Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Discusses The Merchant of Venice, Modern-Day Anti-Semitism 

Hundreds gathered on the morning of November 30 to hear Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik in a conversation on Torah, law and literature titled “The Merchant of Venice: A Jewish and British Reflection.” The event was the second one of the year hosted by Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, and marked Sacks’ second visit as a Straus Center guest.

Chief Rabbi Sacks and Rabbi Soloveichik discuss The Merchant of Venice at YU’s Straus Center event.

Sacks and Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center, began their discussion focusing on Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. In the play, Shylock’s obsession with justice is juxtaposed with Portia’s compassion, epitomized by her line: “The quality of mercy is not strained,” and continuing: “Therefore Jew, though justice be thy plea…we [Christians] do pray for mercy.”

“Shakespeare here is expressing the medieval stereotype of Christian mercy against Jewish justice,” said Sacks. “[However,] justice and mercy are not opposites. The false contrast between Judaism and Christianity in The Merchant of Venice is testimony to the cruel misrepresentation of Judaism in Christian theology until recently.” Read the rest of this entry…

From O.J. Case to Gaza War, Alan Dershowitz Confronts Moral Complexities at Straus Center Event

As Israel grappled yet again with the complex strategic and moral challenges of self-defense, Alan M. Dershowitz delved into a nuanced analysis of the obligations, merits and dangers of human justice in a conversation presented by Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought on November 20.

Alan Dershowitz and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik at the November 20 Straus Center event

Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center, drew on many recent publications by Dershowitz, a world-renowned lawyer and political commentator and the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, in juxtaposition with the biblical travails of Abraham to frame the discussion, which addressed topics as far-reaching as capital punishment, post-Holocaust Germany and Dershowitz’s own part in the defense of O.J. Simpson against murder charges.

Read the rest of this entry…

Straus Center Presents Conversation with Alan Dershowitz on November 20

Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought will present a conversation between Professor Alan M. Dershowitz and Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik on Tuesday, November 20 at 7 p.m. in Weissberg Commons, 2495 Amsterdam Avenue, on YU’s Wilf campus. The event, titled “From Sodom to Nuremberg: A Conversation about Genesis, Justice and Law,” is free and open to the public.

The Straus Center hosts Alan Dershowitz on November 20.

Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, is a graduate of Yeshiva University High Schools and has published hundreds of articles in numerous publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The New Republic and Commentary. He is the author of 27 fiction and non-fiction works with a worldwide audience. Dershowitz’s most recent titles include Rights From Wrong, The Case For Israel, The Case For Peace and The Case For Moral Clarity: Israel, Hamas and Gaza.

“As the Straus Center’s academic theme this year is ‘Jewish and Western Philosophies of Law,’ I am especially delighted and grateful that Professor Dershowitz, one of America’s most prominent figures in both the legal world and in Jewish public life, has graciously agreed to visit Yeshiva and engage our students,” said Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center. Read the rest of this entry…

New Book Brings Chancellor Lamm’s Timeless Commentaries to a New Generation

Yeshiva University will be publishing a selection of essays based on sermons on the book of Genesis delivered by YU Chancellor Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm early in his rabbinical career.  The volume, entitled Derashot LeDorot , is sponsored by the Michael Scharf Publication Trust of Yeshiva University Press and OU Press, and is scheduled for release by Maggid Books, an imprint of Koren Publisher Jerusalem, on September 23, 2012.

Derashot LeDorot (literally “A Commentary for the Ages”) is culled from the files of the Lamm Archives of Yeshiva University and draws from lectures and speeches given by Rabbi Lamm between the years 1952 and 1976 Read the rest of this entry…

Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik Delivers Opening Invocation at Republican National Convention

Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, delivered the invocation at the opening session of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday, August 28.

“It is extraordinary privilege to deliver an invocation at a cherished ritual of American democracy,” said Soloveichik. “The fact that I have been teaching courses about the connection between Jewish ideas and American democracy makes this moment all the more meaningful for me.”

