: You and the others have been doing a pretty good job keeping cool, and requesting dispute resolution is exactly the way to go. Keep it up!
 * 2) Dispute resolution and consensus. Per WP:CONSENSUS, "Consensus works best when all editors make a good faith effort to work together to accurately and appropriately describe the different views on the subject."  The bottom line is that if you and XXXX both try your best to make sure that any verifiable ideas from the other person's point of view are fairly represented, the article will improve.  More specifically, the major policy in question is:
 * 3) Neutral point of view: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, so its goal is to fairly represent all sides of any issue that are verifiable by reliable sources. "the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a verifiable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each. . . Articles that compare views need not give minority views as much or as detailed a description as more popular views, and may not include tiny-minority views at all."
 * 4) Attribution: In general, if we attribute the claims about "XXX" to specific authorities, (1) the claims will be more difficult to dispute; and (2) the article will be more helpful to readers.
 * 5) Verifiability and reliable source.
 * 6) Dispute resolution

What I'd like to see
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (also known as YCT) is a Modern Orthodox yeshiva founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss in 1999, and located in New York, New York. YCT's current Rosh HaYeshiva - Head of School- Rabbi Dov Linzer, a Talmudist and student of Jewish law. Chovevei ordained its first graduating class of rabbis in 2004 and its third on June 11, 2006. The institution promotes Weiss' Open Orthodoxy [1] philosophy combining commitment to and observance of Orthodox Halakha (Jewish law) with outreach to modern culture, the Jewish community as a whole, and sensitive approaches to addressing contemporary issues. In addition to its rabbinical studies program, the yeshiva offers a public Jewish educational program, in association with the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, at its Riverdale campus in the Bronx, New York.

The institution is regarded as an alternative to Yeshiva University. The Rabbinical Council of America, the major American association of Modern Orthodox rabbis, is currently considering whether to admit YCT graduates to RCA membership. [2]

We at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School(YCT) believe that the future of Orthodoxy depends on our becoming a movement that expands outward non-dogmatically and cooperatively to encompass the needs of the larger Jewish community and the world. For this vision to succeed, we require a new breed of leaders - rabbis who are open, non-judgmental, knowledgeable, empathetic, and eager to transform Orthodoxy into a movement that meaningfully and respectfully interacts with all Jews, regardless of affiliation, commitment, or background.

YCT is the only institution committed to training and placing open Modern Orthodox rabbis. We seek the best and the brightest that Modern Orthodoxy has to offer. Each student accepted into our family is chosen through a rigorous process that employs the highest academic standards and scrutinizes every applicant's character, make-up, and overall ability to perform and excel as a leader of the Jewish community. Our Modern Orthodox rabbinical school cultivates a love of Torah, a philosophy of inclusiveness, and a passion for leadership. The entire curriculum is taught at the highest levels of academic excellence by leading scholars and talmidei chakhamim. Upon ordination, each graduate commits to serving in the rabbinate.

At YCT Rabbinical School, we place great value on the level of dedication, time, and effort required for the rigorous process of learning and professional rabbinic preparation. Thus, tuition is waived for all of our students and our fellowship program provides a generous stipend to help them meet their living expenses - ensuring that they can focus on their studies uninterrupted. Furthermore, in offering free education, the ordinarily long-lasting burden of the repayment of student loans is eliminated.

The school was established as a program of the Meorot Institute - an innovative umbrella organization with a singular mission - to develop leadership that will shape the spiritual and intellectual character of the Modern Orthodox community. Other programs of the Meorot Institute included Meorot Rabbinical Fellowship Program for Men, Torah Miriam Fellowship for Women and a University Program for undergraduate students. Over 150 graduate students, rabbinical students, and rabbis have participated in these programs since the Meorot Institute's inception in 1996. Since 1999, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School has grown from the original class of 7 students to currently educating 44 future rabbis in its four-year semikha program and the preparatory Beit Midrash year. Thus, we place 7-15 new rabbis annually in communities throughout North America and Israel, wielding a powerful and highly positive impact on the Jewish community. Our alumni lead congregations and campus Hillels and teach in day schools.

