JL;DR SUMMARY The appointment of Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman as President of Yeshiva University offers a moment to reflect on the state of Modern Orthodoxy in the U.S. while highlighting a deeper issue affecting American Orthodoxy and YU, emphasizing a lack of leadership and the departure of future leaders to Israel. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.