An associate rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan, Soloveichik graduated summa cum laude from Yeshiva College, received his semikha [rabbinic ordination] from RIETS and was a member of its Beren Kollel Elyon. In 2010, he received his doctorate in religion from Princeton University. Rabbi Soloveichik has lectured throughout the United States, in Europe and in Israel to both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences on topics relating to Jewish theology, bioethics, wartime ethics and Jewish-Christian relations. His essays on these subjects have appeared in Commentary, First Things, Azure, Tradition and the Torah U-Madda Journal.

“Yeshiva University celebrates its faculty and the opportunities they have to share their knowledge and wisdom beyond the walls of the University,” said President Richard M. Joel. “We also respect faculty’s right to their own political and policy views. Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik is a true son of Yeshiva and we are proud that he has the wonderful opportunity to address the Republican National Convention and to spread the Torah’s sacred values to the world.”

See coverage in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forward, Tablet and JTA.

Mayor Cory Booker: “Use Your Faith to Help and Inspire Others”

On the evening of May 8, students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the greater Yeshiva University community filled Lamport Auditorium to hear Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, discuss “The Role of Religion in Education and Public Life.” The event was the final installment of this year’s Great Conversation Series of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought.

Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik and Mayor Cory Booker discuss “The Role of Religion in Education and Public Life” at the final Straus Center event of the academic year.

The conversation—led by Straus Center Director Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik—bounced around from discussing how Booker’s personal faith influences his daily life, issues regarding the importance of improving education, and the nature of faith in the public square in America. Throughout the conversation, the mayor sprinkled his words with pointed anecdotes, quotes of important figures like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi, and—to the crowd’s delight—passages from biblical and rabbinic literature in English and in Hebrew. Read the rest of this entry…

Straus Center Presents May 7 Discussion with Newark Mayor Cory Booker

Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik will discuss “The Role of Religion in Education and Public Life” on Monday, May 7, 2012. The event begins at 8 p.m. and will take place in YU’S Lamport Auditorium, Zysman Hall on 2540 Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights. It is free and open to the public.

Mayor Cory Booker will discuss the role of religion in education and public life at the May 7 Straus Center event.

The discussion is part of YU’s “Great Conversations on Religion and Democracy” series, convened by the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. Booker’s presentation will mark the fourth and final talk this academic year in the “Great Conversations” series. Previous guests were Senator Joseph Lieberman, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth, and former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey.

“Mayor Booker is one of the most inspiring and thoughtful stars on the political scene today,” said Soloveichik. “I am honored that he will be joining us for what is certain to be an exciting, thought-provoking and entertaining evening.”

Mayor Booker, in his second term, is a force for change and urban reform. Reflecting his commitment to education, his administration was recently awarded a challenge grant of $100 million from billionaire and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to improve Newark city schools. Among other recent notable achievements under his leadership, Newark has committed to a $40 million transformation of the City’s parks and playgrounds through a groundbreaking public/private partnership. The administration has also doubled affordable housing production and drastically reduced crime in the city.

The Straus Center is named in honor of Moshael J. Straus, an investment executive, alumnus and member of YU’s Board of Trustees, and his wife Zahava, a graduate of YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The Center’s mission is to help develop Jewish thinkers and wisdom-seeking Jews by deepening their education in the best of the Jewish tradition, by exposing them to the richness of human knowledge and insight from across the ages, and by confronting them with the great moral, philosophical, and theological questions of our age.

Please RSVP to strauscenter@yu.edu. For more information, please visit www.yu.edu/straus.

From Interrogation Techniques to Detaining Terrorists, Former Attorney General Offers Legal Insight at Straus Center Event

On the evening of March 5, students, faculty, alumni and guests filled the Schottenstein Cultural Center on Yeshiva University’s Beren Campus to hear a discussion between former United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik on the topic of “Religion and Ethics in an Age of Terror.”

