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Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, dean who led Yeshiva U seminary through period of growth, dies at 94
(JTA) — Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, who as dean of the rabbinical seminary at Yeshiva University for 37 years oversaw a period of enormous growth for the Modern Orthodox institution, died Jan. 16. He was 94.
When Charlop was named dean of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Y.U. in 1971, it had 154 students. When he retired in 2008, it had 340.
Charlop was also on hand for a transition in American Orthodoxy, training American-born, college-educated rabbis to succeed the European-trained rabbis who had held pulpits and led yeshivas through much of the 20th century.
“When I first came to Yeshiva as a student” in the 1940s, “almost all of the roshei yeshiva were European-trained” and many lacked university degrees, he told the New York Jewish Week in 2008, referring to the top scholars on the RIETS faculty. In 2008, he said, over 90% of RIETS faculty trained at Y.U., which offered undergraduate and graduate degrees in addition to ordination.
Charlop saw the transition as a fulfillment of the Y.U. philosophy, “Torah umadda,” or Jewish and secular learning, which posited that Orthodox Jews should take part fully in general society without compromising on their religiosity.
Charlop wanted RIETS “to be a place of intense Torah scholarship,” Chaim Bronstein, an administrator at the seminary, recalled in a tribute upon Charlop’s retirement. However, “he did not want our students and roshei yeshiva to remain in an ivory tower. He wanted them to go out into the community. He wanted to produce rabbis who can relate to the broadest range of Jews throughout the country and throughout the world.”
Charlop was himself a pulpit rabbi, having been given a lifetime contract in 1966 at age 36 by the Young Israel of Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx, New York. Charlop led the synagogue through a period of declining fortunes in the Bronx and the flight of many of the Jews from the neighborhood to the suburbs and other neighborhoods in New York City.
“On Rosh Hashanah, 1977,” he told the New York Jewish Week, “we sold 875 seats” in a main and overflow service. “In 1978, we lost 40 seats. By 1985, we didn’t need a second service. The next year it was less. The next year, it was less than that. We still have many members but few in the neighborhood.” The synagogue closed in 2015.
Charlop was considered an authority on Torah and Talmud and lectured in American history. His scholarly essays include “The Making of Orthodox Rabbis” for the Encyclopedia Judaica and “God in History and Halakha from the Perspective of American History” for The Torah U-Madda Journal, a Y.U. publication. Charlop was also editor of three novellas on Torah and Talmud by his late father, Jechiel Michael Charlop, a Jerusalem-born rabbi.
Aaron Goldscheider, the former rabbi at Mount Kisco Hebrew Congregation in New York’s Westchester County, recalled visiting the dean’s office and studying the writings of Charlop’s grandfather, Ya’akov Moshe Charlop, a disciple of Abraham Isaac Kook, the chief rabbi of Palestine.
“[S]itting in Yeshiva University, a bastion of Lithuanian learning, I was treated to a glimpse of the more mystical world of study characteristic of Rav Kook and his protege Rabbi Charlop,” Goldscheider recalled in the acknowledgements of his book, “Torah United.” “It is impossible to put into words my feelings of gratitude for those precious weekly meetings. They were a source of inspiration at the time and continue to carry me until this day.”
After his retirement, Charlop served as dean emeritus and special advisor on yeshiva affairs to Yeshiva University’s then-president Richard M. Joel.
Zevulun Charlop (pronounced khar-LOP) was born in the Bronx on Dec. 14, 1929. His father had arrived in New York in 1920 and after his own ordination at RIETS served as a pulpit rabbi in New York, Canton, Ohio and Omaha, Nebraska. In 1925, the elder Charlop returned to New York and became the rabbi at the Bronx Jewish Center.
Zevulun attended Yeshiva Salanter in the Bronx and Talmudical Academy, which would later be known as Yeshiva University High School for Boys. He earned degrees at Yeshiva College and Columbia University, and was ordained at RIETS.
Charlop once said that his ideal Y.U. would be “a yeshiva like Volozhin,” a legendary seminary in what is now Belarus, and a university like Columbia. But he would also note wryly that the Vietnam War turned out to be a great recruiter for Y.U., at a time when rabbinical students could earn a deferment from the draft.
