An “askan” in Haredi communities is the political fixer who coordinates the communal interest before local or state power. Indig is the askan who represents the interests of the Ahronim segment of the Satmar community. Based on enmity, the organized Jewish community and many local NYC Jews went to political war in the fall of 2025. They did so, probably for good reasons, but Indig and the Satmar Ahronim bucked the trend. Reading this interview with Indig here at Mishpacha Magazine, you can feel the political theory behind his support of Zohran Mamdani for mayor.
Indig’s thoughts about the new mayor reveal a sophisticated political theory and about how power works in democratic-civil society from which we could all learn. The theory rests on two pillars: [1] Instead of the infamous friend/enemy distinction, it stands on the friend-friend differential. [2] Diaspora-Haredi politics is not based on weird and imaginary fabrications like norms and ideology. Diaspora Haredi politics is purely transactional. The higher civil-social purpose is to integrate the good of the community into the political structure of the city at large.
What is distinctive and unusual about Haredi political theory boils down to place. The notion that the Jews are in golus, or exile, defines the position of the Jew as slave, not citizen. Indig plays with this tradition while recognizing that the United States is a participatory democracy, a unique exception in Jewish political history. Indeed, according to Indig, Mamdani pursued Indig’s support, not vice-versa. Mamdani did so not because he needed the Haredi vote to win the election, but simply because he wanted support from the Jewish community. Also about place and space, the key virtue in politics requires one to step out outside one’s own little box.
I am not a Mamdani supporter, but he is now the mayor of NYC. Some of the material below is kind of funny. All of it is worth attention. The posturing in the Jewish community against and pro Mamdani in the primaries and general election was child’s play in comparison. Progressives who warm to Indig should keep in mind that his orientation expresses the same political logic that characterizes the ADL in its attempt to accommodate the Trump Administration.
Lastly about Israel. Just because Satmar is anti-Zionist does not mean that Satmar is anti-Israel. But in the view expressed here, Israel is an powerful sovereign country and can take care of its own problems.
In Hasidic theology, there is the notion that one should turn to and even embrace the evil inclination in order to sweeten it. Something of the same is going on here about turning an enemy into a friend. Below are selections from the interview that caught my eye. Included are anecdotes by Indig about a politician upstate named Antonio Reynoso. I am providing headings in order to give his remarks the coherent theoretical shape they deserve.
Enemy?
The first anti-Semite in history was Eisav (Esau). And what did Yaakov do? He gave him piles of gifts. Ja, mein Herr. Yeah, I’m your slave, how are you? What else can I do for you? He hugged and kissed him even while Eisav was trying to bite him.
Access to Power
I’m not here to defend any of his objectionable positions or public statements. I’m here to establish the access to the halls of power so critically needed by our many communities. This was the time and address at which to do it — not after the election, coming like an esrog after Succos.
Out of the Box
Once you get into this position you learn very quickly that there are many people and communities you have to deal and work with in New York City, the biggest and most diverse city in the world. You have to get out of your own little box.
Loyalty
[1]If there is an incumbent running to stay in office, and he or she has a working relationship with the community, we will be loyal to them. Voting someone out is like firing them, that’s a whole different level of rejection than declining to support a new candidate. This has been a principle of our community for 80 years, since we built a presence here after the Holocaust.
[2] If there’s no incumbent, we look for a person who has a track record of being helpful to the community — a friend with whom we have a relationship. Most candidates are coming from lower office, and we have prior experience with them.
[3] The most difficult choice is when you have multiple established friends running for the same seat. We only have one vote to spend, but we need to be loyal to all friends. In a case like this, all things being equal, we will usually go with the candidate who has a good chance of winning. There’s no point in wasting time, money, and energy for someone who has no chance of making it.
Transactional Poltics
We are looking out for the good of the community. One of the rich people who called to yell at me for endorsing Mamdani said it “makes the Satmar vote appear to be transactional.” I said, “You’re making a mistake. It doesn’t appear transactional, it is transactional.” What do you think politics is? You think I’m his mechutan? I’m his brother? That I love him? This is absolutely transactional. He wants to be mayor, and I want to make sure that when he is mayor, he’s going to work with our community. And several years from now when he’s out, the same will be true for the next one. This is not personal, it’s transactional. We are loyal to our friends, and will support anyone who is loyal to us and will be receptive when we have issues.
Muslims
That applies to an American politician from Kentucky or New York who has no reason to be anti-Israel, and if he’s busy bashing Israel, it’s because he hates Jews. But if someone is a Muslim and says, “I’m not an anti-Semite, I’m against the Israeli government because of how my Muslim brothers are suffering at their hands,” that can actually make more sense
Israel
Bibi [Israel] knows how to run [its] own show. [Israel] does not need my help. [Israel] doesn’t need to worry about our community in Brooklyn and I don’t need to worry about [Israel]. Let [Israel] let do [its] business and I’ll take care of ours.
Friends
I was the first to endorse Antonio Reynoso, and everyone attacked me for it. But I knew I could work with him, and he became a great partner. I took him to other communities, to meet other Jewish groups, and he said, “Rabbi, I don’t get it, I don’t recognize these people… they used to hate me, now they just want to be my friend.” I told him, “You’re going to be their friend, too.”
I generated an AI-translation of the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef, which I am sharing here. It is heavily annotated. The paragraph organization is very rough and represents my own attempt to provide thematic coherence. The AI-translation is followed by my own thematic introduction to the text and then a parsha-by-parsha digest of the text. I will continue to add to the digest following the liturgical year
The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef, named after its “author” Rabbi Ya’akov Yosef of Polonnoye (d.1782) is recognized as the first Hasidic book. Published in 1780 as a homiletical commentary to the Torah, the modernity of this book starts with the doubts that run throughout the length of the text. The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef will ask repeatedly regarding a Bible story or a mitzvah. How is this passage “relevant” to “every person” at “every time”? Is Torah just a “collection of stories” (passim)? Also modern is the anthroposophy –the study of the human being, its spiritual construction, development, and task . So too as is the sharp expression of intra-Jewish communal politics and antipathies.
