“Torah U’Madda, if it stands for anything, stands not for the ability to go to an excellent university, get a prestigious law degree, and make a wonderful living for a family in Teaneck, Woodmere, or New Rochelle”

Torah U’Madda, if it stands for anything, stands not for the ability to go to an excellent university, get a prestigious law degree, and make a wonderful living for a family in Teaneck, Woodmere, or New Rochelle. Torah U’Madda should mean that we believe that there is hokhma bagoyim, and that the study thereof can enrich and deepen our understanding of Torah. Does everything worth knowing emerge from within Torah, or are there things worth knowing that emerge from the broader world and are brought into–indeed, enhance–our study and understanding of Torah? The difference as to how one answers those questions should be one of the markers of Modern Orthodoxy.

Rivka Press Schwartz, “What Are We So Afraid Of?: The Challenge of Torah U’Madda for Our Time”, Tacit Knowledge (5 January 2017) [https://rpschwartz.com/2017/01/05/what-are-we-so-afraid-of-the-challenge-of-torah-umadda-for-our-time]