Censorship by a governmental or organization is a way of hiding the truth. In this section, he calmly and responsibly presented. I have just been informed of a slight inaccuracy in the chronological order of the ban events that i wrote about earlier. The ban states that rabbi slifkin should no longer be allowed to teach torah. The only practical outcome of this ban apart from a lot of hot air on blogs is the complete, probably irreversible destruction of reputation of nosson slifkin and the subsequent misery for him and his family. I have been very fortunate to read the seasons of life written by author nosson slifkin. He is best known for his interest in zoology, science and for his books on these topics, which are. By january, 23 rabbis had signed a fullfledged ban, which was pasted on walls throughout the ultraorthodox jerusalem neighborhood of mea shearim. R nosson said, i adore, nay love, rav elyashiv, and would never dream of disobeying him. Letter to rabbi dovid feinstein shlita regarding r nosson. The following letter is printed in this months moment magazine. The ban was based, he claimed, on excerpts of the book. The second article, gedolim ban slifkins books addresses the recent controversy surrounding the publication of a book on zoology and torah by nosson slifkin, a renowned yeshivish zoologist.
The books written by nosson slifkin present a great stumbling block to. As most people by now know, rav kaminteskys revised book making of a gadol has been banned. Nosson slifkins books have been banned by a number of prominent talmidei hakhamim. After reading on reactions from the blogsphere on the current controversy surrounding the ban on books written by rabbi nosson slifkin, i wanted to add briefly summarize the facts of what has taken place so far. The science of torah mysterious creatures the camel, the hare, and the hyrax. The slifkin torahscience controversy hirhurim musings. In rabbi slifkins books, he described the evidence for an ancient universe and discussed the various theories that have been proposed to explain this from a. Dear rabbi nosson slifkin, in bekius shiur we were learning a gemara on chof hei amud beis 25. Afterwards yashar books, a smaller jewish publisher, agreed to distribute them.
The ban characterizes his writings, among other things, as t. Dr klafter and rav shmuel kaminetsky regarding slifkin affair. His first attempt, the original, was banned over a year ago by. In fact, having prayed on this matter for several seconds, im ready to proclaim via posters on the streets of jerusalem, that. They caused a reaction against the rambam and anything that is not standard yeshivish theology. Nosson slifkin s books have been banned by a number of prominent talmidei hakhamim. The making of a ban i am so sorry for rav nosson kaminetskys trials and tribulations.
The ban also forbids the book from being brought into any religious home. R slifkin is starting a series of shiurim on the animal kingdom in torah thought not the exact title of the shiur, but the idea of it. Consider for a moment what you said nobody i know would stop reading a book based on these statements. R nosson slifkin is scheduled to give a shiur tonight in rbs in the shul i daven in.
The latest development has sparked more discussion about the subject. Those that blind themselves to these problems are the most dangerous of all as they will cause the downfall of. My frontpage article in this weeks the jewish press link. Rav moshe waited to deal with sholom kamenetsky to try to explain to him what was wrong with the book and to try to get a retraction. Nosson slifkin is an orthodox rabbi living in israel. Of course he did not initiate and, hence, write that ban, but he did sign it, and he would not sign on anything he did not believe in, even if rav shach asked him to, as is known from other cases. Sacred monsters is a thoroughly revised and vastly expanded edition of the bestselling book mysterious creatures. Rabbi aharon feldman, a onetime defender of rabbi nosson slifkin, has sold out and now backs the ban against rabbi slifkin and his books. The third item is a letter by batya gelman who calls upon the community to not embrace customs from popular culture and to refuse to eat sushi. The slifkin torahscience controversy torah musings. As you realized on your last visit, my father, shlita, is unfortunately no longer in a position to discuss the issue of your books.
Religion and natural history clash among the ultra. What can i write about slifkin which hasnt already been. Rav elyashiv in israel opposed the book at the time. Shame and disgrace to all those who signed the ban. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. Rabbi natan slifkins new book, sacred monsters, is a very impressive work, combining exceptionally broad scholarship in such varied fields as science, classical literature, and the jewish tradition. I would like to register my complaint against the irresponsible and sloppy recording of my views in jennie rothenbergs article regarding the ban on the books by rabbi nosson slifkin. The nosson slifkin epilogue the gedolim of the agudath israel moetzes have now seen fit to publicly accept as legitimate, the view of an aged universe. In 20042005, three of rabbi slifkin s books were banned as heretical by a large group of distinguished rabbinic authorities from the charedi ultraorthodox community. I would like to share with you some ideas i have discussed with him in the past. When a book is burned, condemned, censored or banned it should make us cringe. That may not be good justification to ban someones books, but its certainly a ridiculous argument to put forth.
