from Daas Torah - translation copyrighted
Rav Shalom Shwadron (Daas Torah Orech Chaim - Shoneh Halachos page 8): If witnesses come and testify that someone had been killed and there are other witnesses who contradict them the two pairs of witnesses cancel each other’s testimony. Even if the two contradict the testimony of thousands of witnesses – the testimony of the opposing sides is canceled because two witnesses are as valid as 100 or 1000 witnesses. However the case is different if the purported murder victim shows up alive. In fact this is just the opposite of the previous case. Because even if 1000 witnesses had testified that he was dead, it is obvious that what they said is false and therefore their testimony is completely invalidated. So why is it in the first case that 2 witnesses can invalidate thousands of witnesses while in the second case thousands of witnesses are simply ignored? The answer is simple and clear. Testimony has no significance except when there is a doubt that needs clarifying. However testimony is irrelevant when it contradicts reality which needs witnesses to establish it. Now we should understand that we in our incompetence think that the events of the world are reality and the words of Torah constitute testimony, therefore when we come across events in our lives where Torah is at variance to what we perceive as reality our heart becomes filled with all sorts of rationalizations and explanation that enable us to explain the words of Torah to be consistent with what we consider to be reality. This is because we feel that what we hear from the Torah cannot be of greater validity than what we see with our eyes….However the pious Torah scholars know the real truth which is that there is no reality in the world except for the holy Torah. And all the phenomena of the world are insignificant in comparison to even the point of a letter “yud” in the Torah. Therefore if you find anything in the world which the Torah contradicts then we are forced to say that we did not perceive the world correctly and therefore the testimony from the world is totally null and void in relationship to the reality of the Torah.
Rav Shalom Shwadron (Daas Torah Orech Chaim - Shoneh Halachos page 8): If witnesses come and testify that someone had been killed and there are other witnesses who contradict them the two pairs of witnesses cancel each other’s testimony. Even if the two contradict the testimony of thousands of witnesses – the testimony of the opposing sides is canceled because two witnesses are as valid as 100 or 1000 witnesses. However the case is different if the purported murder victim shows up alive. In fact this is just the opposite of the previous case. Because even if 1000 witnesses had testified that he was dead, it is obvious that what they said is false and therefore their testimony is completely invalidated. So why is it in the first case that 2 witnesses can invalidate thousands of witnesses while in the second case thousands of witnesses are simply ignored? The answer is simple and clear. Testimony has no significance except when there is a doubt that needs clarifying. However testimony is irrelevant when it contradicts reality which needs witnesses to establish it. Now we should understand that we in our incompetence think that the events of the world are reality and the words of Torah constitute testimony, therefore when we come across events in our lives where Torah is at variance to what we perceive as reality our heart becomes filled with all sorts of rationalizations and explanation that enable us to explain the words of Torah to be consistent with what we consider to be reality. This is because we feel that what we hear from the Torah cannot be of greater validity than what we see with our eyes….However the pious Torah scholars know the real truth which is that there is no reality in the world except for the holy Torah. And all the phenomena of the world are insignificant in comparison to even the point of a letter “yud” in the Torah. Therefore if you find anything in the world which the Torah contradicts then we are forced to say that we did not perceive the world correctly and therefore the testimony from the world is totally null and void in relationship to the reality of the Torah.
a counter argument , but using the same method, is this:
ReplyDelete1000 witnesses claim they have a certain "mesora", but it contradicts a) reality, or b) the clear meaning of a pasuk in the Torah.
A recent example - Chabad tried (and manged to get) 100 rabbanim to sign the declaration that their rebbe was the Messiah!
The logic is completely the opposite! The Torah is teaching us that although the Halacha is that 2 and 1000 cancel each other, that is true only if we do not have the reality in front of our eyes to contradict one side. But if we do see the reality to be different than one side, then seeing is believing and we go with that. So, for example, if science can demonstrate a physical reality which goes against an assumption of earlier generations and this science is available for anyone to observe, then we need to reassess the conclusions of previous generations' minds regarding e.g. halacha, meaning of pesukim, etc.
ReplyDeleteI wrote this before as anonymous and I am not sure if it was published:
ReplyDeleteThe logic is completely the opposite of what you claim Rav Schwadron wrote! The Torah is teaching us that although the Halacha is that 2 and 1000 cancel each other, that is true only if we do not have the reality in front of our eyes to contradict one side. But if we do see the reality to be different than one side, then seeing is believing and we go with that. So, for example, if science can demonstrate a physical reality which goes against an assumption of earlier generations and this science is available for anyone to observe, then we need to reassess the conclusions of previous generations' minds regarding e.g. halacha, meaning of pesukim, etc.