Charlop inherited an activist streak from his father, who was one of the organizers of the 1943 “Rabbis’ March” on Washington, D.C. protesting inaction during the Holocaust. Charlop himself led his synagogue in supporting integration during the civil rights movement and various Jewish causes, including the fight for Soviet Jewry and support for Israel. But there were limits to an Orthodox rabbi’s role, he told the student publication Kol Hamevaser in 2012, when Y.U. was facing competition from activist rabbis who sought to liberalize Modern Orthodoxy’s approach to women’s roles and other issues.
“Turning a yeshiva into a big tent can be a dangerous thing; if we start lessening our inward Torah focus then we may start neutralizing learning and, rahamana litslan, yir’as shamayim [God have mercy, our fear of heaven],” he said. “In order to be able to sustain the multifaceted world that we have here in Yeshiva, we have to be deeper in the core. So long as we know that in this process we may be willy-nilly, lightening the thrust of our Torah learning, then widening the tent cannot be achieved. Rather, we must widen and, indeed, deepen our Torah learning and kiyyum ha-mitsvos [fulfill the commandments] at the core.
Charlop served as president of the American Committee for the United Charities in Israel, General Israel Orphans Home for Girls in Jerusalem, and the National Council of Young Israel rabbis.
His survivors include two sons, Rabbi Alexander Ziskind Charlop and Rabbi Zev Charlop, and six daughters, Peshi Neuburger, Leebee Rochelle Becher, Annie Riva Charlop, Shoshana Schneider, Zipporah Raymon and Miriam Reiss. His wife, Judith, died in 1999.
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US House Education Committee Chair Denounces Biden Admin’s ‘Toothless’ Campus Antisemitism Settlements
Demonstrators take part in an “Emergency Rally: Stand With Palestinians Under Siege in Gaza,” amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, Oct. 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The new chairman of the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce has excoriated several recent civil rights settlements that, he says, allow colleges to evade accountability for being derelict in their handling of campus antisemitism after Hamas’s attack on Israel last Oct. 7.
“It’s disgraceful that in the final days of the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of Education is letting universities, including Rutgers, five University of California system campuses including UCLA, and John Hopkins, off the hook for their failures to address campus antisemitism. The toothless agreements shield schools from real accountability,” Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) said in a statement issued on Thursday. “The Trump administration should closely examine these agreements and explore options to impose real consequences on schools, which could include giving complainants the opportunity to appeal these weak settlements. And certainly, no more complaints should be settled before President Trump takes office.”
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), a division within the US Department of Education, has spent the past year and a half investigating universities accused of allowing an open season of hate on Jewish students. Such inquiries, if they are not closed due to insufficient evidence, may result in settlements in which higher education institutions admit to having violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and commit to enacting policies which remedy their noncompliance.
For example, Rutgers University recently agreed, as part of an OCR settlement, to train employees to handle complaints of antisemitism, issue a non-discrimination statement, and conduct a “climate survey” in which students report their opinions on discrimination at the school and the administration’s handling of it. In that case, OCR identified “compliance concerns” regarding the university’s handling of violent threats against Jewish students, the desecration of Jewish religious symbols, and discrimination targeting a predominantly Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi).
Additionally, Temple University agreed last month to implement “remedial” policies for past, inadequately managed investigations of discrimination and to apprise OCR of every discrimination complaint it receives until the conclusion of the 2025-2026 academic year. It also agreed to conduct a “climate” survey to measure students’ opinions on the severity of discrimination on campus, the results of which will be used to “create an action plan” which OCR did not define but insisted on its being “subject to OCR approval.”
In Thursday’s statement, Walberg denounced these and other similar settlements, which were spearheaded by a US presidential administration that refused to recognize anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism, as little more than a pantomime.
“These so-called resolutions utterly fail to resolve the civil rights complaints they purport to address. The department is shamefully abandoning its obligation to protect Jewish students, faculty, and staff, and undermining the incoming administration,” he said.
