[Avodah] psak and rationality

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Rich Wolpoe wrote:

> Hazal had access to advanced science 
> But they were not scientifically omniscient 
 > I have no reason to believe that there were zero gaps in their knowledge.
 > Just at times they knew about advanced conecpts, too .
> They might have know that their is such a thing as a radio,
> or space travel, or powerful bombs, w/o knowing the specifics
> of how to engineer them.

Space travel? Undoubtedly. One could make a case that even the Dor Haflagah had that concept.

But radio? Well, I suppose one might argue that the way Moshe Rabenu heard Hashem could be compared to radio.

But seriously, even l'shitas'cha, they lacked the *engineering* knowledge. We're not talking here about concepts or abilities in a science fictiony sort of way. The title of the thread mentions "psak", and you can't pasken on a device without knowing how it works. Unless one concedes that they had the engineering knowledge, then whatever knowledge they did have is irrelevant.

And if someone feels that they DID have the engineering knowledge, I'd love to know where they got it.

Akiva Miller

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