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The week's Hamodia Magazine contains an article with the above title by
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Klein,
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>director of publications
and<br>
communications for Torah Umesorah in New York. The Hamodia has
given me permission to post this article and it may be read at<br><br>
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/hamodia/tool_communication.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/hamodia/tool_communication.pdf</a>
<br><br>
The article begins with the question
"</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>We live in a town that
offers a choice of schools for my children, and the issue of limudei chol
has arisen more than once, making me wonder what role secular studies
should play in the chinuch of our children. What is the Torah
viewpoint?" Towards the end of the article, Rabbi Klein writes,
"</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>It is certainly
desirable that Torah Jewry maintain a comprehensive press of the highest
caliber, and it seems most desirable that our system of
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>chinuch
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>be capable of providing the
personnel to write for it."<br><br>
"It is not acceptable that our own
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>talmidim
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>and
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>avreichim
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>lack the linguistic skill to
portray the teachings of Torah to their uninitiated brothers and sisters
in a<br>
convincing and appealing manner. This is perhaps the greatest calling of
our age."<br><br>
For his entire approach to this topic, please see the article at the
above URL.<br><br>
I send a letter to the editor of the Hamodia Magazine (which they may or
may not publish, of course!) I wrote<br><br>
</font>To the Editor,<br><br>
I read with interest Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Klein's article "A Tool For
Effective Communication" in this week's Hamodia Magazine in which he
responds to a question about the Torah viewpoint of the "role
secular studies should play in the chinuch of our
children." <br><br>
I find it surprising that he did not present the following views from two
gedolim of the past.<br><br>
"When I was in the illustrious city of Vilna in the presence of the
Rav, the light, the great Gaon, my master and teacher, the light of the
eyes of the exile, the renowned pious one (may Hashem protect and save
him) Rav Eliyahu, in the month of Teves 5538 [January 1778], I heard from
his holy mouth that according to what a person is lacking in knowledge of
the "other wisdoms," correspondingly he will be lacking one
hundred portions in the wisdom of the Torah, because the Torah and the
'other wisdoms' are inextricably linked together ..."<br><br>
(This quote is from the introduction to the Hebrew translation of
Euclid's book on geometry, Sefer Uklidos [The Hague, 1780] by R. Barukh
Schick of Shklov where he recalls his meeting with the Vilna
Gaon.)<br><br>
R. Yhonason Eybeschutz wrote in Yaaros Devash 2:7 (as translated by L.
Levi in Torah and Science, pages 24-25):<br><br>
"For all the sciences are "condiments" and are necessary
for our Torah, such as the science of mathematics, which is the science
of measurements and includes the science of numbers, geometry, and
algebra and is very essential for the measurements required in connection
with the Eglah Arufah and the cities of the Levites and the cities of
refuge as well as the Sabbath boundaries of our cities. The science of
weights [i.e., mechanics] is necessary for the judiciary, to scrutinize
in detail whether scales are used honestly or fraudulently. The science
of vision [optics] is necessary for the Sanhedrin to clarify the deceits
perpetrated by idolatrous priests; furthermore, the need for this science
is great in connection with examining witnesses, who claim they stood at
a distance and saw the scene, to determine whether the arc of vision
extends so far straight or bent. The science of astronomy is a science of
the Jews, the secret of leap years to know the paths of the
constellations and to sanctify the new moon. The science of nature which
includes the science of medicine in general is very important for
distinguishing the blood of the Niddah whether it is pure or impure and
how much more is it necessary when one strikes his fellow man in order to
ascertain whether the blow was mortal, and if he died whether he died
because of it, and for what disease one may desecrate the Sabbath.
Regarding botany, how great is the power of the Sages in connection with
kilayim [mixed crops]! Here too we may mention zoology, to know which
animals may be hybridized; and chemistry, which is important in
connection with the metals used in the tabernacle, etc."<br><br>
If one needs more to be convinced that secular studies should be an
important part of a yeshiva education, then I suggest one read Rav
Shimshon Raphael Hirsch's Essay "The Relevance of Secular Studies to
Jewish Education" that appears on pages 81 - 100 of volume VII of
his Collected Writings.<br><br>
Professor Yitzchok Levine<br>
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