Q&A: Science and Academia as an Intrinsic Value versus Torah Study
Science and Academia as an Intrinsic Value versus Torah Study
Question
I would like to ask about the relationship between secular studies and Torah study.
In all your writings it is clear that your scientific and philosophical knowledge contributes greatly to faith and Torah, by removing difficulties and supporting true ideas. However, it seems that this special combination, in which your knowledge of philosophy and physics (and also biology and brain science, in your books on those subjects) has contributed to the world of Torah and faith, is rare. An ordinary academic is mainly occupied with his research, and his head and most of his being are not immersed in the complex passages of the Talmud. And even if here and there he has an idea for a novel insight into a topic, it is not like the learning, for himself and for others, that would result if his head and most of his being were in Torah.
I am asking specifically about a wise and talented person, one of the most successful in the group, who can study Torah in a high-quality way, offer novel insights, and analyze it sharply and honestly.
Once a person is no longer an ignoramus, and has a real foothold in modern scientific discourse, mathematics, physics, etc., and also has no livelihood difficulties (his wife earns well, inheritance, etc.)—is going into academic research, or into industry, instead of studying the Talmud and teaching Torah, not a waste of quality time? So, nu, fine—during his research years he will solve and publish a few more questions about the Schrödinger equation under slightly different conditions, and differential equations of this sort and that sort, and all kinds of important but not absolutely critical topics. After all, others—secular people / gentiles—can do that too! He could instead be doing the greatest thing possible: studying Torah. Are religious geniuses who go into academia not a waste of intellectual potential?
Of course the issue of personality fit and desire is relevant here, but I am refining the question to people who are truly talented and suited for this. And it may be that perhaps he would enjoy life a little less studying Bava Metzia rather than differential geometry, but what is that compared to the value of Torah study?
To sum up: for a talented and capable Jew, in a case where livelihood difficulties are not an issue, is a life of academic research not a waste?
Answer
Absolutely not. Each person according to his inclinations. Research and that kind of study have value in themselves, and not only as an instrument for Torah study. On the contrary, Torah study by narrow-minded people itself seems very bad to me.
See here:
https://mikyab.net/posts/6214
Discussion on Answer
And any Torah that is not accompanied by work will in the end come to nothing and lead to sin.
I don’t think one can give a general method in these matters. Just as in allocating a country’s resources, you don’t give all resources to the single most important thing. The healthcare basket allows people to die, and yet there are still budgets that go to sports and culture and yeshivot. So too with the allocation of human resources in society. A person studies where his heart desires. In my view, the world and Torah develop when intelligent people work on all the different fronts and develop them. All these sciences can be defined as Torah in the personal sense (like aggadic literature, or the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), or Jewish thought. And in my opinion this is far more beneficial, regardless of the commandment involved in it, than all those fields).
All fields of science require years of specialization and research. And the priestess should not be treated as no better than an innkeeper.
And I was precise: without considerations of livelihood constraints.
Thank you, Rabbi Michi
Rabbi, are you saying the same thing about the arts and culture as well? Meaning, a person who could become a Torah scholar, but chooses a path of art and culture because he connects to it more and finds it more interesting than Talmudic tractates—
is that also a correct decision? Is that too one of the “fronts”?
Rabbi Michi, what kind of “Torah in the personal sense” is there in studying physics?
A personal confession: I want to broaden my horizons and enrich my Torah with modern science and wisdom, but the yeshiva-boy impulse gnaws at me that it would be better to learn another page of Talmud at that time. I bought a beginner’s physics book from the University on Air series to start getting familiar with concepts, but I’m nervous about it because it doesn’t seem to help my Torah at all …
Arik, I think so.
Complicated, I didn’t understand your question.
Research has value in itself, but Torah study is greater. And more important. It is the word of God.
If someone has good knowledge in science and wisdom, and can spend his whole life either researching science or researching Torah, why would he choose the less important thing? Again, if he has inclination and suitability for both worlds.