[Avodah] The Vilna Gaon and Secular Studies

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Apr 20, 2018 at 01:08:35AM +0000, Joseph Kaplan via Avodah wrote:
:                              I, of course, do not know what
: Mr. Mendelovitch thought. What I do know is that in the 40s TV was very
: proud of the secular academics and business successes of its graduates
: and the fact that they were role models for those who wanted to continue
: to be observant in a work environment.

Historical (and hagiographical) accounts portray the request for secular
education that would make college and professions possible options came
from the target audience, a majority of the parents of Brooklyn, not R
"Mr." Mendlowitz.

His launching of the HS was by convincing 8th grade parents to keep
their sons in TvD "just one more year", as the parents wanted their
boys to go to Public HS. That was the importance of getting a real
American education had to his customer base. Then, it was another
"just one more year" into 10th grade, until he had his first graduating
class.

There wasn't an issue for him of getting secular education into TvD,
it was an issue of getting parents to agree to commit time to limudei
qodesh!

So of course TvD made a big deal about the quality of their secular
studies. The whole point their marketing had to make was that the son can
learn Torah without parents feeling afraid their boys would be held back.

Getting back to the main conversation:

What R-"Mr"-SFM thought is more of a historical  issue. My point was
that the push for limudei chol in day schools at the time the movement
(not the first day school!) was getting started came from the parents,
not the idealogues.

There is no indication the decision was lechat-khilah, as this wasn't a
lechat-khilah situation. Limudei qodesh without a guarantee of pre-college
quality education wasn't a vaiable option in most communities, not a
choice on the table.

Meanwhile, the big voice in American O Rabbinate of the time was the
East European Rabbi, and not an ideological immigrant who had a pull
to America, but someone who came fleeing either progroms or Nazism. We
know the majority of them considered limudei chol an assimilationist
force. Or is that too under question?


(I used the name "R 'Mr.' SF Mendlowitz" [or misspelled as per the usual
pronounciation "-olovitch"] because he asked people to call him "Mr." and
therefore I thought it respectful to acknowledge it. Even though here,
"R" is the default title for men. Then I was afraid people who didn't
know the history would think insult was intended, so I am adding this
parenthetic explanation.)

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 20th day, which is
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