Thirdly, it follows that anyone declaring that a person who chooses to accept one of these systems in preference to the other is a fool, while one who accepts the other is a wise man—such a judgment shows that the person making it is ignorant of the conclusions of modern science, or that he has not advanced beyond the science of Ptolemy and Copernicus. Obviously, a person not versed in the development of science in the course of the past half-century or so is not qualified to make any judgment pertaining to science.
Lubavitchers do believe the Sun revolves around the Earth. The Rebbe told them it did so all the scientists who claim otherwise are wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not about "systems", it's about testable proof. We can prove which revolves around which. It's not just a matter of opinion.
There are different motions here, and we should clarify terminology.
DeleteFirst is spinning or rotating on an axis. Earth spins on its axis, and the sun spins on its own axis. From the Earth it appears as thought the sun is orbiting the earth.
Then the question of orbit or revolving - the Rebbe speaks as if he knows all the science of the previous 50 years, but he knows very little. perhaps more than other rebbes. But he is not on the level of a Physicist.
There are gravitational proofs of why planets orbit the sun, , which cannot be explained by the Rebbe's rendition of Relativity.
The orbits of the planets do not follow the geocentric model. There are retrograde movements of planets, because in fact they are orbiting the sun. Rambam noted this observation in hi Guide, but was unable to explain why it happens - as it contradicted his own model of planetary motion.
There's a book out called, I think, A New Heavens And A New Earth and in it, the author reviewed Jewish thought in response to advances in astronomy, especially as the heliocentric model replaced the geocentric one. He notes that some people approached Einstein and said that, using relativity, one could say the Sun revolves around the Earth (and some Lubavitchers say that the Rebbe claimed that Relativity supported him) and that Einstein said that meant they didn't understand Relativity.
Delete