Mukasey and Soloveichik discuss legal responses to terrorism at March 5 Straus Center event.

The third of this year’s Great Conversations on Religion and Democracy series of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, the event followed on the success of the two earlier installments in which saw the Straus Center hosted Senator Joseph Lieberman and Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.

As director of the Straus Center, Soloveichik introduced and conducted the event. He explained how the topic was chosen because of its timeliness to the holiday of Purim, in which the Jewish people commemorate the vanquishing of their foes while living in the Persian Empire. He used this parallel to segue into a discussion regarding Mukasey’s involvement with the legal response to terrorism during his tenure as a judge in New York and later working for the administration of President George W. Bush.

The conversation focused on topics including how to legally deal with the rise of terrorism, the Bush administration’s legacy regarding interrogation techniques and how best to detain individuals who wish to harm the United States.

Soloveichik brought up the 1995 trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the Blind Sheik and the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, presided over by Mukasey. Many of the terrorists involved were caught by the FBI and brought to trial in New York as criminals. Mukasey noted that in retrospect this was not ideal. “The mistake was that we did not see this as a war against the United States but as a crime,” he said. “In reality, this was a military effort that required a military response.”

After the jury found the terrorists guilty, Mukasey sentenced them to life imprisonment as their crime of seditious conspiracy was not eligible for the death penalty.

From there the discussion shifted gears to the Bush administration’s handling of detainees during the War on Terror. Here Mukasey shared his disappointment regarding the public view of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” utilized by the CIA. He said that referring to the intelligence gathering method as such was the “worst form of branding since New Coke.” He would have preferred that it had been called “harsh” or “coercive” interrogation instead.

“What this label suggested was that what was being done was so horrible that it could not be accurately described as harsh, which it was, or coercive, which it was,” he said. “Instead they used a weasel term like enhanced integration techniques. I thought that that was a huge mistake. It suggested that something unspeakably bad and probably illegal was being done, neither of which was true. They should have just said harsh interrogations.”

To help further prevent international terror, Mukasey recommended the setting of special legal parameters to handle the detention of enemy combatants to ensure that the CIA or other government organization can properly interrogate them without worrying about breaking the law.

Upon exiting the Cultural Center, Kimberly Khay, a Stern College for Women student in Soloveichik’s Judaism and American Democracy class said, “Tonight’s event was required for our course but I would have come any way. This offered great insight into important legal and political issues of our day.”

Straus Center Presents Pre-Purim Conversation with Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey on March 5

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik will discuss “Religion and Ethics in an Age of Terror: A Pre-Purim Conversation” on Monday, March 5, 2012. The event begins at 7 p.m. and will take place in YU’s Schottenstein Cultural Center at 239 East 34th Street in Manhattan. It is free and open to the public.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey will speak at the March 5 Straus Center event.

The discussion is part of YU’s “Great Conversations on Religion and Democracy” series, convened by the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. Mukasey’s presentation will mark the third talk in the “Great Conversations” series. Previous guests included Senator Joseph Lieberman and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth.

“I am honored that such a distinguished jurist and extraordinary public servant has agreed to visit Yeshiva and the Straus Center,” said Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center. “Throughout his career, Judge Mukasey has addressed the most critical national security questions of our age. He is the perfect person to take part in a conversation on religion and democracy, and to help us prepare for Purim, a holiday during which we are called upon to ponder how to deal with enemies who seek destruction. I look forward to an intellectually and religiously invigorating evening.”

Mukasey, who graduated Yale Law School in 1967, served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Criminal Division of the Southern District of New York during the mid-‘70s and then as chief of that office’s official corruption unit from 1975-1976. From 1988 to 2006, he served as a district judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, becoming chief judge in 2000. Mukasey served as the 81st attorney general of the United States from November 2007 to January 2009. He oversaw all activities of the Justice Department and advised on critical issues of domestic and international law.

