Joseph forgave. That was a first in history. Yet the Torah hints that the brothers did not fully appreciate the significance of his words. After all, he did not explicitly use the word ‘forgive’. He told them not to be distressed
The Halacha that synagogues should be higher than all houses in town, but not from buildings built just for decoration expresses the idea of the central place of holiness in Judaism. This value is not only decorative but applies to real life.
What is known as the "Revadim" approach to Talmud study developed and was nurtured via methods of reasoning which originate in the academic world. The university, though, is a place for the development of empirical, human wisdom, not Torah wisdom.