Like this comment? 0

Like this comment? 0

Like this comment? 0

In all seriousness why, why? How old are you? Dont you think its a little childish?

We have all heard these jokes a million times. I am not a pure soul by no stretch of the imagination and my ears are not immaculate, I can stand a dirty joke, but I think this is a little overdone and uncalled for.

Like this comment? 0

Like this comment? 1

And kollel vaiblach would ruin the whole kollel experience. Look at you, every time there is a somewhat serious schoalrly disscussion you seem to posses the need to angle it towards levity. How much studying do you think you would get to do were HT youre chaverusah? I dont think much. I am staunchly opposed to coed kollelim.

Like this comment? 0

You’re right about both of your points. My hypothesis is based on the assumption that academic proficiency internalizes and enhances the hard wired organic make up of the brain. I know this is a huge bally hued subject with psychologists, especially with evolutionary psychologists. I don’t have enough knowledge on the subject to really say anything decisively about it, but I know that this theory exists, so I used it as an assumption in my hypothesis.

You are totally right about your second point too. Actually it’s a well known fact that advances in academics and scholarly achievement almost never happens in turbulent times, whether political, social, economical etc. Some attribute the great advances the Greeks made in all fields of knowledge to the relative stable period that preceded and endured during the epoch of the seeming explosion of knowledge. Also, if you look back at the greats (in all fields) of antiquity you will find that almost all of them were either from noble families or from very rich families. The reason is simple. The poor man of antiquity didn’t have the financial means to provide an education for his son. The children of the poor people joined their parents in the effort to survive. They joined in their parent’s vocation, and by the time they got married they had their own family to provide for. Education was just not a reality for the lower class people. The upper class people who were well off financially could afford for their kids to get an education. That’s why in ancient times the learned people, as a rule, were almost always from the upper echelons of society. It’s a product of modern times that education is seen as vital for every person regardless of their financial state. Having said that, with the Jews and Torah study it’s a little different.

Every Jew is required and obligated to learn and know the whole Torah. According to some it’s the most important and most estimable mitzvah in the hierarchical value system applied to mitzvoth. Henceforth, unlike in the secular world of old, torah study was never seen as the sole lot of the rich upper class. It’s the lot and obligation of the entire nation to be torah scholars. The Torah isn’t the possession of the upper class, it belongs to the whole nation and every person must have a connection with the torah. It is therefore not surprising that we see throughout history many great torah scholars who originated from vastly underprivileged backgrounds. In the ancient world scholarly achievement, because of the circumstances, became associated with the nobility and the upper class, but in Judaism because of the peculiar command that doesn’t differentiate between classes, torah study was never seen as something that belongs or is characteristic of higher society.

In any case, the above is not fundamental to refute your argument. In essence I can agree with you that academic achievement and scholarly endeavors are unobtainable to the poor person. But we are looking at society as a whole. My hypothesis states that a downtrodden people that have no means to gain prominence through the conventional available channels will look for some other way to achieve greatness. So, I agree that the poorest and most unfortunate sector of that society can’t participate in the upward academic thrust, but the middle and upper class of the society (who have a measure of financial and emotional stability) can and surely will join and accommodate in the effort of the society to untangle and deliver itself from its unfortunate plight.

Like this comment? 0

Like this comment? 0

For starters though, I think you are confusing academic achievement with cognitive potential and skill. IQ is “supposed” to be more innate, (how much of it is, is a different story). Though there is of course a strong correlation between cognitive and academic achievement, the schools you mentioned that are running after far easterns, are doing so based on SAT and GRE scores and not Wechslers and Stanford Binets.

“One of the most prominent ones is that , since the conventional channels to gain significance and notoriety are unavailable or unattainable to the suppressed person, he will indulge in the only channel that is unobstructed to him, which is academics. The limitations that exist on the financial, economic, and social outlet didn’t exist on academics. You can’t prevent a man from studying.”

” Kach he darko shell torah pas vmelech tochel..”

Now that’s one way to spin it. But I can argue that typically, people who are under dire financial and emotional stress, can not afford to focus on intellectual pursuits, academic achievement, or scholarly endeavors.

There’s a pretty simple reason why the “Top Bocher” in yeshiva demands a large naden.

like I said, I have many thoughts on this topic, but at the risk of being called a kollel yingermann like someone I know…

Like this comment? 0

Like this comment? 0