I will venture to identify “subjugation” as the primary principle cutting a metaphysical, anthroposophical, and political arc throughout the entire commentary. There is the subjugation of “matter” to “form,” the subjugation of the body to the soul, the self-abnegation of “man” before the presence of God, and the subjugation of the communal klal to the Tzadikim (the “men of matter” to the “men of form”). Also modern is aversion to money and the concern throughout the text in marshalling the wealth of non-Hasidic Jews to fund the new movement.
MICROSCOSM “Man” is a small world. This is called the secret of “world (olam), year (shanah), and soul (nefesh).” The mnemonic for this interconnection is the Hebrew word ashan (smoke), taken from the verse “And Mount Sinai was in smoke” (Exodus 19:18). NEFESH is the individual person. WORLD refers to the collective whole of the Jewish social-communal-political body (the klal). YEAR refers to Shekhinah, whose union with Her Beloved depends upon “the men of form.” The soul of the year is Shabbat or Shechinah, whose outer garment is the six days of Creation. Each of these three figures contains an inner and outer aspect — corporeal matter and spiritual form (Be’Hukkataipar. 76, see Shoftim, par. 178).
MAN: The human is a spiritual body connected by limbs to the divine name, but the physical body is a screen that separates the human person from God. Physical desire for food, sex, and wealth is necessary for the elevation of the divine sparks that they conceal. This oscillation between the physical and the spiritual manifests the “secret” of “the living creatures ran and returned.” Appearing throughout the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef, the reference from the book of Ezekiel is to the cherubic beings propelled by the divine spirit in the vision of the divine chariot moving this-way-and-that-way (Ezekiel 1:14) (passim) (h/t Shaul Magid). Looked at one way, the body is the soul’s throne, the evil inclination a throne of holiness. The soul is on good terms with the body for the purpose of tricking it. Ultimately, the body’s subjugation is abject. The soul wants to leave the body, which submits to the soul, which accrues merit by submitting the body to Torah and to Torah scholars, who are the Temple, the dwelling place of God. Material existence is subordinate to this higher purpose serving God; and then destroyed (Balak).
THE ASCETIC TZADIK. The secondary literature claims that Rabbi Ya’akov Yosef left a strict and ascetic world view behind when he joined up with the Ba’al Shem Tov. I am not if this is true. The spiritual worldview of the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef remains ascetic and sectarian. First, there is the understanding that the human creature is nothing (ayin) compared to the great majesty of God. Therein lies the humility and genuine kindness that define the way of the Hasid and marks the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef. At the same time, Torah scholars are constantly differentiated from and set above the masses. The Tzadikim overcome the separation of matter and form by subjugating the one to the other, removing barriers of coarse food, heavy garments, and the pursuit of worldly wealth-business-commerce. The world-friendly aspect of Hasidism conveys the thought that the Tzadikim sustain the world via the covenant of thought, speech, action. But one should constantly imagine oneself as if one were dead and not in this world (Tetzaveh par.16). Materiality is the master in this world, the soul a stranger (Kedoshim).In a parable taken from the Besht that appears throughout the entirety of the text, the Tzadik is compared to “the minister who changed his clothes” (passim). The minister of the King goes out into the world to mingle among the masses for the purpose of bringing the prince back from exile. “I place God before me always; I have set the Lord before me always (Psalms 16:8) is arguably the iconic core of Hasidic spirituality (passim).
ISRAEL The communal soul-politics of the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef corresponds to the subjugation of the body to the soul of the individual human person. The community is split between the “faithful of Israel” and “the masses” (passim). The faithful of Israel are the “men of form,” the Tzadikim who manifest soul; the masses or the “men of matter” correspond to the physical body (passim). Just as the material is intended to serve the spiritual, so too are the masses supposed to serve the “faithful of Israel.” Hasidic spirituality stands against preoccupation with financial matters and livelihood (parnasa). But the Tzadikim depend upon financial support from wealthy Jews in the community. In order to cling to God, the ordinary mass of Jews “cling to Torah scholars” (passim). The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef is keenly aware that the sages no longer rule “this generation” (e.g. Bo, par. 106). One hesitates to call it ambivalence. The wealthy should support Torah scholars. “Kindness and truth,” i.e. the kindness of wealthy benefactors and the truth of the Torah sage, are encouraged to meet and “kiss” (passim). In the pursuit of this ideal compact, it is even the case that the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef puts the onus on leaders not to abandon the larger public upon whom they rely, to elevate them from the lowly rung of their spiritual stupor. At the same time, the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef is cautious about Tzadikim mixing with the people and will advise against it, even for the sake of Heaven (Emor par. 56).
THE KLAL Social historians will find in the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef evidence of the rough and tumble of communal politics, namely the Hasidic critique of mainline traditionalist Judaism and of loose spiritual-purity mores (see Joseph’s bad report on the brothers in Vayigash around par. 70). The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef complains a lot about “the generation” or “this generation” (passim) not being scrupulous with the mitzvot of ritual slaughter or shechita such as knives and salting. There are also complaints about prayer leaders and rabbinic leadership in the city. The sin of Golden Calf alludes to the sin of the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef’s generation. Parshat Nasso provides a most exacting sense of the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef’s conception of the generation in need of rebuke and words of musar at the cusp of the messianic age (Naso,113-40). Two of the largest parsha-commentaries (Kedoshim and Emor) (and a lot more from Leviticus) are dominated by this theme, even as the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef iscautious about potential backfire. If anything, the open hostility between Tzadikim and the ordinary Jews who mock and despise them is powerfully articulated throughout the text. So is the overt tension between faithful Torah scholars and lenient “Jewish judges”(see Shoftim around par. 107 or so). In this war, there are all kinds of enemy: there are the seventy nations against the single nation of Israel; the masses of the people against the Torah scholars; and the learners who are the enemies of the true Torah scholars, the faithful ones of Israel. In this degraded generation, “When a cantor comes to sing, there are many listeners, and when a preacher comes, the listeners diminish.” The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef understands only too well and resents the fact that the people are drawn to music and pleasure, not to words of rebuke and musar (Ki Teize).