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School offers innovative learning opportunities to the greater Jewish community in matters critical to furthering its mission and the principles of open Modern Orthodoxy. In addition, YCT runs a variety of events open to the entire Jewish community, including its Annual Yemei Iyun on Bible and Jewish Thought and Public Lecture Series Our mission is to professionally train open Modern Orthodox rabbis who will lead the Jewish community and shape its spiritual and intellectual character in consonance with modern and open Orthodox values and commitments.

We are deeply committed to:

• Inspiring a passionate commitment to the study of Torah in all its rich forms and the scrupulous observance of Halakha. • Cultivating spirituality - God-consciousness, piety, and ethical sensitivity - and integrating it into all learning, religious practice and worldly pursuits. • Encouraging intellectual openness, questioning, and critical thinking as essential components of one's full service to God (avodat Hashem). • Affirming the shared covenantal bond between all Jews. Promoting love of all Jews (ahavat Yisrael) and actively pursuing the positive and respectful interaction of all Jewish movements. • Recognizing the need to enhance and expand the role of women in talmud Torah, the halakhic process, religious life and communal leadership within the bounds of Halakha. • Recognizing Eretz Yisrael as our homeland and affirming the religious and historical significance of the State of Israel for all Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. • Affirming the shared divine image (tzelem Elokim) of all people, our responsibility to improve the world and our capacity to be enriched by it. • Living our personal, family, and public lives guided by the highest ethical standards, reflective of moral rectitude and sanctification of God's name (kiddush shem Shamayim).

Academics LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Through a combination of in-class study and field work, the Leadership Development curriculum trains students to be innovative leaders with the ability to implement their visions. The in-class learning, including seminars on homiletics, spirituality, politics, and synagogue management, provides a strong theoretical and factual foundation for a rabbi’s practical work.

PASTORAL COUNSELING Recognizing the critical importance that pastoral counseling plays in the rabbinate, students explore challenges inherent to the profession—specifically, how to meld the role of a compassionate non-judgmental listener with that of being a halakhic authority. Taught by leading psychiatric professionals, this intensive curriculum includes formal classroom instruction, role-playing, clinical experience, and mentored field work.

Interfaith Dialogue

Another source of controversy involving YCT is their involvement in interfaith theological dialogue.

Based on Rabbis Weiss' guidance, faculty and students at YCT have engaged in theological dialogue with non-Orthodox and non-Jewish movements. As reported in their Spring 2006 newsletter and in a Harvard University research report (May 31, 2005):[3], students have been engaging in dialogues with students from other theology schools:

Rabbi Weiss feels that the current Modern Orthodox community lacks enough of an appreciation for intellectual curiosity or a relationship with ideas and institutions outside its sphere, and seeks to remedy this in their curriculum. One aspect of openness, Rabbi Weiss writes, is that "many of our students regularly participate in interdenominational and interfaith events. Our students learn that religious growth comes not through dogmatism but through questioning and struggle." The administration does not directly organize interfaith dialogue, and unlike other participant institutions, a YCT staff member does not attend the interseminary dialogues in which students currently engage.

In addition, in April 2006 YCT invited a group of Catholic cardinals to the school. The online Orthodox blog Cross-Currents argued that YCT had crossed an important line recently re-emphasized by Modern Orthodox giant Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik when, during the events, it hosted a Talmud study session with the Cardinals, which included a convert from Judaism to Catholicism:

Absorption of EDAH functions

YCT will absorb some of the personnel and functions of the Modern Orthodox advocacy organization EDAH, which has announced its closure. YCT will absorb EDAH's current director, Rabbi Saul Berman, its journal, website, and audio-visual library. Rabbi Berman will head a new Rabbinic Enhancement Initiative which, according to YCT's press release, will focus on "designing and implementing programs to enhance the intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth of rabbis in the field."

I would also like to have our logo up on the site.
 * I don't understand what specific additions, changes, or deletions you want and on which article(s) you want that. Could you please be more specific?  DPeterson talk 23:19, 9 December 2006 (UTC)