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Questions regarding creation, age of the world, evolution, and other questions where atheists and Bible believing Jews part ways?
nosson slifkin
i second that
Rav Yisroel Belsky. Many Gedolim have stated that Nosson Slifkin’s opnions on age of the world and evolution border on heresy.
chalilavchas
There are numerous people who work for Aish, Ohr Samayach and Gateways who can answer these questions. Besides, you can buy all of Rabbi Kaplans books. They are written in a very easy to understand manner.
I would not recommend Nosson Slifkin. Its ridiculous to even use Rabbi Kaplan and Slifkin in the same sentence. Uch!
midwestener,
the reason why many people have banned his books is because most of them can’t answer questions like R’ Kaplan could. So instead of answering or listening to others, they just ban. I can’t seem to understand how what he writes borders on heresy since 99% of what he writes is just stating the opinions of others.
So according to truthsharer, not only are the gedolim all wrong, but Slifkin is way smarter than them, and they only ban him due to their own insecurities.
A maskil once wanted to speak in the Malbim’s shul. The Malbim did not allow him to go up. SO the maskil said, “I will only quote from sources that you approve of!” The Malbim replied that even of one uses all kosher ingredients, but he cooks it in a treifa pot, then the result is treif. The gedolim have already paskened that when it comes to brias haolam hashkafa, NS is a treifa pot. Beyond that point, I don’t really care.
Truthsharer obviously doesn’t accept that gedolim are correct in guiding mesorah. Someone else started a thread tonight on limud Hatorah. I will copy here what I wrote on that thread.
“It is important for a yid to have his daas shaped by the Torah and not by the whims of society. Talmud Torah is the way to help our mind work the way Hashem wants it to. If not, you have people who issue statements like “That’s the only reasonable psak” which was stated by a commenter on a different thread. One must conform his reason to the Torah, and not make halacha conform to his reason.”
It is much easier intellectually to say that the scientific evidence is accurate, and teitch up Chazal that say differently with lomdus. The obligation of a yid is to take Torah as the starting point and then try to reconcile science, not the other way around. That is a challenge. Don’t ever accuse the gedolim of being intellectually lazy.
Jusk ask rav aaron schechter he has all the answers.
Rav Aharon Feldman of Ner Yisroel
agreed him too also rav s kamenetzky(phily) and rabbi m salomon (lakewood)
any other ideas?
R’ Moty Berger of Aish; R’ Akiva Tatz; Rav Yisroel Brog (Cleveland); Rav Shalom Kaminetsky (Philadelphia). All of them are in their own right geniuses in approach and content.
There are also many experts on specific topics such as other beliefs and counter-missionaries. Just ask any organization with a Kiruv training program such as Torah Links in Lakewood.
Hatzlacha!
I also concur with the Nosson Slifkin suggestion. He is genuine and really knows what he’s talking about, from both the Torah and science perspectives.
A23
Member
I suggest you change your screan name… the world is toooo small 😉
How can you say sliffkin when all the gedolim have already issued their statement that he is unreliable? Do you not consider yourself orthodox? do you have no emunas chachamim?
wow i deliberately put in a troll comment (not that i usually do, it just seemed to perfect) and people bit. n slifkin was banned by gedolim. im publicly stating my charatah that people took me seriously. there are better people to ask that are just as knowlegable, and have a solid torah hashkafa. like me, for example.
good job Toi for letting everybody know how your commet was only a joke. Let the truth ring true!!
How is Slifkin unreliable? He brings sources for all his statements.
All his statements are quoting rishonim, geonim, acharonim, etc. If someone in 2011 wants to tell me that every single “gadol” for the past 2,000 years was wrong, that’s their option, but I don’t necessarily need to listen to them.
Truthsharer: Did you miss my Malbim quote above? Or do you just think that if enough comments pass by after a question is answered, you can just put it back up again and it becomes a shlug up again?
toi: pure avak lashon hara
It is silly to say that “all the Gedolim” say that he borders on heresy. Many do, but he does have the support of a number of Gedolim as well.
Midwesterner,
You’re equating NS and his followers to a maskil, which you can’t really do. ESPECIALLY since the sources NS quotes were 100% acceptable to EVERYONE, until some askanim with a grudge (and yes, that is the back story) decided that those opinions are no longer valid.
Rav Moshe Plutchok, a Rebbi in Derech Chaim, as well as being the Rav in Manhattan Beach would definately be someone who is overqualified as well as being highly accessible to answer these types of questions. As well as being a massive Talmud Chochom and Posek, he is exceptionally well versed in many areas of science, literature, history, law, and any other area you can imagine.
How is Slifkin unreliable? He brings sources for all his statements.
All his statements are quoting rishonim, geonim, acharonim, etc.
He often misrepresents or misunderstands their words. I’m not an expert on his writings, and the little I’ve seen I don’t remember, but I do remember looking up one or two of his sources and finding that they didn’t say or mean what Slifkin claimed.
Even if all his sources were accurate, you can’t pick and choose based on what you think fits better with science. We have a mesorah.
The are no n’viem today and no one knows for sure all the details of ma’seh b’reishis.
For the general crowd that visits here, Rabbi Breitowitz is highly recommended.
To satisfy the unsatisfiable, I will amend a statement I once made.
“This is the only (reasonable) Torah-true psak.”
I also forgot to add Rav Moshe Meiselman from Yeshivas Toras Moshe in Jerusalem. Not only is he a Talmud Chacham, but he is also one of the largest challengers against Rabbi Natan Slifkin. I heard he is coming out with a new book that specifically challenges statements made by Rabbi Slifkin.
Oh OptimusP, that would be great news! Rabbi Meiselman has some “street cred” with the MO crowd as a nephew of RYBS, so maybe that’ll make some inroads with them.
hello99- i had to retract my statement. in regards to your taaneh, i disagree. the chofetz chaim is mivu’ar that if people are following someone kineged hatorah its a mitzva to speak out. i personally saw the letter that R shlomo miller shlita of toronto wrote against him. and R Shlomo isnt manipulated by askanim. also funny how you jump to shry lh on me when all the kollel/chareidi bashing doesnt bother you that much, and loshon hora (or motzi shem ra) is tzen mohl ehrger on a tzibbur.
Hi chalilavchas. You are on an excellent pursuit that will take a lot of footwork in research.
Some of the following resources will help, but a lot of info you will have to research from credible sources. Sometimes, even the right wing xtian websites have archaeological and historical and scientific information that refutes the nonsense going around.
For starters, I recommend:
Genesis and the Big Bang, by Gerald Schroder, an orthodox scientist and professor associated with Princeton University. (for science)
The Universe Testifies, by R’ Avidgor Miller (for science)
Any article online by Dr. Lee Spetner (for science)
Ipuwer Papyrus by an egyptian (for history – an adversary who corroborated recording what happened in mitzrayim)
Merneptah Stele, by King Merneptah (for history – adversary who corroborates we were in Canaan after leaving mitzrayim
If you have any questions, just ask. I enjoyed spending a good deal of time in this area in response to evolutionists and atheists that I have spoken with at length. And they were all very very wrong!
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