On a personal note, I want to add the following. Over the years, I’ve encountered mentions in the secondary literature of Rabbi Ya’akov Yosef and the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef. Most of it is not much more than hagiographic gleanings and isolated generic teaching. No sense was given of the whole. As a student of modern Jewish thought, I always wanted to read this first Hasidic book, and found it, eventually, at Sefaria. But I always stopped short before the challenge of plunging through this very long commentary. I finally finished reading through an AI translation which I generated thanks to the new technology. (All references in this generated translation refer to paragraphs in the version at Sefaria.) I did not expect how unpleasant the content was going to be. Looked at as a historical document, the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef offers a critical lens onto the early decades of the Hasidic movement. To be sure there are nice words –about humility, the menorah as symbol of the Klal, the mutual inclusion and illumination of the members of the community (Nasso, par. 222). However, unlike material coming out from the school of Dov Ber of Mezerich, there is nothing folksy about the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef. Its leanings are hierarchical and elitist. Lastly, anyone who follows Haredi politics in the State of Israel today will recognize the roots of sectarian ethos and spiritual supremacy in this first Hasidic text –including the total disdain of ordinary Jews whose only purpose is to cleave to the Tzadikim and financially bankroll these men of form.
[Wordsearch document for keywords: men of form, subjugate, subdue, submission, submit, run and return, rebuke, men of matter, the generation, wealth, my teacher, I place God before me always]
DIGEST OF THE TOLDOT YA’AKOV YOSEF
TITLE
Ya’akov Yosef appeals to his own authority in this paean to the Besht (identified as “my teacher” throughout the entire commentary). The Besht manifests knowledge, hidden wisdom, Torah, the High Priest, light emanating from the Mishkan, fear of God, a holy man of God, Israel, a holy candle whose face illuminated the world with his wisdom; his words “were as joyous as their giving from Sinai from the mouth of the Almighty.” The key takeaway is that Israel (Baal Shem) loved Joseph (i.e. Ya’akov Yosef) and gave from his glory upon him, his offering an offering to the priest, especially and greatly.
INTRODUCTION
[The secret of Adam – the human creature]
The human person is composed of 4 elements (fire, wind, water, spirit), each with a corresponding vice and virtue. At issue is how to overcome impurity of the shell that covers the body. The human person is a spiritual body connected by limbs, i.e. mitzvot, to the divine name or root. Fear of sin and humility are the cardinal virtues along with lowliness and distance from worldly pleasure before the constant presence of God. Melancholy-sadness is associated with “earth.” Israel is an enhanced human creature whose purpose is to transform matter into form. Those who are lax in Torah and mitzvot are imprisoned by the evil inclination. They are “dwellers of darkness and the shadow of death,” subdued by the labor of their hearts and the forces of impurity. The “secret of Adam” is the connection to God by way of thought, speech, and action. The mitzvot are homologous to limbs. The nations cling to the branch of the Tree, Israel to root. Israel draws shefa to nations, etc. The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef connects his own name Yakov Yosef to this divine cosmic interface. Joseph is the lower foundation (Yesod) included in the upper foundation called Jacob, which is Tiferet (glory, splendor)]
GENESIS
The commentary to Genesis starts with the human, proceeds to the way of the Hasid, and ends with lovesickness, prayer, the longing to unite with God and the longing to unite Shekhinah with Her Beloved. The last word of the Genesis commentary is the dying in Egypt of the arrogance and pride of “Israel,” the lowliness and humility of “Jacob,” and constant meditation on Torah. “I have set the Lord before me always” (Psalms 16:8) is the motto of Genesis.
BREISHIT
[God is concealed in Chaos and Cosmos]
The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef starts in deep, dark chaos, and the concealment of God in the chaos, connecting, the human creature, turning matter into form. Humility and lowliness of Jacob, subduing-subjugating chaos and desire, drawing shefa into world, raising the physical to the root. After a person knows that there is no barrier separating him from his God, in times of Torah and prayer, if strange thoughts come upon him, these too are garments and coverings within which the Holy One, blessed be He, is concealed. Regardless, after a person knows that the Holy One, blessed be He, is concealed there, this is no longer concealment. God returned and hid Himself in various coverings and many shells, which are chaos and void and darkness, etc. for He foresaw and saw that there would be generations of wickedness, and He concealed the aforementioned light and hid it from the sinners in many shells. The Torah starts with Genesis to emphasize the fear of God, which is “the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 111:10). This fear leads to humility. Whoever is small is truly great. Israel is compared to the moon, which initially diminishes itself and later becomes full. The final exile is caused by the proud among Israel who are under the dominion of the evil inclination. When the proud are eliminated, they will emerge from the exile and the redemption will come. The purpose of the creation of the world was so that poor Torah scholars and rich Jews should connect together, so that both would be called great. The material people would influence the spiritual people with their wealth, and the Torah scholars, who are the spiritual ones, would influence the material people with their Torah. By the end of the parsha, the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef looks to the tradition of Ben Zomah who never married. The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef spiritualizes sexual desire and seeks to subdue its physical manifestation. To be “man” is to subdue desire. Overcoming barriers between the human person and God, Torah light are the scholars who lead the people, illuminating their path with the light of Torah.
NOAH
[The Tzadik]
Noah is the Tzadik-scholar who embodies the practice of spiritual seclusion. The guarantee of peace, the covenant of the Tzadik is a covenant of thought, speech, and action. Noah stands against the obsession with worldly and financial concerns, the Ark a symbol of spiritual isolation. Without freeing oneself from material distractions, one risks forfeiting both the World to Come and also this world. Subjugation defines the ideal relationship between scholars and the people who cleave to God by cleaving to scholars, i.e. the Tzadikim. “Righteousness and peace” embrace, creating a unity above and sweetening harsh judgments at their root. The Tzadik uncovers within judgment a hidden kernel of kindness. Yet before Abraham entered the world, kindness had not yet fully manifested. Abraham introduced this quality by taking Lot with him. Lot is the evil inclination in whom Abraham discerned an aspect of kindness, recognizing its purpose for the sake of Heaven. This act demonstrates the transformation of divine judgments into kindness.
