[Avodah] bat issues

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Saul.Z.Newman at kp.org
To:  avodah at aishdas.org
"

http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2011/11/bat-responsa.html

some  modern  torah  approaches  to  realities  of   today's science,  in 
this  case  bat  reproduction 

 
>>>>>
Chazal said, "Chochmah bagoyim ta'amin."  I think it is quite  reasonable 
to assume that they accepted as fact many scientific statements  made by the 
Greek scholars of their time.  They set an example for us to  follow, which 
is that we can study and use modern science, even though we know  that 
sometimes scientists turn out to be wrong about this or that.  What we  learn 
from Chazal is not that bats lay eggs but that if we want to know  about bats, 
we should consult the most up to date scholarship among the nations,  just 
as Chazal did.
 
HOWEVER: Those rabbanim and Torah leaders of our own day who insist that  
every scientific statement in the Gemara is knowledge handed down from Sinai  
should not be treated with disdain and sarcasm.  Yesh lahem al mi  lismoch. 
 And it goes without saying, those who say that scientific  statements in 
the Gemara were not handed down from Sinai, of them too it is true  that yesh 
lahem al mi lismoch.
 
I think this is a machlokes leshem Shomayim.
 
The only caveat is that the discussion must indeed be  conducted on a high 
level, leshem Shomayim.  To keep it that level, the  discussion has to be 
without personal rancor, even in a case where a person has  every reason to 
feel personal hurt and pain and would be almost a malach to  suppress all 
emotion and always take the high road.  
 
 

--Toby  Katz
================




_____________________
 



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20111116/f8f4aa5f/attachment-0002.htm>