Mission: Impossible

A new sefer on Torah and science does something that shouldn't be possible

My infamously banned books about Torah and science resulted in some extreme responses. Rav Shlomo Miller is one of the leading charedi Gedolim in North America, and notoriously once compared me to the wicked son of the haggadah and put me in the category of perverted, corrupt enablers of child abuse. Rabbi Moshe Meiselman authored perhaps the most intellectually dishonest book on Torah and Science ever written; he rejects almost every field of the natural sciences, and works hard to negate the great Torah scholars who said that Chazal did not possess advanced knowledge of the natural world, by distorting their views, writing them off as forgeries, or simply ignoring them.

So you’d think that a new book on a topic of Torah and science, which is endorsed by Rav Miller and cites Rabbi Meiselman to legitimize one of its most crucial points, would be something that I detest. But in fact, I think it’s amazing.

The Great Zmanim Debate is written by Rabbi Aharon Notis, a Rosh Kollel in Lakewood, and published by Mosaica Press. It is all about the intricacies of what and when is shkiyah (sunset), tzeis (the emergence of stars), and other such calendrical phenomena. It is a short book, but dealing with a highly technical subject and not an easy read. And it does what you’d think is impossible for a contemporary charedi sefer to do. It states plainly and clearly that Chazal were mistaken about science.

How does this book do the impossible? How can a charedi Lakewood sefer say something that The Gedolim™ explicitly declared to be heresy? What about Rav Elyashiv and Rav Moshe Shapiro and Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel?

The answer is that this book says it in such a way as to make it almost unassailable. The reason why the book can do this is that it restricts itself to mentioning this in the context of one very, very specific topic: the sun’s path at night.

As I (unfortunately) only realized many years after the controversy around my own books, the topic of the sun’s path at night is the one instance where it’s almost impossible to deny that Chazal were mistaken in their view of the natural world. The Gemara states that the Chachmei Yisrael believed that the sun changes direction when it sets and goes up and behind the sky (which is an opaque dome). Rebbi (Rav Yehudah HaNasi) observes that this is incorrect. Although several Acharonim insist that the Gemara is speaking metaphorically about spiritual concepts, and recent Gedolim such as Rav Moshe Shapiro claimed that it’s heretical to say otherwise, neverthless every single Rishon and numerous Acharonim understand it as referring to astronomy. And even though many of them may have been uncomfortable with the idea of Chazal being mistaken in a scientific matter, here they did not avoid it. Rabbi Notis explains why this is the case:

"Generally, when we find that Chazal explain natural phenomena differently from what was later established to be true, some seek to interpret their words allegorically. This statement of Rabbi Yehudah, however, was applied by the Gemara to the practical issue of the distance that establishes one being "b'derech rechokah" for exemption from bringing the Korban Pesach, so, clearly, it was meant to be understood literally. However, since we find that Rebbi was willing to accept an alternate view that seemed more correct, later chachamim had no reluctance to state that the assumption of chachmei Yisrael that the rakia is a dome and the sun travels through windows in the rakia has been disproven."

Yet notwithstanding the overwhelming number of Rishonim and Acharonim who acknowledge that the Chachmei Yisrael were mistaken about the sky being a dome and the sun circling behind it, it’s still jarring for Lakewood readers, especially in light of the statements from Rav Elyashiv et al. The author therefore further notes that this traditional view is even acceptable in charedi circles, and quotes none other than “Hagaon Rav Moshe Meiselman”:

In Torah, Chazal & Science (Jerusalem 2013, pp. 148-49), Hagaon Rav Moshe Meiselman thoroughly discusses this issue and takes the position that while it is acceptable to correct Rishonim based on science, we should seek to interpret Chazal in a way that is not inconsistent with modern science. As to the issue of the rakia, he does not find it necessary to reinterpret, as Rebbi said that the view of chachmei umos ha'olam appeared more correct.

Rabbi Meiselman does indeed ultimately acknowledge that according to the plain meaning of the Gemara, supported by countless Rishonim and Acharonim, the Chachmei Yisrael’s view of the universe was mistaken. I should point out that he reaches this acknowledgment with great reluctance, after spending several pages trying to obfuscate the topic in every which way possible. But ultimately, at the end of his desperate attempts to avoid it, even Rabbi Meiselman is forced to acknowledge it. (He attempts to blunt its significance in a way that is easily exposed to be hopelessly flawed.)

There is a lot, lot more to say about this work, but I’ll leave it here for now. Meanwhile, I urge everyone with an interest in Torah and science, or in the sociology of these issues in the frum world, to read Rabbi Notis’ book.