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October 7, 2005
Jewish Creationists Ban Rabbi's Books
If you think that creationism is strictly a Christian thing checkout the article in Moment Magazine on the "Zoo Rabbi," Nosson Slifkin.
I offer the following snippets,
American Jewish organizations have traditionally championed Darwinism, but a small group of outspoken Jews, including scholar David Klinghoffer and Rabbi Daniel Lapin are now calling for their coreligionists to take a more serious look at intelligent design. At the same time, a debate over evolution is raging in the ultra-Orthodox world where Darwin’s mid-19th century theory has taken center stage at the largest gatherings and become the focus of dozens of blogs.In the eye of this storm is a popular 30-year-old Orthodox rabbi named Nosson Slifkin. Known to his admirers as the “Zoo Rabbi,” he has a penchant for elucidating the fine points of Torah while wrestling with a crocodile or riding on the back of an African elephant. A serious Torah scholar, he is also the author of “The Torah Universe,” a series of unusually lucid volumes about science and religion. His writings were on the shelves of yeshivas the world over until earlier this year, when observant Jews discovered that his books had been banned."
[snip]
"When Nosson Slifkin looks at the animal kingdom, he sees what scientists see: a complex web of life and death governed by seemingly immutable laws. The difference is that Slifkin peers into this world through the lens of religion. Animals, to him, are clues dropped onto earth by a wise Creator; it is up to human beings to uncover what the symbols actually mean.
His study of animals has forced him to confront a number of theological puzzles, not the least of which is the question of how life developed on earth. Persuaded by fossil records—which offer straightforward evidence that the world is millions of years old and that simple, primordial creatures evolved into increasingly complex life forms—he found evolution to be the most plausible explanation.
And that, along with a few other heresies such as noting that some animals not mentioned in the Torah have kosher traits and that some of the mythical beasts discussed in the Talmud never existed, is what got him in trouble. And a lot of trouble at that.
By January [2005], 23 rabbis had signed a full-fledged ban, which was pasted on walls throughout the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim. “The books written by Nosson Slifkin present a great stumbling block to the reader,” the ban declared. “They are full of heresy, twist and misrepresent the words of our sages and ridicule the foundations of our emunah [faith]. Heaven forbid!... I therefore declare that these books should be distanced and it is forbidden to read, own or distribute them.”
The whole article is fascinating. If you're into banned books check out The Science of Torah: The Reflection of Torah in the Laws of Science, Mysterious Creatures: Intriguing Torah Enigmas of Natural, Seasons of Life and The Camel, the Hare, and the Hyrax by the Zoo Rabbi Nosson Slifkin. The first and the last one are a little pricey but the other two are within the normal budget of people that like banned books. I haven't read any of them yet but I think I will start with Seasons of Life.
And of course, we should not forget Mustafa Akyol the Muslim creationist that the Discovery Institute has adopted to support their lie that they are not really Christian creationists.
And then there are the Native American creationists with their differing cosmologies and the . . .
Via Religions News via Bible and Interpretation
Posted by Duane Smith at October 7, 2005 2:24 PM | Read more on Evolution |
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