So I ought to ask forgiveness from people that read this blog that I do seem to differ on that point.
My excuse is that I did not fit in the yeshiva world. Even though I love Torah and agree with the Gra and Rac Shach and Rav Israel Salanter, still I simply did not find my place there. So more or less by force of circumstances, I had to go to major in Physics at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU.
But I regret that I was not able to learn Torah and Physics both. So I still try as much as possible to walk in this middle path of Torah with Derech Eretz [way of the Earth].
So is that a thing to aim for? Or is it better just to sit and learn Torah? That is clearly still an unresolved question. Some of the great Litvak Yeshivas of NY do in fact aim for both, like Chaim Berlin and Torah VeDaat. Others like the Mir do not. The Mir aims for just Torah all day, every day. I have to admit that I tend to the more balanced approach.
[I would like to suggest that the religious world suffers religious schizophrenia and from a kind of desire to become a patrician class [to rule over us low-lifes]. So learning Torah and competence in Torah is not the thing that they aim for, but rather the appearance of competence in Torah. So there is a large difference between the insane religious world and the sane, straight world of Litvak yeshivas. My mistake was to leave the world of straight Torah of the Gra, Rav Israel Salanter and Rav Shach.]
