Reply To: New book – “HaChareidim V’Haaretz”

AAQ – With regard to Rav Akiva Schlesinger ????.

First of all, the language used by the academic you quote is grossly inappropriate for discussing a gaon and tzaddik. I had to be ???? on that.

A full discussion of his story and his legacy is beyond the scope of the “coffee room”, but if you are interested, his main Sefer ?? ?????? was recently reprinted in a very nice new edition with an extensive biographical introduction and some newly published letters and historical material from that era.

There is a difference between studying a ‘trade’ = ??????, and studying ‘secular lnowledge’ = ????? ????????. The main difference is that ?????? is something necessary for a specific purpose (usually parnassah), whereas ????? ???????? is when it becomes an end unto itself. There are different approaches as to how much can be considered “necessary”… But that would explain the seemingly contradictory statements you quote.