Volume 33: Number 63
Sun, 19 Apr 2015
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Micha Berger
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 11:54:56 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Eilu v'eilu
On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 02:15:53PM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
: Question: If one doesn't view eilu v'eilu as multiple truths but rather
: one truth and one nice try (but we don't know which is which), how do
: you explain the approach to halachic process which ignores academic
: findings concerning texts or historical circumstances?
To quote myself from <http://aishdas.org/asp/geulah-and-halachic-process>:
Last week I drew the conclusion from the Qetzos haChoshen that Torah
is not Truth, it -- combined with the Jewish People -- is the process
by which "Truth will bloom from the earth"....
Thus, "vechayei olam nata besokheinu" -- Emes is matzmiach from the Torah.
Note that the Torah isn't actually identified with Emes, but the process
to get there.
...
Rav Moshe Feinstein discusses the halachic process and the role of
poseiq in his introduction to Igros Mosheh. (The introduction itself
deserves serious study.) He writes about "ha'emes lehora'ah umichuyav
lehoros kein af al pi im be'etzem galyah kelapei shemaya galya she'eino
kein hapeirush - the true ruling, and one is obligated to teach
accordingly, even if in essence is it revealed in heaven that this
isn't the correct eplanation!" The ideal is following the pesaq as
according to the process.
As proof, Rav Moshe brings the gemara in Shabbos 130. We rule that only
the milah itself overrules Shabbos. All preparation before the milah
must be done in advance. Rabbi Eliezer ruled that anything necessary
for the milah, even cutting wood to make the fire to make the knife,
etc... could also be done on Shabbos. There was a town in Israel that
followed Rabbi Eliezer. The gemara says that Hashem rewarded them for
their tenacity for the mitzvah of milah. No one in that town died an
early death. And when the Romans passed a law in Israel against milah,
they exempted that one town from the law!
Who was right -- this town, which was rewarded for their position, or
we, who rule differently? If we understand that the essence of halakhah
is that it and the Jewish People become one in a process to make truth
bloom in this world, we can understand how the answer could be "both".
Torah, like life, is about becoming, not being.
IOW, if Torah is a legal process to reach the truth, and halakhah is
law rather than truths, then it would be reasonable for an truth foung
by extra-legal means to be irrelevant. We aren't up to pursuing Truth
directly yet, we pursue the law. Someday they'll be identical, and
and the neti'ah of chayei olam will have been matzmiach into Emes.
On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 02:22:34AM +0000, R' Akiva ("Kenneth") Miller
replied to RJR:
: You've lost me. Doesn't the grammar and definition of the words "eilu
: v'eilu" imply that the two things under discussion are equal? I just
: can't wrap my brain around a way to translate "eilu v'eilu" where one
: is truth and the other isn't.
RMF says they're equally balid legally, but not as Truths. Implied is
that Divrei E-lokim Chaim are on the meta-level, instructions about
about how to hunt for halakhah, not the individual halachic conclusions
themselves. Eilu va'eilu follow Hashem's instructions for how to pasqen,
but the halakhah is like Beis Hillel.
:-)BBii!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger Today is the 13th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org 1 week and 6 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org Yesod sheb'Gevurah: To what extent is judgment
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Message: 2
From: Prof. Levine
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 13:03:32 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Derech Eretz: What is it the sets man apart from the
Perhaps if yeshiva students were taught again
and again, RSRH's commentary about what sets man
(and this refers to all men, not just Jews)
apart from the animal, then they would realize
that every human being is to be treated with
Derech Eretz and thus proper respect. YL
The following is from RSRH's commentary on Bereishis 2:7
7 Then God formed man, dust of the ground, and
breathed into his countenance the breath of life,
and thus man became a living personality.
