Challenging Nature - III

In Chapter 3, Silver continues to discuss spiritual realities as physical entities. He takes verses in the Torah literally, when it is clear that they are metaphorical. For example, when the Torah describes Hashem as blowing the נשמת חיים in the nostrils of Adam, our Sages do not understand this as literally blowing air. Actually, they define it as imbuing man with the ability to speak. a trait which distinguishes man from other creatures. In the same vein, any discussion of the weight of the soul is meaningless from a Jewish perspective.

He then embarks on a discussion about the literal meaning and location of heaven and hell. In all fairness as you survey Jewish sources there are definitely those who consider the Garden of Eden to be a real place here on earth. I would submit that most modern day educated rabbis would dismiss this notion. Similarly, with regards to heaven and hell there is much discussion as to whether or not these are places where the physical body is present. The truth is, we don't know what things will look like at times and dimensions that are beyond that of our experience. The Rambam explains that anything written on these topics is at best educated speculation.

Personally, I would tend to follow the opinions that these are "places" of spiritual, rather than physical reward and punishment. Again, being as that is the case, searching for them in the physical plane and using science as the tool is a vain effort.

Challenging Nature - I

I just finished reading a very fascinating book Challenging Nature. The book is an interesting review of biotechnology and the challenges it presents for people of religious faiths. The author attempts to present the views of different faiths throughout the book and discuss how they can or cannot be reconciled with current scientific understanding.

Unsurprisingly, I was interested in seeing how the issues he presents challenge my understanding of Judaism, as well as how he presents Jewish understanding of many of these topics. Equally unsurprisingly, he gets much of the latter wrong. Over the next few weeks I will try to share with you some of the statements he makes and my views on them.

One of the classic mistakes he makes is the assumption that there is some sort of Judaeo-Christian world view. There is no such thing. On so many very basic issues Judaism and Christianity differ that the term Judaeo-Christian has no meaning whatsoever. This is evident in many places in the book. Furthermore, within Judaism, even within Orthodox Judaism, there is not one monolithic hashkafa (outlook) on many of the points this book raises. In the main where he fails is a seeming complete lack of any exposure to Kabbalistic thought. Many ideas which seem very clear cut and simplistic in Jewish thought, are actually revealed to be much more complex and multi-faceted when one is exposed to the Kabbalistic outlook on Judaism.

Finally, there are places where he simply has his facts wrong when it comes to Judaism. Yes, he apologizes for that possibility in his prologue, that doesn't change the facts.

The first such error is when he records a conversation with a Chabad rabbi (p. 9) during which the author asks "When does God give a human being a soul." The rabbi answered him that the soul is given at birth and not a moment before.

Unfortunately for the rabbi, this is clearly and unequivocally rejected by the Talmud in Tractate Sanhedrin. It states clearly that the soul enters at the time of conception. Frankly, it is shocking to me that a "rabbi" could have made such a blatant error.

The author then goes on to say (it is unclear to me is this came from the "rabbi" or if this is his own conclusion) that embryos before the 20th week of development can be removed at a woman's request because they are just her tissues, totally dependent on her body for vitality.

While there is much discussion in Halachic literature as to when abortion is and is not permitted, this blanket permission of a woman to have an early term abortion just because she feels like it is quite shocking.

I don't know exactly what this rabbi may have shared with the author, perhaps the author got it all wrong. That would only strengthen the dictum of חכמים הזהרו בדבריכם...

Communication Specialist

When God blew into Adam's nostrils the Soul of Life, Jewish tradition teaches us that this refers to the power of speech.

Yes, there are many animals that have the ability to communicate to one another. Communication is not unique to the human race. The power of speech described here, and that which is unique to the human race, is the ability to communicate and to share what is going on in one's own soul.

Humans alone possess the ability to share their inner worlds with one another. By doing so we edify ourselves and offer others the opportunity to benefit from the wisdom that we have acquired. This aspect of sharing is the key to building a successful world.

Kabalistically, when God initially created the Universe, the spiritual building blocks he used, the ten sefirot were unable to work together. The word began to fall apart. It was only when they were properly aligned, sharing each sefirah's property with the others, that the world could exist.

The same is true today. It is only by sharing and partnering our spiritual abilities and understandings that the world can properly exist. Otherwise, our power to communicate is no different than that of the animal kingdom.