Maharam Schick (E.H. #7): My opinion is that these matters of planetary motion were not received by our Sages as halacha l’Moshe m’Sinai (Divinely given on Sinai) but rather were said according to their own reasoning. In such matters which are not part of our Tradition and have no root in our Torah but rather are the result of investigation and experience – it is difficult to determine if it is actually true. There are many times when sages decided matters according to their own intellects, but later generations investigated deeper and rejected the findings of the earlier generations. Therefore all matters that are based upon experience are impossible to decide unequivocally but can only be described in terms of whether most people agree with it. That is why in Pesachim (94b), Rebbe says that, “the view of the secular sages appears to be correct.” He did not simply say that they were correct. That is because they only produced logical proofs and thus it is impossible to declare that the matter is finally resolved…. Final resolutions are only relevant concerning the laws of the Torah where we are commanded to do according to that which appears correct – “a judge can only decide based on what he sees” – and G d agrees to the decision of man. This is not so concerning investigations of nature and science.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Maharam Schick - scientific facts are not final even for Chazal
from Daas Torah - translation copyrighted
Hospital Under Fire for Discharging illegal alien Surgical Patient
Fox
A Texas hospital is under fire for allegedly telling a surgical patient she had to leave the hospital immediately because she was an illegal immigrant.
Maria Sanchez, 24, told the Houston Chronicle that she had been at John Sealy Hospital -- part of the University of Texas Medical system -- for six days when a doctor told her on Jan. 12 that she should go to Mexico to have surgery on her growing spinal tumor. The hospital discharged her that day, the paper reported. [...]
A Texas hospital is under fire for allegedly telling a surgical patient she had to leave the hospital immediately because she was an illegal immigrant.
Maria Sanchez, 24, told the Houston Chronicle that she had been at John Sealy Hospital -- part of the University of Texas Medical system -- for six days when a doctor told her on Jan. 12 that she should go to Mexico to have surgery on her growing spinal tumor. The hospital discharged her that day, the paper reported. [...]
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Romania may toughen its laws about witches
JPost
Legislation being debated in Romania would require witches to get a permit and make it possible to fine or even imprison one whose prediction turns out to be false.
The draft bill has just started its way through Parliament in Romania, where witchcraft has been part of its culture for centuries.
On Jan. 1, Romania changed its labor laws to officially recognize witchcraft as a profession, angering some witches.
Legislation being debated in Romania would require witches to get a permit and make it possible to fine or even imprison one whose prediction turns out to be false.
The draft bill has just started its way through Parliament in Romania, where witchcraft has been part of its culture for centuries.
On Jan. 1, Romania changed its labor laws to officially recognize witchcraft as a profession, angering some witches.
Why Kids Bully: Because They're Popular
Time Magazine
Mean kids, mothers tell their wounded young, behave that way because they have unhappy home lives, or feel inadequate, or don't have enough friends or because they somehow lack empathy. But a new study suggests some mean kids actually behave that way simply because they can.
Contrary to accepted ruffian-scholarship, the more popular a middle- or high-school kid becomes, the more central to the social network of the school, the more aggressive the behavior he or she engages in. At least, that was the case in North Carolina, where students from 19 middle and high schools were studied for 4.5 years by researchers at the University of California-Davis.
Creationism rather than evolution still be taught in public schools
NYTimes
Teaching creationism in public schools has consistently been ruled unconstitutional in federal courts, but according to a national survey of more than 900 public high school biology teachers, it continues to flourish in the nation’s classrooms.
Researchers found that only 28 percent of biology teachers consistently follow the recommendations of the National Research Council to describe straightforwardly the evidence for evolution and explain the ways in which it is a unifying theme in all of biology. At the other extreme, 13 percent explicitly advocate creationism, and spend at least an hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.
That leaves what the authors call “the cautious 60 percent,” who avoid controversy by endorsing neither evolution nor its unscientific alternatives. In various ways, they compromise. [...]
Teaching creationism in public schools has consistently been ruled unconstitutional in federal courts, but according to a national survey of more than 900 public high school biology teachers, it continues to flourish in the nation’s classrooms.
Researchers found that only 28 percent of biology teachers consistently follow the recommendations of the National Research Council to describe straightforwardly the evidence for evolution and explain the ways in which it is a unifying theme in all of biology. At the other extreme, 13 percent explicitly advocate creationism, and spend at least an hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.
That leaves what the authors call “the cautious 60 percent,” who avoid controversy by endorsing neither evolution nor its unscientific alternatives. In various ways, they compromise. [...]
Monday, February 7, 2011
Donators as investors:Donors Demand a Bigger Voice in Catholic Schools
NYTimes
Private philanthropists have changed the face of public education over the last decade, underwriting the rise of charter schools and promoting remedies that rely heavily on student testing and teacher evaluation.
But with much less fanfare, wealthy donors have begun playing a parallel role in the country’s next-largest educational network: Roman Catholic schools.
In New York — as in Boston, Baltimore and Chicago — shrinking enrollment and rising school deficits in recent years have deepened the church’s dependence on its cadres of longtime benefactors. Donors have responded generously, but many who were once content to write checks and attend student pageants are now asking to see school budgets, student reading scores and principals’ job evaluations. [...]
Private philanthropists have changed the face of public education over the last decade, underwriting the rise of charter schools and promoting remedies that rely heavily on student testing and teacher evaluation.
But with much less fanfare, wealthy donors have begun playing a parallel role in the country’s next-largest educational network: Roman Catholic schools.
In New York — as in Boston, Baltimore and Chicago — shrinking enrollment and rising school deficits in recent years have deepened the church’s dependence on its cadres of longtime benefactors. Donors have responded generously, but many who were once content to write checks and attend student pageants are now asking to see school budgets, student reading scores and principals’ job evaluations. [...]
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Rabbis condemn growing trend of 'Jewish "Taliban women'
YNet
Newly-religious women walking around covered head-to-toe in black clothes are growing in numbers. Even six-year-old girls are made to hide their faces. Haredi rabbis finally condemn growing trend
Newly-religious women walking around covered head-to-toe in black clothes are growing in numbers. Even six-year-old girls are made to hide their faces. Haredi rabbis finally condemn growing trend
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