Responding to the challenge constructively: The Slifkin Saga
No offence to anyone, but hasn't this entire issue been exhausted ad nauseam. I mean is there really anything more to add? Seriously... We all know what everyone holds respectively, and yes, I personally agree with R' Gil and others that this whole witch hunt and rejection of great authority figures is a a very sad state we find ourselves in. But really, havent we been through this all before....To which someone responded:
Rael Levinsohn | Homepage | 05.31.06 - 12:33 am | #
Rael Levinsohn - This is not just a sad state. This is the murder of Torah, for it will make it impossible for future genrations to believe in it. As long as the stabbings continue, there needs to be those who protest it. This is not screaming at a rapist after he commited his heinous act. It's screaming at him while he's in the middle of it. If anything Gil's reaction is too calm, but he hasn't found a more agreessive apporach which he feels will be effective.This comment actually got me thinking about the matter a bit more. Maybe "Unanoymous" had a point. Then suddenly I had an innner revelation, an epiphany if you will. The following soltution came to me like a flash of lightning, and here it is. The idea is still in its state of infancy, but I will write it up as far as I have developed it.
UnAnonymous | 05.31.06 - 8:30 am | #
I prepose we write a book… The book will be entitled the “The Slifkin Saga” and will contist of a couple of volumes / chapters and will cover the following:
Volume one: Source Material
The incident (Slifkins version of events)
The condemnations
Sources in favour of Slifkin (Hebrew and english)
Sources against Slifkin (Hebrew and English)
*ie those sources that hold sages knowledge of science is divine and that 6 days of creation are literal*
People who come out in support of Slifkin
Volume two: The blogs respond
All essays, articles, comments culled from blogs across the board that dealt with this issue.
Essays can include the topic of daas torah, the effectiveness of banning, etc
Volume three: The future
Preposed solutions about interaction between Rabbinic authorities and baalebatim, how can a greater degree of dialogue be reached.
Reforms about educaiton, respect for other peoples views, eilu v eilu,
Constructive suggestions to achieve a greater degree of respect and comradery
The book will be a joint effort, an online endavour over the internet, using some kind of wiki book programme. If it is successful we can even publish through lulu.com or Yashar.
The reason for the book is as follows:
All the main Slikfin related material has been online, with all the give and take and comments, etc. Unfortunately it has not been able to get an even wider audience by not being in book form. By publishing a book, we will reach that audienceAt the end of the day the Slifkin issue was a major challenge to many people on a variety of levels. I really feel we are living in a historic moment, reminiscent of the controversy over the Chassidic Movement, More Nevuchim and the Mussar Movement.
The amount of Slifkin related material is huge, being located in many different posts and web forums. Consilidation is required, getting the best and most relavant of the material into a proper structure.
Way of creating a fun, interactive, social enviroment for people commited to the issue which hopefully will yield a beautiful result
All great moments in history should serve as a source of creative energy and constructive output. We are living through a time of change, why wait for the historians to reflect apon it decades from now? I put the challenge forth for you to do to make this proposal a reality. All the above is just a tentative, rough draft. I cannot persue this project without your help. Please email me with solutions as to how this project can be brought into reality.
First initial steps:
- Need an online wiki book service provider (Wikipedia, Twiki, TwidlyWiki, etc). Someone with a bit of experience in the matter to recommend how to go about it. A model that I was thinking of would be like this one by Lawrence Lessig (http://codebook.jot.com/WikiHome)
- Need a means of communication eg Google groups, something like that to keep people updated, requests, etc
- People willing to take on particular roles, eg editor, graphics designer, etc.
There are no "sources against Slifkin." There are sources that claim that
Chazal never erred in science, or that Bereishis is all literal, but R'
Slifkin does not deny that such sources exist - he even quotes them! His
point is only that there are ALSO sources which say otherwise, which his
opponents ignore/deny.
Daniel, you are right. My intention was what you described. The topic
heading was rather generic. It also was meant to include arguments from
Rabbinical figures like R'A Feldman who argue in their essay against
Slifkins entire approach because of being against the majority of
authorities, or against daat torah etc. Your comment still stands though.
Have you seen http://darklordsblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/sources-indicating-
that-chazal-did-not.html
Thank you for that site Daniel. Highly informative.
Problem with your book idea is that it will be banned the moment it comes
out and the people who really need to read it will specifically be the ones
who don't (or can't) because of that ban.
Frankly I wasn't surprised at the brouhaha revoving around the Slifkin
issue. The lack of tolerance that the charedi community generally harbors
towards the secular world has become internalized. It wasn't, therefore,for
the cheredi community to once again bare their intolerance against anyone
not sharing their particular view. As much as ZI respect Slifkin why is he
wasting his intellect on trying to balance and/or integrate two worlds that
are on two differrent planes. Its an excercize in futility.