[Avodah] TIDE in Lthuania

[Eli Turkel]

<<Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer has kindly given me permission to post
his article dealing with TIDE schools in Lithuania that appears in
this month's Jewish Observer. ...  it makes it clear
that the gedolim in Lithuania were willing to provide a TIDE
education to the youth, because the environmental situation in
Lithuania had changed as a result of the modernization of the
country.  Indeed, it seems that not only were they willing, but that
they felt it was necessary.>>

I fully agree with the assessment of the importance of this article

If I read the footnote correctly more youth remained religious in this
part of Lithuania then in the area around Brisk where TIDE did not
penetrate.
Interesting that the gedolim in EY decided on the Brisker attitude
rather than the Telshe approach to gymanisum in spite of the greater
success of the Telshe & TIDE

It seems that Telshe was in general more open to secular studies. My
wife grew up in Cleveland many years ago and her teachers were the
rebbetzins from Telshe.  They were experts in Tanach ala Nechama
Leibowitz (they were her contemporaries and obviosly their education
was independent of hers) and in general were wordly
I believe that the wife of R. Bloch had a MD

-- 
Eli Turkel