[Avodah] R Hirsch and MO

[Prof. Levine]

At 09:50 AM 7/5/2011, Yitz . wrote:
>The question I'm asking really is, is the "MO" position that 
>"science and culture" are important in and of themselves, or like 
>RSRH and the GR"A, important only insofar as they help to improve 
>ones "religious" and Torah observance?
>Like I said, even if the end result is the same, if it is arrived at 
>from a completely different side, you can't really put the 
>credit/blame on R Hirsch.

There is a difference between what you call the MO position and what 
I understand to be the positions of RSRH and the GRA.

You might want to have a look at what Dr. Yehudah (Leo) Levi writes 
in his book Torah Study, A Survey of Classic Sources on Timely 
Issues. You can look at selections from this book by searching in google books.

Part 7 is titled Secular Studies: The Torah View.   Chapter 2 of this 
section is titled The Study of the Natural Sciences: The 
Obligation.  Chapter 4 is titled The Study of the Humanities.  It 
begins with the statement, "As shown in Chapter 1, the Sages and 
later authorities, in general, decried the study of any alien wisdom, 
except for science."  One section deals with Reasons for the Prohibitions.

I think that many MO would see no reason not to study almost any 
secular humanities subject, whereas the GRA and RSRH would not 
agree.  This is a real difference and "the end result is" *not* the same.

Yitzchok Levine 
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