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The following is from the article <b>The Legacy of RSRH, ZT"L</b> that appears in the Sefer
<b>Selected Writings</b> by Rav Shimon Schwab, ZT"L.</div>
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Rav Hirsch is usually accepted as the exponent of the
<div>Torah im Derech Eretz philosophy. This principle is</div>
<div>explained by his grandson, Dr. Isaac Breuer, as follows:</div>
<div>"He was strictly opposed to compromise or</div>
<div>reconciliation, or even a synthesis: he demanded full and</div>
<div>uncompromising rulership of the Torah. The Torah cannot</div>
<div>endure co-rulership, far less tolerate it. As a true</div>
<div>revolutionary he seized the liberalistic individual, the</div>
<div>liberalistic, humanitarian ideal, liberalistic capitalism, and</div>
<div>the human intellect, celebrating orgies in the liberalistic</div>
<div>science, and dragged them as "circumstances", in the</div>
<div>narrowest sense of the word, to the flaming fire of the Torah</div>
<div>to be purified or, if need be, to be consumed. As a true</div>
<div>revolutionary he solved the unbearable tension between the</div>
<div>Torah and the new era which had dawned over the Jews of</div>
<div>Western Europe. He invaded the new era with the weapons</div>
<div>of the Torah, analyzed and dissected it down to its last</div>
<div>ingredients, and then shaped and reformed it until it could</div>
<div>be placed at the feet of the Torah, as new nourishment for</div>
<div>the Divine fire. The proclamation of the rulership of the</div>
<div>Torah over the new era was the historic achievement of</div>
<div>Hirsch's life for his own contemporaries." -- ("Hirsch as a</div>
<div>Guide to Jewish History'' in Fundamentals of Judaism,</div>
<div>published by Feldheim, 1949.) Unfortunately, the principle</div>
<div>of Torah im Derech Eretz is grossly misunderstood by our</div>
<div>contemporary Jewish orthodoxy. It does not mean that one</div>
<div>who is a full-fledged citizen of hedonistic America and at</div>
<div>the same time keeps the laws of the Torah, is a follower of</div>
Torah im Derech Eretz. Not to violate the laws of the Torah</div>
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certainly deserves praise and recognition but it is not an
<div>embodiment of the Hirschian philosophy.</div>
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<div>Likewise, an academy dedicated to the study of science</div>
<div>and philosophy, not in order to serve the understanding of</div>
<div>Torah or to further the aims of the Torah but as the</div>
<div>independent search by the human intellect to understand</div>
<div>and control the world around -- even when added to a</div>
<div>department of profound and very scholarly Torah studies -this</div>
<div>is not an outgrowth of the Torah im Derech Eretz</div>
<div>Weltanschauung of Samson Raphael Hirsch.</div>
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<div>Also, a secular university in Israel, albeit under</div>
<div>skullcap auspices, complete with Judaic studies, is</div>
<div>extremely remote from a Torah im Derech Eretz school</div>
<div>even if it has established a "Samson Raphael Hirsch chair"</div>
<div>as part of its academic set-up, something which almost</div>
<div>borders on blasphemy.</div>
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<div>The Orthodox professional who is not regularly</div>
<div>"koveah ittim batorah", or otherwise lacks in the</div>
<div>performance of mitzvohs, or who is immodest in dress or</div>
<div>behavior, is not a follower of Samson Raphael Hirsch. From</div>
<div>all of Hirsch's prolific writings, it becomes evident that his</div>
<div>main concern was to establish the majesty of the Divine</div>
<div>Word and the role of the Divine Will as revealed in the</div>
<div>Torah, to dominate all the highways and by-ways of</div>
<div>mundane life.</div>
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<div>Those who abuse Torah im Derech Eretz as a "hetter" to</div>
<div>lead a life of easygoing and lenient "Yiddishkeit" or those</div>
<div>who consider the Hirschian idea as a compromise between</div>
<div>the right and the left in Jewish thinking have distorted the</div>
<div>meaning of the principle as laid down in the Mishne, Avos,</div>
<div>Perek 2, 2: "Beautiful is the study of Torah combined with</div>
<div>Derech Eretz for the effort to attain both makes one forget</div>
<div>to commit sins". The Torah is not a mere branch of human</div>
<div>knowledge, one discipline amongst many others, but rather</div>
<div>must the Torah dominate all secular knowledge and all</div>
<div>worldly activities. Equally so, the community of Israel, Klal</div>
Yisroel, as well as all Kd1il!os and organized communities,</div>
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be they local or international -- which are all segments of
<div>Klal Yisroel -- are not supposed to be mere branches of a</div>
<div>neutral Israel but are to be totally independent. The Torah</div>
<div>community is not beholden to any non-Torah community</div>
<div>and it. does not even recognize its authenticity. This is the</div>
<div>essence of the Hirschian Austritt (separation) ideology. The</div>
<div>so ailed "Austritt" is the militant vigilance of the</div>
<div>conscientious Jew defending the Torah community against</div>
<div>all encroachments from the non-Torah powers that be. The</div>
<div>"AustrittL" and Torah im Derech Eretz go hand in hand, they</div>
<div>form "one package", so to speak, and both these aspects of</div>
<div>Hirschian thought have one aim: the total domination of</div>
<div>Torah over all thinking and actions of individual and</div>
<div>national life.</div>
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<div>He who separates the rule of the Torah over all facets of</div>
<div>the communal life of Kial Yisroel from the rule of the Torah</div>
<div>over all human knowledge, in short, he who separates the</div>
<div>"Austritt" from Torah im Derech Eretz, renders a disservice</div>
<div>to both.</div>
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Furthermore, the leit-motif is neither Torah and
<div>Derech Eretz nor Torah U'Madoh -- the two are not equal</div>
<div>partners nor must it be twisted around into Derech Eretz</div>
<div>plus Torah. It is neither a synthesis of Torah with</div>
<div>assimilation nor a bloodless orthopraxy blended with</div>
<div>earthbound Americanism.</div>
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<div>It. is none of these.</div>
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