Reply To: Donating a Gemara to a Catholic College

An update- I took the advice of some posters here and contacted Oorah. I left a message for R’ Chaim Mintz, and the next day, I got a call from a gentleman who said that he has “no official affiliation with Oorah, is not a rabbi, but was asked to reply to my message.” This is in spite of the fact that I asked to speak with a posek and asked what were the mekoros they relied on in determining to make the decision they made. He then said that Seton Hall is “not a Catholic college, but a general college.” This is not true; it seems someone may have misled these poskim with the metzius. Seton Hall is under the Newark Archdiocese and has a Catholic Seminary on campus. The library the Shas is in has a statue of Yeshu and a picture of the pope on the wall, not too far from the shelf. There are churches on campus, tzelomim, monks in robes, etc. He then said that there are many Jews, including “misguided” ones on the campus. This is not the case; I am involved with the JSU on campus and there are maybe 3 or 4 yidden who show up. That’s it. I know hundreds of people on the campus, and there are maybe 60 Jewish students in total in the undergraduate and graduate programs (most of the yidden in the graduiate programs are either in a special MBA program with R’ Zucker’s yeshiva in Marine Park or are frum girls in PT/OT/Counselng programs.) The university asks students on applications to list their religion, and of those selecting Jewish, there are simply not hoards, as this fellow would want me to believe. Then he said that the Shas would benefit Jewish SHU Law School students, despite the fact that the law school is in downtown Newark and the university itself is in South Orange. All I was told is that poskim encouraged having a Shas there because it could benefit Jewish students. My inquiries about Clifford Meth;s statements, the galach saying a prayer over the Gemoras, the possibility of goyim learning areas not applicable to them, etc. all went unanswered. I left another message for Rav Mintz- we’ll see if I get anywhere this time.