Haskalah, secular studies and the close of the yeshiva in Volozhin in 1892

Abstract

This is exactly the issue at stake here. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the Neziv allowed secular studies in Volozhin. There is also no doubt whatsoever that he did so entirely against his will, when circumstances totally beyond his control forced him, "as if compelled by a demon," to do so. The assertion of the executive director of the Lakewood Cheder School that, with regard to this specific matter, My Uncle the Netziv "does not correctly portray the Netziv, his hashkofos, kedusha, and yiras shamayim as related to us by his revered talmidim, the ones who knew him best" is utterly unfounded and reflects nothing more than the projection of the present onto the past. To recall a book, and censor R. Barukh Halevi Epstein's Mekor Barukh on these grounds, if indeed these were the grounds, is wrong. On the contrary, R. Epstein's portrayal of the Neziv is totally accurate. The greatness of this outstanding gadol ba-Torah and his heroic devotion to his beloved yeshiva are not diminished one iota by presenting the true story of the closing of Volozhin with all its pain, passion and poignancy. (from Conclusion)