Thank you very much. Lichvod Rabbi Kamenetzky, morai verabbotai. The words of the topic, college, often elicit very strong and passionate responses. So if we want to try to conceptualize and contextualize the issue, we're not as far as I know gonna find the word college in Shulchan Aruch, we're not going to find the word college in Gemara. So we're going to just try to identify some of the relevant issues, values, and halachos which we need to be mindful of in trying to identify and reconstruct a Torah perspective on college. We'll begin with some of the considerations which would seem to advocate favorably, in favor of college, and then we'll try to look as well at the other side of the picture. There is an obligation, the fact that we believe with all our heart and soul notwithstanding the כי קצב ונוסח של אדם צוה לו מראש השנה ועד יום הכפורים
that Hakadosh Baruch Hu decrees what parnassah, what sustenance and livelihood a person is going to have. מי יעני ומי יעשיר is part of the verdict which Hakadosh Baruch Hu signs and seals in the Yamim Noraim. But nevertheless, there is an obligation to engage in hishtadlus. The way Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, He chooses to channel things through natural means and it's our obligation, as it were, to provide those natural means and those natural channels which Hakadosh Baruch Hu then uses as a conduit for His bracha. So we have an obligation to make hishtadlus for parnassah, all the time realizing that it's not that with all our hishtadlus, ultimately Hakadosh Baruch Hu decides with what measure of success to crown our efforts. But we do have that obligation again to put in our effort, to be industrious, to take initiative, to be enterprising. אין סומכין על הנס, we're not supposed to rely on miraculous means. Ehov es hamelacha, the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos tells us. Similarly, Pirkei Avos again we recognize יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ. Derech Eretz usually in Chazal refers, we'll have occasion to refer to it in its more Hirschian sense, תורה עם דרך ארץ im yirtzeh Hashem bli neder, but in the context in Chazal, it usually means again the effort to earn a livelihood, to earn a parnassah. So יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ that the fitting and proper balance which one tries to strike is integrating, balancing Talmud Torah together with a job, a source of livelihood. שיגיעת שניהם משכחת עון, that the involvement in both pursuits and balancing those two involvements is something which keeps a person far away from sin. Now, it's obviously the case that not every source of parnassah requires a college education or a college degree. That's certainly the case. On the other hand, it's equally indisputable that in our world, the majority of professions, as an entree to those professions, certainly do require a college degree. If a person has a very good innate business sense, so then lav davka, not necessarily the case that college is necessary or even going to facilitate his attempts, his hishtadlus to earn parnassah. If a person is good with his hands, he has a hush for electronics or something of the sort, so it's obviously not the case that every avenue of parnassah requires college education. But again, it's equally indisputable that the majority do and for many of us who don't necessarily have the aptitude or the inclination. nation for those fields which don't require the college education, so clearly this would present one strong consideration, one strong argument in favor. Now, just to anticipate some of the other side of the coin. Robbing banks is also a good way to make a living, you don't have to work too hard, you work one night a month or something and you live well and you don't have to worry about paying the mortgage. But obviously considerations for parnassah aren't going to override if there's anything which is assur about it, so clearly considerations for parnassah is not going to override that. So obviously that's an issue that we need to and בעזרת השם בלי נדר will address. But assuming that that's not the case, so then again considerations of parnassah are one form, one strong argument in favor. A second one which one could be, which we could speak about at much greater length and much more elaborately than I think we will, is one of learning chochmah again because of its status as something which complements or which helps or which helps adorn Torah. Chazal clearly identify that there is such thing as parpera'ot l'chochmah, something which parperes in Aramit is something which is sort of the side dish which accompanies the bread, which accompanies the staple of the meal. You have the staple and then you have the parperes. And Chazal talk about tekufot v'gematriyaot, translated rather freely and admittedly loosely as science and math, that these are considered parpera'ot l'chochmah. The Gemara in Shabbat says that if a person is יודע לחשב תקופות ומזלות, if a person is able to literally understand some of the circuitry of the heavens, then he's obligated to do so כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם לעיני העמים, because this is something which projects the wisdom and understanding of Klal Yisrael, of Torah Jews before the eyes of the world. And this also again is something which is certainly a very valid and legitimate consideration in trying to construct what the Torah perspective on college is. Again, with the acknowledgment, with the disclaimer that in theory a person doesn't have to enroll in a to get educated, in theory a person can just get reading lists and read and doesn't necessarily have to be enrolled in a degree conferring, granting institution in order to get educated, but practically, the reality is that very few people succeed in that type of self-education. But again, in theory that is