It is hard to figure out the Litvak Yeshiva world. The best way I can see is based on Howard Bloom's idea about a super-organisms and the social "meme". In other words it is not just a place to learn Torah but rather a place to absorb Torah. The trouble is that in any area of value there is always the pseudo areas that surround it. That is not only in Torah, but in Music, and almost any discipline.
For every authentic science there are surrounding it pseudo sciences. [Something gone into by Steven Dutch but his blog is gone.]
So it is really better not to have anything to do with the religious world as long as one is not able to discern between real Torah and the phony Torah of the Sitra Achra. That is one reason certainly the Gra signed the herem [letter of excommunication.] The reason is like it says by Esau that when he saw his wives were not pleasing to his parents Isaac and Rivka he married two more wives that would be pleasing to them.--But he did not get rid of the first two. So the first thing is flee from evil סור מרע and only then can one do good עשה טוב. That is a verse in Psalms 34 "Flee from evil and do good".--in that order סור מרע ועשה טוב.
People generally associate the Gra and Rav Shach with the religious world but that is not accurate. They followed Torah. The religious world on the contrary follow their interests and the appearance of Torah to trick fry secular yidden [secular Jews] into giving them money. That is a big difference.