Since February 2009, Mukasey has been a partner in the New York office of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he is a member of the litigation department and focuses his practice primarily on internal investigations, independent board reviews and corporate governance. The honors he has received include the Federal Bar Council’s Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence and an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Brooklyn Law School. He and his wife are members of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s East Side.

The Straus Center is named in honor of Moshael J. Straus, an investment executive, alumnus and member of YU’s Board of Trustees, and his wife Zahava, a graduate of YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The Center’s mission is to help develop Jewish thinkers and wisdom-seeking Jews by deepening their education in the best of the Jewish tradition, by exposing them to the richness of human knowledge and insight from across the ages, and by confronting them with the great moral, philosophical, and theological questions of our age.

Please RSVP to strauscenter@yu.edu. For more information, please visit www.yu.edu/straus.

Conversation with Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Caps Exciting Week for YU’s Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought

The week of October 23 marked a new chapter in Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. On October 26 the center was formally dedicated at YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Two days later, throngs of students, alumni, faculty and friends of Yeshiva University filled Weissberg Commons on the Washington Heights Wilf campus to witness a conversation between the director of the Center, Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, and the United Kingdom’s chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks.

President Richard Joel addresses crowd before conversation with Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik

As the second in a series of Great Conversations on Religion and Democracy, the event with Lord Sacks—titled “Religion and Democracy in America and Europe”—attracted a capacity audience similar to the first conversation in the series with Senator Joseph Lieberman held at the end of August.

With its formal dedication and growing popularity, the Straus Center now enters its formative stage. Through its undergraduate courses, public events and upcoming publications, the Straus Center will now place a focus on sharing ideas with the faculty and students to discover how it can best move forward the mission of the University.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jStYO8OJUC0&feature=youtu.be

Prior to the event with Lord Sacks, Yeshiva University President Richard M. Joel acknowledged the presence of “trustee, friend and benefactor Moshael Straus who has made this possible. It is really important that all of us recognize the opportunity and our responsibility to engage in issues and implement what we learn from engaging in issues,” said President Joel.

Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

“The mission of the Straus Center is to cultivate here at Yeshiva the Jewish thinkers and public intellectuals of the future and to further intellectually invigorate American Jewry at large,” said Rabbi Soloveichik in his introduction to the event. “Given these two goals there is no one more perfect to have here today than our guest, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.”

Rabbi Soloveichik and Lord Sacks exchanged anecdotes, observations and insights on the state of religious expression in the public sphere in America and Europe, the nature of contemporary anti-Semitism, and ways in which Judaism and Jewish teachings can enhance and advance the world at large.

Lord Sacks shared a story on this last topic. He described how former British Prime Minister Tony Blair greatly enjoyed studying Tanakh (the books of the Jewish Bible) and on occasion would pose questions to Rabbi Sacks on certain aspects of scripture. One such conversation motivated Rabbis Sacks to write his book The Home We Build Together which went on to influence British policy concerning its multicultural population.

Although the United States falls outside his jurisdiction as chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth, Rabbi Sacks maintains a strong relationship with Yeshiva, highlighted by his receiving the first ever Norman Lamm prize almost two years ago.

Adam Frohlinger, a current Presidential Fellow, described how eager he was to hear the conversation. “I wanted to hear the chief rabbi speak in person,” said Frohlinger. “The fellowship had Rabbi Soloveichik speak to us yesterday about his ideals concerning religion and democracy and I thought it would be fascinating to hear the perspective of Rabbi Sacks as well. It was phenomenal. The Torah described is not just theoretical. It has a practical application for life.”

Zahava and Moshael Straus, President Joel and Rabbi Soloveichik at the Oct. 26 formal dedication of the Straus Center.

Two days earlier, the formal dedication of the Straus Center took place with an intimate crowd of the friends and families of the Strauses and Soloveichiks. President Joel and Moshael Straus both offered remarks and Rabbi Soloveichik delivered a lecture titled “The Colonial Chuppa: A Reflection on America’s Founding.”