Joseph posted “That is completely the antithesis of Judaism. ” and
“The key part of the statement I was responding to was “may be interested in education for its own sake”
Knowledge for its own sake is exactly what Judaism is about. The fact that Joseph seems to think that that knowledge should be limited to Gemara and commentaries notwithstanding–those of us who are willing to open our eyes to other subjects may observe that the world is full of wonders–and they may all be traced back to a single source.
Joseph, if (chalila) you need a doctor, do you think that he or she should not have pursued his or her knowledge for its own sake? The best ones do, you know. Or do you simply think that medicine should be left to the non-Jews? What about medical research? Do you get vaccinated? Do you vaccinate your children? Do you have any cancer survivors in your family? Diabetics? Let the doctors know that the discoveries that help keep them alive are the “antithesis of Judaism”.
I know a few people who did graduate work on the study of Piyyutim–by crawling into the material found in the Cairo Geniza and published previously forgotten Piyyutim and Kedusha’ot.
Those people were working at mixed Universities, and they did the work because of the love of the material, and the feeling that it should not be lost to Judaism and the world. Only a relatively small amount of this material has been investigated. Who knows–there may be some lost works of Rav Kalonymous or even Rav Ibn Ezra included in that material. Should it stay lost because people like you think that this type of study is the “antithesis of Judaism”?