What is it that sets man apart from the animal? The living individuality
of the animal depends on earthly matter; like its body, so its soul,
too, was taken from the earth. Not so man. In the creation of man,
only the inert material was taken from the earth; only when God breathed
into him the breath of life did he become a living individual. Herein lies
the nobility and immortality of man, and this is the whole source of his
freedom . That which gives the animal its individuality emanates from
the earth and must eventually return to the earth. Not so that which
makes man a ?living personality.? Man?s preeminence over the animal
is not only in his spirit, but also in his vitality. His vitality is linked not
to his body, but to his spirit. When he received a spirit he received life,
his soul adhering to the spirit. When the spirit departs from the body,
the vital soul is not buried with the remains; for man?s soul is bound
up with his spirit, not his body. This is why his physical survival and
health do not depend on his body alone. Of the many dangers to the
life of an animal, not all are dangers to man. The survival of a man
cannot be predicted with the same degree of accuracy as the survival
of an animal. Adom yesh lo mazel ( Bava Kamma 2b): there is something in
man that defies prediction. A man?s spirit will sustain him, even if it
appears that all hope is lost; for the spirit sustains life. Who can gauge
the power of an unbroken spirit? Who can calculate how long it can
keep the body alive?
Thus man is composed of two elements that are completely different
from each other. One of these was taken from the earth. But man does
not belong to the earth; rather, the earth ? as its name, Adama, implies
? has been given to man to rule. So, too, man?s body, which is afar min
Ha?Adomo, is subject to man?s control. His true, living, spiritual essence is
not dependent on the body; hence, even while he is physically combined
with the earthly element, he can and should exercise control over the
earthly in him. The afar, the earthly element, in him cannot be released
from the realm of physical compulsion and is subject to the influence
of earthly factors. But the nishmas chaim, which God breathed into man and
which first made man a human being, imparts to man of the dignity
of its source and releases him from all physical compulsion; it grants
him freedom and elevates his body, too, into the realm of freedom.
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Message: 3
From: Mordechai Harris
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 13:45:49 -0500
Subject: Re: [Avodah] tefillat haderech
>
> That said, I do concede that the common practice is for one person to say
> the bracha on shofar and megilla for all the assembled, yet we all say our
> own brachos on lulav, hallel, and sefira.
In the case of Lulav (first day - which is D'Oraita) and counting Sefira,
the Pasuk uses the word Lachem which teaches of the need for each
individual to have/count their own.
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Message: 4
From: Zev Sero
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 15:26:15 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] tefillat haderech
On 04/17/2015 02:45 PM, Mordechai Harris via Avodah wrote:
>> That said, I do concede that the common practice is for one person
>> to say the bracha on shofar and megilla for all the assembled, yet
>> we all say our own brachos on lulav, hallel, and sefira.
> In the case of Lulav (first day - which is D'Oraita) and counting
> Sefira, the Pasuk uses the word Lachem which teaches of the need for
> each individual to have/count their own.
What has this got to do with the bracha?
I actually had meant to post about this, since I've been wondering for
some time why it is that the world's minhag is for each person to say
their own bracha on hallel and sefira, after hearing the chazan's bracha.
Doesn't the usual rule of "berov am" mean that everyone should be yotzei
with his bracha?
--
Zev Sero I have a right to stand on my own defence, if you
z...@sero.name intend to commit felony...if a robber meets me in
the street and commands me to surrender my purse,
I have a right to kill him without asking questions
-- John Adams
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Message: 5
From: Prof. Levine
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:47:49 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Tachanun During Nissan
The following is from today's Halacha for
Today http://halachafortodaycom.blogspot.com/
Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parashas Shemini (Parashiyos Tazria- Metzorah in
Eretz Yisroel); Mevorchim Chodesh Iyar; Rosh Chodesh will be on
Sunday and Monday
28 Nisan , 5775
April 17, 2015
CURRENT TOPIC:
REVIEW OF
HALACHOS OF SEFIRAS HA'OMER
Halachos for Erev Shabbos Kodesh
1) The thirty third day of the Omer, the 18th of Iyar, is referred
to as "Lag B'Omer" and the early sources already treat this day as a
special day, as a kind of Yom Tov. (See Sefer Hamanhig page 91a and
Meiri to Yevamos 62b)
2) The Tur (Siman 493:3) states that the Talmidim of Rav Akiva
stopped dying on Lag B'Omer.
However, the Talmud (Yevamos 62b) clearly states that they died from
Pesach all the way until Shavuos. If that is so, what then is the
significance of the 33rd day of the Omer and why does the Tur write
that they stopped dying on that day?
