[Avodah] YU and Torah U Madda today

[Allen Gerstl]

> On Fri, 4 Mar 2022 R' Ben Bradley <bdbradley70 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> "There seem to be three distinct models of learning Madda.
> 1. TIDE of R Hirsch, who advocates learning chol from the vantage
>    point of Torah.....
> 2. RYBS with his dialectic/tension/never the twain shall meet approach...
> 3. Torah u'Maddah of R Norman Lamm with its synthesis approach...

> DOI: I'm a Hirschian in this regard and many others. I'm actually
> quite repelled by R Lamm's approach. But that's by the by....

I believe there is a fourth approach, that of the RAMBAM. In the latter,
"secular studies" become kodesh as a part of Talmud i.e. a means to
see the greatness and glory of HKB"H through his creations; and thus as
a path to fulfilling the mitzvah of Ahavat Hashem. This is not a means
only as per Rav Hirsch of participating in "yishuvo shel olam" and not as
only as a handmaiden of other Torah studies such as geometry for Ervin,
but a subpart of the third section of Torah learning after Mikrah and
Mishnah after the previous two are well-learned.

Kol tuv,
Eliyahu