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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Saul.Z.Newman@kp.org<BR>To:
avodah@aishdas.org<BR>"<BR><BR>http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2011/11/bat-responsa.html<BR><BR>some
modern torah approaches to realities of
today's science, in <BR>this case bat reproduction
</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I think this is a machlokes leshem Shomayim.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT><BR><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG>--Toby
Katz<BR>================</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2
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PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________</FONT></DIV>
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