Comments on: “Where does it say it ?”

By: Louisa Reid

Louisa Reid — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:39:47 +0000

Wow I’m actually the first comment to this incredible read!

By: Jewlicious » Rabbi Pruzansky, Orthopraxy, and Rabbahs

Jewlicious » Rabbi Pruzansky, Orthopraxy, and Rabbahs — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:35:54 +0000

[...] albeit with debate on how certain issues of halakhah are understood. Interestingly, Rabbi Pruzansky elsewhere points out that “it is surprising to see that many ModOs are such textual fanatics” – that [...]

By: Gershon

Gershon — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:25:47 +0000

If the people in this article: http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5765/bo/aslifkin.htm are not majority, then you are definitely not speaking for many observant jews. I understand that in some circles, people such as R’ Schachter or R’ Willig, or R’ Lichtenstein or R’ Amital are considered Gedolim. However, it seems that the Gedolim of the linked article attract much more followers. What would you say?

By: Rabbi

Rabbi — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:12:02 +0000

Machshava questions have no “psak,” although it is possible that certain ideas could be banned as heretical. I was not aware that a “majority” banned R. Slifkin’s books, and I don’t believe that to be the case. And even some of the impetuous banners have retracted their signatures. That particular issue – the age of the universe – is one on which much has been written across the Torah spectrum, and so does not allow itself to categorized as a Haredi v. Modern issue. Obviously, time became fixed at the first Shabbat, 5770 years are counted from the creation of Adam, and the sun itself – one of critical arbiters of time – was not created until the “fourth” day. So something has to give, and the Torah – which doesn’t directly address the issue – can accommodate a number of views, all of which have been espoused by gedolim in the last several huundred years.

By: Gershon

Gershon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:24:07 +0000

What about the Age of the Universe question? Should we follow the majority in banning R’ Slifkin’s books? Or is your argument valid only to halakhah and not hashkafah/machshavah?

By: Dovid

Dovid — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:11:38 +0000

Excellent article. This is probably the best short articulation of the concepts of concensus and Mesorah that I have seen. These are frequently ignored concepts in the MO world.

By: Rabbi

Rabbi — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:35:39 +0000

I don’t quite follow your logic. The Torah itself is a “Zionist” document as it advocates Jewish residence in and possession of the land of Israel. Just because the “return to Zion” was dormant from many centuries did not vitiate its inherence in Torah thought, any more than the absence of a Bet HaMikdash has vitiated that institutions’s viability.
Bear in mind that, outside of Hungarian anti-Zionism, most opposition to Zionism was politically-based, not hashkafically-based. That is to say, the gedolim opposed the secular Zionists, whom they did not trust (and usually, rightfully so), that they did Zionism in its pure form. Who would oppose a return to Zion ?

By: cyberdov

cyberdov — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:17:06 +0000

So, I presume that you are anti-Zionist – or at least would have been 80-120 years ago?