It is debatable how successful the "Torah Umadda" enterprise is. There are very few people with great mastery over secular disciplines who are also Talmidei Chachomim. There are also very few Talmidei Chachomim who know all that much general wisdom. Today, "education" is generally just a means to make a lot of money [in other words universities are just vocational schools but not places to pursue knowledge for knowledge's sake]. That is why most people are majoring in business or something business related but very few people are getting degrees in philosophy or English Literature and the like [unless they are interested in pursuing those as a career path]. In the olden days the dream for every "good Jewish boy" was to be a doctor. Today medicine is a profession almost dominated by women. I think that the reason is that the big money is no longer in medicine but in real estate, finance etc. etc. So women become the caregivers [as their nature would incline them to be] and men go for the gold...
But then there was Rabbi Dulitz. Surely the only person alive [until a few days ago] who knew every Rashi in Chumash by heart in addition to a lot more Torah and ALSO knew Shakespeare by heart, multiple languages [I think 6] and much much much more. How many people routinely use words like "perspicacious" in a sentence?? He was a walking Webster dictionary.
חבל על דאבדין ולא משתכחין:(
The world is a poorer place in his absence.