LECH LECHA
[Descent]
Abraham embodies the principle of descent and connecting with others. On one hand, Abraham represents the virtue of extreme spiritual isolation. He leaves country and family. On the other hand, the Divine Presence encompasses all worlds —mineral, plant, animal, and human. All beings in the world, whether good or evil, are included within it. One learns from the wicked, even as one distances oneself from them. The unity of God means that down is up and up is down. When Abram diminishes himself, descending into the final letter of the divine name (representing malchut), he becomes Abraham, able to connect with others and elevate them. He becomes the “father of many nations.” One draws the pure from the impure, etc, evil is the throne of good, etc. Abraham is the perfect human being; who descends and refines nefesh-ruach-neshama (corresponding to action, speech, and thought) and rises to highest perfection (wrapped up in divine roots of kindness and blessing. Circumcision manifests the power of the Tzadik. The covenant of circumcision creates blessing for all creatures. Abraham unites the “awe of YHVH” (Malchut) with “YHVH” (Zeir Anpin), the power of connection, symbolized in Kabbalah as Yesod or phallus. In our commentary, Abraham is a figure bound up with images of sexual intercourse (zivug) and pleasure (ta’anug). The removal of the physical foreskin symbolizes removing the spiritual “foreskin of the heart” to acquire a good heart, completing one in good traits suited to engaging in Torah and mitzvot. The sexual organ, which provides the highest pleasure, symbolizes the unity that joins the male and female aspects. From physical pleasure, one grasps the spiritual pleasure of connecting oneself to the unity of the Blessed One, the source of all pleasure, etc. The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef is alert to a fundamental danger that the ascent is not as certain as the descent. It is dangerous to endanger oneself by descending without knowing if one will merit to ascend again. When a person thinks he is distant from God and stands on the earth, he is actually close to God, with his head reaching the heavens. But when he thinks he is close to God, his head reaching the heavens and he feels he is among the ascending, he is actually distant from God and standing on the earth, among the descending. The final word of the parsha is about humility. When a person sees a fault in another person, one should understand that there is a trace of that transgression within oneself and should feel the need to correct oneself.
VA’YERA
God World Evil Inclination Beit Ha’Midrash
Abraham is kindness; pillar of world. He is the secret of “run and return” who ascends and then descends to elevate others. In a system of metaphysical monism, God controls everything, including the evil inclination, which means that the evil inclination serves God; Focused on these two themes –kindness and the evil inclination, nothing is said about the Akeidah in this commentary to the parsha. When the Toldot Ya’akov Yosf turns to Isaac, it is to the figure of Gevurah-awe and the early pious ones in Talmud, i.e. to Hasidic piety completely devoted to non-stop prayer and Torah study. Abraham is the human being who is called a ‘small city’—exposed to the heat of the day, which symbolizes Gehenna. Sarah is an exemplar of the material (female) which becomes form and then returns to matter. This too in the language of “run and return.” A soul is elevated to neshamah [form] returns to body [matter] and gives birth to children [nefesh]. God is in Elon Mamre, which represents the evil inclination, the synagogue/beit ha’midrash where the evil inclination goes and is trapped and kept from roaming throughout the city. Abraham had God before him always, even among the wicked outside the beit midrash. The fear of Isaac is the inward turn in Hasidic spirituality. Having focused above on Abraham and kindness, the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef here turns to the prayer and Torah of a spiritual elite represented by Isaac who do not need much and who spend all their day at prayer and study –in contrast to people devoted to business, material gain, money.
CHAYEI SARAH
Nothing (Ayin)
In this parsha, the idea of “nothing” (ayin) and kindness are connected. The life of Sarah is return to the way of nature, while the death of Sarah hints at the death of the physical body due to bad traits stemming from the negative side of the 4 physical elements (fire, wind, water, earth). Introduced in this parsha, the way of the Hasid in the world (represented by Isaac) is the idea of “nothing” which sustains the life of the body free of envy, desire, honor, arrogance, and pride which drive a person from the world. This is to say that one should consider oneself as nothing. If Sarah rises above the physical level and returns to the way of nature, Isaac manifests the power of Din-Gevurah, which goes out into the world of ordinary people who are wicked and turns them to good. The ascetic life is to have God before me always, to be kind with everyone, to not worry about sustenance and earning a living. A person should devote oneself to Torah and mitzvot with the perfect faith that sustenance will come on its own. Isaac ascends to a higher level than his father in overcoming his tendencies towards strict judgment and ascending to the higher level of rachamim (mercy). At the gate of Awe is to place God before one always. The conduct of the Tzadik (with God before me) is to treat others with mercy; because God’s presence is even there in the ugly acts of others. Isaac takes negative things he sees and turns them into good. He sows with the people in the realm of Malchut. One should make oneself like a submissive and humble animal offering brought before God. Abraham now gets the last word in this parsha. Through Torah alone, “the Lord blessed Abraham in everything. This is Abraham’s perfect faith, his mastery of the evil inclination. To say that the goal of Hasidism is to set God before me always is to have God’s presence in one’s thought constantly, which requires the removal of all worldly distractions, including the pursuit of wealth and earning a livelihood.
TOLDOT
Harsh rebuke and boundless joy
From the attribute of Abraham, one ascends to the harsh level of Isaac, from which the resolution is born, which is Jacob. The patriarchs represent 3 intellectual faculties. Intellect is future oriented; desire is present oriented. Jacob is the Tzadik who mediates Intellect and Desire. Desire is first sweet and then bitter. Intellect subdues desire. The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef does not confuse good and evil by calling the one the other and vice versa. Sin manifests the “spirit of folly.” Isaac is the “son of Abraham” transforming chaos and sin into world of repair and kindness. The sweetening of harsh judgment which is Jacob has to come from the side of Isaac, and from Rebecca, who comes from Bethuel but manifests lenient judgment tempered with mercy. Jacob’s birthright is the promise of a limitless portion of boundless delight in God beyond reward and punishment. Judgment is cold and does not create offspring, which is why Isaac has to pray, connecting and subjugating left to right, fulfilling the Master’s will by accepting something harsh with love. On this middle line between Abraham and Isaac, one accepts harsh judgment and rebuke and does so with love, while serving God and doing good deeds not for the sake of reward, which is limited and not boundless. Superior delight and joy come from hearing open words of rebuke. In his rebuke against the people of his own generation, the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef positions Torah and prayer at the pinnacle of the world. Abraham dug wells to open a channel for God’s love in the world, and people in that generation would lengthen their prayers, as well as study Torah in the synagogue after prayer. But then the Philistines stopped up the wells, and the people returned to their previous fallen state. At this stage, Rebecca being barren manifests a defect in the Shekhinah, while Isaac embodies the trait of fear. He supplicates in prayer for Rebecca to repair the damage. He reopens the obstructed wells again. After the dispute with the servants of the Philistine king Avimelech came “Rechovot, and finally, they were fruitful in the land.
VAYEITZEI
Being in the World
After the theme of boundless blessing in the previous parsha, the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef turns to the profane world. Jacob leaving Beer Sheva leaves the inward solitude of Torah study and prayer and enters into the world of worldly matters to elevate and redeem the lowly. If Israel had observed 2 Shabbats, they would have connected the lower in nature with the upper above nature joining two separate things into a single matrix. At Beth El, Jacob comes to see that God’s name is also in this place full of wild animals, thieves, and evil forces. In Jacob’s dream at Beth El, the angels of God are Israel descending into the world. God is with the lowly, with Israel, with Jacob who lies down in the dust. In this view of the world, greatness lies in lowliness. Jacob is like Shimon bar Yochai and his son who must learn how to live in the profane world without destroying it. The soul descends from the world of Emanation (Atzilut) into the world of Action (Asiyah). To see in this world how the forces of impurity prevail and how lightly people treat the honor of the great King –all of this awakens within the Tzadik a greater desire to bring honor to the King of the Universe who is above and beyond all. The world is a ladder. In this hierarchy, the ordinary masses are the feet, the Torah scholars are the head. The scholars descend into the profane world to elevate the masses. Jacob’s vow and God’s promise –don’t be afraid—refers to the future of the Jewish people, the destruction of the Temple and exile due to loss of connection and abandoning Torah study. Shekhinah is with Israel in exile. In this world, a person should be unified with his “mother” and “daughter,” expelling foreign thoughts, which are like a shell or garment. While speaking Torah and prayer, which is his Daughter, his thoughts, or Mother should cleave with longing and attachment to the light of the King of Life, the light of Ein Sof within the letters of his speech. This musar is flexible, not hard and unbending. The Tzadik mixes with the people. Just as Rabbi Akiva entered the Pardes in peace and left in peace, so Jacob came in peace and left Haran in peace; he returned and entered the inner Torah, called peace, the mind-brain of the walnut.
VAYISHLACH
Overcoming The Evil Inclination
The struggle between Jacob vs. Esau is the struggle of form and matter in the world. Jacob’s mission is to sojourn in the world with Laban, the evil indication, and to do 613 mitzvot to prepare the body for the World to Come. There are limbs that are within a person’s control and others that are not—such as sight, thoughts, and the like. Jacob wants the favor of Esau, i.e. the love of matter, to subdue it to holiness. Jacob is afraid the evil inclination will kill him or he will kill it, for it is better to subdue even the evil inclination into holiness. The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef identifies three types of exile. There is the exile of Israel among the nations, the exile of scholars among the uneducated masses, and the exile of virtuous Torah scholars among evil scholars —those “Jewish demons.” The human person possesses a pure soul within a garment of Nogah within the animal soul. The purpose is to refine and transform the material into form and turn the evil inclination into the good inclination. Then he removes that garment and wears the garment of Ḥashmal, as did Moses. There are 5 orders of soul-ascent that mark the way of the Baal Nefesh in relation to world and material things. [1] One should prioritize the acquisitions of the soul over the acquisitions of the body in both action and thought. [2] The acquisitions of the soul and intellect continually increase and do not diminish. [3] The trait of contentment belongs to the Baalei Nefesh who rejoice in their portion. [4] The Baal Nefesh, who has eyes of intellect, looks toward the final day, knowing that all matters of this world have limits and an end; and through this, he will come to despise these worldly things. [5] The Baal Nefesh, after being complete in all his actions, will seek to guide others. A person must purify his thoughts first, and then perform the commandments, whether by action or by speech, so that they will all be pure and untainted by any external appearance. The Tzadik tricks the evil inclination, engaging it at the beginning to see how to overcome it like a lion for the sake of heaven. There is a danger in initially joining with the evil inclination, because no one knows if later he will be able to escape from the exile it constitutes. Through sharp exegesis, one enters into the pride within the husks, and afterwards, through the homiletic interpretation and ethics, the husks are shattered. In the days of the Messiah, “your eyes will see your teachers” (Isaiah 30:20), i.e. the letters of the Torah and prayer that they learn and pray, visible before their eyes, shining like polished worlds.
VAYEISHEV
Humility (Jacob-Joseph)
“These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph.” If a perfect person experiences some hindrance to Torah and prayer, he should understand that this too is from God who pushes him away so that he may draw close. Joseph (Yosef) alludes to the World to Come residing in the עקב (heel) (i.e. Ya’ako“And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his v). As World to Come Joseph signifies constant increase, as opposed to materiality and this world. “Israel” loves Joseph the most here refers to the collective of the Israelite nation who love the type of Joseph more than all than the other Torah scholars. The other scholars act for self-glorification or other personal benefit, whereas Joseph, the Tzadik, acts only for the sake of Heaven. Yehudah represents the quality of malchut (kingship truly approached to Yosef’s level. The service of the brothers was lazy and mechanical—merely following the customs of their ancestors. They resent the zeal of the Tzadikim who serve God with joy. Jacob dwells surrounded by awe “in the land of his father’s sojournings.” All of this was because the material murkiness of the land, i.e. Canaan, was still great and vast until later when it became purified and was called the land of Israel.
MIKETZ
Secret of Fear — Trust God
Joseph is the Tzadik who trusts in God, not human beings. Against people who seek riches and exploit the poor, instead of being humble and content with little] This is the secret of morah (awe), that a person must fear before the Blessed One, such that the awe of God should be upon his head—the secret of the surrounding light (Or Makif) that encompasses 248 limbs, corresponding to the numerical value of morah. This is the Shechinah that surrounds a person’s head and encompasses his intellect. No fear of humans should rest upon him. This is because he has morah and the surrounding light of Malchut, preventing anyone from overpowering him. There are two types of people: one who acts naturally, plowing and sowing in their proper times; and another who transcends nature, trusting in God to provide for their needs with minimal effort, devoting their time to serving the Blessed One. For such individuals, their work is done by othersOne who conducts himself according to natural order possesses the fear of kingship, which is called ‘his daughter.’ And one who conducts himself beyond natural order merits fear of the heavens, which is the secret of Binah in unity with Abba. When Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him, Joseph fell in level and was punished. But he restored his level when he put his trust back in God to interpret Pharoah’s dream. Since Joseph conducted himself beyond the natural order, placing his trust in the Lord and not in man, it was therefore fitting that he should not turn to illusions. A person of faith will have an abundance of blessings, the hidden goodness being reserved for the righteous in the World to Come. Unlike the person rushes to amass immediate wealth in matters of this world.
VAYIGASH
[Ascent]
Judah approaching Joseph manifests the way of Torah and the secret of prayer. Love sickness for God and closeness to the Shechinah cannot be attained except through the subjugation of the physical and the evil inclination, and this is through suffering. Need to subjugate physicality and the evil inclination which separate one from cleaving to God. Even the sicknesses and sufferings I have endured were love for me, for I merited closeness through them. Torah is the way of the Lord because it guides the complete person to ascend the mountain of the God and travel on their journey from level to level until the pure soul [nefesh] cleaves to the First Cause. To ascend the high mountain, one removes burdens to such as coarse foods, heavy garments, or loads of silver and gold—because they weigh down both the body and the pure soul. The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef likens the hatred of the nations for Israel with the hatred of Hasidim by common people and traditionalist scholars. Torah accommodates ordinary human behavior. Against finding flaws with others and not oneself; don’t criticize the Tzadikim (whom you call “youth”) who engage in Torah night and day. Judah approaching Joseph alludes to the subjection of the imagination and senses, which draw a person downwards, to the intellect. Subdue the one to the other gradually and gently until one can settle the mind and separate from them. The ascent to God exalts soul over body. Shechinah and soul return to the lofty place from the place of lowly exile. Shechinah rises from exile and from the husks (klipot), returning to Binah and then to Hochmah which is holiness. Peace and joy and everyone is beautiful to each other.
VAYEHI
[God Before Me]
“Jacob lived in Egypt” and “Israel drew near to die,” the deep meaning of which is a truth about the humility of Jacob and drawing near to God. The power of an action resides within the act; the creation of the entire world is like a locust whose garments come from itself. In all kinds of suffering and distress, there is a spark of holiness from God garbed within many garments. The Toldot Ya’akov Yosef criticizes the arrogance of “Israel,” i.e. traditionalist Torah scholars who brag and boast. One should instead accept little like Jacob in Egypt who only wants God before him. Everything is good. The Tzadikim always place God before them, humble themselves to the dust. “I have set the Lord always before me.” When the pride and authority associated with the title Israel diminish, this is called “death.” Then, “God will be with you,” for “I dwell with the contrite and humble,” elevating foreign thoughts back to their source, the place called “your forefathers,” the sparks of the Shechinah called “land.”
In this tendentious post, I want to trace along the edge of the broader undoing of political norms and institutional guardrails in the Age of Information a more local version manifest in the dynamic of Jewish life. Beset by deep strains of ethno-nationalism and violent religious supremacy, Israel becomes a politically and symbolically supercharged object in Diaspora Jewish life after October 7. In the mirror of larger social reckonings at a moment of technological disruption and political crisis is the curious unhinging across dominant segments of the Jewish Anti-Zionist Left. Not a normal country, Israel stands out as an object of animus, a massive and sun-like center of gravity that bends negative attention around it. With each passing year, discourse on the radical flank of the Jewish community has become binary –i.e. harshly polarized, increasingly “weird,” and intentionally “decentered.” As an oppositional force, Jewish Anti-Zionism on the radical left reflects the sectarian impulse –hostile and aggressive– in relation to Jewish moral community and to Jewish social norms like peoplehood, etc.
For those tracking the escalatory messaging at anti-Israel protests, this one outside a synagogue in NYC, and what to expect from Mayor-Elect Mamdani (as cribbed from Luke Terres at the TOI).
Chants “Death to the IDF,” “We don’t want no Zionists here,” “Resistance you make us proud, take another settler out.” “From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada,” “Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want no Zionists here” “We don’t want no two states, we want ’48” “Resistance is justified” “No peace on stolen land” “Settlers, settlers, go back home, Palestine is ours alone.”
Crowd abuse and intimidation: The activists later posted videos of Jews entering the synagogue, branding them “settlers” in the videos, while activists shouted “shame” in the background. A protest leader told the crowd, “It is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events. We need to make them scared. We need to make them scared. We need to make them scared” (with the roughly 200 protesters in the crowd repeating each sentence in unison).
Individually targeted acts of hate speech: One woman shouted, “Fucking Jewish pricks,” at passersby, while another yelled, “You’re part of a death cult,” while arguing with a man in a kippah. Another protester held a sign that said, “Pedophiles & rapists are running our government to serve ‘Israel,’” the text overlaid on a photo of US President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. Others shouted about the Hannibal Directive, referring to a conspiracy theory that says the IDF was responsible for the Israeli civilian deaths on October 7. “You fucking rapist cunts. You fucking pedophiles. You fucking Epstein pieces of shit,” one woman shouted. On Wednesday night, members of Neturei Karta, which has been condemned by other non-Zionist Hasidic movements, repeatedly stomped on an Israeli flag.
The protest was led by the anti-Zionist activist group Pal-Awda, and was advertised by other organizations around the city, such as the city’s branch of Jewish Voice for Peace and an array of student groups, including two groups from Columbia University.
Spokesperson for Mayor-Elect Mamani kid-gloving and siding with the protestors “The Mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest and will continue to do so,” Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said Thursday. “He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
A quick takeaway: Mayor-Elect/Mayor Mamdani will continue to “discourage” but not condemn anti-Israel-anti-Semitic hate speech and will continue to gin up real hatred against Israel under the banner of genocide and in the name of Palestine.
