Posted September 9 2007
Believe it… OR ELSE
Part of my job working for a Jewish radio network involves answering the phones during regular office hours. It is so rare to feel that maybe you reached someone from the closed-off sections of Brooklyn that I feel the need to share an experience.
About two weeks ago, one of the programs featured a guest, Rabbi Natan Slifkin. Rabbi Natan Slifikin is known to many as “The Zoo Rabbi” and you can visit his website zootorah.com for more information on his books and other endeavors. Rabbi Slifkin’s books have been banned in certain communities and by some very highly respected leaders of the current generation. The reason for the ban, it seems, is that Rabbi Slifkin presents opinions that claim that the world is much older than the 5768 years†that will be completed later this week. Rabbi Slifkin also presents some ideas regarding evolution, but let us put that aside.
When I picked up the phone, the caller merely wanted to express his disappointment in the program. “Why would you give airtime to someone whose ideas are heretical in all of Judaism?”
This, of course, is my invitation to start a debate. And I mention a good deal of the rehashed arguments in favor of giving credence to the absurd position that the world is older by far than the 5767 that the man on the other side of the phone feels it is his duty to believe to the same extent as it is his duty to avoid fornication with animals (ie. on pain of death). “The ideas he believes and writes about are not his own… he is presenting the beliefs of Sages throughout the ages.” And I mention Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s “Immortality, Resurrection and the Age of the Universe,” as a good starting point for references on the subject.
If you are skimming through the article and not really reading yet, peel your eyes:
The man on the phone then asks if I know of any Rabbi who shares this opinion. I mention I believe that nearly every Rabbi I’ve interacted with on a personal level either agrees with this philosophy or is open to it. I continue by saying that Rabbi Slifkin mentioned on the program that his Rav educated him according to these opinions.
He said “Who are your Rabbeim?” and “Rabbi Slifkin refused to give the name of his Rav.”
BREAKTHROUGH #1
I replied, “If the names of the Rabbeim were given, would you admit that YOU ARE WRONG? Or would you no longer trust the Kashrus of those Rabbeim and try to get their writings banned?”
He stammered. I continued.
BREAKTHROUGH #2
“I believe in the concept of Shivim Panim LaTorah (The Torah contains a gamut of different, correct, interpretations). And let me be very clear. There are many different opinions regarding what makes one a heretic. I give you the right to believe in an opinion that claims that I am a heretic. But you cannot deny that I am abiding by a proper opinion. Because of the different understandings of Shechitah between Sefard and Ashkenaz, what one will say is NOT KOSHER, the other will find completely acceptable. Judaism is filled with these quirks of understanding. The Eruv is another prominent example. If you believe I am a heretic, according to your opinion I AM. But realize that according to my, very valid opinion, I am not. And according to other valid opinions, you may be.”
The man on the other side of the phone was, surprisingly, still there. Even more surprisingly, he understood my point. He ended the conversation by saying, “if you could please relay the message, that I felt that the program was inappropriate for Brooklyn, and I believe that a majority of the listeners believe as I do.” I said I would, and he hung up. But I do believe, after the conversation he and I shared, that the next time he encounters someone who has a different philosophical view, he won’t be so quick to know that it is wrong.
†Anyone confused as to why the stated year is 5768 will have to remember that we start from 0; it’s the 21st century and the third millennium. On a separate note, some of you may be aware that the 5768 number is likely to be off by about 190 years, making it really 5958. Mull that over when you think about the year 6000 deadline.
Add This Blog to Your Technorati Favorites
Jewish Blog, Jewish, Jewish Leadership, Jewish News, Jewish Values, Jewish Events
