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My parents were definitely for the balanced path of Torah with Derech Eretz [work] They would not have agreed in any sense to anyone using Torah to make money.  And you can see this in the commentary of the Gra on Pirkei Avot where in the mishna in the first chapter which says "not to make Torah into a shovel to dig with" he brings the idea of "Meila"[transgressing] . Meila is when one makes use of a animal that has been dedicated to the Temple in Jerusalem. For example let's say one has a sheep and he says, "This sheep is for a burnt offering."  At that point the sheep can not be used for anything. But if let's say one does make use of it, that is called "meila" [transgressing--misuse] . This applies also to inanimate objects. Let's says one has a piano and he says, "This piano is for the Temple". There also he can not use it for anything. He has to bring it to the Temple. Then the priests there either use it for the services, or they can sell it. But before that if anyone uses it, that is called "meila." So anything holy, one can not make use of.

So you might ask then what about people that sit and learn Torah? Answer: They can receive charity [to one rishon, the Tashbatz], but they can not makes use of Torah to make money.  So making learning Torah into a 9-5 job is wrong. 

It seems to me that the greatest invention of my father is the one he will never get credit for. [I mean the infrared telescope and super sharp "copymate machine" using x rays at least he got credit for. [The first was owned by the USA  Army. The second he had a patent for. But laser communication seems to me to be the greatest thing of all [that he made at TRW. ]  This is fantastic because it is something like a telephone. There is a current, and superimposed on that current you talk and that makes a signal that can be heard above that current. Or maybe better said- it is like an ocean wave that is large, but has small ripples on top of it. That is the same thing as laser communication. The signal you want to send is superimposed on the laser. This makes a band width that is vastly larger than with radio signals. [And obviously can be sent on much longer distances without worrying about the problem of radio waves that disperse.]

[This laser communication was done the height of the Cold War so that the Russians could not eavesdrop on American communications between satellites. But TRW went under because of the two moles that were discovered there that were selling USA technology to the USSR. So TRW lost all their contracts, and their newest projects were sold to other aerospace companies. So my dad's name [Philip Rosten] was lost in that mix up. But he was in fact the one who made that system.  

You can see the idea of the Gra that lack of knowledge in the Seven Wisdoms causes a decrease in understanding of Torah a hundred fold

 You can see the idea of the Gra that lack of knowledge in the Seven Wisdoms causes a decrease in understanding of Torah a hundred fold. [Seven wisdoms was the Trivium and the Quadrennium.]

But these do include the classification of the Rambam that the categories of the work of Creation and Divine chariot refer to Physics and Metaphysics. [The Rambam says this openly in the introduction to the Guide.]

Most secular subjects are not at all in the categories of positive things but rather mind destroying. So one does need a certain degree of intuition and common sense in deciding into what to devote ones time. Myself I strive for the approach of my parents. Which was in action highly secular but they still had a sense of the need of balance between Torah and derech ertez [the way of the Earth.] So in my approach I went more into the Torah aspect. But still I realize the need for this kind of balance. 

 Columbus on his calendar discovered  America on October 12. But if you go by the fact that the USA is behind Europe time, it was on Oct 11. It is a different time zone. Columbus's clock was on Spain time.

[Or perhaps you could argue that no one in America was adjusting their clocks to local time!] 

 The  problem with with religious fanaticism is that they always think they know more than what they know. The baali teshuva  [newly religious]without having gone through Shas already  think they can tell us what the Torah is all about because of their impression that they as already experts in Torah,. This is in start contrast to the world of university where is one thinks he is already a doctors because of his "vast knowledge "is not helpful in actually becoming a doctor.

The "baali teshuva" are the destroyers of the world of Torah because they  think they already know Torah.  {Though they skipped the verse about listening to one's parents.]  If they had really been expert in Torah they might have noticed that verse.

[And they already try and in fact get certificates of ordination to get to to tell us what Torah  all about Torah.-- the religious leaders are in fact baali teshuva that actually have no knowledge of Torah. They give certificates of ordination one to the other. One idiot to the other.  If someone has not learned in the Mir or Brisk, then what they say about Torah is self delusion.] 

the commandment to listen to one's parents except when they are obviously saying something that goes not in accord with Torah.

 In what Rav Nahman calls hisbodadut [private talking with God in one's own language] it is helpful to go ovr one's own past to get some orientation about where one went wrong.  Over the course of time one can begin to see where things really went wrong. So you are no longer confined to deciding what your sins are based on books but rather actual experience. If you can tell where things started to go wrong, then you can reach some conclusion what was your actual sin. In this way you get beyond guess work about what perhaps you did wrong to actual knowledge. [An obvious choice could be the commandment to listen to one's parents except when they are obviously saying something that goes not in accord with Torah. Still in general one parents provides the best guidance  to what one ought to be doing]