The Maharil writes, to explain this apparent discrepancy between the
Talmud and the words of the Tur, that they died on all of the days
between Pesach and Shavuos except on the days that we do not say
Tachanun. These days are: 7 days of Pesach, 2 days of Rosh Chodesh
Iyar, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the 7 Shabbasos in sefira; 17 days in all.
Therefore they only died on 32 of the 49 days. As a commemoration of
this, we designate the "33rd" day as the day that the dying stopped
and we celebrate that day, but not that it totally stopped on Lag B'Omer.
----------
Note that according to the Maharil tachanun was originally said
during Nissan except for the days indicated! I wonder when saying
Tachanun during Nissan ended. YL
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Message: 6
From: Kenneth Miller
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 21:10:04 GMT
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Tachanun During Nissan
R' Yitchok Levine reposted:
> The Maharil writes, to explain this apparent discrepancy between
> the Talmud and the words of the Tur, that they died on all of the
> days between Pesach and Shavuos except on the days that we do not
> say Tachanun. These days are: 7 days of Pesach, 2 days of Rosh
> Chodesh Iyar, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the 7 Shabbasos in sefira; 17
> days in all.
>
> Therefore they only died on 32 of the 49 days... ...
There's an error somewhere in that chain of quotes, namely Shabbos Chol
Hamoed Pesach. The calculation should say "6 days of Pesach", or it should
say "the 6 Shabbasos in sefira", but you can't have 7 in both of those.
Therefore, there are not "17 days in all", but only 16, leaving 33 days on
which they died. (And this presumes that none of the 3 Rosh Chodesh days
was Shabbos.)
In any case, I am very curious how the commemoration of this event ended up
as 33 *somewhat* consecutive days, including Shabbos. If the talmidim
really died only on the days cited, our procedure sounds like cheating, at
least sort of. Granted that a commemoration does NOT have to follow all the
details of the event being remembered, but this pushes the envelope on
that, in my opinion.
Akiva Miller
____________________________________________________________
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Message: 7
From: Kenneth Miller
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 20:58:03 GMT
Subject: Re: [Avodah] tefillat haderech
R' Zev Sero asked:
> I actually had meant to post about this, since I've been
> wondering for some time why it is that the world's minhag is for
> each person to say their own bracha on hallel and sefira, after
> hearing the chazan's bracha. Doesn't the usual rule of "berov
> am" mean that everyone should be yotzei with his bracha?
In theory (="l'halacha"), yes, you are correct. But in practice
(="l'maaseh") Rov Am gets beat by our lack of kavana. Rov Am is an
important hidur, but the ikar is to insure that one is yotzay, and that is
more easily insured by saying it oneself. (It's like if one is forced to
choose between an esrog which is definitely kosher but only barely so, vs.
one which is beautiful but *might* be pasul. To me, it's a no-brainer that
one would choose the barely kosher one.)
This explanation fits my previous post well: We are all yotzay with someone
else's bracha on the shofar and megillah, but NOT because of Rov Am, only
because the bracha is somewhat risky because I'm relying on someone else.
Akiva Miller
____________________________________________________________
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Message: 8
From: Prof. Levine
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2015 21:34:01 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Correction to Tachanun During Nissan
I sent out a couple of days ago.
The following is from today's Halacha for
Today http://halachafortodaycom.blogspot.com/
The Maharil writes, to explain this apparent discrepancy between the
Talmud and the words of the Tur, that they died on all of the days
between Pesach and Shavuos except on the days that we do not say
Tachanun. These days are: 7 days of Pesach, 2 days of Rosh Chodesh
Iyar, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the 7 Shabbasos in sefira; 17 days in all.
Therefore they only died on 32 of the 49 days. As a commemoration of
this, we designate the "33rd" day as the day that the dying stopped
and we celebrate that day, but not that it totally stopped on Lag B'Omer.
