[Avodah] Torah UMadda

[Harry Maryles]

On Wed, 3/2/11, David Riceman <driceman at optimum.net> wrote:
> I'm in the middle of reading Rabbi Lamm's book, and I'm surprised by a
> basic lacuna. Most of the opinions he describes stem from a theoretical
> construct which describes human knowledge in general, the place of
> secular knowledge in it, and the place of Torah with respect to it...
> Not only does he refrain from describing any of these theoretical
> constructs, he refrains from analyzing them...

I did not see his book as a full treatment of TuM. I saw it rather
as a series of models where one could see various elements of this
philosphy in them -- some more and some less. I'm not even sure he had
this philosophy fully developed in his own mind -- which explains some
of those missing gaps.

He explains at the outset that the entire TuM project was generated by
no more than the YU logo. It is from trying to infuse more meaning into
it that he tried to develop this philosophy into a coherent and organized
system of Jewish thought. IIRC he left it to the reader to expand on it.

HM