Young people never fail to impress. It is profoundly moving to hear students affirm what our classes mean to them, intellectually and personally. As part of the University led portfolio review of impacted majors across several departments and areas of interdisciplinary study, under the threat of pausing and threat of closing “third-tier” majors, the College of Arts and Sciences held a town hall. We were unsure how many students were going to attend. At 6:00 On a cold Wednesday night the week before the long Thanksgiving break, students filled the large Killian room to talk about the value of the Humanities.
On the negative register, our students face structural impediments to study in the Humanities. Students described how the large programs and professional schools create silos, monopolizing student time with onerous degree requirements. The large programs and professional schools treat students like numbers. Faculty do not create opportunities to dive into deep discussion. The large programs and professional school do not teach human intelligence and communication. Advising is across the board terrible, slotting students into classes that do not speak to them intellectually or emotionally. The Humanities are invisible at Syracuse, as is probably true nationally. Parents are a part of the problem. Tuition is unaffordable. Students are stressed out by neo-liberalism. They are confused about the lack of commitment from the Administration to the Humanities and to student interest in intellectual exploration and growth.
On the positive register, students described passionate commitment to a broad-based civic interest based on human value, purpose, meaning and connection. They love their classes and the Humanities and they love their faculty. They know we see and look at for them. Students want basic things like Religion, Medieval Studies, Languages, History, Women and Gender Studies, Jewish Studies, LGBTQ Studies, Asian American Studies, Art History. We heard shout outs to Dante, Japanese anime, queer sexuality in the medieval period, Dead Sea Scrolls, the Crusades, Buddhism, German language studies, Kabbalah, Italian language studies. In this digital age of AI, students underscored the critical importance of the written word and student essay.
A takeaway: the Humanities and vulnerable programs across the Humanities cannot suffer in silence or give in to pessimism. With student support behind us, faculty need to double down, restore public trust in the work we do, secure our place in the University, make a lot of noise and be visible in public, contribute op-eds and send letters to students newspapers, set up Instagram accounts and other online platforms, lobby and lean into this political moment.
On a personal note, I want to underscore the centrality of Religion and the seamless presence of Jewish Studies and the Jewish Studies Program in the mix of this discussion about the Humanities and its future at Syracuse University.
I designed a student survey for the major in Modern Jewish Studies and the minor in Jewish Studies as part of the “portfolio review” at Syracuse University. What are the impediments that weigh against a student declaring a major or minor sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program? Are students interested in our classes and what do they take from them? Are students even aware that there is a major or minor offered by the Jewish Studies Program? Are they even aware that there is a Jewish Studies Program at Syracuse (most of our students sign up for our classes through larger departments like Religion or History)? I am attaching the survey below + a large pdf containing response from students enrolled in a large Introduction to Judaism and in an introduction to Great Jewish Writers.
The survey results indicate genuine interest on the part of many, perhaps even most of the students who enroll in our classes. Classes in Jewish Studies (cross listed between Jewish Studies and larger home departments) enjoy robust enrollments. Students are very interested in the content on offer. A great many of them express what I trust is genuine enthusiasm. I believe many students understand the qualitative distinction that differentiates our courses from the larger, anonymous professional programs of study. But attempts to attract majors and minors in the Jewish Studies Program (and across the Humanities) face harsh headwinds that are beyond the control of our faculty. These impediments are personal and structural.
[1] The Jewish Studies Program and major and minor are effectively invisible. Students (as well as faculty colleagues, administrators, and advising officers) don’t know the Jewish Studies Program, major, and minor even exist. Because they signed up for class through a larger departmental body, the great many of the students in our survey are finding out that there is a Jewish Studies Program for the first time from the instructors pitching it to them.
[2] Most of the Jewish students seem to like learning about “their religion.” Non-Jewish students like the material and are learning a lot. Students are actually interested in religion and in Jewish thought.
[3] Students might like our classes, but are not interested in pursuing the minor or major.
[4] Students do not see how a program in Jewish Studies fits into a larger career path. I would imagine this is true across the Humanities.
[5] Students have no time to consider a double major or minor in Jewish Studies. Onerous degree requirements in the larger programs lock their students in place, leaving them no time to explore other areas of possible interest. I imagine this is also true across the Humanities.
Major in Modern Jewish Studies or minor in Jewish Studies
The academic study of Jewish society and culture, texts and ideas, is a platform upon which to develop unique perspectives out onto the world in which we live. Courses explore literature, thought & culture, gender, politics & society, Israel & the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, history, Hebrew, the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, art, architecture, visual culture, Judaism, Bible, and textual tradition.
[1] A double major in Modern Jewish Studies or a Minor in Jewish Studies is based in critical skills and human intelligence essential for work across the professions (law, medicine, media and journalism, the arts, business and finance, government and politics, tech) and work in the Jewish community (federation work, the rabbinate, museums, social services, Jewish education, non-profit work, Israel advocacy, etc.).
[2] As part of a double major or a minor, Jewish Studies open out alternative points of view to larger programs of study and traditional majors such as in American Studies, Art History, Communications, English and Textual Studies, History, International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, Sociology, Visual and Performing Arts, Women and Gender Studies, or the Writing Program. Work in Jewish Studies makes more complex your study in other fields.
[3] Study and learning for its own sake, a major in Modern Jewish Studies or a Minor in Jewish Studies provides opportunities for students to explore universal human questions relating to culture, ethics, identity, and meaning. You don’t have to be Jewish and it doesn’t matter what you believe or don’t believe; we only want you to think and write, clearly and critically, about the things most important to you.
For more information, please feel free to contact:
Professor Zachary Braiterman (Jewish Studies Program, Director), zbraiter@syr.edu
At a moment when the country and its culture are fundamentally confused about race, religion, Jews, and the Middle East, Syracuse University is pausing the enrollment of new majors in the Jewish Studies Program along with majors in the Department of African American Studies, the Department of Religion, and the Program in Middle East Studies. Add to that Classics, European languages, and other programs across the Humanities.
Based on harsh budgetary pressures and the need to “reallocate resources,” the decision by SU to pause new enrollments to majors identified by the Administration as “third tier” and to do so with the possibility of ultimately closing some programs will cause real damage to the undergraduate experience at SU. It will make SU less attractive to students and their families, and is only generating confusion among students at SU.