----------
Note this calculation is wrong. If one counts 7 days of Pesach then
one has included one Shabbos. This leaves 6 Shabbasos until
Shavuous. Thus one has 7 days of Pesach, 6 Shabbasos, 2 days Rosh
Chodesh Iyar and one day Rosh Chodesh Sivan. Hence 7+6+2+1 = 16 days
on which Tachanun was not said. 49 -16 = 33, and this is where the
33 days of aveilus comes from. Thus Tachanun was said not only
during Nissan except for the days that are excluded, but also on Lag
B'Omer . YL
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Message: 9
From: Zev Sero
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:19:38 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Tachanun During Nissan
> 2) The Tur (Siman 493:3) states that the Talmidim of Rav Akiva
> stopped dying on Lag B'Omer.
>
> However, the Talmud (Yevamos 62b) clearly states that they died from
> Pesach all the way until Shavuos. If that is so, what then is the
> significance of the 33rd day of the Omer and why does the Tur write
> that they stopped dying on that day?
He does not say any such thing. He says that *some* people have haircuts
from the 33rd day on, because *they say* that this is when the dying stopped.
The long list of rishonim who hold this cite a medrash that disagrees with
the gemara, and says the dying stopped 15 days before Shavuos. The Tur
himself does not express an opinion on the matter.
> The Maharil writes, to explain this apparent discrepancy between the
> Talmud and the words of the Tur, that they died on all of the days
> between Pesach and Shavuos except on the days that we do not say
> Tachanun. These days are: 7 days of Pesach, 2 days of Rosh Chodesh
> Iyar, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the 7 Shabbasos in sefira; 17 days in all.*
This is *not* a Maharil! It's supposedly a Tosfos, I don't know where.
But there seem to be two versions of what this Tosfos says, which is why
it would be nice to see the original. Mahari Ibn Shuaib (a talmid of
the Rashba, and the rebbe of the Tzeida Laderech) cites this Tosfos as
saying that the mourning takes place on 33 days during the Omer, because
there are 16 days when no mourning is appropriate.
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9416&;pgnum=131
The Bach, however, cites "Acharonim" who cite this Tosfos as saying that
they didn't die on these 16 days.
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14268&;pgnum=330
On 04/17/2015 04:47 PM, Prof. Levine via Avodah wrote:
> Note that according to the Maharil tachanun was originally said
> during Nissan except for the days indicated! I wonder when saying
> Tachanun during Nissan ended. YL
Not Tachanun. Techina, i.e. Kel Erech Apayim, Lamnatzeach Ya`ancha, etc.
According to minhag Ashkenaz these are said even on days when there is no
nefilas apayim, but not on Yomtov, Chol Hamoed, Shabbos, or Rosh Chodesh.
[Email #2. -micha]
On 04/17/2015 05:10 PM, Kenneth Miller via Avodah wrote:
> There's an error somewhere in that chain of quotes, namely Shabbos
> Chol Hamoed Pesach. The calculation should say "6 days of Pesach", or
> it should say "the 6 Shabbasos in sefira", but you can't have 7 in
> both of those.
Indeed, the Bach noters this and corrects it.
> In any case, I am very curious how the commemoration of this event
> ended up as 33 *somewhat* consecutive days, including Shabbos. If the
> talmidim really died only on the days cited, our procedure sounds
> like cheating, at least sort of. Granted that a commemoration does
> NOT have to follow all the details of the event being remembered, but
> this pushes the envelope on that, in my opinion.
Well, according to the Tosfos as Mahari ibn Shuaib quotes it, the common
interpretation of 33 days is *wrong*, and the correct minhag is to mourn
for 33 days during the sefirah, i.e. all days except Pesach, Shabbos,
and Rosh Chodesh. He does *not* say that they only died on these days.
The first place I've seen the idea that Tosfos says they only died on
those days is in the Bach. He sees it as justifying our mourning for
only 33 days, not 34, as we should if our source were the medrash that
the dying stopped 15 days before Shavuos. And since they only died on
33 days, our mourning period only lasts 33 days, including Shabbos, even
though (according to this view) they didn't die on Shabbos. How exactly
we mourn on Shabbos I'm not sure, but I assume the idea is that we do,
so we count it toward the 33 days.