an alternate track but in practice it doesn't usually materialize. A third possible consideration, this is a theme which one finds in various places in the writings of the Rav, the mandate from Parshat Bereishit of v'chivshuha. That when Hakadosh Baruch Hu creates Adam HaRishon, so he charges Adam HaRishon with the mandate of literally conquering or subduing the creation, of achieving mastery over the creation, and the Rav in many, many places in his writings, some of the writings which were published in his lifetime, some of those which have been published posthumously, certainly refers to The advance of science, the advance of medicine, the advance of technology as a fulfillment of this mandate of the v'chivshuha. So that is not just that the college education is providing entree to certain professions, not just that college education is providing chochmah, which again there are sources in Chazal that certainly acknowledge and validate and value, but also the specific professions again for which college is necessary which would allow one to earn his or her livelihood in a way that simultaneously is also a fulfillment of this mandate of v'chivshuha. Maybe I'll just read you one or two lines: We are called upon to tell this community not only the story that it already knows, that we are human beings committed to the general welfare and progress of mankind, that we are interested in combating disease, in alleviating human suffering, in protecting man's rights and helping the needy, etcetera. Earlier, we had always considered ourselves an inseparable part of humanity and we were ever ready to accept the divine challenge ומלאו את הארץ וכבשה, fill the earth and subdue it, and the responsibility implicit in human existence. We have steadily maintained that involvement in the creative scheme of things is mandatory. These are I think three perspectives, again that of parnassah, that of chochmah, and that of the mandate of v'chivshuha. Two of these and many others I just was reminded, it came to mind some 40 plus years ago of Rav Schwab zecher tzaddik livracha, the Rav of the Breuer's Kehillah, authored a small, a little bigger than a pamphlet, a little smaller than a monograph, a monograph hyphen pamphlet entitled Elu V'elu where he sort of constructs a dialogue, a debate between a representative of the Torah only school which disapproves of secular education and a representative of the Hirschian philosophy of תורה עם דרך ארץ. So there's one chapter here which is entitled Some TIDE Arguments, TIDE Roshei Tevot for תורה עם דרך ארץ. So I'll just read you very quickly the roshei perakim of the arguments that he presents. Again, he also has the counter-arguments to all these. So number one: the lack of academic standing will lower the respect for Orthodoxy in the eyes of the world, Jewish and non-Jewish. Two: the lack of secular education will deprive us of all effective means to combat irreligious tendencies in literature, press, or other mass media. Right, one has to be able to engage on the same level. Three: the lack of secular education will make it very difficult at this time and age to find normal means of income outside the religious teaching profession. That's what we've discussed already. Four: the lack of academic education will eventually result in the complete absence of Orthodox physicians and psychiatrists, the result being that on the most in the most delicate areas of our lives we'll have to seek guidance and entrust ourselves to people who don't share our core values and beliefs. The lack of Orthodox lawyers and economists number five: the lack of Orthodox lawyers and economists will force Orthodox institutions and organizations to depend on transgressors and violators of the Torah to become the spokesmen for holy causes. Six: no responsible Torah leader would wish to insist on a mode of conduct that cannot be realized in practice by most of the people most of the time. Yeah, just to elaborate that for a minute, this is a theme that you'll find that reverberates in the Rav's Chomesh drashos as well, that it's simply not realistic to think that Jews are going to remain cloistered in an economic ghetto and limit themselves. Inevitably, so Jews are going to enter, whether it's professions of law, or medicine, or business, and if we don't show how that can be done in a way that's totally consistent and harmonious with remaining loyal to Torah, with being steeped and anchored in Torah, and we make it rachmana litzlan an either-or, there're going to be too many, too many, too many casualties of such an approach. Number seven: Are we not in need of principals and teachers for these high schools as well as for the secular departments of the elementary day schools? Even the most Chassidic cheder must teach the secular subjects as required by the law of the state. How dare we entrust our children to non-Jewish or non-Torah-true secular teachers and principals? We need to develop and cultivate our own people who are qualified to fill those positions. Number eight: The discouragement of secular education will also eliminate the Orthodox Anglo-Jewish press and all Orthodox Judaica in English from the bookstands, which will offer only apikorsus literature from now on. There's a certain level of education that's necessary to generate this, this something that baruch Hashem we do see in our day, this English Judaica. Number nine: Science celebrates its greatest triumphs today. It dominates every practical aspect of our lives. If we deprive ourselves of all higher education, every would-be scientist will look down on Orthodox Jewry with derision and contempt. A sad and sorry prospect indeed. And finally, it seems that in our contemporary society, Torah u'madda offers the only reasonable hope of spiritual survival in a turbulent world without divorcing ourselves from reality. It