World of Truth

The disdain for Science in the Yeshiva World:

I have just mentioned solutions to an objection in the name of science that some people express about G-d. Now there is a serious problem to discuss from the other direction: the disdain which has developed in the yeshiva world.

There are rabbinic authorities today, such as the great posek Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliasvhiv, who object to using group blood tests or DNA blood tests to determine paternity. Rabbi Eliashiv refuses to accept identification of body parts using DNA idenity. Unfortunately, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel does not accept DNA identity. We have individuals who do not want to take advantages of the best knowledge that we have today. Their refusal has nothing to do with religion and causes us embarrassment.

A biography of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Aurebach, of blessed memory, by CIS publishers attributes to him the advice that when theres a conflict between medical wisdom and Talmudic remedies, one should use Talmudic remedies. I knew Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach well. He had a great, broad mind, and I do not believe that he said this. Five Hundred years ago, the Maharshal said it was forbidden to use Talmudic remedies.

I am certain that Rabbi Aurebach’s cardiac problems were not treated with the embryo of a white monekey, as the Talmud advises. But there is unfortunate trend of disseminating this type of hocus-pocus.

You know the story about the Reform “rabbi” whose son become a Lubavitcher Hasid and the other son joined the Brisker Kolel? He went to his “rabbi” and asked, “What should I do?”

“Check your mezuzas”, he was advised

Many Jews today believe that checking mezuzahas will explain an illness. They believe that because rain seeped into a mezuzah and erased a letter on the parchment, a woman becaome ill with cancer. Why are we willing to believe such a thing? Because the mind doesn’t function anymore. Because we gave up Hashem Elokim. Sure you should check the mesuzas. Check your tefillin, check your tongue, check your business records, make sure you do thinkgs better next time so that G-d will have mercy on you. But to think that there’s a cause and effect relationship? Nonsense/

I’ll give just one more example of this type of nonsense to convince you. The Viznitser Hasidim threw out a man for living with a non-Jewish woman. Then they took him back after checking his ketubah, his marriage contract. They found a mistake in the ketubah. Instead of the words zekukum kesef (pure silver) was written zenunim kesef. Zenunim means licentiousness. Therefore, it was not his fault, and they took him back.

These kinds of things hurt us. People who should be attracted to Torah are turned away by this type of behaviour. We need to explain to these people that our Torah is a the Torah of Ha’shem Elokim. Everything makes sense. Theres nothing futile in the world.

The Talmud says that if you check the coop at night just before sunset and there are not eggs there, then if you find an egg there in the morning before sunrise – which was laid on Shabbat or festival – you may use it that same day. In this case surely the egg came halfway out the day before and went back in. How can the Talmud say such a thing? I checked this in the embryology books. Sure enough, if an egg is about to be laid, as soon as night falls, the hen will not lay it. She’ll save it for the next day. There, the completely ready egg does go back into the hen.

I prepose we write a book… The book will be entitled the “The Slifkin Saga” and will contist of a couple of volumes / chapters and will cover the following:

Volume one: Source Material

    The incident (Slifkins version of events)
   
    The condemnations
   
    Sources in favour of Slifkin (Hebrew and english)
   
    Sources against Slifkin (Hebrew and English)
    *ie those sources that hold sages knowledge of science is divine and that 6 days of creation are literal*
   
    People who come out in support of Slifkin

Volume two: The blogs respond

    All essays, articles, comments culled from blogs across the board that dealt with this issue.
   
    Essays can include the topic of daas torah, the effectiveness of banning, etc

Volume three: The future

    Preposed solutions about interaction between Rabbinic authorities and baalebatim, how can a greater degree of dialogue be reached.
   
    Reforms about educaiton, respect for other peoples views, eilu v eilu,
   
    Constructive suggestions to achieve a greater degree of respect and comradery

The book will be a joint effort, an online endavour over the internet, using some kind of wiki book programme. If it is successful we can even publish through lulu.com or Yashar.

All great moments in history should serve as a source of creative energy and constructive output. We are living through a time of change, why wait for the historians to reflect apon it decades from now? I put the challenge forth for you to do to make this proposal a reality. All the above is just a tentative, rough draft. I cannot persue this project without your help. Please email me with solutions as to how this project can be brought into reality.

First initial steps:

– Need an online wiki book service provider (Wikipedia, Twiki, TwidlyWiki, etc). Someone with a bit of experience in the matter to recommend how to go about it. A model that I was thinking of would be like this one by Lawrence Lessig (http://codebook.jot.com/WikiHome)

– Need a means of communication eg Google groups, something like that to keep people updated, requests, etc

Angry at the World

Why are you so surprised to find evil and corruption running amok everywhere you look? This world is the coarsest and harshest of all worlds, the ultimate concealment. Almost all of it is darkness and emptiness. Only a tiny spark of good is buried deep within to keep it alive.

You could spend your lifetime dwelling on the outrages and scandals and things that are not right–or your could take a moment to search for that spark. You could find it, grasp it, fan its flame. From within its aura, you will see the darkness shining brighter than the heavens. In that moment of light, the night will never have been.

Fueled by your love, the light will swallow all that surrounds it.

A Daily Dose of Wisdom from the Rebbe
-words and condensation by Tzvi Freeman
Iyar 16, 5766 * May 14, 2006

By Aron Moss

Question:

I don’t pray every day. Sometimes I’m not so sure that I believe in G-d enough to pray. I just don’t think I can have the unwavering faith that people like you seem to have. I’ll never be so sure. Can you pray and be a good Jew if your faith is unsteady?

Answer:

To be a Jew means to struggle. The very name Israel means "one who struggles with G-d." Faith is not a light switch that you turn on and it stays on. Faith is a fire that you need to tend to and fuel, and sometimes rekindle. It is a wrestle that never ends.

The name "Israel" means "one who struggles with G-d." There are days that your faith shines through and everything fits into place. On these days, you feel at one with yourself and G-d, and prayer comes naturally. Then there are days that you wake up and all is dark, your faith seems to have dried up. G-d, soul, prayer, goodness–all seem like annoying insects buzzing in your ear, and you just want to just roll over and go back to sleep.

But even on those days, you have to find the motivation to get up and get on with it. Perhaps your faith won’t get you out of bed, so how about trying another approach. Putting aside your faith in G-d, what about G-d’s faith in you?

There is a powerful prayer that we say as soon as we wake up in the morning:

    I give thanks to you, Living and Eternal King, for You have returned my soul to me with kindness. How great is Your faith.

The faith referred to here is not our faith in G-d, but rather "Your faith"–G-d’s faith in us.
If your faith in G-d doesn’t get you out of bed, what about G-d’s faith in you? The very fact that we have woken up is proof that G-d believes in us. He knows that we are not perfect, is well aware of our failings and knows the mistakes we have made. And yet, in the morning after our sleep, He returns our soul to us and gives us another chance, because He trusts us. He has faith in our ability to change and make today a bit better than yesterday. We may or may not believe in Him, we may or may not believe in ourselves, but G-d believes in us.

Humans are fickle; G-d is constant. His faith in us is firm and unchanging, even if our faith in Him is shaky. That’s the faith of an Israelite, one who struggles with G-d. We may be struggling, but we are struggling with G-d – He is always there.