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Exploring the legacy of the rationalist Rishonim (medieval sages), and various other notes, by Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin, director of The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh. The views are those of the author, not the institution.
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DISrespecting Rishonim
Following on from my previous post about respecting Rishonim, I would like to point out a curious fact about disrespecting Rishonim.
It is clear that many people consider it unacceptably disrespectful to claim that Rishonim made a scientific error i.e. they were unaware of the later revelations of science.
However, many of these same people consider it perfectly acceptable to say that certain Rishonim were unaware of the later revelations of kabbalah.
This is despite the fact that the former position merely means that their science was flawed, whereas the latter position means that their Judaism was flawed (according to these people, in a very fundamental way).
Strange, no?