Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Chasam Sofer - explanations need to agree with scientific reality

Chasam Sofer (Nidah 18a): What are the meanings of the anatomical terms mentioned in this Mishna? After I researched medical books and medical writers as well as scholars and surgical texts, I have concluded that we cannot deny the fact that reality is not as described by Rashi, Tosfos and the drawings of the Maharam of Lublin. We have only what the Rambam wrote in the Mishna Torah and his Commentary to the Mishna - even though the latter has statements which are unclear. However, you will find correct drawings in the book Maaseh Tuviah and Shevili Emuna…. Therefore, I did not bother at all with the commentaries of Rashi and Tosfos in this matter since it is impossible to match them with true reality. You should know this.

2 comments :

  1. is this the case of the Chasam Sofer channeling Rabbi Slifkin or it is vice versa ?

    Isn't the time to ban the Chatam Sofer works as well ?

    (Good for the Chasam Sofer that Leib Pinter is in prison and Leib Tropper is making movies or whatever)

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  2. It is inspiring to see how great the rabbis of previous generations were. The Chatam Sofer is renowned as very strict and against modernization. However, his though was very sharp, and he was a seeker of the "Emet".
    There was another example, where he criticised those Kabbalists who forbid shaving altogether.
    Today, we have nobody so great, and nobody so bold.

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