On Necessary Jewish Educational Reforms

We can see that our sages, of blessed memory, likewise declared the Torah a weapon, as it has stood by us, enabling us to emerge triumphant in the wars for our religious and moral existence, in which we have been engaged for many years. Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the fact that a human being must also care for his material and physical survival, for without material existence there can be no moral existence. To secure our material existence, we must ensure that children can converse in the vernacular and gain basic knowledge necessary for life. I already dealt with this matter in the first proclamation I issued for the founding of the yeshiva [of Lida] in 1905, and in the pamphlet on the yeshiva’s mission, which was published in 1906. In it, I described at length the terrible moral decline and how the study of Torah is constantly decreasing. For fathers are themselves removing their sons from places of Torah and putting them in other institutions. After portraying that whole aggravating vision, I wrote the following:

When I came to investigate the reason for this sudden revolution that has occurred in Israel, I came to the realization—which provides a certain measure of comfort, and also much good hope—that it is not the result of new opinions diverting from the fundamentals of Judaism, heaven forfend. Rather, it is due to changes in the struggles of daily life and the conditions of making a livelihood, which have undergone a transformation throughout the entire world. Beforehand, when the whole world was in its old [pre-modern] state, the Jewish world was likewise distinct and had its unique place. Then, Jews did not have difficulties making a living—life did not require the acquisition of general knowledge and specific preparations in each field of endeavor—virtually all people had their source of income ready from the outset, and their status in society was prearranged. In that situation, all that was missing in Israel was the knowledge of Torah, so that one could be beloved by the Omnipresent and respected by peers [see m. Avot 3:10]. Fathers were then able to support their sons, who sat and engaged in Torah study, and the sons did not seek out anything else either. All youths grew up within the walls of the study house, and they all absorbed Torah and Jewish knowledge, to a greater or lesser degree. The leaders at the time maintained their influence over their flocks, protecting them from foreign forms of knowledge that sometimes infiltrated the world of Israel. Thus, our world was solid and whole.

Now, however, the entire world has changed, the economic boundaries that separate one nation from another have been removed, and all have begun to receive sustenance in the same manner. In these times, the whole commercial activities of industry and craftsmanship have been completely transformed; they require much specialized knowledge, various trainings, and proper handling. Under these circumstances, earning a living is as hard as splitting the Red Sea [see b. Pesaḥim 118a] and a father feels satisfied when he has something on his plate with which he can feed his young children. In our time, fathers are no longer able to bear the burden of sons who are not engaged in any labor and work, when they cannot anticipate material remuneration in the near future. It is equally difficult for sons to blindly sacrifice their future, and to surrender themselves into the hands of life without preparing for it and its demands.

In these days, due to these requirements of life, one who wishes to select a husband for his daughter, and even a community that wants to appoint a rabbi, will demand from candidates not only Torah knowledge but worldly knowledge as well. In these times, any Torah student who has no other educational background has effectively separated himself from the community, and everyone looks at him as an uncultured boor. With all that in mind, it should come as no surprise that neither fathers nor sons see their future in the Torah academies, and that they go to seek it elsewhere. Only a few exceptional individuals, or one or two fortunate ones, are able to swim against the tide of life, whereas the majority are swept away by the current that mercilessly washes over them and carries them away. It is no wonder that our study halls are suddenly emptied and our youth have abandoned us, when we have done nothing to counter the evil. Have we taken measures to fulfill the new requirements and demands that have risen up and tower over the younger generation? Have we even noticed them? No, we have not done anything—how then can we be enraged over this state of affairs? If there is no Torah study, there is no Judaism; nothing holy or noble can survive, and passersby hear only the sound of bullish gentiles in the streets, while the voice of Israel is silent and leaves no trace.

The above words need no commentary, for they are entirely self-explanatory.

In sum, anybody of intelligence could have foreseen the need to ensure that while our sons are educated in the spirit of Torah and the mitzvot, they must also learn some essential facts for life. If we do not take care of this ahead of time, there is no hope of holding back this awful tide that continuously flows stormily and tempestuously, and whose waves are carrying our sons to very different institutions, places where they think they can supplement those forms of knowledge that are necessary for life. When a lad observes the demands that natural, tangible life has on him, it is very difficult to impress upon him that spiritual, ethical matters should take up all of his attention to such an extent that he should not care at all about the requirements of natural life, which he senses and feels every hour of the day.

Accordingly, as long as the weapon of the secularists is tangible and natural, whereas the God-fearing fight with morality, there is no chance that the latter will triumph. As I have already written, in every war each side must be aware of the strength of the enemy’s weapon so that they can deploy weapons of no lesser strength and range. In this case too, Orthodox Judaism must include a natural weapon in its arsenal because if they fight only with moral power while the secularists use the missiles of nature and practicality, the latter will invariably prevail. For the natural, practical world is always present before one’s eyes, which is why its effect upon people is so great.