Torah Umadda - Relationship With Torah Im Derech Eretz

Relationship With Torah Im Derech Eretz

See also under Azriel Hildesheimer, Modern Orthodox Judaism and below.

Torah im Derech Eretz—"Torah with worldly involvement"—is a philosophy of Orthodox Judaism concerning the relationship between Torah Judaism and the modern world, first articulated by Samson Raphael Hirsch in c. 1840. In some senses Torah Umadda and Torah im Derech Eretz are similar. Both value the acquisition of secular knowledge coupled with adherence to halakha; both, additionally, emphasise worldly involvement. In fact, Torah im Derech Eretz is sometimes put forward as one paradigm upon which Torah Umadda (and Modern Orthodoxy in general) is based.

At the same time though, the two are distinct in terms of emphasis. Whereas Torah Umadda maintains two separate realms- religious and secular—and accents the idea of (psychological and sociological) synthesis, "Rabbi Hirsch's fight was not for balance and not for reconcilement, nor for synthesis and certainly not for parallel power, but for domination—for the true and absolute domination of the divine precept over the new tendencies" (Isaac Breuer, Hirsch's grandson).

Another difference is that Torah Umadda does not disavow communal partnership with the non-Orthodox Jewish community, whereas for Rabbi Hirsch "Austritt" (the Halachic requirement to have no official ties with non-Orthodox communal institutions) was a defining characteristic of his community, and a major theme in his writings.

While these distinctions can seem subtle (particularly the first), they have manifested in markedly divergent religious attitudes and perspectives. In fact, Shimon Schwab, leader of the "Breuers" community in Washington Heights, has been described as "spiritually very distant" from Torah Umaddah.

Note further, that given both of the above, some have proposed that today, followers of Torah Umadda in fact assume a "non-Hirschian position", resembling more closely that of Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer.