Igros Moshe (YD IV #36.3) Question Is it prohibited to stop Torah study in order to study secular subjects? Answer I have discussed this a number of times. There are two obligations in the mitzva of Torah study. 1) The obligation to learn and know all the Torah – both written and Oral. 2) There is a prohibition to forget Torah kearning. 3 ) Some say there is also the obligation to learn Torah everyday.
I wonder: How many poskim ever face consequences for their ivory tower psak's?
ReplyDeleteConsider this case: a boy is struggling in yeshiva. He's just not cut out for full time learning despite the lie spread around that every Jewish boy is cut out for full time learning. He's not happy but he has other interests and might do well if he goes to a trade school or college to learn a profession. He wouldn't abandon Torah but he'd get a job and support himself. More, he'd be happier and feel well adjusted.
The answer in teshuvors like this post is "Nope, stay where you are even if you're miserable because if you're miserable, it's your problem and you're doing something wrong."
Now flash foward decades later. The miserable boy is now a miserable old man. He got married but his marital life was miserable. He raised his kids in an uninspiring and miserable fashion and most of them left frumkeit since they saw nothing good in it. He dies full of regret while leaving a huge debt behind to his widow and children because of the cost of living the frum lifestyle.
Tell me, will the posek take any reponsibility for the life that his psak ruined?
There are plenty of obligations
Deleteobligation to marry and provide for the family
obligation to build the Beit Hamikdash
obligation to bring sacrifices
to fight wars, and to rise up early against the attacker
Even the saintly Hashmonaim were not clear how to balance their obligations, as when they refrained from fighting on Shabbat they tended to killed. So then they realised that for milchama, even the obligation of Shabbat is temporarily lifted.
Unfortunately everything ought to be given proper context.Who & how the question was asked should be explained by a publisher
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