Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim 30:12) “it is not in heaven,” mean that Torah is not to be found amongst haughty, arrogant people. The words: “it is not beyond the ocean,” mean that Torah is not to be found among people who constantly journey from place to place to make their livelihood, i.e. hawkers. Samuel said that Torah cannot be found among astrologers or professional astronomers, seeing that the Torah writes: “it is not in heaven.” The Torah may be found only among people preoccupied with the pursuit of matters which are oriented toward heavenly concerns. People challenged Samuel, saying to him that seeing he himself was an astronomer how could he make such a statement? He answered: “in all my days I have never looked at science except when I was relieving myself”
Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim 30:12) Our sages said: “go and study Greek philosophy at a time which is neither day nor night.” What they meant was that preoccupation with any disciplines other than Torah study exposes the student to the danger of being influenced by the theologically unsound element, some of which is always found scattered in those texts. This is the reason these disciplines have been compared to silver, seeing that silver invariably contains some impurities unless it has been refined over and over again. Our Torah is compared to such silver, i.e. כסף צרוף. This is what David meant in Psalms 12,7 when he wrote: “the words of the Lord are pure words, silver purged in an earthen crucible, refined sevenfold.”
Menachos (99b) May one such as I who have studied the whole of the Torah learn Greek wisdom? He thereupon read to him the following verse, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Go then and find a time that is neither day nor night and learn then Greek wisdom.
There may not be "a time which is neither day nor night" but there is bathroom time which is how the Gr"a got through the medical school curriculum of his day.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this is a false dichotomy. God created the universe. Science teaches us how He did it and how to use it for our benefit. It's not "Greek wisdom" except that they took the time to figure it out for us.
The verse from Joshua refers to the written Torah. My little understanding is that it means eg we invade some land, we do not take up their idols (which sadly occurred in the same sefer); we see an eshes yefat toar, we can take her under certain conditions. We have to tend our fields, work iron to make swords, and avoid these activities on shabbat. etc
ReplyDeleteIf we were charieidi, we would not waste time learning Mikre all day, we would say it is assur to even look at an eshes yefat toar, let alone to take her. We would refuse to go to war, suspend the lav against stealing, shun work, etc etc