Faur credits these rabbis with providing him an outstanding Jewish education.

"They never assumed an arrogant attitude toward their students or anyone else. They were accessible to all and encouraged contrary views and free discussion. The truth was the result of a collective effort in which everyone had equal access and share, rather than being imposed by an individual of a superior mind. Following Sephardic educational tradition, the teaching was methodical and comprehensive. Before one began to study the Talmud,  it was expected of him to have a solid knowledge of the scripture, Mishnayot, the famous anthology Ein Yaaqov , the Shulchan Arukh and other basic Jewish texts".

Faur reminisces about his time at the Yeshiva: "The first lesson I heard by Rabbi Kotler sounded like a revelation. He spoke rapidly, in Yiddish, a language I didn't know but was able to understand because I knew German. He quoted a large number of sources from all over the Talmud, linking them in different arrangements and showing the various inerpretations and interconnection of later rabbinic authorities. I was dazzled. Never before had I been exposed to such an array of sources and interconnections. Nevertheless there were some points that didn't jibe. I approached R' Kotler to discuss the lesson. He was surprised that I had been able to follow. When I presented my objections to him, he reflected for a moment and then replied that he would give a follow-up lesson where these difficulties would be examined. This gave me an instant reputation as some sort of genius (iluy), and after a short while, I was accepted into the inner elite group. My years in Lakewood were pleasurable and profitable.... At the same time the lessons of R' Kotler and my contacts with fellow students were making me aware of some basic methodological flaws in their approach. The desire to shortcut their way into the Talmud without a systematic and methodological knowledge of basic Jewish texts made their analysis skimpy and haphazard...The dialectics that were being applied to the study of Talmud were not only making shambles out of the text, but, what was more disturbing to me, they were also depriving the very concept of Jewish law, Halacha, of all meaning. Since everything could be "proven" and "disproven", there were no absolute categories of right and wrong. Accordingly, the only possibility of morality is for the faithful to surrender himself to an assigned superior authority; it is the faithful's duty to obey this authority simply because it is the authority and because he is faithful. More precisely, devotion is not to be measured by an objective halacha (it has been destroyed by dialectics) but by obedience. Within this system of morality there was no uniform duty. It was the privilege of the authority to make special dispensations and allowances (hetarim) to some of the faithful; conversely, the authority could impose some new obligation and duties on all or a part of the faithful. To me this was indistinguishable from Christianity."

Faur left the yeshiva and enrolled at the University of Barcelona, where in 1964 he received a Ph.D. in Semitic philology (the first Jew to receive such a degree since the expulsion of Spain's Jews in 1492).

While teaching at JTS, Hakham Faur also taught Tora classes for Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York. This aroused the ire of certain ultra-Orthodox right-wing groups who erroneously identified him as an active member of Conservative movement. Initially, Faur received the support of the Chief Rabbi of the Syrian community, Hakham Jacob Kassin who signed a public letter attesting to Faur's (Orthodox) religious standing. Hakham Kassin explained that Faur did not at all agree with the religious ideology of the Conservative movement, and that he had accepted a position on the JTS faculty only in order to earn a living. Opposing Hakham Faur, however, were several high profile Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis from both the Sefardic and Ashkenazic communties, including Moshe Feinstein, Ovadia Yosef and Elazar Shach. They applied enough pressure to convince Hakham Kassin to retract his previous support, which he did and subsequently joined the defamation campaign against Hakham Faur.

In the summer of 1987, Hakham Faur received support from an unexpected source. The Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Hakham Halom Messas, convened a Beith Din (religious court) which examined the allegations and evidence against Faur - coming to the conclusion that he was innocent of all charges; this decision was confirmed by the Chief Sefardic Rabbi, Mordahai Eliyahu. However, the opposition to Hakham Faur did not end there. The notorious Haredi weekly publication, Yated Ne'eman, ran an advertisement on February 8, 1998, calling for the prevention of Hakham Faur's appointment to the position of rabbi at the Syrian Congregation Sha'are Sion in New York. Aside from his misconstrued involvement with JTS, the advertisement accused Hakham Faur of "speaking improperly about great medieval Ashkenazic sages," and that "his books emit an odor of heresy." The de-facto blacklisting was signed by seventeen leaders of Sefardic yeshivoth. In a now familiar pattern, Hakhamim Messas and Eliyahu withdrew their earlier support for Hakham Faur due to intense political pressure.

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