Rav Avraham ben HaRambam (Discourse on Agada): We are not obligated to accept the views of the sages of the Talmud on matters concerning medicine, natural science or astronomy - simply because of their greatness and authority - as we are concerning their explanations of the Torah. That is because concerning Torah, they were the ultimate experts and they had the exclusive authority to teach it as it says in the Torah, “You should do according to the Torah that they teach.”
This has always been the divide between rationalists and irrationalists.
ReplyDeleteIf Chazal were to be resurrected today, what would they say?
Would it be: Wow! The Earth revolves around the Sun and the universe is even more massive than we though, or No, ignore all that. Flat Earth, atmosphere dome and the Sun goes underneath at night.
Would it be: Hmmmm, lice get hatched from eggs just like every other single insect. We should ponder as to why the Torah considered them different when it came to killing them on Shabbos, or No! Ignore scientists and their heretical microscopes Lice evolve from sweat. We said so!