Nothing short of a revolution of the current habits and ideas which constitute the current higher education regime can prevent antisemitism and extreme anti-Zionism on college campuses, the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce has previously argued. An overturning of the current order, it wrote in a report published before the winter holidays, would involve reforming aspects of the campus culture which do not appear immediately connected to the issue of antisemitism. Fostering “viewpoint diversity,” for example, would prevent echo chambers of ideological zeal which justify hatred and violence as a means of overcoming one’s political opponents, the report said. It also argued that restoring “academic rigor,” undermined by years of dissolving educational standards for political purposes, would guard against the reduction of complex social issues into the sloganeering of “scholar activism,” in which faculty turn the classroom into a soapbox.
In lieu of so momentous a change, the report encouraged the executive branch of the US government, which is awaiting the arrival of a new administration headed by President-elect Donald Trump, to enforce colleges’ applying Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to incidents of antisemitism and punish those that do not by, for example, freezing their access to federal funds.
Nearly two years of an epidemic of campus antisemitism unlike any ever seen in the US is what has caused Walberg and his committee colleagues to be suspicious of resolutions which maintain the status quo in American higher education. Since Oct. 7, 2023, anti-Zionist activity on college campuses has increased by 477 percent, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) — a trend which has resulted in Jewish students being spit on, assaulted, and pelted with hate speech not uttered openly in the US since the 1950s at America’s most prestigious universities. Holding them accountable, the committee has said, has been difficult due to their ability to mobilize their immense legal and social capital against any action which threatens their power.
“Rather than treat the antisemitic hate plaguing their campuses as a serious problem, they handled it as a public relations issue,” the committee said in its report, citing one example of the corruption it identified. “Penn [University of Pennsylvania] administrators [tried] to orchestrate media coverage depicting members of Congress as ‘bullying and grandstanding’ and Columbia Board of Trustees leaders dismissing congressional oversight on campus antisemitism as ‘capital hill [sic] nonsense.’”
Moreover, it added, university leaders have heaped opprobrium on those who investigate campus antisemitism and openly wished that the Democratic Party would win a majority in the US Congress, an outcome they believed would quell any further inquiries into the matter.
“The findings expose a disturbing pattern of defensiveness and denial among institutions,” the report concluded. “Rather than confronting the severity of the problem, many institutions have dismissed congressional and public criticism and abdicated responsibility for the hostile environments they have enabled. This refusal to acknowledge or address the issue has allowed antisemitism to root and thrive in spaces that contravene the values of this great nation.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post US House Education Committee Chair Denounces Biden Admin’s ‘Toothless’ Campus Antisemitism Settlements first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Defense Chief Orders IDF to Plan for Hamas Defeat if Hostage Talks Fail
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
JNS.org — Defense Minister Israel Katz has instructed the Israel Defense Forces to urgently develop a plan for a decisive victory over Hamas in Gaza if a hostage deal is not finalized before US President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated for a second term on Jan. 20.
“If the hostage deal does not materialize by the time President Trump takes office, Hamas in Gaza must face complete defeat,” Katz stated in a release issued by his office on Friday.
The statement emphasized that Israel must avoid being drawn into a prolonged war of attrition, which would be costly and fail to deliver a strategic victory or end the conflict in Gaza. Katz called for a plan ensuring Hamas’s total defeat, which the IDF is expected to present during upcoming security assessments.
During a meeting on Thursday night attended by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and other senior officials, Katz reiterated that securing the release of the hostages remains the top priority of the defense establishment. “Everything must be done to bring them home,” he said.
Katz also instructed the IDF to identify potential challenges to implementing the plan, such as humanitarian concerns, and to leave those decisions to the political leadership. He emphasized that discussions on Gaza’s political future are irrelevant to the current military strategy, saying that no Arab or other party would assume responsibility for Gaza’s civilian affairs while Hamas remains intact.
Israeli forces target Hamas leadership, kill key terrorists
The IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced on Thursday the elimination of key Hamas figures involved in attacks on Israeli forces.
In a series of airstrikes, Osama Abu Namos, the commander of the “Sabra” Battalion in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, and his deputy Mahmoud Al Tarq were killed. Both men were responsible for directing attacks on Israeli troops and civilians.
Additionally, Mahmoud Shaheen and Hamada Diri, company commanders in the battalion, were eliminated for their roles in coordinating attacks and supplying weapons.
The IDF and Shin Bet affirmed their commitment to continuing operations against Hamas terrorists.