The minor in Jewish Studies and the major in Modern Jewish Studies at Syracuse University take the Jewish experience in modern times as its signature focus. A student minor or major can build their coursework around a flexible, individually crafted course of study. Our popular courses explore American, European, Israeli and Yiddish literatures, Jewish thought and culture, Jewish history, Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Holocaust and antisemitism, as well as an introduction to Judaism, the Hebrew Bible, the classical Jewish textual tradition and Hebrew language.
Jewish Studies provides a critical and core discourse that contributes to the understanding social change and communal resilience, human value and personal meaning. It does so today at a moment of profound social and psychic disruption. Our classes, which typically generate repeat enrollments, contribute to the study of “culture, community and change,” a rubric SU now claims to be promote as a “pillar of distinctive excellence.”
We are all in this together. Programs such as Jewish studies, African American studies, Middle Eastern studies, Religion, and foreign languages complement and enhance other areas of study. We draw from an array of cultural perspectives – including perspectives from minority communities – that are typically overlooked in larger programs of study such as English, history, philosophy and political science. Our classes in the Jewish Studies Program attract robust enrollment from students with diverse backgrounds from across all colleges within SU, including professional schools. Majors and minors enjoy a personalized and intensive student experience with faculty and graduate student teaching assistants.
A decision to eliminate enrollment in the modern Jewish studies B.A., along with other impacted programs, would be nothing less than a body blow to the Jewish Studies Program at SU. The decision would:
[1] Form part of a larger assault on the Humanities writ large in the larger life of the modern universities are now dominated by STEM and professional schools and programs.
[2] Cut off potential avenues of growth for advanced undergraduate study, which will not easily grow back once eliminated.
[3] Send an unambiguous and negative signal to students, faculty, parents and the larger Jewish community, including parts of the Jewish donor community, that Jewish studies as well as other impacted areas of study simply don’t matter at SU.
[4] Cause reputational harm to SU as an institution of higher learning for serious humanistic research while undercutting the value of a Syracuse degree.
The impacted programs now under pause are instead being forced to bear the burden of large, systemic failures and mismanaged institutional and budgetary priorities that plague modern universities. Indeed, these cuts at a time of war, racial and religious polarization, festering antisemitism and a climate of authoritarianism across the globe are a symptom of severe disorder and social malfunction in university life and the culture at large.
When I was an undergraduate many decades ago, I was one of two majors in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at University of Massachusetts Amherst. I was privileged to engage intensively with wonderful professors who looked after me. I went on to pursue graduate work at Stanford and a rewarding academic career here at SU, which has been my home for 28 years.
Before the age of intellectual austerity, one could imagine the existence of small programs thriving in a greater university ecosystem. Course enrollments in the Jewish studies program, all of them cross-listed across the humanities, are evidence of student interest in the classes we offer. SU should be promoting diverse areas of study, not abandoning them in the face of negative headwinds affecting humanistic study across the entire modern university.
A great institution of higher education is only as strong as its smaller programs. Jewish Studies should be a vital component part of that vision of the university as a place that fosters diverse and vital knowledges.
The very real challenge addressed by the program review now underway at Syracuse University is how to grow the number of majors and minors in our impacted programs and across the humanities. I have every confidence that faculty in the Jewish studies program and other impacted programs want nothing more than to engage the larger university community regarding the future of these programs together. This requires serious work from colleagues in the impacted programs. But to date, the Administration has taken a sink or swim approach to the Humanities and to our impacted smaller programs. The Administration has offered no concrete help countering built-in structural impediments to enrolling new majors, impediments which are built into bureaucracies and curricula across the entire university.
Long recognized as a vital concern for Jewish community, the future of Jewish Studies is on the line at Syracuse University and across the country.
As director of the Jewish Studies Program, I am asking for support from the Jewish community. To this end, I especially invite students and their families, alumna and supporters to contact the chancellor, provost, and deans at Syracuse to engage them in the open spirit of contributing to what is a still fluid conversation. But more importantly, I invite students and their families to consider the value of the student experience in majors and minors across the Humanities and in small, intensely vital programs of study such as Jewish Studies. These provide critical complements to other areas of study and are themselves inherently interesting.
As one student told me, the professional colleges prepare students for jobs demanding critical and human intelligence whole failing, spectacularly, to train students in those very skills. A keen combination of human values and critical inquiry based on close reading and writing and communication are precisely crucial now at the very moment when artificial intelligence and other technological transformations take on a life of their own. Faceless technologies polarize the country and culture. Institutions of higher education such as SU should be doubling down on the Humanities and supporting our small, impacted programs, including Jewish Studies, as essential to the mission of the modern university in service to the common good.
As part of a “portfolio review,” Syracuse University is pausing the enrollment of new students in BA programs in Religion, Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies as well as foreign languages and other programs in the Humanities.
The onus is placed purely on faculty to come up with what are basically band-aid solution to the nation-wide crisis in majors in the Humanities. Rather than create mechanisms that encourage students to enroll in these impacted programs, the Administration is taking a sink-or-swim approach to the undergraduate curriculum. This at a time marked by massive confusion about things like religion and political life, Jews, and the Middle East, and the value of humanistic study.
The other day I ran into an Associate Dean on my way to class who has been involved in the portfolio review. I believe she is acting in good faith, even as the situation is probably helpless. We started chatting, I’m sure about the portfolio review. Completely at random, a very bright student approaches us and warmly introducing himself to me. Turns out he’s the son of an old friend from my days in Habonim and he knows my 21 year-old.
The Dean was, I think, very much aware of the interaction.
Here’s what I wrote to her:
Hi K.:
I wanted to reach out after what I thought was a funny encounter re: that student we ran into who recognized me and started chatting me up. He’s the son of a friend of mine who recognized me from a photo and by reputation. He just spent a year in Israel with a progressive Jewish youth movement. A first year at student. INTENDED INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS major.
As he and I continued walking, I told him that given his interest in Israel and the Middle East and North Africa that he should consider a double major in MESP (Middle Eastern Studies Program). We’ll meet, I hope, and I’ll continue to push this with him..
The issue here is that ADVISING and DEGREE WORKS and especially COLLEAGUES in the larger departments should be recommending the smaller programs of study to students as complementary to their own programs of study. They should be actively seeding students across the colleges to programs like MESP, RELIGION, JEWISH STUDIES, etc.
