The “International Beit Din”- A Very Troubling Update

 https://yated.com/international-beit-din-troubling-update/

Another new dayan is Rabbi David Bigman, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Maale Gilbo’a. Ma’ale Gilboa is considered to take a liberal approach to many things, and Rabbi Bigman is on the advisory board of Yeshivat Maharat, the Open Orthodox school that ordains “women rabbis.” [Rabbi Krauss is on the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT) advisory board.] Rabbi Bigman is also on the advisory board of Beit Midrash Har’el, a co-ed Israeli “semicha” program.

Rabbi Bigman has expressed views that are not consistent with ikkarei ha’emunah. In an article titled “Reclaiming the Multi-Genre Perspective” that was written for a website that rejects Torah miSinai, Rabbi Bigman argues that the Torah was not dictated by Hashem to Moshe. Based on Biblical Criticism and Rabbi Bigman’s own reading of the Chumash, he professes that “there is no other option but to let go of the narrative of the dictation… ‘The Torah speaks in the language of human beings.’ We can understand this statement as merely a comment on the literary style of our Torah, but it can also be understood in a broader and more fundamental way.” In other words, according to Rabbi Bigman, as explained further in his article, the language of the Torah was written by men, not by Hakadosh Boruch Hu and told to Moshe Rabbeinu. According to the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:8), this is outright kefirah.

In another article on that same website titled “Refracting History through the Spiritual Experience of the Present,” Rabbi Bigman argues that one need not accept the Torah’s narrative of Yetzias Mitzrayim as historical fact. And in an article on that website titled “Moderating the Stark Truth of the Written Torah,” Rabbi Bigman maintains that Chazal actually fabricated the drashos and halachos of Torah Shebaal Peh in order to make the mitzvos of the Torah more palatable. To deny the miSinai quality of Torah Shebaal Peh is categorized by the Rambam as kefirah (Hilchos Teshuvah ibid. and introduction to Peirush HaMishnayos).

Hence, since a member of IBD espouses kefirah, this places a pesul upon any rulings of IBD.