[Avodah] Torah study vs. other contributions to society

[Samuel Svarc]

>From: "kennethgmiller at juno.com" <kennethgmiller at juno.com>
>Subject: Re: [Avodah] Torah study vs. other contributions to society
>
>Very simple. Yes, TuM does accept this approach, namely, if Torah
>study is what you excel at doing, then go for it. There's nothing in
>TuM which would want to prevent the world from having excellent
>rabbis. TuM simply acknowledges that there *IS* value in other
>studies, but chalilah that it would put them *above* Torah.

I agree that it is chalilah to place them above Torah, however, a major
spokesman for TuM gives them equality. As I quoted in Areivim Digest V14
#281, "Rabbi Norman Lamm describes the Torah u'Madda philosophy in the
following terms: "Torah, faith, religious learning on the side and madda,
science, worldly knowledge on the other, together offer us a more
over-arching and truer vision than either one set alone. Each set gives one
view of the Creator as well as his Creation, and the other a different
perspective that might not agree at all with the first....
Each alone is true, but only partially true; both together present the
possibility of a larger truth." Rabbi Lamm's words are taken from his book,
Torah U'Madda, page 236."

KT,
MSS