Perhaps the best quote in the piece comes from rabbi ahron feldman, the godol who first backed rabbi slifkin but then sold him out. This webpage links to a collection of resources concerning this controversial ban. Slifkins publisher, targum press discontinued distribution of his books. Our rebbi pointed out a machlokes between rashi and tosfos. This, my dear readers, is only the tip of the iceberg of the ramifications of the slifkin ban. The following just appeared in the us edition of yated neeman. The ban was rejected by rabbi slifkin and his mentors, and prompted a widespread backlash. Quoting rabbi reuven geffin who in turn quoted to me rabbi gottlieb of ohr somayach who worked with nosson slifkin before the ban slifkin s understanding of science is suspect. The list of rabbis who have signed on to the slifkin ban publicized most prominently in a letter that appeared in the january 7 edition of the ultraorthodox daily yated neeman is a. In my humble opinion, it is not a problem that some rabbis want to consider certain views apikorsus.
Nosson slifkins books were banned due to his opinions. Absent the ban, nosson slifikins books are gathering dust in the back of eichlers warehouse, next to the jewishlythemed babyonboard knockoffs. After the ban appeared on yated neemans website, rabbi slifkin added a section to his website to address the controversy. I have tried to imagine what would have been rabbi desslers position with regard to the ban against your books. Considering the disastrous impact on the reputation of rslifkin and implications for parnassah, shiduchim, etc, can gedolei yisroel explain the need to issue the ban in such haste wo giving rslifkin a chance to defend himselfwhen the. As the letters arent reproduced online i thought it may be of interest. Quoting rabbi reuven geffin who in turn quoted to me rabbi gottlieb of ohr somayach who worked with nosson slifkin before the ban slifkins understanding of science is suspect. One of the books that i published back then was called second focus, and it used the weekly parashah as a springboard to discuss various topics. In 20042005, three of rabbi slifkins books were banned as heretical by a large group of distinguished rabbinic authorities from the charedi ultraorthodox community. Summary of facts on the book banning controversy by bnei levi. Known to his admirers as the zoo rabbi, nosson slifkin was the author of the torah universe, a series of books on science and religion that were widely read in orthodox communities until they were suddenly banned. The voice on the phone informed slifkin that four prestigious rabbis had opened his torah universe series and found three of its four books to contain heresy.
Boruch hashem, the hashgocha has left us neviei emes including the. The temptationespecially to those outside the haredi communityis to portray r. It has come to my attention that rabbi feinstein signed a ban on the books of rabbi nosson slifkin which calls upon him to bum his writings and retract publicly the beliefs expressed in his books. Rabbi natan slifkin, the famous zoo rabbi, revisits all the creatures of that work as well as a host of new ones, including werewolves, giants, dwarfs. In praise of rav chaim opening summer zman for yerushalayims mir yeshiva via conference call, rav eliezer yehuda finkel spoke to thousands of talmidim about rav chaim kanievskys greatness and his inimitable guidance of the torah world during the current crisis. Unprompted by the author, an international group calling itself jews for a reevaluation of the rabbi nosson slifkin ban wrote a counterpetition, urging the 23 signatories to change their minds. Months after the ban, rav aharon feldman cited as problematic rabbi slifkins approaches to the age of the universe, the order of creation, evolution and the sages knowledge of science. Whether intended by the signers of the ban or not, their actions did not just place r. A dovbear action alert my first one please send emails of support to.
My 300page book on the slifkin affair crosscurrents. I believe we have witnessed such an event with the recent controversy surrounding three books. The slifkin torahscience controversyan admittedly biased insiders perspective the jewish community is no stranger to conflict. The picture of burning books haunts the history of jewish books. That being said, rav m then explained to me how the whole thing erupted. But the ban and the intense reaction of jewish bloggers may have an impact on my work. Rav s wrote his book and had the approval and haskamos of many rabbonim in america. It provides fascinating insights into the literature of legendary creatures and their possible origins. The books referred to are the science of torah, mysterious creatures, and the camel, the hare, and the hyrax.
How much rejection can one person take from people he respects the most. My thoughts on the duplicity of rabbi feldman, the rosh yeshiva of ner yisrael are made clear in the post above. As you may have heard or seen link, link, three of r. None of the rabbis who signed the ban was willing to speak with me, but i reached rabbi. The target of the campaign is rabbi nosson slifkin, an ultraorthodox author known as the zoo rabbi, best known for his books and tours relating to his research on animals in the bible. This blog seeks to study rabbinic writings as they arguably pertain to such matters as environmental law, bioethics, and technology policy. The books written by nosson slifkin present a great stumbling block to the reader, the ban declared. First, he argued that there was nothing heretical in his books. In this particular book, the author has managed to avoid the many pitfalls awaiting anyone. Moment magazine has published a new article about the rabbi nosson slifkin book ban. The slifkin controversy has generated much heated debate in the blogosphere, most notably at hirhurim, and the intensity of the arguments seems to have distracted many people from what the core issues about this debacle are. Rabbi gil student has postulated a theory about the current state of affairs in the slifkin controversy. At last an honest rabbi who is willing to look at real issues and try and resolve them to the best of his abilities. Moshe meiselman, rosh yeshivas toras moshe, a shiur delievered in his yeshiva.