Ben Sira teaches me English, Greek, Latin and Hebrew
I borrowed Kokovtsov's "Novyi evreiskii dokument o Khazarakh i khazaro-russko-vizantiiskikh otnosheniiakh v X viekie" (New Jewish Document about Khazar and Khazarik-Russian-Byzantine Relations in the 10th Century) from the JTS Library because it has Solomon Schecter's personal bookplate inside. 
The top is a 4 word quote from Ben Sira 38:24. Knowing him to be one of those who reinvented Judaism after the Roman conquest, I wondered what words induce Rabbi Schecter to use them on his bookplate. In understanding those 4 words, I understood an entire history of learning.
Ben Sira contrasts the work of the scribe with that of the merchant and the laborer and the craftsman. The scribe, or full time student, is a man of leisure: the English words school, scholar, scholastic, all come from Greek word which means "leisure".
And the curious phrase "liberal arts" - describing one who studies general knowledge, not a hard science or craft? From the Latin libre - "free". Only a free man can engage in learning for its own sake.
Now, there's some perspective, and it seems Schecter appreciated that he could live as a scholar.
The top is a 4 word quote from Ben Sira 38:24. Knowing him to be one of those who reinvented Judaism after the Roman conquest, I wondered what words induce Rabbi Schecter to use them on his bookplate. In understanding those 4 words, I understood an entire history of learning.
Ben Sira contrasts the work of the scribe with that of the merchant and the laborer and the craftsman. The scribe, or full time student, is a man of leisure: the English words school, scholar, scholastic, all come from Greek word which means "leisure".
And the curious phrase "liberal arts" - describing one who studies general knowledge, not a hard science or craft? From the Latin libre - "free". Only a free man can engage in learning for its own sake.
Now, there's some perspective, and it seems Schecter appreciated that he could live as a scholar.