The post Israeli Defense Chief Orders IDF to Plan for Hamas Defeat if Hostage Talks Fail first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Wildfires are impacting the Jewish community in Los Angeles—with one synagogue completely destroyed
Philissa Cramer reports for JTA.
Daniel Sher’s voice broke as he related the latest to members of his Pacific Palisades synagogue. Kehillat Israel had just sent a message saying that its building had so far survived the devastating Palisades Fire, but, the associate rabbi noted, so much had been lost.
“I cannot begin to describe the feeling that I am currently holding as I hear from so many beloved community members who’ve lost their home—while my family has found out that we’ve lost our home,” Sher said in a video he posted to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon. “Our community that we love so dearly is in disarray.”
Sher later shared a picture taken by his wife of what remained of the home they lived in with their three young children and pets. Only a fireplace and chimney could be distinguished from a sea of ashes—one of thousands of structures that have burned in the last two days as fires rage across the Los Angeles area.
At least one historic synagogue, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, was completely destroyed by fire, but not before community members battled challenging conditions to remove the Conservative congregation’s 13 Torah scrolls.
#BREAKING Chabad of the Pacific Palisades has safely evacuated all the Torahs from their building.#PalisadesFire pic.twitter.com/A5ngbIbigH
— Frum TikTok (@FrumTikTok) January 8, 2025
Los Angeles’ Jewish community—the second largest in the United States—has swung into action, attempting to provide relief and reassurance at a volatile time. Synagogues and Jewish community centers in safe areas are opening their doors to those who have fled their homes. A Jewish loan society is doling out funds to people who must start from scratch. And local Jewish eateries are fanning out to distribute free food to firefighters who have been battling blazes for days, with no end in sight.
“We have bagels. We have food trucks. We want to pull up to any safe zones to feed firefighters or anyone displaced from their homes,” Yeastie Boys Bagels posted on Instagram on Wednesday. Soon after, it announced that it would be distributing bagels at several evacuation centers. On Thursday, the pop-up shop announced, it would partner with Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen, known for its work in disaster zones, to do even more.
At least five people have died and more than 100,000 have been ordered to evacuate the fires, the worst in L.A. history, burning mostly uncontained in multiple locations across the region. Many others, lacking power and reliable water, have preemptively left their homes for areas with clean air and less risk.
Among those who have lost their homes are the Jewish celebrities Billy Crystal, Adam Brody and Eugene Levy. Meanwhile, a local newscaster encountered Steve Guttenberg, a Jewish actor who belongs to Kehillat Israel, as he sought to help people who had to abandon their cars in gridlock while evacuating the Palisades Fire.
Some of the new fires have cropped up in densely populated areas closer to the city’s core, including Hollywood. The city continues to experience high winds and low humidity, creating conditions for continued spread. Firefighters have reported a shortage of water in hydrants, leaving their hoses less than full.
While the region has always been prone to wildfires, the risk has historically been low in the winter. But this year, little rain has fallen, drying out vegetation fueled by last year’s historic rainfall, creating optimal conditions for a winter blaze that watchdogs say is a perfect example of the kind of “compound climate disaster” that is becoming more common.
“Now is the time to rally support for the communities being ravaged by these ferocious fires,” Rabbi Jennie Rosenn of Dayenu, a group that aims to mobilize Jews on climate issues, said in a statement. “It is also the time to use our radical imagination to envision and build a different future—one that is just, livable, and sustainable—free of this kind of rampant and devastating destruction.”
For now, many in the region are focused on immediate, practical concerns. The Jewish Free Loan Association announced $2,000 no-interest loans that do not require guarantors for all Angelenos with emergency needs, such as replacement clothing and hotel stays. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles compiled a list of more than a dozen Jewish institutions providing refuge and emergency assistance to people from across the region, while also looking ahead toward the long recovery process the region will require. And community members are taking stock of what has been lost, even as the risk remains for more devastation to come.
“I do know that we will continue to care for one another, to reach out to one another, and we will rebuild,” Sher said in his video. “So many of us are experiencing heartbreak. But when a community experiences heartbreak together, it means we can mend our hearts together as community as well.”
The post Wildfires are impacting the Jewish community in Los Angeles—with one synagogue completely destroyed appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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