The Rambam’s TorahSir, – Thank you, Dan Izenberg, for enlightening us in your piece “2 petitions challenge haredi refusal to teach students core curriculum” (May 14).Maimonides states in The Guide for the Perplexed: “Let man master sciences, philosophy and practical skills, mathematics, engineering... and what have you in order to sharpen his intellect and improve his logical faculties so as to attain the true knowledge of God’s existence.”Many of our yeshivot do not allow their students to go to university to sharpen their intellect. The Rambam specifically states that one cannot appreciate the Torah without the help of one’s scientific knowledge. By not teaching the core curriculum, not only are haredi schools making their students depend on other people’s handouts, they are even not getting the benefit of what they supposedly desire: the love and understanding of the Torah.JENNY WEIL JerusalemAcademic freedom and tenure Sir, – The true meaning of academic freedom has been lost in the rumpus surrounding Mark Tanenbaum’s courageous resignation as a governor of TAU because of the university president’s undemocratic refusal to allow a vote about professors who advocate Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and the university (“TAU board member to quit after failed effort to spur investigation of professors’ anti-Israel activity,” May 12). It highlights the necessity to distinguish between the democratic concept of free speech and academic freedom.While general free speech permits the advocacy of opinions and ideologies, academic freedom is intended only to encourage academic research in a professor’s field of expertise with the objective of always attempting to establish truth and understanding, without promoting one side or the other of a contentious matter.In Save the World on Your Own Time, Prof. Stanley Fish argues that there is but one proper role for academe in society: to advance bodies of knowledge and to equip students for doing the same. When teachers offer themselves as moralists, political activists, or agents of social change rather than as credentialed experts in a particular subject, they abdicate their true purpose.From an academic point of view, the growing phenomenon of academics who preach rather than teach and who advocate BDS is objectionable; not because they criticize Israel, but because the unbalanced irrational arguments they use are completely irreconcilable with intellectual honesty.Moreover the blatant prejudice in their public utterances reflect badly on the universities they openly represent, where rigorous standards of unbiased scholarship should be expected. Evidently, when some professors turn to politics, they fail to distinguish between facts and their beliefs or assumptions. Relying on the security of their tenure, they often bolster prejudiced opinions with arguments so shoddy in scholarship, they would have precluded the attainment of tenure had they been expressed in their junior years.In blocking Mr. Tanenbaum’s attempts to deal with this matter, the TAU president is suppressing the very free speech that he grants to the academics who advocate BDS.MAURICE OSTROFF HerzliyaThe eternal optimistSir, – Alan Dershowitz’s claim that Salam Fayyad is “the best peace partner that Israel has and probably the best Israel has ever had” (“Dershowitz hails Fayyad as Israel’s best-ever peace partner,” May 13) is a cue for a new spin on an old joke.The irrepressible optimist smiles and says, “Fayyad is the best peace partner that Israel has and probably the best Israel has ever had.” The eternal pessimist nods gloomily and says, “Yup, you’re right.”DANIEL PINNERKfar Tapuah
May 17: Too late for apologies
What is the endgame the US government has in mind? Does it know? And if it is unclear, how is any state supposed to act and respond?
The Rambam’s TorahSir, – Thank you, Dan Izenberg, for enlightening us in your piece “2 petitions challenge haredi refusal to teach students core curriculum” (May 14).Maimonides states in The Guide for the Perplexed: “Let man master sciences, philosophy and practical skills, mathematics, engineering... and what have you in order to sharpen his intellect and improve his logical faculties so as to attain the true knowledge of God’s existence.”Many of our yeshivot do not allow their students to go to university to sharpen their intellect. The Rambam specifically states that one cannot appreciate the Torah without the help of one’s scientific knowledge. By not teaching the core curriculum, not only are haredi schools making their students depend on other people’s handouts, they are even not getting the benefit of what they supposedly desire: the love and understanding of the Torah.JENNY WEIL JerusalemAcademic freedom and tenure Sir, – The true meaning of academic freedom has been lost in the rumpus surrounding Mark Tanenbaum’s courageous resignation as a governor of TAU because of the university president’s undemocratic refusal to allow a vote about professors who advocate Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and the university (“TAU board member to quit after failed effort to spur investigation of professors’ anti-Israel activity,” May 12). It highlights the necessity to distinguish between the democratic concept of free speech and academic freedom.While general free speech permits the advocacy of opinions and ideologies, academic freedom is intended only to encourage academic research in a professor’s field of expertise with the objective of always attempting to establish truth and understanding, without promoting one side or the other of a contentious matter.In Save the World on Your Own Time, Prof. Stanley Fish argues that there is but one proper role for academe in society: to advance bodies of knowledge and to equip students for doing the same. When teachers offer themselves as moralists, political activists, or agents of social change rather than as credentialed experts in a particular subject, they abdicate their true purpose.From an academic point of view, the growing phenomenon of academics who preach rather than teach and who advocate BDS is objectionable; not because they criticize Israel, but because the unbalanced irrational arguments they use are completely irreconcilable with intellectual honesty.Moreover the blatant prejudice in their public utterances reflect badly on the universities they openly represent, where rigorous standards of unbiased scholarship should be expected. Evidently, when some professors turn to politics, they fail to distinguish between facts and their beliefs or assumptions. Relying on the security of their tenure, they often bolster prejudiced opinions with arguments so shoddy in scholarship, they would have precluded the attainment of tenure had they been expressed in their junior years.In blocking Mr. Tanenbaum’s attempts to deal with this matter, the TAU president is suppressing the very free speech that he grants to the academics who advocate BDS.MAURICE OSTROFF HerzliyaThe eternal optimistSir, – Alan Dershowitz’s claim that Salam Fayyad is “the best peace partner that Israel has and probably the best Israel has ever had” (“Dershowitz hails Fayyad as Israel’s best-ever peace partner,” May 13) is a cue for a new spin on an old joke.The irrepressible optimist smiles and says, “Fayyad is the best peace partner that Israel has and probably the best Israel has ever had.” The eternal pessimist nods gloomily and says, “Yup, you’re right.”DANIEL PINNERKfar Tapuah