--
Zev Sero
z...@sero.name
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Message: 10
From: Micha Berger
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 09:26:04 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Tachanun During Nissan
On Sun, Apr 19, 2015 at 12:19:38AM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
: >Note that according to the Maharil tachanun was originally said
: >during Nissan except for the days indicated! I wonder when saying
: >Tachanun during Nissan ended. YL
:
: Not Tachanun. Techina, i.e. Kel Erech Apayim, Lamnatzeach Ya`ancha, etc.
: According to minhag Ashkenaz these are said even on days when there is no
: nefilas apayim, but not on Yomtov, Chol Hamoed, Shabbos, or Rosh Chodesh.
I am now wondering: why those techinos and not Tachanun?
After all, as the name implies (and the Gra emphasizes), Tachanun is
itself the core techinah. (Or perhaps "Elokai, Netzor Leshoni" is more
central, since that's the one we place immediately "basar tzelosana",
before aqiras raglayim.)
I would bet (if I had spare money to bet with) that's the same question
as asking why we're nofeil apayim for one but not the other.
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha
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Message: 11
From: Kenneth Miller
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 11:00:12 GMT
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Tachanun During Nissan
I wrote:
> There's an error somewhere in that chain of quotes, namely Shabbos
> Chol Hamoed Pesach. The calculation should say "6 days of Pesach", or
> it should say "the 6 Shabbasos in sefira", but you can't have 7 in
> both of those.
R' Zev Sero added:
> Indeed, the Bach notes this and corrects it.
Glad to hear that, thank you. But over Shabbos, I thought of another
problem: R' Akiva's talmidim were in Eretz Yisrael. There would never be a
year where Pesach contains 7 days of Sefira. Even when including Shabbos
Chol Hamoed, that yields only 6 days. Add 6 post- Pesach Shabbosim, and 3
days of Rosh Chodesh, and you have only 15 days of no Tachanun, leaving 34
days of mourning.
Perhaps this is why Mechaber 493:2 says that the mourning continues
straight through Lag Baomer, and does not end until the morning of the
34th. Note that Mishne Brurah 493:7 says that although most of the dying
stopped on the 33rd, some deaths did occur on the 34th.
I must point out that the above is true only when Pesach begins on Sunday,
Monday or Tuesday. In years when it begins on Shabbos, as it did this
year, then Eretz Yisrael does have a full seven post-Pesach Sabbaths in
Sefira, totalling 16 no-Tachanun days, leaving 33 for mourning.
BUT - In years when Pesach begins on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (and
even nowadays Thursday is a real possibility), one of the Rosh Chodesh days
will coincide with Shabbos. This lowers the count to 6 days of Pesach, 6
Shabbasos, and only 2 days of Rosh Chodesh - a total of only 14 no-Tachanun
days, leaving 35 for mourning.
I can't help but wonder how the calendar looked that particular year.
Akiva Miller
____________________________________________________________
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Message: 12
From: Zev Sero
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 13:34:18 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Tachanun During Nissan
On 04/19/2015 07:00 AM, Kenneth Miller wrote:
> I wrote:
>> There's an error somewhere in that chain of quotes, namely Shabbos
>> Chol Hamoed Pesach. The calculation should say "6 days of Pesach", or
>> it should say "the 6 Shabbasos in sefira", but you can't have 7 in
>> both of those.
>
> R' Zev Sero added:
>> Indeed, the Bach notes this and corrects it.
>
> Glad to hear that, thank you. But over Shabbos, I thought of another
> problem: R' Akiva's talmidim were in Eretz Yisrael. There would never
> be a year where Pesach contains 7 days of Sefira. Even when including
> Shabbos Chol Hamoed, that yields only 6 days. Add 6 post- Pesach
> Shabbosim, and 3 days of Rosh Chodesh, and you have only 15 days of
> no Tachanun, leaving 34 days of mourning.
Except, as you note, in a year like this one.
> Perhaps this is why Mechaber 493:2 says that the mourning continues
> straight through Lag Baomer, and does not end until the morning of
> the 34th.
