Rabbi Gil Student has posted a link to a must read essay by Rabbi Natan Silfkin. It is a lengthy response to the ongoing strident criticism of his supposedly heretical views. The primarily antagonists are supporters of Rav Moshe Shapiro, a Torah giant in Israel... a man for whom Rabbi Slifkin still has profound respect. The issue here is not about the age of the universe. It is about the infallibility of Chazal in matters of science. Here in part is what Rabbi Moshe Shapiro has said about Rabbi Slifkin’s words:
(Rabbi Slifkin’s) words shake the heart of anyone who trembles at the word of God – words of absolute heresy regarding the truth of Torah, and renunciation of its sages. The matter is terrible, for the matter outwardly appears as though, Heaven forbid, this thing is permitted, and place has been given to allow these things to enter our community, Heaven forbid. …there is desecration of God’s Name, and these books are the books of heretics.
It is just as our master the Maharal wrote about the book Me’or Einayim which was released in his generation “Cursed is the day on which these things were exposed and revealed. A person who does not know how to understand the words of the Sages, even one thing from their minor statements… how did he not fear to speak of the Sages, and he speaks of them as though they are people in his generation, his friends…
And furthermore these words were put into print… they are worthy of being burned like the books of heretics, and they are even worse than them, and they were printed as though they are holy books…
Heaven forbid to bring these books into the homes of those of Israel that possess complete faith, and heaven forbid for Torah students to look at them; they are muktzeh, and it is even forbidden to move them on Shabbos.
These words are shocking. As I said, the issue here is whether Chazal (The Talmidic sages) could have been mistaken in matters of science. In his books Rabbi Slifkin has been promoting that view as acceptable. And that is being condemned as heresy. Rabbi Shapiro and his disciples view is that everything written in the Talmid is true no matter what science tells us about the facts today.
There are a few famous examples of scientific statements by the sages that are clearly at odds with the scientific facts. The one that stopped me in my tracks the first time I saw it in the Gemarah is the following (as described by Rabbi Slifkin):
The Jewish Sages stated that at night, the sun travels behind the solid roof of the sky back to its morning starting position, hidden from our sight. The non-Jewish scholars believed that the sun travels around the far side of the earth at night.
Can there be any more stark description of an errant belief than this? Chazal believed that the sun did a sort of ‘back and forth’. During the day it traveled beneath a dome - east to west and at night out of view below the horizon it slipped above a dome covering the sky and traveled in the opposite direction. That... according to Chazal was its motion.
There are two different ways to understand a Gemarah like this. Rabbi Shapiro holds that the only legitimate explanation is that we simply do not understand what the Chazal meant. These statements were not meant to be taken as descriptive of nature but had some deeper mystical meaning such as that described by the Maharal. The other approach is that Chazal were simply mistaken in matters of science.
The second approach does not take away from the Halachic knowledge of Chazal. That was based on a direct Siniatic transmission: Torah MiSinai. To the extent where there were conflicts about what was transmitted, we were given the means by the Torah itself to decide which side of a conflict to choose as the correct Halachic path. We believe the sages were therefore in essence infallible in matters of Halacha. But - for many Rishonim - not in matters of science.
Am I entitled to choose which of these explanations makes the most sense to me? I have always thought so. That is because both are paths taken by various Rishonim, whose words we follow in matters of Halacha. The Shulcahn Aruch - our code of Jewish Law is precisely that… the words of Rishomim who decided upon Talmudic disputes in Halacha.
The problem is that the view that Chazal were mistaken in matters of science has fallen out of favor by some Rabbinic figures. So much so that it is now deemed heresy! This is the view of Rav Moshe Shapiro and his protégés. They say that the only legitimate view is that Chazal were infallible in all their statements - Halachic and otherwise - and that we just don’t understand the scientific ones.
I have no quarrel with this view at all. I only have a problem with rejecting as heresy the alternative view. Not because it makes more sense to me… which it does. But because it in essence tells us that many of the greatest Rishonim had heretical beliefs!
This is one of the basic arguments put forth by Rabbi Slifkin. And I don’t see how anyone can dispute it. Some will answer the that Rishonim were permitted to believe something whereas we are considered heretics for believing the same thing. But that is completely irrational.
As is often the case with those who promote irrational ideas, instead of trying to make their case, they just attack those who dare to disagree. They will compare the relative Torah knowledge of the disputants and say that since the Torah knowledge of one is so superior to that of the other - the 'other' must be wrong. To the best of my knowledge that is the sum and substance of their argument. Any argument put forth to the contrary is discounted as impudence. One of the opening paragraphs in Rabbi Slifkin’s essay is very telling of that approach:
A few months ago, I was introduced to someone in a shul and we began talking about the ban just before mincha. After mincha, I went over to him to correct him on some details, and he screamed aloud in front of everyone, “I don’t want to hear anything that you have to say! When you get up to Shamayim, we’ll see if you know as much as Rav Moshe Shapiro!”
