tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post111653157073335153..comments2024-01-21T02:58:08.208-05:00Comments on On the Main Line: Someone asked me what my deal is. Here is some of it.Mississippi Fred MacDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02734864605700159687noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-12243320605717728422012-07-31T06:34:32.751-04:002012-07-31T06:34:32.751-04:00very interesting. Just thought i would note for yo...very interesting. Just thought i would note for you that Jastro was orthodox, just in case you didn't know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-58111079405230247192012-07-11T19:15:05.434-04:002012-07-11T19:15:05.434-04:00I just found your blog and read this introduction....I just found your blog and read this introduction. Very interesting. I loved the vort about Eve, very romantic, indeed. I'm going to take note of it! <br /><br />I think yeshivish guys (and even MO guys) don't know much Tanach. It unfortunately is not focused on in their education. R' Hirsch and R' Kaplan were two of my favorites during high school (I obviously grew up MO). If you haven't read anything by Rav Soloveitchik (though I know this post is a few years "old"), I highly recommend "The Lonely Man of Faith."Nhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11988396893369485100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-36113865351383662272012-07-09T12:09:31.463-04:002012-07-09T12:09:31.463-04:00Thank you. A follow-up is a nice idea. The short a...Thank you. A follow-up is a nice idea. The short answer is reading a lot, thinking a lot, and time. And, of course, blogging. If I may take a liberty, מכל מלמדי השכלתי.S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-92230093954206524552012-07-09T12:05:16.102-04:002012-07-09T12:05:16.102-04:00I wish you would do a follow-up to this post, one ...I wish you would do a follow-up to this post, one in which you explain how you went from being a person who found "Rejoice O Youth" and "This Is My God" sophisticated and revelatory to someone who knows as much as you do about all aspects of Judaism. Are you an autodidact, and if so, how did you manage it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-76691549620963337272012-07-04T11:49:43.422-04:002012-07-04T11:49:43.422-04:00I found this blog while pursuing an interest in th...I found this blog while pursuing an interest in the circumcision debate that is raging at the moment in middle europe.<br />I find it delightful, if a little quaint. A new world opened before my astonished eyes. A world where the world (the actual one) plays little part. No doubt there a important things to be learned there.<br />Keep on the good work!Christophhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03521248497959956999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-20517505949173178812012-05-21T21:47:19.672-04:002012-05-21T21:47:19.672-04:00I've been occasionally dropping in, as well as...I've been occasionally dropping in, as well as noting your comments on other blogs. I know just enough to appreciate how much more you know. I understand your desire for anonymity on the internet, but I hope that in your "real life" you are known and don't hide yourself. The Jewish world needs role-models of widely-read, Orthodox intellectuals -- as opposed to those who are deficient in one or more of the three implied attributes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-48485922269462740152012-04-03T22:59:47.566-04:002012-04-03T22:59:47.566-04:00Finally read this, 7 years later. Great stuff.Finally read this, 7 years later. Great stuff.E. Finkhttp://finkorswim.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-7602996933412206452012-03-29T11:27:22.495-04:002012-03-29T11:27:22.495-04:00Thanks for your kind words. I just saw your blog -...Thanks for your kind words. I just saw your blog - actually I saw it a few days ago when someone sent me a link to your Darwin post - and it looks really fascinating!S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-58354660382306710942012-03-28T18:55:29.555-04:002012-03-28T18:55:29.555-04:00Hi, I've just come across your blog, I see you...Hi, I've just come across your blog, I see you have some fascinating posts here. Looking forward to having a browse..<br /><br />Thanks!<br /><br />Michael.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-42546031814697644002012-03-28T10:30:46.109-04:002012-03-28T10:30:46.109-04:00You know, the optimal time to be getting a degree,...<i>You know, the optimal time to be getting a degree, when you've already got 2 or 3 kids and pressing bills. Such is life.</i><br /><br />That world is unsalvageable. They're shooting themselves in their collective foot, and unfortunately, as they now own the franchise, when they go, they'll be taking most of Orthodoxy with them.<br /><br />As I said on FM the other day, apart from the occasional fringe community (e.g., Avi Weiss'), there is no more Modern Orthodoxy. There is only Haredism and (various flavors of) Haredism lite.Jeff Eygeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11967707883565162538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-73613390218182351672012-03-27T17:17:25.317-04:002012-03-27T17:17:25.317-04:00My understanding is basically that the 'tradit...My understanding is basically that the 'traditional' yeshiva opposition toward college (at least in America, post-war) was if it were pursued for knowledge for knowledge's sake, rather than for purely practical aims (=making a living). Secondly, the idea of a Yeshiva College ala YU was considered extremely religiously wrong. But going to college itself (usually in the evening) was considered fairly acceptable in all the major yeshivas; Torah V'Daas, Chaim Berlin, Telz (I think?), and of course Ner Israel. They had and I'm sure still have special arrangements with Hopkins. I've heard from people my own age (whatever that happens to be ;-) that in their time at Ner Israel the idea of them going to college was not frowned upon, but they were strongly discouraged from taking Jewish Studies (haskalah) classes. All those years when it was considered more or less acceptable it seems that there were nevertheless many rabbeim who would attempt to influence boys not to go, pointing out that when the young R. Shimon Schwab asked people like R. Boruch Ber Leibowitz, their response was emphatically against going to college. But of course it had to be so, otherwise how could it ever have become less acceptable? <br /><br />Nowadays things have changed in that going to college, at least while in yeshiva, is considered basically the wrong thing to do. In New York there is Touro College, which separates the sexes, and some consider that at least de facto okay. But the same yeshivas that used to sort of be fine with it are much less fine with it, sometimes only allowing it on a case by case basis. I will say that there is somewhat of a more open attitude of tolerance toward getting a degree once people are older, married and in their late 20s. You know, the optimal time to be getting a degree, when you've already got 2 or 3 kids and pressing bills. Such is life.S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-44712101728678233302012-03-26T19:30:57.272-04:002012-03-26T19:30:57.272-04:00I understand. Interestingly, though, the article I...I understand. Interestingly, though, the article I mentioned said that NY has actually become <i>more</i> amenable to the idea of its students attending college, and has arrangements with all of the local colleges and universities, including Johns Hopkins (which is where my friend went). However, I think it was also stated (or at least implied) that the reason for their more lenient attitude has to do with the necessity of earning a living, and not because they've developed a respect for secular education.