No, the Mechaber had never heard of this Tosfos that the Bach cites in
the name of the "Acharonim". On the contrary, the only Tosfos he seems
aware of on topic is the one cited by Mahari ibn Shuaib, which says that
the plague raged throughout the Sefira, but that we only mourn for 33 days,
because we skip Yomtov, Shabbos, and Rosh Chodesh. The Mechaber's own
minhag follows the medrash that the plague stopped 15 days before Shavuos,
i.e. the 34th was the last day.
Either there are two versions of this Tosfos, or the Acharonim whom the
Bach quotes are talking about the same Tosfos as Mahari ibn Shuaib does,
and one of them misunderstood it. It would be nice to find it inside
(though of course that would not rule out a different girsa).
--
Zev Sero I have a right to stand on my own defence, if you
z...@sero.name intend to commit felony...if a robber meets me in
the street and commands me to surrender my purse,
I have a right to kill him without asking questions
-- John Adams
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Message: 13
From: Kenneth Miller
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 17:36:03 GMT
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Tachanun During Nissan
R' Zev Sero wrote:
> Not Tachanun. Techina, i.e. Kel Erech Apayim, Lamnatzeach
> Ya`ancha, etc. According to minhag Ashkenaz these are said even
> on days when there is no nefilas apayim, but not on Yomtov, Chol
> Hamoed, Shabbos, or Rosh Chodesh.
R' Micha Berger wrote:
> I am now wondering: why those techinos and not Tachanun?
Let me add a few more data points:
Common practice in Nusach Ashkenaz is to skip Tachanun even for all of the
Sefira days of Nisan, and also for all of the pre-Shavuos days of Sivan.
(Note that NONE of the various minhagim allow haircuts on ALL of those
days. Sounds like a great proof that tachanun takes all the kulos, even
contradictory ones.)
I concede that this is davka nowadays, and I do not know what the practice
was in previous centuries. However, it is difficult for me to imagine
anyone ever saying Tachanun on Isru Chag. Perhaps that might answer the
point I raised in my previous post about R' Akiva's talmidim being in EY,
and that in EY there are only 6 days of Sefirah during Pesach; perhaps the
"7" comes from including Isru Chag.
I should also mention Pesach Sheni, although that could lead to a messy
argument over whether that is really "a non-Tachanun day" or merely "a
non-Tachanun afternoon". So I won't mention it. :-)
Akiva Miller
____________________________________________________________
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Message: 14
From: Prof. Levine
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 12:54:20 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] The Legacy of RSRH, Zt'L
The following is taken in part from Rav Shimon Schwab's Essay The
Legacy of RSRH, ZT"L that appears in Selected Writings pages 88 -93.
Rav Hirsch is usually accepted as the exponent of the
Torah im Derech Eretz philosophy. This principle is
explained by his grandson, Dr. Isaac Breuer, as follows:
"He was strictly opposed to compromise or
reconciliation, or even a synthesis: he demanded full and
uncompromising rulership of the Torah. The Torah cannot
endure co-rulership, far less tolerate it. As a true
revolutionary he seized the liberalistic individual, the
liberalistic, humanitarian ideal, liberalistic capitalism, and
the human intellect, celebrating orgies in the liberalistic
science, and dragged them as "circumstances'', in the
narrowest sense of the word, to the flaming fire of the Torah
to be purified or, if need be, to be consumed. As a true
revolutionary he solved the unbearable tension between the
Torah and the new era which had dawned over the Jews of
Western Europe. He invaded the new era with the weapons
of the Torah, analyzed and dissected it down to its last
ingredients, and then shaped and reformed it until it could
be placed at the feet of the Torah, as new nourishment for
the Divine fire. The proclamation of the rulership of the
Torah over the new era was the historic achievement of
Hirsch's life for his own contemporaries." -- ("Hirsch as a
Guide to Jewish History'' in Fundamentals of Judaism,
published by Feldheim, 1949.) Unfortunately, the principle
of Torah im Derech Eretz is grossly misunderstood by our
contemporary Jewish orthodoxy. It does not mean that one
who is a full-fledged citizen of hedonistic America and at
the same time keeps the laws of the Torah, is a follower of
Torah im Derech Eretz. Not to violate the laws of the Torah
certainly deserves praise and recognition but it is not an
embodiment of the Hirschian philosophy.