also offers the only chance for the modern Jew and Jewess for a Renaissance movement back home to the eternal sources of genuine Torah Jewishness. So now that's Rav Schwab's presentation of the arguments in favor of advanced secular education. What's the other side of the picture? The other side of the debate? Certainly, some of the areas of study in college are very problematic and in certain cases outright prohibited. In Shulchan Aruch, in Siman Shin Zayin, where the Mechaber discusses what type of reading material is appropriate for Shabbos, what's inappropriate for Shabbos, so some of the things that he mentions he says are not only inappropriate and prohibited on Shabbos, but they're prohibited all week long also. And one such genre of literature is what's referred to as sifrei cheishek, which include, I guess, romance novels or anything that has those kinds of themes in books. I guess the overwhelming majority of all modern writing. Another area, again, which, barring some overriding justification, should be assumed to be off-limits. One of the sheish mitzvos temidiyos, both the Chayei Adam and then after, following the Chayei Adam's footsteps, the Mishnah Berurah as well, at the beginning of their respective codes, quote from the Sefer HaChinuch sheish mitzvos temidiyos. There are six mitzvos which the Sefer HaChinuch has which are operative twenty-four seven, and as a matter of fact, it says in sefarim, at least those mitzvos of these six which are positive mitzvos, if a person finds himself, he's not learning, maybe he doesn't have a sefer and can't remember anything offhand. maybe tired and needs to relax a little bit, that when a person has free time, so a person should meditate on these shish mitzvos temidiyos. Amongst the shish mitzvos temidiyos is belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, anochi Hashem elokecha, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created and sustains the world. שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is one, a simple and absolute unity, to love Hashem, to fear Hashem, not to believe in any other divinities and the last of the six mitzvos temidiyos, constant mitzvos, is from the last parsha of Krias Shema of ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם. Chazal say veamru chachamim, this is the Mishnah Berurah quoting the Sefer HaChinuch, that אמרו חכמים אחרי לבבכם זו אפיקורסות. When it says that we shouldn't stray after our hearts, this refers to as apikorsus, heretical belief. Uvchlal apikorsus says the Sefer HaChinuch, and again, this is doubly, triply significant because it's a Sefer HaChinuch which is quoted lahalacha by the Chayei Adam, by the Mishnah Berurah, ובכלל אפיקורסות הוא כל מחשבות זרות שהם הפך דעת התורה.
Any to preoccupy our minds with any alien thoughts which are antithetical to the Torah, that is included in the prohibition the Sefer HaChinuch says of ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם. Again, now, there are certain overriding considerations which at times are relevant. The Gemara in Avodah Zarah, ולא תלמד לעשות אבל אתה לומד להבין ולהורות, that there are times when a person has to understand, members of the Sanhedrin had to understand kishuf and witchcraft and the like in order to be able to pasken, when that, and that still comes up sometimes, people are involved in martial arts. And there are all kinds of questions about the meditation that they're doing, when if ever it crosses the line from just meditation techniques to where it gets involved with a certain system of belief from the Far East. So a person has to know and understand what exactly they believe and what exactly they're preaching in order to be able to pasken whether or not this crosses the line from innocent meditation into the realm of avodah zarah or not. So there are overriding considerations, da mah shetashiv, if a person's going to be involved in kiruv and is going to be challenged, so certainly a person has to know and understand in order to respond and rebut. But leaving aside these considerations, again, the starting point is that simply to satisfy a college requirement or the like, or in the name of a humanistic education, so there is no dispensation to preoccupy our minds with thoughts which run counter to what the Torah teaches us, which are antithetical to the Torah. Now this is true not again, not because we are afraid, not because the Torah is afraid of any challenge. A, the same way we sort of intuit that it's not a good idea to smoke. Why shouldn't I smoke? You smoke, so the smoke does damage to one's lungs. So I'll just smoke a little bit. Okay, you smoke a little bit, it does a little bit of damage. So the same way what a person ingests physically makes a leaves an impact, it makes an impression, so we're no less impressionable spiritually than we are physically. You take a cigarette, a cigarette leaves its traces. If a person assimilates, a person ingests, a person preoccupies his mind for whatever duration of time with something which is spiritually insidious, again, not because we're afraid, but there's a certain reality. There's a reality of what it is, its falsehood, its antithetical to Torah, and there's no reason that a person should preoccupy his mind with such thoughts. A second consideration is, and this is especially I think pertinent to tonight's Topic is that again while Torah and therefore we who are committed heart and soul to Torah are not afraid because Torah is true and therefore Torah can't lose any debate. Torah is devar Hashem, it's eternal, eternally true, but it may be the case that on a college campus the professor who is teaching history of Near Eastern religion or who's teaching biblical criticism may be more sophisticated in his understanding of those views, machshavos zaros, those views which are antithetical to Torah than the nineteen-year-old