<br /><br />They allowed my friend to do it forty years ago because he was kind of the "head boy" in his day, and because he was willing to major in Math, which they viewed as value-neutral. He showed them, though; he ended up frei-ing out anyway, and absconded in the middle of the night! After a couple of years, he did go back to observance (meeting both Shlomo Carlebach and the woman who became his wife had a lot to do with it, as it always does), but he went on to get a PhD in Jewish Studies under Elie Wiesel and now teaches in the Rabbinical program of a small Jewish college (the only one we have here).Jeff Eygeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11967707883565162538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-18130405734221325062012-03-26T14:28:36.792-04:002012-03-26T14:28:36.792-04:00I know why you asked. :-) It's more complicate...I know why you asked. :-) It's more complicated than that, because it doesn't take into account many changes in the yeshiva world over the past couple of decades, which has gotten more hostile to college (at least/ especially for college age boys). What I did (yeshiva + college) was in certain respects fairly normal in my time, although much less so than it was 20 years earlier. Now in certain respects it is pretty rare. Ner Yisrael is pretty much the left wing of the right wing, that is correct. One indicator of that is that it is the preferred destination of many who were on track for YU but got too frum for it and want to learn in a real yeshivish yeshiva. On the other hand, it is not quite the hospitable yeshiva + college environment that it was 20 years ago, following trends in the Orthodox world in general. The yeshiva I went to was, and certainly is, more right wing than they. But it's really kind of complex and sense can't be made out of it in just a few sentences.S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-12621596737226848862012-03-25T12:33:27.713-04:002012-03-25T12:33:27.713-04:00The reason I ask is that the MO rabbi I sometimes ...The reason I ask is that the MO rabbi I sometimes mention on Failed Messiah went to Ner Yisroel, and he describes it as "the Left Wing of the Right Wing". He was one of their first students to go to college at night. I gather it's fairly commonplace there, now - there was actually an article about it in one of the major news magazines a few years ago - but I'd find it interesting to learn that it's actually discouraged. The way he represents them to me is different, but he tends to be an apologist for that world, tells me I have the wrong idea, etc.Jeff Eygeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11967707883565162538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-38899984648348308122012-03-25T11:44:03.122-04:002012-03-25T11:44:03.122-04:00It's not improper, although let me say at the ...It's not improper, although let me say at the outset that if it was I wouldn't say, at least not here. :-) However, what I will say is that there are only a handful of yeshivas which fit the description - Ner Yisrael obviously included. And people have asked me at various points if I went to all of them.S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-40840522836175983062012-03-25T05:47:47.967-04:002012-03-25T05:47:47.967-04:00S., if it isn't improper to ask - would that &...S., if it isn't improper to ask - would that "centrist" yeshiva have been Ner Yisroel?Jeff Eygeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11967707883565162538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-12964969349305012822012-02-25T11:02:44.390-05:002012-02-25T11:02:44.390-05:00RE: "letter...forbidding college"
Well, ...RE: "letter...forbidding college"<br />Well, if the Garden of Eden fable taught us anything, it would be that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing - one can only imagine how dangerous a lot of it might be.<br />Good bio.<br />Feel free to visit --<br /><br />pax vobiscum,<br />archaeopteryx<br />www.in-His-own-image.comarchaeopteryxhttp://www.in-his-own-image.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-13355558673306246292012-02-10T19:06:19.709-05:002012-02-10T19:06:19.709-05:00Just discovered your blog. Can't wait to keep ...Just discovered your blog. Can't wait to keep reading. Thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-59146835897376913262012-01-10T10:29:40.098-05:002012-01-10T10:29:40.098-05:00your blog is a delightyour blog is a delightAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-81014381762460938682011-10-25T00:03:57.220-04:002011-10-25T00:03:57.220-04:00You wouldn't happen to be from Baltimore would...You wouldn't happen to be from Baltimore would you? Our educational backgrounds are quite similar...YKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-62103842858420124002011-09-11T14:59:39.847-04:002011-09-11T14:59:39.847-04:00I'm not 20 anymore you know.I'm not 20 anymore you know.S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-63334655210541800452011-09-09T21:46:32.544-04:002011-09-09T21:46:32.544-04:00The thought that comes to mind as I read this: mas...The thought that comes to mind as I read this: masorti can't exist without orthodox, and vice versa.<br /><br />I'm now 30 and feeling woefully undereducated compared to your "nearly twenty and with a decade and a half of yeshiva education" self.<br /><br />But at least this post is a good reading list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-8899593742634786922011-07-31T05:57:54.685-04:002011-07-31T05:57:54.685-04:00Amazing writer.Amazing writer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-48169595909067524912011-06-19T06:41:37.275-04:002011-06-19T06:41:37.275-04:00That last sentence just needs a "been" i...That last sentence just needs a "been" in there somewhere. But it's a beautifully told narrative.<br />You're a fine writer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-39346562346668182902011-05-06T16:25:09.439-04:002011-05-06T16:25:09.439-04:00This made for a very interesting read. Also, your ...This made for a very interesting read. Also, your last sentence makes no sense. Just thought you ought to know.Aryehnoreply@blogger.com