[Avodah] Torah Study vs. other contributions to society

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, April 27, 2007 3:42 am, R Samuel Svarc wrote:
: Experientially, this is a disproven perspective. The two greatest
: examples of people who spent their lives in an "ivory tower" are
: the Gra and the Chazon Ish....

Both of whom made a point of studying math and science.

Despite the legends about the CI's knowledge of medicine, his nephew
attests that the CI studied medicine in his younger years in Europe.
Autodidactically, but still quite seriously and for many hours.

The Gra's knowledge of math, science and music are legendary.

(People didn't spend time studying subjects in outhouses, the stench
precludes anything but getting finished as quickly as possible. Nor
did they have lighting by which to read more than a small hole in the
top of the door. Even if we didn't have family testimony and the Gra's
own statements otherwise, those legends are implausible.)

They actually stand as counterexamples to your assertion that the
perspective is disproven. They both did take time from learning.

As do the usual Torah-and sources. As does Kelm's gymnasia, or
Volozhin's Russian language classes, or... Both Volozhin and Slabodka
talmidim were expected to invest real time in limudei chol -- outside
of formal classes. RAEK writes of the heated debates they had in
Slabodka about the merits and problems of thinkers like Kant, Marx and
Freud. (Not to mention the chess tournaments.) Truth is, one would be
very hard pressed to find a historical source for as hard of a line as
you are taking.

On this note, it's one thing to say "I don't hold like XYZ." It's
another to deny that RSRH, the Seridei Eish, RYBS, et al hold a
"disproven perspective".

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter