YYA > As I mentioned in my previous post about Reb Yoshe Ber z”l,, it could be anyone bigger than you ברוחניות as long as both of you are sincere. Rav Avigdor Miller (and many others) often said that the point of learning Gemara and Poskim etc. is to understand the מושגים and language of the Torah.
Yes, and R Soloveitchik himself writes about approaching modern issues with Torah knowledge…
>> Rav Avraham Twersky integrates psychology w/ Torah – while he was treating nuns (he has a book about just that).
> Yes he did. He also corresponded extensively with the Steipler Gaon, and went to the Mikveh every day while going to medical school…
That is an interesting episode that I got a new insight recently. I am not sure how much they communicated. So, he asked Steipler (classmate of R Twersky’s father) about going to medical school and Steipler approved provided he goes to mikva, has daily hevrusa, and learn chassidus (or mussar?) I think. In one of the books, R Twesky adds a comment that precautions were not necessary, he did not really encountered challenges that Steipler envisioned as he was able to integrate the good parts and ignore or did not encounter problematic. So, my new insight on this episode: Steipler was looking at the situation as a Bnei Braq resident would feel, not the way Twersky saw it.
Another interesting comment from R Tersky: he saw how previous generation would go to his father with business, psychological, and even medical problems, but that the next generation was going to professionals – lawyers, doctors, so he decided that being a psychologist was a more productive path for him …
> חכמה בגויים תאמין refers to technical know-how, not guidance on the תכלית החיים and רצון השם, which, for Yidden, define and permeate every aspect of life.
of course, I think we have less and less to argue about 🙂