COMMENTARY: Yeshiva University's Newspaper Should Not Have Published Controversial Essay

An editor of Yeshiva University's student newspaper, "The Beacon," was forced to resign this week because she authorized the publication of an essay about a woman having premarital sex with a man in a hotel room, and the regret she felt afterward.

The essay fueled a controversy at Yeshiva, mainly because it is an Orthodox Jewish-oriented university. For a better understanding of the reasons for this controversy, a brief overview of Judaism may be helpful.

Most Jews view Judaism as being divided into three major branches: Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. Reform Jews are considered the most liberal Jews; Orthodox Jews are considered the most traditional Jews, as they tend to strictly adhere to the Torah or Old Testament of Judaism par excellence; and Conservative Jews tend to fall in-between Reform and Orthodox Jews, as they are not as strict as Orthodox Jews, but are also not as liberal as Reform Jews.

Yeshiva is a university that is inspired by Orthodox Judaism; therefore, an essay relating to premarital sex in the student newspaper is considered to be highly offensive by most of its students.

On the other hand, students at Brandeis University -- another Jewish-oriented university located in Waltham, Massachusetts -- would not have been offended, if that same essay appeared in "The Justice," the student newspaper at Brandeis. Why the difference? Because Brandeis is primarily comprised of Reform Jews, who are much more liberal than Orthodox Jews.

That said, we must agree that the controversial essay published in "The Beacon" at Yeshiva University should not have been published.

One of Yeshiva's major goals is to maintain the high moral traditional Orthodox Judaic commandments, as it instills its values on its students. Indeed, an essay on premarital sex -- and its ramifications -- in Yeshiva's student newspaper is in direct contradiction of the university's Orthodox Judaic values.