Does Secular Wisdom Have Anything to Teach Us?
Looking through last week’s edition of the Queens Jewish Link, I came across the front page article by Gerald Harris, entitled “ Was Benjamin Franklin Influenced by Torah Thinking ”. In this informative article, Mr. Harris cited many ideas regarding frugality and money management popularized by Franklin that are consistent with Torah values, leading him to speculate whether, in fact, Franklin had been exposed to Torah teachings. It was taken as a matter of course that – given that Franklin lived long after the Torah had taught similar values – Franklin in all probability was “familiar with Jewish thinking . . . advice [was] strongly influenced by verses in Mishlei and various musar seforim .” In other words, Franklin had, knowingly or not, probably received these values from Torah, directly or indirectly. It is, of course, highly likely that Franklin, who was known as a man of uncertain religious beliefs ( especially in regard to Christianity ) but nevertheless...