who only has the benefit of a day school or yeshiva education may not be equally sophisticated in his grasp of the truth of Torah. In a debate, the one who wins the debate isn't necessarily the one who's representing truth; it's the one who's the better speaker, it's the one who's more experienced and better trained in making arguments. And if you take someone with advanced secular education and you pit him against nineteen-year-olds—no nineteen-year-olds in the audience so then we can say it as it is—how much does a nineteen-year-old know? Okay, so when we were nineteen we were different, we knew more, but how much do our kids who are nineteen know? What do they know? They're young, they're wonderful, but they're obviously in a debate. So how many nineteen-year-olds can hold their own with someone who's been studying a field, again, albeit totally misinformed and misinterpreting? But it doesn't again, the one who wins the debate isn't the one who's always on the side of truth; it's the one who's more experienced and more polished and comes across as being more sophisticated. So clearly exposure to such things is a powerful, powerful argument against, which is advanced and which one must be mindful and sensitive to in opposition to college education. There's a pasuk in Mishlei, a gemara in Avoda Zara quotes, it's in perek hey in Mishlei, I just looked it up a couple hours ago and forgot it already, but I think the pasuk is הרחק מעליה דרכך ואל תקרב אל פתח ביתה זו מינות
that you should keep your path that you tread upon should keep far away from it. The gemara says this refers to minus, this refers to heretical beliefs. The third I think major argument which can be advanced against college, again the first was those areas of study which can involve reading sifrei cheshek which have unacceptable depictions of romance, of intimacy, and closely related to that the nivul peh which one can and presumably inevitably does come across. Again, the more modern the literature, the more inevitable it seems to be. Second of all, the issue again of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם מחשבות שהם היפך דעת התורה, again, courses of study, whether it's history of Near Eastern religion, whether it's courses where Bible criticism is taught or any kind of secularization of Tanach or anything of that ilk. And the third is the general atmosphere of pritzus which exists on secular campuses. What happens is I think as desensitized as almost all of us unfortunately are because of just what we're exposed to. on such a regular basis in our society, but what happens on college campuses is לא יאומן כי יסופר. It was unthinkable by secular American standards 40 and 50 years ago. The pritzus and znus and there's a whole, it's a whole culture. It's not just that it happens. It's not just that there are incidents. That's the entire culture. The entire culture is that the weekend begins already on Thursday night and it runs through Sunday night. And it begins with drinking. Drinking obviously whatever inhibitions are left, aren't too many inhibitions left in our society, but whatever whatever inhibitions or restraint might otherwise be in place is totally sacrificed to the drinking in such excess and and it's just unbelievable. And and to think that that we can place children in such an atmosphere. So Chazal say in much less, much less, מה יעשה הבן ולא יחטא. Chazal taka, I think it's also a Gemara in Avodah Zarah about about a father who gives his son nice clothing. He dresses him very nicely and then he gives him a purse full of money and then he sends him on an errand where he has to walk in front of a house of prostitution. And Chazal say מה יעשה הבן ולא יחטא. What does the father expect? He places his son in this environment, he gives him the the resources to sin, he places him in front of temptation, מה יעשה הבן ולא יחטא. What does the father expect that that the son is not going to come to temptation? Of course he is. It's only natural. The reason Chazal have so many harchakos is because Chazal in their wisdom were so realistic. It's a hallmark of Torah that Torah is very realistic. We don't pretend that there's no yetzer hara. No, we know that there's a very strong yetzer hara inside of us and that's why Chazal have so many, so many harchakos. I remember someone once showed me a column in a newspaper 30 30-plus years ago. One of these all-wise advice columnists who sit in judgment of of the world and all philosophies. And and some some woman wrote in how she's how her boyfriend is an Orthodox Jew and and he's such a such an extremist and such a fanatic that he won't even hold her hand. And eich yitachen, how how she's supposed to function? So the advice columnist in her with her profound wisdom, attested to the fact that the newspaper gives her space and gives her a column in the newspaper, so what more confirmation does one need of the person's probity and wisdom than that? So she writes back, you're absolutely right, and and the person, he's such a crazy fanatic, you're wasting your time with him. So what's the reality? So the reality is this, the reality is again the Chazal are very realistic about the yetzer hara. There's a yetzer hara for a young couple to hold hands. Okay, on a scale of one to ten it's a three. If they hold hands, there's a yetzer hara now on a scale of one to ten, a five, to to do more than hold hands. Chibuk unishuk. And this chibuk unishuk, so then the yetzer hara on a scale of one to ten is no longer a five, but is a nine or ten, that they should violate even more serious transgressions. So Chazal were very realistic. The yetzer hara is not something, we're not fatalistic about it. It's not something that a person can't control. It's not something which can't be channeled to kedusha vetahara as it was intended. The yetzer hara isn't intrinsically bad. Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that's what it says in Igros HaKodesh. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't create anything which is bad. You can't say that כל מה דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't create anything that's bad. What it means a yetzer hara means, it means an an instinct, impulse for something which is material or physical. But even that, again, when sanctified is good. So it can be sanctified, but it has to be done realistically. But but to place children in the in an atmosphere of of such pritzus and znus that exists on secular campuses, the it's very hard to come up with with any answer or or justification. So clearly there are arguments on both sides of the debate. And as is often, not always the case, some things in halacha and Torah are black and white, some things are absolute yeses, absolute nos, regardless of who's posing the question. But as is often the case, there are many areas in Torah and halacha where the correct answer depends upon who's who's asking the question. Clearly if if the question of again advanced secular education, which again for all practical purposes means college, if the person asking that is a person whose mesorah, Binus spoke earlier about maintaining personal mesoros as well as the general overall mesorah that we have, if that person is of of Yotzei Ashkenaz, that his tradition is the German Jewish tradition, so obviously he's going to be on a certain track in terms of this question than if the person maybe maybe grew up as a Gerer Chasid, so that person is likely to be on on a different track for two reasons: A, again because of the personal mesorah that one has, and B, in addition to the personal mesorah, also it also a very important consideration here is the how sheltered an existence one has lived until this point. And and that certainly is a factor which has to be taken into account. One can't, thank you very much, there's obviously a difference between someone who's who's raised in in one of the communities with which we're familiar as opposed to someone who's who's raised in in a more insular or sheltered environment. So the answer isn't necessarily going to be the same for everyone, it shouldn't be the same for everyone. But whatever the answer is, whether a person's whether the correct answer for any given individual is yes, he should go to college, or no, he or she shouldn't go to college, if one goes to college, so one has to be aware of all the arguments of those who say that that you shouldn't be going to college. One has to be sensitive to the fact that the the fact that it's included in a college curriculum doesn't mean that we consider that legitimate reading material automatically. Erasmus isn't the posek acharon on what we should or shouldn't or shouldn't be be reading while going to to college. Again, if one goes to college, so again one has to be aware and sensitive to the issue again of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם, to know if in the particular in the catalog there are courses which clearly cross that line into the domain of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם, מחשבות שהם היפך דעת התורה, that that one has to steer clear unless it's again unless one of the dispensations that we mentioned is applicable. And and certainly one has to be aware of the culture which just sucks people in of immorality which exists on the secular campuses and not to minimize for a second the danger, the spiritual danger which that poses to our our children's spiritual life. Conversely, if one decides that college is not for him, maybe it's because of one's personal mesorah, maybe it's because of one's personal background and the culture shock to any college would be too much or for whatever legitimate reason one may come to that conclusion, one has to be aware of the arguments in favor of college. One has to be aware of the to make hishtadlus for parnassah because while there's no question that going out into the world poses its challenges, closing oneself off, shutting oneself off from the world can pose challenges also. Chazal say in the last mishna in Kiddushin that if a person isn't מלמד את בנו אומנות, he's ke'ilu melamdo listus. If we don't teach our children a trade by which they can earn a living, so it's as if we're teaching them to be ganavim, to be thieves. Okay, thievery comes in different forms. You can hold up a bank, or you can defraud the government in different ways. The nisayon of being poor, of not having entree to enough professions to support a community is no less of a nisayon than the nisyonos which are encountered whether in college or out in the workplace. So if one decides not to go to college, the same way if you go to college you have to be aware of all the arguments against it, to make sure that one is steering clear of that, it's equally true that if one doesn't go to college, one has to also be very, very sensitive to and aware of the arguments in favor and one has to make sure that one has an alternate response. I think Rav Schwab in this book that we mentioned before, Eilu v'Eilu, says ultimately there is no hachra'ah. It's not that one is right and one is wrong. It depends upon the individual. As with all decisions, a person tries to make that the decision-making process should be as pure as possible. A person tries to put aside biases, not subjectivity in the sense of individuality, but subjectivity in the sense of biases. A person consults with people who know him, know his masorah, know his or her family background and upbringing and character and temperament. And once one has as sound a decision-making process as possible, so then one davens and one relies on the hatzlacha which HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives that הבא לטהר מסייעין אותו. Thank you very much.