goyishe books

First of all, what’s considered ‘the wrong books’? Clearly we don’t hold that all non Jewish books are assur or no one would be able to go to college where there is always textbooks and required reading. Some would argue that it’s assur to go to college anyway, but that’s not the question here. So if we’re talking about novels, the fact is that contrary to what many would have you believe, there are a ton of absolutely clean books out there and personally I see no problem with them. I think we can all agree that it is healthy and necessary for people to be educated, literate, to have a decent vocabulary and to be generally proficient in their language, all of which reading accomplishes, it would seem that not only is there nothing wrong with English novels, but rather that they should be recommended. Additionally, the source that ujm brought does not exist as far as I could find, at least not in that place.

edited

I am indeed aware of that. That doesn’t change the fact of what I said. Obviously, most parents would rather their kid read nice jewish books. However, in a case where they fail to interest the kid, what’s wrong with a clean English book if it will only do good?

So all the engineering material I refer to needs to be written by a yid? What is the point you are trying to get across?

Who has time for goyish books. Seforim and Yeshiva world should keep you occupied.

Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this.

Why is Mishpacha magazine allowed? It’s full of advertisements. Is that appropriate for Shabbos? What about all the gashmiyus?

Well that’s a pretty ignorant comment.

Generally you can tell who is actually not reading the jewish books by the rude/derogatory/untrue descriptors and comments they use to describe them, as if they read them, to excuse themselves from reading the stuff they shouldn’t.

I read non Jewish writing. Primarily non fiction. I had watched a film about a master watchmaker (The Watchmakers Apprentice). This led me to read a book that explains the determination of longitude (called Longitude, by Dava Sobel). Which led me to reading Mercator (Nicholas Crane), which fits the trajectory perfectly.

When the maskilim wanted to spread their ideas around, they didnt publish books telling everyone their philosophy, they printed “innocent” books, that planted ideas and questions in the minds of their readers. Im not saying that there isnt a such a thing as a non jewish book that is ok but you really cant know what ideas you/your family can pick up…

Rav Hirsch gave a speech on 100th birthday of Schiller with a bracha, I think it was published in English 10+ years ago… My favorite poet Henrich Heine was somewhat skeptical of Schiller, at least in his (Heine’s) later years when feeling more Jewish. Enjoy the verse:

Cholent, spark of Heaven’s lightninge!
Daughter of Elysium!”
That’s what Schiller would have written
If he’d ever tasted cholent.

If you think reading goyish books is a problem, then you can’t read the articles from YWN that are posted from the AP. Why should articles be different than books?

Novels are different than nonfiction. Nonfiction books are not explicitly forbidden by shu”a (see above), and might fall under xhochma which is allowed be’akrai, meaning here and there

The Rama 246:4 rules explicitly that it is absolutely prohibited according to Halachah to engage in a curriculum of secular studies. To read secular studies now and then, is permitted, he says. The source of the Rama is the Yerushalmi Sanhedrin.

I wish i could rattle off mareh mekomos on non-controversial issues as much as I can about MO, chabad, zionism, college and lther issues… I’m being honest

Eidel, so don’t ever read any books. Problem solved. Am I wrong?