For the record

In his JTA piece on the recent certification ceremony of Sara Hurwitz at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, Ben Harris cites an unrelated comment of blogger Jonathan Mark that Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School graduates “can’t get hired by OU shuls.” Mr. Harris and Mr. Mark should check their facts more carefully.

More than a dozen YCT graduates proudly serve as rabbis and assistant rabbis in Orthodox Union synagogues throughout the country. These include such prominent synagogues as Congregation Kehillath Jeshurun (New York City), East Denver Orthodox Synagogue (Denver, Colo.), Cong, Beth Shalom, (Potomac, Md.), Kehillat Kesher (Englewood, N.J.), Cong. Shearith Israel (Nashville, Tenn.), Cong. Beth Israel (Berkeley, Calif.), and Cong. Beth Israel, the only Orthodox synagogue in the reemerging city of New Orleans, La. In addition, dozens of our graduates serve in other Orthodox pulpits, Hillel, and day-school positions. Moreover, two of our recent graduates are serving in the position of Jewish Learning Initiative directors, a program sponsored by the OU for Orthodox students on campus, at Princeton University and Brandeis University. A 2009 YCT graduate will soon be taking on the position of director of JLI at Harvard University.

Our placement offices continue to receive more requests than we can fill as communities in the field recognize the outstanding qualities of our program and the many fine young YCT graduates who are entering the field to devote themselves to the Jewish people and Torah. These communities simply ignore misinformed and mean-spirited hearsay and gossip. A correction and an apology to the OU, YCT, its graduates and all those communities throughout the country is certainly in order.

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