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NEWS
New Letters Clarify Damage of
Nosson Slifkin's
Books
by Yated
Ne'eman Staff
Rumors and assumptions that rabbonim who had not signed
among
the more than twenty signers of the original letter against
three works by Nosson Slifkin, The Science of Torah,
Mysterious Creatures, and The Camel the Hyrax and
the
Hare, did not sign because they supported Slifkin's
work were
shown to be false in recent letters issued by HaRav
Shmuel
Kamenetsky, HaRav Aharon Shechter, the Novominsker
Rebbe, and HaRav
Shlomo Miller.
The letter signed by HaRav Shmuel Kamenetsky and HaRav Aharon
Shechter says very bluntly and clearly, "The books are in
opposition to our Torah (kenegged Toraseinu
hekedoshoh). The
impudent and audacious spirit of
throwing off the yoke (prikas
ol) of the mesorah
miSinai and our sages (rabboseinu
hakedoshim) who
are its bearers (maggidehoh) denies any
excuse for the
mistakes therein. A seeker of truth should distance
himself
from them, as the din requires." (Note that the
italicized words appear in the original as handwritten,
Hebrew
words, as can be seen.)
The Novominsker
Rebbe was no less sharp and clear: "Slifkin's
works —
particularly some of the shocking statements
that I've seen —
do terrible offense to our hallowed
tradition, and they distort and
undermine the Torah's clear
truths." (See this week's editorial
for a further discussion
of the issues.)
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