[Avodah] Torah and Secular Knowledge before Ghettoization

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jul 07, 2021 at 08:32:33PM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
> You are the one making an extraordinary assertion.  The onus of proof is on
> you.  No evidence is needed that our tradition of "chinuch al taharas
> hakodesh" is as it was; you are the one who asserts without evidence that it
> was the result of some mythical "ghetto walls", and was not the authentic
> way of "ruach yisrael saba".

Prof Levine cited RSRH, the Gra via R Barukh of Shklov and
a historian. Although admittedly the historian is speaking about the
Golden Age of Spain, and not making broad assertions about norms before
and after that golden age.

See also the Maharal, Netiv haTorah, pereq 14, who says Chazal's
problem with chokhmah Yevanis was only their philosophy, but applied
and applicable knowledge are qadosh.

In response, you're quoting idioms coined since the haskalah,
and thus since the fall of the ghetto walls; counter-reformation
rhetoric. See the entry in Chabadpedia on "chinukh al taharas haqodesh"
at <https://bit.ly/2UxiOga>.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 In the days of our sages, man didn't sin unless
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   he was overcome with a spirit of foolishness.
Author: Widen Your Tent      Today, we don't do a mitzvah unless we receive
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    a spirit of purity.      - Rav Yisrael Salanter