[Avodah] The Relationship Between the Study of Torah and Other Knowledge

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from RSRH's commentary on Devarim 6: 7

7 And impress them sharply upon your sons and speak of them when you 
sit in your house and when you walk upon the way, when you lie
down and when you get up.

V'dibarta Bom

The study of the Torah shall be our main intellectual pursuit. We are not
to study the Torah incidentally. We are not to study Torah from the standpoint
of another science or for the sake of that science. So, too, we are to
be careful not to introduce into the sphere of the Torah foreign ideas that
were developed on the basis of other premises. Rather, we should always
be mindful of the superiority of the Torah, which differs from all other
scientific knowledge through its Divine origin. We should not imagine
that it is based on mere human knowledge and accordingly is on the same
level as other human sciences.

We have already explained in our Commentary on Vayikra 18:4-5
that these statements [of our Sages] do not demand of us to completely
ignore all the scientific knowledge that has been gained and cultivated in
other spheres. Rather, these statements assume that a person is familiar
with these other realms of knowledge, but they teach us that one should
occupy himself with this knowledge only from the Torah's perspective,
for only in this way will this knowledge be beneficial to us, and they warn
us that neglecting this perspective will jeopardize our intellectual life.
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