It doesn’t matter to them that his beliefs are based on the Rishonim. All that matters is that one has the chutzpah to disagree with a Torah giant. If he says it is heresy than it must be heresy. Questions about Rishonim who held the same views are put aside.
How intelligent people can think this way is beyond me!
(Rabbi Slifkin’s) words shake the heart of anyone who trembles at the word of God – words of absolute heresy regarding the truth of Torah, and renunciation of its sages. The matter is terrible, for the matter outwardly appears as though, Heaven forbid, this thing is permitted, and place has been given to allow these things to enter our community, Heaven forbid. …there is desecration of God’s Name, and these books are the books of heretics.
It is just as our master the Maharal wrote about the book Me’or Einayim which was released in his generation “Cursed is the day on which these things were exposed and revealed. A person who does not know how to understand the words of the Sages, even one thing from their minor statements… how did he not fear to speak of the Sages, and he speaks of them as though they are people in his generation, his friends…
And furthermore these words were put into print… they are worthy of being burned like the books of heretics, and they are even worse than them, and they were printed as though they are holy books…
Heaven forbid to bring these books into the homes of those of Israel that possess complete faith, and heaven forbid for Torah students to look at them; they are muktzeh, and it is even forbidden to move them on Shabbos.
These words are shocking. As I said, the issue here is whether Chazal (The Talmidic sages) could have been mistaken in matters of science. In his books Rabbi Slifkin has been promoting that view as acceptable. And that is being condemned as heresy. Rabbi Shapiro and his disciples view is that everything written in the Talmid is true no matter what science tells us about the facts today.
There are a few famous examples of scientific statements by the sages that are clearly at odds with the scientific facts. The one that stopped me in my tracks the first time I saw it in the Gemarah is the following (as described by Rabbi Slifkin):
The Jewish Sages stated that at night, the sun travels behind the solid roof of the sky back to its morning starting position, hidden from our sight. The non-Jewish scholars believed that the sun travels around the far side of the earth at night.
Can there be any more stark description of an errant belief than this? Chazal believed that the sun did a sort of ‘back and forth’. During the day it traveled beneath a dome - east to west and at night out of view below the horizon it slipped above a dome covering the sky and traveled in the opposite direction. That... according to Chazal was its motion.
There are two different ways to understand a Gemarah like this. Rabbi Shapiro holds that the only legitimate explanation is that we simply do not understand what the Chazal meant. These statements were not meant to be taken as descriptive of nature but had some deeper mystical meaning such as that described by the Maharal. The other approach is that Chazal were simply mistaken in matters of science.
The second approach does not take away from the Halachic knowledge of Chazal. That was based on a direct Siniatic transmission: Torah MiSinai. To the extent where there were conflicts about what was transmitted, we were given the means by the Torah itself to decide which side of a conflict to choose as the correct Halachic path. We believe the sages were therefore in essence infallible in matters of Halacha. But - for many Rishonim - not in matters of science.
Am I entitled to choose which of these explanations makes the most sense to me? I have always thought so. That is because both are paths taken by various Rishonim, whose words we follow in matters of Halacha. The Shulcahn Aruch - our code of Jewish Law is precisely that… the words of Rishomim who decided upon Talmudic disputes in Halacha.
The problem is that the view that Chazal were mistaken in matters of science has fallen out of favor by some Rabbinic figures. So much so that it is now deemed heresy! This is the view of Rav Moshe Shapiro and his protégés. They say that the only legitimate view is that Chazal were infallible in all their statements - Halachic and otherwise - and that we just don’t understand the scientific ones.
I have no quarrel with this view at all. I only have a problem with rejecting as heresy the alternative view. Not because it makes more sense to me… which it does. But because it in essence tells us that many of the greatest Rishonim had heretical beliefs!
This is one of the basic arguments put forth by Rabbi Slifkin. And I don’t see how anyone can dispute it. Some will answer the that Rishonim were permitted to believe something whereas we are considered heretics for believing the same thing. But that is completely irrational.
As is often the case with those who promote irrational ideas, instead of trying to make their case, they just attack those who dare to disagree. They will compare the relative Torah knowledge of the disputants and say that since the Torah knowledge of one is so superior to that of the other - the 'other' must be wrong. To the best of my knowledge that is the sum and substance of their argument. Any argument put forth to the contrary is discounted as impudence. One of the opening paragraphs in Rabbi Slifkin’s essay is very telling of that approach:
A few months ago, I was introduced to someone in a shul and we began talking about the ban just before mincha. After mincha, I went over to him to correct him on some details, and he screamed aloud in front of everyone, “I don’t want to hear anything that you have to say! When you get up to Shamayim, we’ll see if you know as much as Rav Moshe Shapiro!”
It doesn’t matter to them that his beliefs are based on the Rishonim. All that matters is that one has the chutzpah to disagree with a Torah giant. If he says it is heresy than it must be heresy. Questions about Rishonim who held the same views are put aside.
How intelligent people can think this way is beyond me!
