“Veltz Meshugener” – please agree that the following type of attitude, a lack of respect of Yiddiskeit, is the predominent cause of OTD-“going off the derech”:
“Probably the biggest benefit to reading is expanding your horizons and encountering new ways to think of things” -your words from another thread in the coffee room.
No. First of all, the statement said nothing about how I feel about expanding horizons, it simply said that that is the purpose of literature. If you think that expanding horizons in antithetical to yiddishkeit, then it follows that you shouldn’t read literature, not that you should find literature that doesn’t expand your horizons. As it happens, I do think that expanding horizons is important, and I don’t think expanding horizons is antithetical to yiddishkeit. But the statement leaves open the possibility that expanding horizons is antithetical to yiddishkeit and should be avoided.
Jewish horizons are “state of the art” there is none better.
The goyim have some chochma, mostly technology and similar, but the seven pillars of wisdom are still Torah which INCLUDES all wisdom including that of the goyim. I don’t know what you mean by “state of the art”. Do you know of viewpoints outside of your own through Torah? Are you implying that your viewpoints encompass Torah and Torah encompasses your viewpoints, and that nothing outside of either is worthwhile? Then don’t bother with outside literature. I don’t believe that I know everything, and i don’t believe that I personally will be able to gain all of my potential knowledge from Torah, so for me, outside literature is important. And if I chose to avoid outside information, then of what significance is my adherence to Torah? It would be ignorance, not knowledge, that defined my adherence.
Why then glorify that which is not glorious? The Torah says what is forbidden, and reading “most secular literature” is one of the things that are forbidden. “Forbidden” is just another word to say something is on par with a toxic substance, which can affect the body AND the mind. Give it up.
I don’t know where you see the Torah say that most secular literature is forbidden. The only way I can possibly understand what you’re saying is if you include the statements of certain gedolim against general outside literature as Torah, and exclude the statements of other gedolim permitting it from your definition of Torah. But that’s a conclusory statement – it defines Torah based on what you want the Torah to be.
While it may be compelling to blame people going OTD on secular influence, that is like saying that you know the cause for the plane crash – gravity. Yes, when people go off the derech, by definition they are more caught up in secular influences. But why did that plane succumb to the forces of gravity under those circumstances? Why do particular people born into frumkeit succumb to the lure of total secularity more than other similarly situated people? For that, the answer needs to come from some cause external to the effect. And many people suggest that it is factors such as abuse, chillul Hashem, and so on.