Centrist Orthodoxy

Torah Umadda (Hebrew: תּוֹרָה וּמַדָּע, "Torah and secular knowledge") is a philosophy of Orthodox Judaism concerning the relationship between the secular world and Judaism, and in particular between secular knowledge and Jewish religious knowledge. The resultant mode of Orthodox Judaism is referred to as Centrist Orthodoxy.

Torah Umadda is closely associated with Yeshiva University. The actual philosophy underlying the combination of Torah and secular wisdom at Yeshiva University was variously articulated, first by Bernard Revel, by his successors Samuel Belkin and Joseph Soloveitchik, and most recently, and formally, by Norman Lamm. Although its roots go back to 1886, it was only in 1946 that the University adopted "Torah Umadda" as its slogan. (In 2005, Yeshiva University president Richard Joel initiated a campaign to append the phrase "Bringing wisdom to life", as a "tag-line" to the university's motto.) Today, Yeshiva University publishes the Torah Umadda Journal which "explores the complex relationships between Torah, the humanities, and the natural and social sciences", as well as studies on related topics in the Library of Jewish Law and Ethics (with Ktav Publishing House).

The phrase itself is thought to originate with Jonathan Eybeschutz, who mentions "Torah u-Madda" in his Yaarot Devash in at least sixteen places. This use of "Madda" as "secular knowledge" is, however, recent. In Rabbinic literature, "secular knowledge" is usually referred to as chokhmah חכמה. The first book in Maimonides' compendium of Halakha, the Mishneh Torah, is entitled "Madda" מדע - there, though, the term refers to knowledge of the fundamentals of Judaism. "In the first book I will include all the commandments that are principles of the law of Moses and that a man should know before all else, such as the Unity of God and the prohibitions related to idolatry. And I have called this book Sefer ha Madda the Book of Knowledge."

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