Public Exposure

The Yeshiva University Beacon Scandal

Recently, a very small corner of the New York Jewish world was rocked by a scandal. A piece of creative writing was published in an undergraduate student publication at Yeshiva University, detailing an unmarried young woman's loss of her virginity. The coming-of-age story quickly scandalized the Yeshiva University community--an institution which believes in merging secular knowledge with Orthodox Jewish religious practice, observance, and morality--as many found the subject matter prurient and at odds with Orthodox religious values. The story spread through the Jewish world, and even made its way into the U.S. national news cycle, with publications such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal picking up the ball.

The scandal is interesting in and of itself, highlighting the familiar tensions that crop up when socially conservative religious belief systems and faith communities exist within a larger secular modernity. The scandal is also topical for the wider Jewish world, as Israelis increasingly find themselves working through the challenges that Ultra-Orthodox groups are posing to women's rights, civil liberty, and religious freedom--a debate currently being waged on the battleground of "feminine modesty" and access to public transportation. Meanwhile, Modern and Ultra-Orthodox communities in the U.S. and abroad are feeling increasingly embattled, as they see their traditions and communities placed under an unwelcome public spotlight. In addition to the culture wars currently going on within Israel, the past year has seen a grisly murder, sex-abuse scandals, and financial fraud arrests rock these traditionally insular communities, events which have sparked a discussion about whether members of these communities are suffering from inadequate access to support and advising regarding "taboo" topics like sexual health, domestic abuse, and mental illness.

When the YU Beacon scandal broke, it sparked a lot of internet chatter. I personally became aware of it only a few days ago, and I was intrigued by how the "comments" sections of a lot of the blogs and media sources carrying the story were rife with people struggling to get a handle on its implications. It's a juicy scandal, pitting the values of free speech and expression against concerns of institutional/communal reputation and public morality while still leaving room for discussions about personal agency and religious belief, the adequacy/inadequacy of communal resources and support for individuals who find themselves outside of traditional mores, the specter of whether community and religious leaders are willfully ignoring the shifting needs of their constituents, and still leaving room for the occasional thump of an Old Testament by those inclined to thumping.

What absolutely shocked me, however, was how many of these opinions were being posted by people under their real names and identities. Reading through the Facebook accounts.

Other Interesting Links Covering the Beacon Scandal:

Jezebel

The Atlantic Wire

Fox News

-- RonMazor - 20 Jan 2012