[Avodah] The Vilna Gaon and Secular Wisdom

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from pages 148-149 of  Judaism's Encounter with 
Other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?

Given what the GRA said below, one can only wonder why music is not 
taught in all of our yeshivas.  For the record, a friend of mine who 
is the secular studies principal of a Mesivtha in Brooklyn wrote to 
me that his school does have a course in music appreciation. YL

R. Israel of Shklov (d. 1839) wrote:

I cannot refrain from repeating a true and astonishing story that I 
heard from the Gaon's disciple R. Menahem Mendel.  It took place when 
the Gaon of Vilna celebrated the completion of his commentary on Song 
of Songs. . . . He raised his eyes toward heaven and with great 
devotion began blessing and thanking God for endowing him with the 
ability to comprehend the light of the entire Torah. This included 
its inner and outer manifestations. He explained: All secular wisdom 
is essential for our holy Torah and is included in it. He indicated 
that he had mastered all the branches of secular wisdom, including 
algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and music. He especially praised 
music, explaining that most of the Torah accents, the secrets of the 
Levitical songs, and  the secrets of the Tikkunei Zohar could not be 
comprehended without mastering it. . .  He explained the significance 
of the various secular disciplines, and noted that  he had mastered 
them all. Regarding the discipline of medicine, he stated that he 
had  mastered anatomy, but not pharmacology. Indeed, he had wanted to 
study pharmacology with practicing physicians, but his father 
prevented him from undertaking its study,  fearing that upon 
mastering it he would be forced to curtail his Torah study whenever 
it would become necessary for him to save a life. . . . He also 
stated that he had  mastered all of philosophy, but that he had 
derived only two matters of significance from  his study of it. . . . 
The rest of it, he said, should be discarded." [11]

[11.] Pe'at ha-Shulhan, ed. Abraham M. Luncz (Jerusalem, 1911), 5a.



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