Torah, Chazal, and Science By Rabbi Moshe Meiselman, Israel Bookshop, Lakewood, NJ ISBN 978-1-60091-243-6 ©2013, $36.95, p. 887, including appendices, bibliographical notes, and index
Reviewed by Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
WINCHESTER, California –What does it mean to know something? If you didn’t give an immediate answer, then how do you know that you know if you don’t know what knowing is? The same can be asked about truth.
Chazal, the Hebrew acronym for Ḥaḥameinu Ziḥronam Liv’rakha, meaning “Our sages, may they be remembered for a blessing,” refers to the rabbis and sages between 250 BCE and 600 CE. Rabbi Moshe Meiselman, author of Torah, Chazal, and Science is a Torah scholar, former principal of Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles, and now the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Toras Moshe in Jerusalem, a post-high school Lithuanian Haredi yeshiva catering to English-speaking students.
Even as a member of the most conservative of the Orthodox Jewish movements, Meiselman maintains that he is able to compare and contrast Judaism with science because of his unique Torah and academic preparations, particularly with his mentor Rav Yosef Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik, as well as his training “by some of the great names in mathematics, philosophy and sciences at two of America’s premier universities.”
Torah, Chazal, and Science is divided into ten topics and each topic is divided into numerous chapters. Within each topic Meiselman juxtaposes some aspect of science with writings of different successors of Chazal’s known as the Gaonim (6th to the 11th centuries), the Rishonim, (11th to the 16th centuries), and the Acharonim (16th century to the present). These representatives, such as Saadia Gaon, Moses Maimonides, and Shlomo ben Aderet (identified by the acronym Rashba), living in different times and places, frequently had diverse understandings of what Chazal meant. By including various opinions on each topic, Meiselman allows the reader to partake in the ebb and flow of thoughts and proposals among these Jewish scholars as they try to comprehend the world around them through the lens of Torah.
In Topic I, Meiselman looks at the relationship between Torah and science. Here we learn some of the rules under which he is working: the Torah is the blueprint for the world, it contains all forms of knowledge, which Chazal has handed down to us, and the Sinaitic Laws, Oral Laws, and rabbinic ordinances, as articulated by Chazal, are equally binding.
Another rule is that the Chazal are neither omniscient, nor infallible, but any definitive statement by Chazal must be accepted as truth. If Chazal’s answer later turns out to be incorrect, then the method of extracting that answer is in error, not the Chazal. To prove this point Meiselman points out that the Mishnah (Yevamot 34a) makes a definitive statement in the name of Rabbi Yohanan that “a woman who does not contemplate rewedding for a period of ten years after the termination of her previous marriage will be incapable of conceiving thereafter. The Gemara treats this as a matter of incontrovertible fact and individuals are chastised for questioning it.”
Rabbi Yohanan’s comment is a definitive statement, so it must be true. Meiselman argues that Judaism learns truth by one of three methods: direct observation, Chazal’s rulings in the oral law, and Torah. Meiselman explains that Rabbi Yohanan could not have come to this statement through observation, as someone cannot read another’s mindset. Furthermore, this declaration about women has no basis in Jewish Oral Law, leaving him to conclude that the rabbi must have independently arrived at this statement directly from the Torah, which according to Meiselman teaches us that definitive statements from Chazal, even in areas not affecting Jewish law, cannot be challenged.
Christianity, which did not accept the Oral Law to explain how the Torah should be understood when it appropriated the Hebrew Bible for itself, clings to outdated science until some overwhelming critical mass is reached, forcing it to change. One example is the heliocentric vs. geocentric models of the universe. Christians fought this battle for centuries. Yet, there were no fights among Jews because scientific theories do not overturn the rulings of Chazal.
Right-wing Christianity denies evolution, saying that it is incompatible with the Bible, and substitutes Intelligent Design for Darwinism. Meiselman says that,
“Darwin’s dream of finding a continuous fossil record has not been realized, despite the tremendous effort that has been invested in the pursuit over the last century and a half. But even if such a record were to be uncovered it would not disprove the special creation of species. Such a discovery would be wholly compatible, for example, with a vision of Creation wherein differing life forms were created successfully in progressive stages.”
Meiselman sees no conflict between Judaism and science when scientific theories challenge the Torah and Chazal; only when the Torah and Chazal contradict directly observable facts is there a problem. He cites two examples. The first relates to a set of biblical laws (Leviticus 15:19-30) about menstruation. Chazal opined on this subject in the Talmudic Tractate Niddah in which they took for granted that menstruation is preceded by reliable signs, occurring on a regular basis. Today we see that this is not the case.
A second example concerns the birth of a baby in the eighth month of a woman’s pregnancy. The Talmud (Shabbat 135b) says that the Sabbath is not to be broken to save the life of a baby born in its eighth month of gestation. Chazal felt that there are seven-month babies and ninth-month babies. They considered an eighth-month baby to be either an early ninth-month or a late seven-month baby, and if it were an early nine-month baby, it probably wasn’t going to survive. Today we observe that things are different.
For Topics II through VII, Meiselman draws on the works of eminent rabbis and scholars, such as the ones listed above, all of whom received their inspiration from Chazal. Under these topics, he explores conflicts between Jewish oral tradition in the biological and medical sciences, the conditions under which Torah stories might be considered allegorical rather than literal, the place for miracles, the meaning and counting of time, creation ex nihilo, and the Flood.
In the last three topics Meiselman warns the reader that the history of science is scattered with the flotsam and jetsam of operational scientific theories, once considered true, which are now known to be false. This is not the case with Chazal, whose factual statements remain true for all time. Meiselman goes on to describe beliefs that can be considered heretical under Jewish law, and concludes with the views of his teacher and rabbi, Rav Yosef Soloveitchik, on science and cosmology.
Meiselman presents numerous areas of disagreement between Judaism and science that are both thoughtful and comprehensive, allowing the reader to gain insight into the different perspectives from which Orthodox Judaism and science see the world, obtain knowledge, and learn the truth: science acquires knowledge through theory and experiment, traditional Judaism gains wisdom through observation and experience. Science employs tools that extend the senses, such as the telescope and microscope; Judaism perceives the world through the unaided senses.
Additionally, science and Judaism have their own unique set of definitions and categorize the world differently, so that neither Supreme Court rulings nor contemporaneous science are valid tools for understanding Torah. The laws of science are always open to question, but Jewish Oral laws are immutable. Torah, Chazal, and Science provides a path to understanding the logic and creativity of rabbinic minds grappling with real-life problems as they endeavor to maintain a vibrant traditional Judaism, especially now, an era that offers so many more options than in the time and place of the Talmud’s redaction.
Meiselman states that some of his reasons for authoring this book include showing that the Chazal’s approach to the world “are not mere reflections of the science of their time, but reflect a deeper understanding of reality derived from the Torah,” presenting “some of the better-known conflicts between Chazal’s views and contemporary science,” and analyzing “the meaning and limitations of scientific theory.” He undoubtedly accomplishes these.
All readers will profit from this book, but the real beneficiaries are neither the Jews with a solid faith in orthodoxy, for it will only confirm their beliefs; nor the Jews who have already abandoned the tradition in favor of science, as they will ridicule its arguments. Rather, the ones who will benefit most are the “bewildered,” those Orthodox Jews teetering on the threshold of losing faith to science, and at-risk of falling off the proverbial faith-based wagon. Whether a planned outcome or not, in bolstering the bewildered, Meiselman has succeeded admirably.
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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and a fiction book, Reclaiming the Messiah. The author can be reached through his website, fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com.