"As of late, we are privy to increasing attempts to blur and distort the boundaries in these areas and to inject the spirit of academia into our camp in various devious ways which undermine our course of education in the path of Yisrael Saba, the traditional channels as passed down through the ages. These seek to insert foreign, evil winds into our homes with false ideologies and foreign cultures which waft from the outside."
These were the words of Torah leaders, Roshei Yeshiva, in a forthright letter spelling out their view, a response to the severe attempts to breach the safeguards of our ancient leaders and inject the spirit of academia to steer our students away from our educational institutions to theirs, which are certainly not based on the pure chinuch handed down to us through the ages.
HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman has in the past expressed his position very acerbically regarding this alien academic trend, reinforced by HaRav Chaim Kanievsky.
In an outspoken letter written in his own hand, HaRav Shteinman states:
"There are those who attempt to attack our pure chinuch by introducing studies disturbing to our sages, and we must therefore stand firm as a fortress against their getting a foothold in even the smallest manner. This applies to the students as well, but the teachers must stand guard with their very lives lest the students attend secular institutions which offer academic subjects outside of the Bais Yaakov structure."
HaRav Chaim Kanievsky wrote an emphatic letter stating, "My father [the Steipler] and other leaders of the past generation have also declared that one must not study in academic institutions, colleges, or institutions affiliated with them in any manner, and whoever obeys the counsel of our sages is guaranteed not to stumble but will enjoy bountiful nachas from his offspring."
On this subject, the roshei yeshivos wrote:
"And we have seen it fitting, through the directive of gedolei Yisrael, to sharpen and clarify to the public their clear-cut instruction, carried on from the directive of the previous generation, to forbid anyone from falling prey to all kinds of false promises deceiving the public in different ways, pretending that some authorities have permitted this under one excuse or another. We hereby state to the chareidi public that the spirit of our leaders is altogether displeased with them, and one who fears the word of Hashem should flee from such places which are against the spirit of Yisrael Saba, deriving their power from the academia, an act which has already been stringently banned by all Torah leadership from the past up to this present day."
Their letters conclude, "And we know that the administrations of the Bais Yaakov seminaries do their utmost to provide for their students a future source of livelihood by offering courses enabling them to establish solid Jewish homes true to Hashem and His Torah through earning their living through permissible channels. We are convinced that they will, b'ezras Hashem, go on to see much nachas from their future generations."
