Rav
Yisrael's Wisdom for the Professional World
Quotes from Rav Yisrael Salanter zt"l
based on
Rav Dov Katz’s The Mussar Movement (vol. 1, pp. 300-310)
[Rabbi Yisrael
Salanter zt”l, the great
19th century Lithuanian Jewish sage, was the founder of the Mussar
Movement, which strove to put character, inner life, and interpersonal
relations high on the agenda of Jewish life.]
"Character is man’s only
real possession."
See 16 more quotes from Rav Yisrael Salanter
Torah and the Professional World
by Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz
July 19, 1999
(adaptation of a lecture at the summer 1999 Darche Noam Yarchei Kallah
on "Torah im Derech Eretz")
Part
I - Full-time Learning vs. Combining Learning with a Profession
We will attempt here to explore a diversity of views on the
subject of Torah and professionalism. When Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky zt”l
discussed this issue he emphasized that it is not an area subject
to clear cut halakhic analysis or precise quantification. There are
so many personal subjective factors involved – . . . . . continued
Part
II - Entering the Professional World: Pros and Cons
Many deliberate over
whether to enter the professional world (usually preceded by university
study) or to pursue full-time Torah study in a kollel framework. I
draw on my experience in the yeshiva, the academic and the professional
worlds to present some of the positive and negative sides of a professional
life. . . . continued
On Rabbi
Yitzchok Breitowitz
Rabbi Breitowitz is Associate Professor of Law at the University
of Maryland and the Rabbi of the Woodside Synagogue in Silver Spring,
Maryland. He received Rabbinical Ordination from the Ner Israel Rabbinical
College in 1976; B.S. with honors from Johns Hopkins University; J.D
(magna cum laude) from Harvard Law School in 1979; and a Doctorate
in Talmudic Law from Ner Israel in 1992. He has lectured extensively
throughout the US and Israel on medical, business and family ethics.
He has published numerous articles on bankruptcy, commercial law,
medical ethics, family law, and halakha.
