R' Slifkin's Response

This was in the comments of the post below, I'm moving it to the blogpage since it deserves a post of its own. Notice I changed my actual post below and my responses here. My questions are in italics, and I added numbers to slifkin's response.


Q:How are you so sure G-d wouldn't want to show directly His continued involvment in the world? How does that minimize evidence of G-d? What do you believe about miracles such as yetzias mitzrayim?

RNS:(1)It seems very strange that God would only want to show His direct involvement for a small number of specialists. Miracles such as Yetziyas Mitzrayim were exceptional events that took place for the entire nation. ID is limited for those who study cellular biology. (2)And it has nothing to do with God's direct involvement, just His involvement while creating things. (3) ID downplays and negates the idea of seeing Hashem in other aspects of nature that science can explain.
(4)Even the miracles of yetziyas mitzrayim largely took place within a naturalistic framework. (5) I strongly recommend that you read my new book The Challenge Of Creation for an understanding of why there is a strong trend amongst the Rishonim to minimize the concept of supernatural miracles.

Q:How do you explain the Mishna about ma'amaros (and pesukim) ?

RNS:(6)I don't see what this has to do with ID.

Q:Why do you have such great faith in Darwinism? Do you also believe in Freudinism and Marxism?

RNS:(7)That's a remarkably strange question. I might as well ask you why you have such great faith in Judaism - does that mean that you also believe in Freudism and Marxism?
If you want to know why I find major parts of evolution to be convincing, I suggest that you read my book, where I lay out my reasons.



My Rejoinder:

1) Many miracles happened in front of only a few people, tanach is filled with examples. Anyways, anyone can read the biochemistry behind blood-clotting or vision and understand that they couldn't have been produced by random darwinian evolution.

2) Scientists can't say "it can all be explained, there is no need for G-d" if there is proof of His involvement. Also, if there is evidence of G-d's involvement for 15 billion years prior to the creation of man, its hard to say "yea, but G-d has nothing to do with the Universe anymore".

3) How? Do miracles? They both show there's a G-d in a way thats hard even for an atheist to deny.

4) iy'H to b discussed in the future. ( in the meantime, see end of post on ma'amaros)

5) I've reserved the book at the library and hope to read it soon.

6) Read post on it. The Mishana counts ten acts of creation in the Torah and answers those who say "G-d couldv done it with one ma'amar so He must have."

7) Many people say "all those scientists cant b wrong!" and therefore believe in darwinism. but look at the other influential ideas of many decades ago. they were accepted by millions and now are obviously known to be idiotic (though still believed in by some).
a theory proposed by atheists to explain how the full complexity of the universe came about entirely randomly is ridiculous.

3 Questions to Slifkin

In a recent article in the Jerusalem Post, R' Nosson Slifkin declares ID to be against Judaism:

But there are also significant theological problems [with ID]. If God's existence is being demonstrated in phenomena for which there is argued to be no scientific explanation, then what about all those phenomena for which there is a scientific explanation?

...and a few papagraphs later:

So where does that leave the rest of the universe? What about all those structures that do not, even by the admission of the ID camp, present irreducible complexity? The unstated implication of their position is that these things do not attest to a Creator. Don't have a grasp of cellular biology? Sorry, you won't be able to perceive that the universe was created by God.

Either God is everywhere or He is nowhere. But He is certainly not limiting His appearance in the universe to the bacterial flagellum and the blood-clotting system.

When I wrote about this issue a while ago*, what Slifkin calls a rejection of ID I called "ID - natural process?" I explained such a view:
"They basically feel G-d could have done it with just one ma’amar so surely he did. Why ‘bother’ with 10 ma’amoros?" Slifkin is now also claiming that the ten ma'amaros would mean G-d's design can't be observed in anything else. While I understand why he wouldn't like a theory that sounds like "G-d of the gaps", I have some questions for him:

1. How is Slifkin so sure G-d wouldn't want to show directly His continued involvment in the world? How does that minimize evidence of G-d? What does slifkin believe about miracles such as yetzias mitzrayim?
2. How does Slifkin explain the Mishna and pesukim about ma'amaros that say G-d created the universe with many steps ?
3. Darwinism's primary purpose is to explain how the great complexity of the universe could have happened randomly, taking away the need to believe in a G-d. Eventually, it will have its place in history with theories such as Freudinism and Marxism. Why does Slifkin have so much faith in it?

Maybe I'll post his response.


*(See "Ma'amaros and Miracles". Of some relevence is "G-d and Design".)

The Internet

Due to the various problems the internet pose, the haredi community has called for a full ban on its use. This approach will not work. We're already in the internet 2.0 age and the internet is becoming more and more essential. Look at the growth of the internet over the last ten years to get an idea of how big it will be in another ten years. Eventually everything will be on the internet and it will be unavoidable.
Even now, its a necessary or helpful for almost anything. You can get instant information on any topic, you can buy or sell anything, communicate with people, get torah shiurim, etc., etc. The internet is as ubiquitous as the automobile.
It's also like a car in that its dangerous, although in a spiritual way. But no one is calling for cars to be banned just because they can crash. Just like you buckle your seatbelt and drive carefully, you can do the same thing with the internet; in fact you can take stronger precautions. Depending on how much protection you want, you can put use adblock, image blockers, parental controls, web-tracking, or whitelisting. This is the correct way to deal with the problems the internet pose.
Some people think the internet is less like a car and more like the Television. The haredim have gotten along fine without TV. But the comparasion is flawed. Unlike the internet, the TV has barely any useful purpose besides killing time. In addition, a person can use the internet carefully and never see anything bad, while the television is filled with bad shows and ads.
The internet can best be compared to the printing press - it allows the proliferation of information, both good and bad, in a way never thought possible before. Just imagine how much less torah we would have if the printing press had been banned.

Direction of Prayer

Here are pictures from Google Earth with lines emanating from Israel. The purple line in the picture below shows the approximate direction people pray to. It would end up in Uganda, but the intentions bend it. The Bluish line is the actual direction to Israel.

Update: A more accurate image was added. The yellow line goes due east, towards the Congo. The white line is the direction to Jerusalem.

Back to School

I'm going to be going to yeshiva so I'm not sure if this blog will continue having new posts. I originally said I would blog about: Science, Miracles, Metaphors, Lakewood, Black Hats, Israel, Metzitzah and Jumping Elephants. I already wrote about the ones crossed out and about many more topics. Other topics that I would have wanted to mention: Proving Judaism, Anti-Science, Hilchos Haircuts, Hilchos Music, The Internet, and much more. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to continue blogging.

P.S.

I changed the format so all 25 posts show on the Nebach! page itself so you don't need to look at the archives.

Gedolim Pictures I -- R' Menachem of Vilna

______The reverse of the picture says:

Harav Menachem Krakowski
b. in Volkovitch 5630 (1870 CE)
d. in Vilna 5689 (1930)
he was an av beis din in the following kehillos:
Tinkavitch, Haslavitch, Navordok.
Magid Mesharim and Moreh Tzedek in Vilna.
He learned in Vilna and he served the Geonim Meran Naftoli Tzvi Yehudah Berlin and Rabbeinu Chayim HaLevi Soloveitchik. Son-in-law of Rabbi Eliyahu Feinstein Av Beis Din of Pruzaner.
Author of the Avodas HaMelech and the Arzei HaLevanon (published after his death).

signed,
[his Nephew Rav] Yosef Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik (Boston)

Have a Good Summer

I will be iy'h away for practically the rest of the summer, so it is unlikely there will be any posts here. I also won't be able to revise the post below this one.