Torah Umadda: The Encounter of Religious Learning and Worldly Knowledge in the Jewish Tradition [Hardcover]

Norman Lamm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1990

Lamm, president of Yeshiva University, examines whether there is room within a traditional religious education for secular studies. He supports the argument that a mixture of traditional religion and worldly knowledge is not only acceptable, but recommended. Among those whose ideas he examines are Maimonides, Samson Raphael Hirsch, and Abraham Isaac Kook.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Torah Umadda is an outstanding achievement. Lamm is a fine scholar and an impassioned advocate. He has written much and he has written beautifully. But this work is more than just another book. It is the most complete statement he has yet attempted of his philosophy of Judaism. (Sacks, Jonathan )

Dr. Lamm has written a remarkably spirited, passionately advocatory book which draws upon an exceedingly rich array of traditional Jewish sources and modern thought. (Rabbi Yitzhak Twersky )

Dr. Lamm has written a thoughtful and often incisive discussion of a major issues confronting and frequently dividing contemporary Orthodox Jewry. Its subject is a perennial concern of religious philosophy, but its significance has been greatly enhanced by modern secularization and varied Jewish responses to it. (Lichtenstein, Aharon )

Torah Umadda makes an impassioned, enthusiastic argument for the inclusion of all disciplines of wisdom into the embrace of Torah. For the reader who seeks an insightful and original analysis of how secular knowledge has been viewed by the Torah leaders from the Talmud to our day, this volume is a thought-provoking and original contribution. (Algemeiner Journal ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Dr. Norman Lamm, president of Yeshiva University and Jakob and Erna Michael Professor of Jewish Philosophy, is also the founding editor of Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. Dr. Lamm has written six books including Torah Lishmah and Faith and Doubt. He is currently a member of New York State's Ethics Commission and lives in New York City. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc.; 2nd edition (March 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876688105
• ISBN-13: 978-0876688106
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,880,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enlightened discussion, January 30, 2005

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This review is from: Torah Umadda: The Encounter of Religious Learning and Worldly Knowledge in the Jewish Tradition (Hardcover)

Rabbi Lamm is one of the superlative Jewish thinkers of our time. In this work he looks at the way gedolim including Rambam, Rabbi Hirsch, Rabbi Kook, look at the subject of secular learning and the learning of Torah. Like the Rambam finds that there is a place for such learning in the Jewish world, and that efforts at excluding such learning completely do not meet with the assent of the greats of Jewish tradition.