There seems to be a contradiction in two different works of
the Maharal of Prague. In his Chidushei Aggodos to
Menochos 64b he discusses the statement, "Cursed is
the one who teaches his son Greek wisdom." The Maharal is
quite emphatic that the study of the natural sciences
(chochmas hateva) that is divorced from any
relationship with Torah, is forbidden. He explains the
statement of the mishna in Ovos of Ben Bag Bag,
"Hafoch boh hafoch boh dekuloh boh," in a way similar
to many classic meforshim: All true wisdom is found in
the Torah.
But we have an apparently antithetical statement of the
Maharal in Nesivos Olom, Nesiv Hatorah chapter 14,
where Greek wisdom is very narrowly defined as "melitzah
veloshon." This is understood to mean the parables and
symbolic metaphors that the Sava Debei Athuna (the Elders of
Athens) employed to couch deep philosophical insights and
arguments (similar to those mentioned in Bechoros 8b
where the gemora records how Rabbi Yehoshua ben
Chananya bested them at their own game). The Maharal in
Nesiv Hatorah uses this narrow definition of Greek
wisdom in order to make the study of nature halachically
permissible.
But what of his objections to the Greek study of nature
clearly stated in Chidushei Aggodos? Nature and
philosophy are presumably two totally separate
disciplines.
This recalls a similar quandary involving the Greek-Torah
interface.
One of days observed every year is Asoro BeTeves. It marks
(among other things) the tragedy of the Greek emperor
Ptolemy's fateful decree to have the Torah translated into
Greek. The details of this translation by the seventy-two
sages at the Emperor's behest, called the Septuagint,
are recorded in the gemora Megilla 9.
In conclusion there, the gemora issues a surprising
ruling. Based of Noach's blessing to his son Yeffes, "Yaft
Elokim leYeffes veyishkon be'oholei Shem," the gemora
allows only one other language besides Hebrew to be
employed in writing a kosher Torah scroll: Greek.
Furthermore, Chazal understand that when the Torah tells us
that Moshe explained the Torah "very well" (ba'eir
heiteiv), it required a translation of the Torah into the
seventy languages—one of them being Greek! But what of
the supposed tragedy of the Greek translation of Ptolemy?
This is a classic problem discussed by the ba'alei
machshovoh. I was privileged to hear one explanation that
can possibly shed light on the true view of the Maharal to
the study of nature.
The difference is as follows: The translation of the Torah by
Moshe, at Hashem's command, constituted a spiritual endeavor.
It was the attempt to subsume the diverse wisdom of the
nations of the world — symbolized by their languages
— under the all-encompassing divine wisdom of the
Torah. This translation would be a refraction of the
singular, absolute eternal truth into the various colors and
hues of the complex, multi-faceted world of human
civilization. This was one step in the direction of
"lesakein olom bemalchus Shakai," and would contribute
towards unifying the nations of the world in subordination to
the will of Hashem and to fulfilling His design for all of
creation as a whole.
But Ptolemy's goals for his translation were quite the
opposite. His objective was to put the Torah (lower case "t")
into his library of quaint literature to be studied
academically along with all other obsolete ancient
cultures.
Chazal saw the tragedy of this translation as an ongoing one.
A serious setback was incurred to the cause of the Torah's
historic mission to expand the borders of malchus Shomayim
to encompass the worldly wisdom. Instead of refracting
the Divine light of the Torah outward, it was darkened and
confined by the Greeks to serve the agenda of an atheistic
culture that worshiped the human mind and body. The mistress
had been usurped by her hand-maiden.
This crucial distinction perhaps can shed light on the
difficulty in the Maharal mentioned above.
Looking more carefully at the second reference in Nesiv
Hatorah, one finds the recurrent phrases "chochmas
ha'umos" (in distinction to "chochmoh Yevonis"),
and "la'amode al hametzius." The Maharal says that to
merely observe reality and note its patterns and structure is
the wisdom available to every person. It is, undoubtedly, the
wisdom that Hashem has implanted in the very substance of His
creation, awaiting our discovery and appreciation.
In a simple observation of the marvels of the natural world,
one is immediately filled with inspiration and closeness to
the unfathomable mind of its Creator. One stands in awe and
rapture at the subconscious feeling that Hashem had us and
our puny capacity to appreciate this vast wisdom in mind when
he designed our amazing universe. (See the Rambam in
Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah, chapter 2.) This, says the
Maharal, is chochmas ha'umos, not chochmoh
Yevonis.
What is Greek Wisdom/Science?
It has been noted that the ultimate agenda of Greek
civilization from the very beginning, starting with Alexander
the Great, was global domination. The Greeks engaged in
aggressive efforts to Hellenize the ancient world and become
the dominant culture.
