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March 2005

Exchange with Evan Lyman about the Role of Secular Studies in the Development of Personality (2005)

Torah Umadda

1. Evan Lyman to R. Lamm

1. Evan Lyman to R. Lamm (March 21, 2005)

1. Evan Lyman to R. Lamm (March 21, 2005)

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Lecture on Torah Umadda (2002)

פותחין לכבוד יאכסניא – ... המורים והתלמידים. TOD: מדע only/תורה only/TuM – Y.U. and pattern all D.S. ST: 12-14 yrs ago, 2 divers emerg fr Medittrnean near Acco, 2 sacks snails, open dye changes yellow → green → blue → blue → deep purple: תכלת! They=2 br-I-1 (dentst/physcst – Sterman/Greenspan – YU grads) – EX: TUM! TOR = ות"ת כנגד כולם...והגית בו יומם ולילה AND: מורשה קהילת יעקב NOT only priestly clss... So; B proud Y J-only rel. Source TuM: בראשית-שמו; also: (רב בקר) שמואל (ירחינאה)
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Torah and Secular Knowledge: An Interview with Dr. Norman Lamm (1990)

Jewish Review: Dr. Lamm, what is the problem of Torah-U-Madda (Torah and Secular Knowledge) and why is it necessary to present a halakhic and philosophical defense of this concept? Dr. Lamm: Let me begin by providing you with one perspective on this problem. The highest ideal or the highest value in Judaism is talmud Torah, the study of Torah. The obverse of this value is, therefore, also true: that a major infraction is bitul Torah or the wasting of time that should otherwise be used for the study of Torah. The consequence of this principle would appear to be that one must use all of one’s available time for the study of Torah and this would seem to rule out any other kind of cognitive activity such as the study of history, philosophy, science, astronomy, etc. It is for this reason that secular study presents a problem. It presents a problem, of course, only for those who are inside the Torah community, those who are within the halakhic fraternity. People who are outside of this fraternity have no problem with secular learning. For them, we might say, the problem is “Who needs Torah?” But for those of us who are committed to Torah, we are automatically faced with the question of what to do with all other areas in the cognitive universe, all knowledge other than Halakha. A similar problem confronts even those who are committed to a “Torah only” point of view. This is because once they have ruled out all so-called secular and profane learning, then they must confront the question of whether all Jewish learning is good or whether certain types of Jewish learning are to be preferred over others. There are those, for example, who will learn nothing but Halakha and who regard everything outside of Halakha not as strictly forbidden, but as not really appropriate for the educational elite.Jewish Review: You state that you and your second generation American peers at Yeshiva University have been far more concerned, and al times even critical, of the confluence of Jewish an…
Torah Umadda

Outline

Torah Umadda Lecture (2006)

Premise: Tor = centrl value; bt not nglct world: TuM explain... is guidng prncpl YU; your school Two forms Reveln: word/world; logos/cosmos;. ה'/אלקים __; ברכות ק"ש = Nat/Histry בראשית/שמות TuM diffcult but sublime; grtr scope o deeper comphnsi Truth: שבת ק"ד מ"ט שקר מקרבין מיליה, אמת מרחקין מיליה. Precedens TuM Is based on generations of גדולי ישראל – RJBS-Kook-Hirsch-Ger/Maharal/Rambam/Rav UShmuel/Tannaim/ רמ"א... Philo/Kab/history
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