We’ve gotten so far off topic. Anyone have any other suggestions for places to learn for the prospective ger? My advice is to email Rav Lazer Brody, who is an American oleh and knows English-speaking people from all Orthodox walks of life in Israel. I think he’s mentioned gerim and places for them to learn in some of his blog posts. Hatzlacha!
RebDoniel, persuading the commenters on this site to speak respectfully of left-wing Modern Orthodox rabbis like Rabbi Avi Weiss is not going to be an easy task, and alas, it may be a lost cause. To give you an example, Popa has created an entire thread meant to make fun of Rav Weiss’ Yeshivah, and while people protested, I believe the thread stayed up. I too wish that different streams of Orthodoxy would avoid bashing one another and calling one another names, and I don’t mean to dissuade you from working toward achdus and mutual respect, but as far as this site is concerned, at least under its current moderators, I’d advise against getting your hopes up.
This is just an idea, but what might be useful is to write an article going through each of the charedi criticisms of YCT rabbis (Yated Ne’eman, for example, has a few articles against them), and evaluating each one using traditional halachic and hashkafic sources to see if they are correct. Really, such an exhaustive treatment is what people need to accomplish and consider before they draw any personal conclusions about a competing Orthodox group. Unfortunately, people are accustomed to judging people based on knee-jerk reactions and the bandwagon effect, much as in politics.