Similarly, the underlying objective of all Western
understanding of nature is to eventually obtain absolute
mastery over our universe. Scientific knowledge is the key to
power over all nature (for good or for evil). It is in the
pursuit of that power (which the Western world has inherited
from the Greeks) that the recognition of Divine Providence in
our world is diminished.
Let us not be naive to think that the scientific pursuit of
knowledge is simply for the love of knowledge or to marvel at
the wonders of creation. See Shiurei Daas vol. 2 and
his penetrating analysis of the Dor Haflogoh by means of
parallelism to the overarching scientific theme of Western
culture. There was a similar collaboration of all mankind in
pursuit of delving into nature to harness its powerful
secrets and to thereby become self-sufficient beings who are
masters over their own destiny. It was a conscious universal
effort to set the universe "free" from all Divine
"interference" with their humanistic agendas.
The drive to master nature guides all scientific inquiry; and
it is obvious that it cannot be trusted to know its place in
G-d's scheme for humanity. Science has no immunity to heresy,
and history has proven the opposite to be true. We need to
find ways to immunize ourselves against the corrosive G-d-
absent world-view that science seeks to impose on reality.
Many religious academics mistakenly confuse the two types of
natural science distinguished by the Maharal above. They
assume there is theological validity to all legitimate
science — as if nature and the modern scientific
understanding of nature are synonymous.
This false equation naturally leads to an erroneous
conclusion: If all current established theoretical science
can be accepted as the Torah truth—since the wisdom
invested in nature is Hashem's wisdom — then what
follows is that our understanding of the Torah must be
adjusted to conform to this other source of Hashem's
truth.
This mistake has led to tragic misunderstandings of the clear
facts recorded in the Torah and a severe distortion of our
unbroken Mesorah. The mistress has again been usurped
by her hand-maiden.
HaRav Elchonon Wasserman dealt with this problem from a
different angle. He raises the question of how a Jewish youth
can be commanded to believe in G-d, which even the brilliant
Aristotle didn't manage.
Some have put his solution rather simplistically. They say
his answer is that faith just requires one to draw the
logical conclusions from the evidence that surrounds us; if
great minds slip up, that is because of personal agendas. It
is easy enough to conclude that there is a Creator; one need
only survey the magnificent world in which we live.
But I think it's more complicated than that. HaRav Wasserman
was discussing the evidence of design in nature that clearly
point to an intelligent Designer Who has a purpose for what
He designed. Aristotle and his heretical belief in an
infinitely old universe challenged that purposefulness.
But let's not overlook one important fact. This rejection of
creation and purposefulness was not totally blind
irrationality. It was based on the overwhelming evidence up
until 60 years ago that the world runs like a self-
sufficient closed system. It was this evidence from the
natural world that provided the excuse for Aristotle and many
scientists for centuries to irrationally ignore the more
obvious and conclusive evidence for a purposeful creation.
Rather than trust the physical evidence in favor of heresy,
Rav Elchonon implies, all these scientists (who lived and
died before the evidence of "the Big Bang" was accepted) were
supposed to ignore one type of heretical evidence and instead
accept the other forms of evidence pointing to a purposeful
creation as fact. Now this can only be rational and
reasonable if you say that the heretical evidence could be
fundamentally questioned while the other type cannot. How can
ironclad evidence of a closed system of matter and energy be
rationally questioned?
The answer is quite simple. All this type of evidence
relies on the assumption that the regularity we can prove
exists only today should also exist infinitely into the past.
That is an assumption that can be reasonably questioned. This
assumption is then possible to definitively discount by
relying on the objective unbiased report of the Torah
tradition and its classic interpreters to inform us of what
really happened in the past.
In the end of the rational process that Rav Wasserman plots
out for the non-Jew to avoid heresy, one eventually has to
seek the conclusive truth about the world from the Torah as
well.
See the Rambam in Hilchos Melachim chapter 8 (Halochoh
11) where he rules a non-Jew must be convinced of the truth
of monotheism and proper conduct specifically through the
Torah of Moshe. Choosing to dismiss the straightforward
understanding of Torah and Chazal and stubbornly rely on
unaided human observation and reason alone, is the result of
what Rav Wasserman called "personal agendas."
True, the non-Jews weren't given the Torah. Nevertheless they
are responsible to deny star and nature worship (or heretical
theories about them) — in spite of all the empirical
evidence of their efficacy — simply because of the
Divine command to Moshe in the Torah which is accessible to
everyone through honest investigation.
As Rav Wasserman points out, a heretic can be executed
without prior warning. He has an obligation to arrive at the
truth about the world and avoid the scientific
misinterpretations of nature by filtering his assumptions
through our tradition that, the Kuzari and the Ramban say,
originated from Odom, to Noach, to Moshe Rabbenu, all the way
till our time.