Likewise, an academy dedicated to the study of science
and philosophy, not in order to serve the understanding of
Torah or to further the aims of the Torah but as the
independent search by the human intellect to understand
and control the world around -- even when added to a
department of profound and very scholarly Torah studies -this
is not an outgrowth of the Torah im Derech Eretz
Weltanschauung of Samson Raphael Hirsch.
Also, a secular university in Israel, albeit under
skullcap auspices, complete with Judaic studies, is
extremely remote from a Torah im Derech Eretz school
even if it has established a "Samson Raphael Hirsch chair"
as part of its academic set-up, something which almost
borders on blasphemy .
The Orthodox professional who is not regularly
"koveah ittim batorah", or otherwise lacks in the
performance of mitzvahs, or who is immodest in dress or
behavior, is not a follower of Samson Raphael Hirsch. From
all of Hirsch's prolific writings, it becomes evident that his
main concern was to establish the majesty of the Divine
Word and the role of the Divine Will as revealed in the
Torah, to dominate all the highways and by-ways of
mundane life.
Those who abuse Torah im Derech Eretz as a "hetter" to
lead a life of easygoing and lenient "Yiddishkeit" or those
who consider the Hirschian idea as a compromise between
the right and the left in Jewish thinking have distorted the
meaning of the principle as laid down in the Mishne, Avos,
Perek 2, 2: "Beautiful is the study of Torah combined with
Derech Eretz for the effort to attain both makes one forget
to commit sins". The Torah is not a mere branch of human
knowledge, one discipline amongst many others, but rather
must the Torah dominate all secular knowledge and all
worldly activities. Equally so, the community of Israel, Klal
Yisroel, as well as all Kehillos and organized communities,
be they local or international -- which are all segments of
Klal Yisroel -- are not supposed to be mere branches of a
neutral Israel but are to be totally independent. The Torah
community is not beholden to any non-Torah community
and it does not even recognize its authenticity. This is the
essence of the Hirschian Austritt (separation) ideology. The
so-called "Austritt" is the militant vigilance of the
conscientious Jew defending the Torah community against
all encroachments from the non-Torah powers that be. The
"Austritt" and Torah im Derech Eretz go hand in hand, they
form "one package", so to speak, and both these aspects of
Hirschian thought have one aim: the total domination of
Torah over all thinking and actions of individual and
national life.
He who separates the rule of the Torah over all facets of
the communal life of Klal Yisroel from the rule of the Torah
over all human knowledge, in short, he who separates the
"Austritt" from Torah im Derech Eretz, renders a disservice
to both. Instead of becoming an inspiration to serve G-d in
the spirit of B'chol D'rochecha dahu, Torah im Derech Eretz is
reduced to become an excuse for being "modern but frum",
an excuse for the cultural assimilation which plagues the
modern Orthodox Jew who considers this world a kosher
pleasure cruise eventually resulting in all the sorry
hangovers of our age.
Let us therefore beware of some common
misunderstandings. The motto does not have its accent on
the last word but on the first word. It is TORAH -underscored
for double emphasis -- with Derech Eretz.
Furthermore, the leit-motif is neither Torah and
Derech Eretz nor Torah U'Madoh -- the two are not equal
partners -- nor must it be twisted around into Derech Eretz
plus Torah. It is neither a synthesis of Torah with
assimilation nor a bloodless orthopraxy blended with
earthbound Americanism.
It is none of these.
It is Torah im Derech Eretz. It means G-d's Torah in its
totality, utilizing Derech Eretz as the means to bring about
the Torah's full realization.
It means: Torah as a Divine nourishment and the
human Derech Eretz as the aromatic ingredient to bring out
the Torah's intrinsic flavor to its most perfect bloom.
There are two schools of thought and they are both
legitimate. One is "Torah Only" and the other is Torah im
Derech Eretz. All Torah-conscious Jews work for the same
goal. There are various methods and various avenues of
approach. They all lead up to the ultimate end of:
"Yisgadal v'yisgadash Shmei rabah"
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