The Beauty Of Greece

לזכות שמואל אלכסנדר בן נעכא גיטל ואברהם מרדכי בן נעכא גיטל שיהיו צדיקים גדולים אוהבי השם ואהובים על כל הבריות

As we get closer to Chanukah we think more and more about the differences between Jewish values and Modern-Secular-Philosphical attitudes. The Greeks were the fathers of modern science, mathematics, aesthetics and all around propagators of human knowledge.

There are two aspects of secular culture. One is objective facts, technology, know-how. We may use modern science and technology for our benefit because they are neutral. יפיופיותו של יפת ישכון באהלי שם - The beauty of Yefet [father of Greece - Breishis Perek Yud] will dwell in the tents of Shem.

There is another aspect that is not spiritually neutral. This is where society makes moral judgements and our Torah stands in contrast. One example - Don't kill. Every civilized society axiomatically accepts this prohibition as fundamentally correct. But here is where one must activate his thought process. The are at least two possible reasons why we don't kill. One is because society can't function if people are going around killing others. Another is that it is morally wrong to kill another human being. למאי נפקא מינה - What's the practical difference?

If someone comes and says "Either kill him or I will kill you" the gemara says that he must be killed and not kill his fellow [Pesachim 25a - who says his blood is more red, maybe his friend's blood is more red]. That may be a point of agreement between the two possibilities we presented. However, what if someone says "Either kill him or I will kill BOTH OF YOU". Here is the difference. If we are concerned with a properly functioning society then one could reasonably argue that he should kill his fellow because what benefit would be achieved by not killing his fellow and having both of them killed. But the Torah view is that even in such an instance he may not kill his fellow because it is morally wrong to kill another human being. This is where we diverge from the likely societal approach.

The beauty of Yefes will dwell in the TENTS of Shem. A tent is a structure that anyone may enter, even Yefes. Medicine, mathematics, technology - yes [are you reading this from a machine that didn't exist 25 years ago? For sure]. But Yefes may not enter into our homes. That is the inner sanctum set aside for the holy spirit of Israel alone.

The gemara says that the Greeks entered the "Heichal". This symbolizes the invasion of the Greeks into our spirit, into the Beis Medrash, as opposed to using Greek wisdom for morally and spiritually neutral domains of life. 

I think I once heard that a Rosh Yeshiva of a Hesder Yeshiva [I won't say his name because I am not sure he said it] tells his students that if they want to go to university and study business or medicine that is fine. But not Talmud.

Talmud is for the Beis Medrash.

These words have far-reaching ramifications....:-)

[Based on the teachings of Rav Kook in Ayn Ayah and the sefer Meoros Nerya page 55]