[Avodah] What is TIDE

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from page 61 of the sixth volume of Yerushaseinu.

Thus, only the most superficial understanding of Rav Hirsch's 
ideology would presume that
Torah im Derech Eretz implies a blanket sanction of secular studies 
and activities.
Obviously, Rav Breuer's approach - based on Rav Hirsch - demanded the absolute
supremacy of Torah.

The Torah im Derech Eretz perspective has been subject to various 
misinterpretations
since Rav Hirsch's time, and Rav Breuer was committed to defending 
his grandfather's
ideology against misinformed accusations. Even his own talmidim 
occasionally sought
clarification regarding how to precisely define Torah im Derech 
Eretz. Rav Shlomo Wolbe,
the Mashgiach of Yeshivas Be'er Yaakov and former talmid of Rav 
Breuer in the Frankfurt
Yeshiva, recalled:

I was always perplexed by the exact definition of Torah im Derech 
Eretz, until I was
privileged to visit Mori v 'Rebbi the Rosh Yeshivah [Rav Breuer] in 
New York. In the
midst of the conversation I got up the courage and asked him [the 
true meaning of
Torah im Derech Eretz]. I heard from him something that was novel to me in its
clarity. I hope I understood him properly. There is a way of life to 
close oneself up
from any influence outside the world of Torah. And there is a way of 
life to see the
world that is outside the daled amos of Torah as a challenge: to find 
oneself in the
world and at the same time to keep Torah and halachah without any compromises.
This is the way of Torah im Derech Eretz!

Rav Breuer firmly believed that the Torah im Derech Eretz philosophy 
was just as relevant
to contemporary society as it had ever been, and he fiercely rejected 
the claim that Torah im
Derech Eretz was a temporary measure. As he put it, "Anyone who has 
but a fleeting
insight into the life and work of Rav Hirsch will realize that his 
Torah im Derech Eretz
formula was never intended by him as a Horaas Shaah."
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20120701/18069c3a/attachment.htm>