Customer Reviews

Torah and Science

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Specific questions you might have aren't likely to be answered or even mentioned here, unless you are in "seminary" or Yeshiva. The material centers on the technical (its fascinating and revealing in the Rabbis' conception of the cosmos), not the philosophical. It is was already dated when it was written (redshift and other evidences for the Big Bang had already been public by then), particularly in his discussion of Bereshis; he presupposes that the Big Gang theory is not the dominant conception of the universe, and then wastes an entire chapter on defending convoluted interpretations of Chazzal and torah to the end that the universe is eternal! In this even, he ignores the work done in the 80's around the manuscripts of the Tiferes Yisroel, who suggested cycles of creation on the earth. Better discussions of extraterrestrial life are found in Lamm's essay in "Challenge". I would only recommend it if you are a Ben or Bat Torah who has technical doubts about perceptions presented in Talmud or Tanach. Anyone else, aside from mathematicians or physicists ( probably curious about what they missed after being Bar Mitvah), will be bored.

The other reviews here make me think there must be two books by this title, but all the details of authorship and publication match up with the one I am holding. Landa does _not_ present the Sages of the Talmud as scientific experts anticipating the discoveries of today. On the contrary, his repeated point is that the Talmud and other classic works of Jewish religious thought and law contain many scientific mistakes. When compared, not only to contemporary scientists, but to the natural philosophers of their own times, our Sages do not seem to have been particularly well-versed in scientific fact or method. Landa argues that this should not shock anyone because our Sages, though wise and good men, were only human and science was not their major interest. Therefore, he argues, an Orthodox Jew need not try to reconcile Talmudic statements with contemporary scientific ones. There should be no religious problem in just accepting that the Talmud (and the Rambam, etc.) are sometimes simply mistaken on questions of how nature works.

As a scholar of Talmud myself, I believe that Dr. Judah Landa has done a superb job presenting the link between the Torah and modern physics/astronomy. It was interesting to learn just how accurate the Rabbis of yore in their predictions about the universe. I did not think even the ancient Greeks were capable of such calculations, but our wise forefathers certainly were! I give Dr. Landa a thumbs-up for this fine piece of Jewish-scientific work.

The book eloquently describes the connection between torah and science. It was masterfully written. I have great respect towards its auther Dr. Judah Landa.