[Avodah] Rav Shimon Schwab on TIDE

[Prof. L. Levine]

The following is from Rav Schwab on Chumash pages 351 t0 352:

The Torah nation is to blaze the trail for all
other nations to follow toward the universal messianic goal of free man's
total submission to the absolute will of the Alm-ghty.

The object of true Torah education, therefore, is to make the student
conscious at all times of this Divinely imposed task. To acquire Torah
knowledge is our foremost duty, because without it, we cannot function
at all. However, the prime purpose of all Torah study is its translation
into conscious and enlightened Torah life.

At all times the Torah's unchanging teachings must be applied to the
ever-changing derech eretz. All of our actions, attitudes, relationships to
man and beast, and positions within nature and history are subject to the
jurisdiction and evaluation of the Torah.
What follows is that the Torah scholar should be well informed of the
"ways of the Earth." The laws of nature and the paths of history should
be known to him. He should be well aware of what happens in the
world that surrounds him, for he is constantly called upon to apply the
yardstick of halachah and the searchlight of hashkafah to the realities
that confront him.

What also follows is that the greater the wisdom of Torah, the more
crucial it is that this wisdom be conveyed to the Jewish contemporary
world. It must be transmitted in a language that our generation
understands and that will attract the searching youth, the ignorant, the
estranged and the potential ba'al teshuvah to a joyous acceptance of the
yoke of Heaven. The Torah leader must be able to dispel the doubts
of the doubter and to counter the cynicism of the agnostic. He must,
therefore, speak their language masterfully so that he can convince and
enlighten them.

There is indeed a dire need for gedolei Torah, great Torah scholars,
who devote their entire lives to the study and dissemination of Torah.
The Jewish world today needs many talmidei chachamim whose life's
task is to enlighten and inspire it with the love and the fear of G-d. We
are ready to accord to those "messengers of G-d" the highest respect and
a loyal following. These are the kohanim and levi'im of today. Like the
members of the Levitic tribe of old, they are to serve all the other tribes
and teach them the living Torah.

Yet education and leadership cannot function in a vacuum. Therefore,
it becomes mandatory for the present day "Tribe of Levi" to initiate and
encourage an educational system that can serve the other "eleven tribes,"
who comprise the vast majority of our people. It becomes mandatory
for the Torah-conscious educator not to inspire fear of the world and
hesitancy to meets its cha I lenges, but rather, to fortify the vast majority of
our youth to meet head-on the thousand and one pitfalls of professional
and business life. Our youth must be inspired to courageously and
intelligently brave the onslaught of scientific arrogance and the sensual
poison that is masked as intellectual liberalism.

The Divine purpose for which Yisrael was created can be served in
every capacity, in every profession, in all human endeavors, as long as
they are not excluded by the halachah.

In his writings, Rav Hirsch stresses time and again the foremost
obligation to make Torah the main object of study and never to forget to
emphasize the essential, the ikar, above the non-essential, the tafel. On the
other hand, the secular disciplines, which are the "Hilfswissenschaften,"
should also be pursued with religious sincerity for the "sake of Heaven."
It is Torah im Derech Eretz.

Properly understood, it means G-d's Torah, in its totality, utilizing
derech eretz as a means to bring about the Torah's full application. It
means Torah as the Divine nourishment and human derech eretz as the
aromatic ingredient that helps bring the Torah's intrinsic flavor to its most
perfect bloom. It means the Torah's conquest of life and not the Torah's
flight from life.

It refers to Torah casting a light into the darkness, rather than hiding
from the darkness. And it means applying Torah to the Earth rather than
divorcing it from the Earth.

Note the statement that the Torah scholar should be well informed of the "ways of the Earth." Also, note the requirement that the wisdom of the Torah be "transmitted in a language that our generation understands."

YL

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