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From page 209 of <b>Rav Breuer - His Life and Legacy<br><br>
</b>A perusal of his writings makes it abundantly clear that R. Hirsch
held that Torah im Derech Eretz was never intended as a temporary measure
introduced because of a specific problem during a specific historical
period and in a specific geographic area. On the contrary, R. Hirsch held
that Torah im Derech Eretz was not only a valid Torah hashkafah; it was
the lifestyle of choice. Thus, in his Commentary to the Torah [16] he
writes:<br><br>
<i>Only in using the mind and the freedom of will which God has given us
in the earthly sphere to which he has appointed us, in the most complete
faithfulness to God, with deliberation and the clearest human insight, do
we ourselves attain the height of human perfection and our earthly
management of life gains the holiness that makes us worthy of the
nearness to God.<br><br>
</i><b>If anything, in R. Hirsch's view, the choice of following a
Torah-only agenda, as per the decision of the Eastern European rabbanim,
was a hora'as sha'a, for it was an unnatural scheme called for because of
the impossibility of life in the ghetto. Although justified by harsh
reality, it could not be seen as the optimal way for the Jew to live, for
it denied him the opportunity to use his life to serve as a kiddush
Hashem.<br><br>
</b>Rav Breuer also decried the decision of his contemporaries to deny
the validity of Torah im Derech Eretz as the path of choice for the Jew
in the modern era.<br><br>
16. See Bereishis 9:27.<br><br>
For more please see
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/r_breuer_legacy_13.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/r_breuer_legacy_13.pdf<br>
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